I got this from one of my Democrat friends.
BTW, the G&M think they're Cda's national newspaper...and Torontonians think that Toronto is the CENTRE of the Universe...
[I guess NYT and NYC are the US equivalents? No?]
PK
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Mess From a Canadian view, read this interesting piece!
You won't read this in a US publication - - From the Toronto Globe and Mail, February 4, 2004
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Mr. Bush's credibility has suffered its biggest hit to date with the publication of the weapons report by David Kay, a former UN weapons inspector and CIA adviser who said no weapons now exist in Iraq. Ottawa's foreign-policy makers, while largely vindicated, aren't boasting about it. But the hope here is that Mr. Kay's repudiation will diminish some of the sense of moral righteousness coming from the Bush White House.
Though it wasn't publicized at the time, Prime Minister Paul Martin got a sense of that sanctimony when he met with Mr. Bush in early January in Mexico. Mr. Bush let the Prime Minister know that he believed himself to be on the side of God and tending to God's mission.
The Canadian side, while aware of the President's penchant for religiosity, had been expecting to talk more about softwood lumber than the Ten Commandments. The Canadians didn't expect the morality play. Nor did they expect that, almost in the same breath, Mr. Bush would be filling the air with the f-word and other saucy expletives of the type that would surely leave the Lord perturbed. Nor did they anticipate a pointed attack on French President "Jack Cheerack," as Mr. Bush called him, for his views on the Middle East.
Mr. Martin was somewhat taken aback by what he heard. After the meeting, he was barely out the door before he was asking someone in his entourage what was to be made of all the God stuff. In meetings of presidents and prime ministers, religion has rarely been at the forefront. Business is conducted on the basis of knowledge and logic. With the Bush White House, the visitors must bear in mind that there is a third force.
With U.S. voters, he scores well for his religious views. It gives him moral clarity. In Canada, it hasn't helped his image. As a Maclean's poll reveals this week, this President is one of the most disliked in history. His sense of sanctimony combined with the right-wing warrior mentality is a potent non-seller. So much so that Paul Martin need not worry about rushing back to see him any time soon. If the Prime Minister wants to hear morality plays, there's a church just up the street from his Sussex Drive home.
[24 Sussex Dr's the Cdn PM's official home, cf. the White House for the US and #10 Downing St for the UK PM, Palais Élysée for the Presient of France, the Kremlin for the Russian Fed. - PK]
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