although apparently one of the Canadian muckety-mucks called Bush a moron, which isn't very polite.
Putting things in perspective, do you think any Americans have called Bush a moron?
Of course it was not acceptible and shouldn't have been said. You can now appreciate the uproar the Buchanan remarks caused.
Canadian Aide Said to Insult Bush
By TOM COHEN 11/22/2002 17:35:56 EST
TORONTO (AP) - A private comment that became very public was the talk of Canada
on Friday, with newspaper and broadcast reports detailing how an aide to Prime
Minister Jean Chretien called President Bush a moron.
Political foes demanded the ouster of Francoise Ducros for what she said Wednesday
at the NATO summit in Prague. Ducros offered her resignation Friday, but Chretien
refused to accept it.
"What a moron," is the quote attributed to Ducros, Chretien's communications
director, during what she called a private conversation with a reporter that was
overhead by other reporters who wrote about it.
"If I made comments in the context of what I understood to be a private conversation, I
regret that they have attracted so much media attention," Ducros said in a statement.
"I accept full responsibility for them and I sincerely apologize."
Chretien, at his closing news conference Friday in Prague, said he turned down
Ducros' offer to resign. Ducros told him she was unsure if she made the remark but
acknowledged she uses the word "moron" frequently, Chretien said.
"She may have used that word against me a few times and I am sure she used it
against you many times," he told journalists, adding that "we don't live in as civilized a
world as we used to, where private conversations are private."
Back in Canada, the opposition Canadian Alliance hammered the issue in Parliament,
saying the comment showed the anti-American bent of Chretien's governing Liberal
Party.
"Isn't it a fact that this anti-American attitude hurts our relationship with the United
States, our biggest trade partner?" Grant Hill of the Alliance asked during daily
question period.
Not so, said Foreign Affairs Minister Bill Graham, who described relations between the
North American neighbors who share the world's largest trade relationship as sound,
despite occasional problems.
Chretien also denied the incident harmed relations with Washington, saying he
received no official complaints from U.S. officials at the summit. On Thursday, when
first asked about the reported comment, he said Bush was "not a moron at all, he's a
friend. My personal relations with the president are extremely good."
White House press secretary Ari Fleischer told American reporters Thursday: "I just
dismiss it as something from someone who doesn't speak for the Canadian
government."
Despite their military ties and common democratic values, Canada has traditionally
adopted more liberal social policies. Examples include diplomatic ties with Cuba, a
ban on capital punishment and more lenient immigration policies.
Increased disputes between Ottawa and Washington were expected when the
conservative Bush was elected in 2000 to succeed Bill Clinton, whose administration
had closer ideological ties with Chretien's Liberal Party.
Since Bush's election, the United States has imposed punitive duties on softwood
lumber imported from Canada and is investigating possible penalties on Canadian
wheat.
Nevertheless, Canada took in flights diverted from U.S. air space after the Sept. 11
attacks and contributed troops, ships and reconnaissance planes to the U.S.-led
military campaign in Afghanistan. Chretien said Canada also would take part in a
U.N.-authorized attack on Iraq. |
