Klein also pointed out that Stronach, who had been dating Leafs tough guy Tie Domi, had been a Conservative when she roasted him, but was now a Liberal MP.
"I wasn't surprised she crossed over," he said, setting up the punchline. "I don't think she ever did have a Conservative bone in her body -- well, maybe one."
Klein paused, waiting for the laughter to fade, then said: "Speaking of Peter MacKay...
I suppose it speaks ill of me that I giggled at this remark. But the important political point is that, even after three weeks of hoopla, the Tories still think they can make hay with cheap anti-Belinda remarks. Does this say something about the nature of Canada, or the nature of Belinda? You figure it out. The Libs have been wasting their time on this issue when they could have been pressing the Tories on their "Green" Plan (instead of letting Layton hog the spotlight), or bashing them on their investment trust flip-flop. Canadians sent them to Parliament with a more important job to do than defend Belinda Stronach's honor.
As for Peter MacKay, he doesn't need Belinda to get himself in trouble. Turns out Poppa MacKay used the fax machine in his son's constituency office to transmit letters defending businessman Karlheinz Schreiber, who is fighting extradition to Germany on fraud charges over the Airbus affair.
On the other hand, if Peter's ever caught making it with Condi in the bell-room of the Peace Tower, you'll read about it here first.
7 comments:
See, now I'm going to stir the pot here and say that I admit I don't see how this joke is sexist.
Crude? Absolutely.
Deplorable? You bet.
Does Klien owe Stronach an abject apology? Absolutely.
I guess I just don't see "sexist" though. You could argue that the fact that someone would make this joke about Belinda, and not make a similar, opposite, joke about MacKay is sexist, but how is the joke itself sexist? Where (within the joke itself) is the prejudice or discrimination? Does the joke rely on or perpetuate stereotypes?
The joke's punchline is, essentially, "Belinda Stronach had sex with Peter MacKay". It's crude, and objectionable and lude, and maybe even cruel. But how is that "sexist"?
Seems to me, people made similar jokes at MacKay's expense with regard to Secretary Rice. Maybe not as crude, and the jokers weren't Premiers, but still.
Seems to me, the idea that Ms. Stronach's delicate sensitivities need to be protected from this kind of crass humour is what's truly sexist here. I'm absolutely positive she can handle this, and I hope she takes the high road and simply points out that the joke says much more about Klein than it does about her, and leave it at that. We don't need to defend Belinda's honour. There's nothing dishonourable about a woman having sex. This joke was crude and completely inappropriate. I think calling it sexist though suggests a double standard in how we view female sexuality, versus how we view male sexuality, which is much more sexist than this lame "joke" could ever be.
Year's ago, Audrey McLaughlin, when talking about the men on Parliament Hill, quipped that "the hardest thing any of these guys have in their pockets are their cell phones." I thought the remark was hilarious.
On its own, this remark works at least as mildly witty. In the context of it coming from a man, and specifically, a man like Ralph Klein, not so much. As long as power imbalances exist between men and women and as long as sexual remarks made by men towards women are going to be tinged with all the negative aspects of men's attitudes towards sexuality (abuse, violence, etc.) making jokes like this is dangerous ground for a man.
Having said that, some women seem to think they're exempt from negative remarks or rebukes of any kind. I reject that completely when it comes to women who are part of our ruling class. These are powerful women and I expect them to handle this kind of thing with ease.
Yeah, handle with ease and hit back in kind.
I thought the cruder sides of these roasts were out of bounds from newspaper/TV material perspective.
Gordon Campbell was roasted in BC about a year ago and it was dirty, but the media present only ran with the more sanitary stuff.
Nevertheless Klien does has knack for componding Conservative gaffes with stupid comments. Bless him for that.
Sure Glad NDP women have more class than that bastard Klein. You'd never see one put out something like, oh, a dancing penis on a desk or anything like that. Just ask Jenny Kwan or Joy MacPhail. Honest, women have way more class than men.
OMG, that was WAY funnier than McKay's joke. I guess it's why Ralph was King and Peter only Kingmaker.
G
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