Sunday, December 11, 2005

Two More for the Gaffe Pool

No doubt Stephen Harper's migraine is starting grow as he flashes back to 2004, after controversial comments by Brian Pallister. Pallister, it seems, felt it would be a barrel of laughs to call his non-answer a "woman's decision".

But, not to be outdone, Scott Reid has jumped into the gaffe pool by claiming that parents will blow their Tory child care cheques on "beer and popcorn". Reid does have a point on this one. Who knows what a parent might spend their cash on? Perhaps they'll spend it all on Medisys or Cargojet income trusts.

But, at the very least, one of the perks of having a unilingual communications director is that he can only make boneheaded comments in one language, so at least he won't be making any gaffes to cost Canada the referendum election.


UPDATE: As a die hard Liberal, let me just say I'm quite distraught to see Paul conceeding defeat already:
He went on to say: "There's no doubt in my mind that parents are going to use it for the benefit of their families. They're going to use that money in a way that I'm sure is responsible. Let there be no doubt about that.''

On a serious note, by having Martin get up and admit that the money will be spent responsibly, he's really painted himself into a corner on this one. Harper is going to have fun with those comments come Thursday and Friday at the debates .

Oh...and I just realized Paul was on a wine tasting tour when he made the appology. Too good...

37 Comments:

  • As a woman, I would argue that Scott Reid's gaffe is way bigger. The Liberal candidate is blowing it out of proportion - most women hearing that will just snort with derision and move on.

    Scott Reid, particularly being backed up by John Duffy, when combined with Martin implying that Canadian parents aren't knowledgeable about childrearing? Much bigger. Much, much bigger.

    By Blogger Candace, at 4:15 p.m.  

  • As a woman

    You misspelled partisan hack.

    Anyway, wake me up when they start saying really stupid things. This isn't even worth an indignant hiccup.

    By Blogger Robert McClelland, at 4:27 p.m.  

  • Scott Reid haven proven once again that he is an idiot and that he should be fired.

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 4:50 p.m.  

  • Both comments are stupid.

    Ried thinks Canada's parents don't know how to spend their own money wisely. Mr Ried, Canada's parents are not the Liberal party.

    The statement about a woman's comment is also insulting, but less so. I would probably scoff at it, but then I am a guy.

    By Blogger mezba, at 4:57 p.m.  

  • Well, look at the implications of the two remarks. Pallister implied that women were secretive and or prone to giving vague answers? Not necessarily the nicest thing to say, but if that's the worst thing a conservative says during this election that's just fine and dandy as far as I'm concerned.

    As for Scott Reid, he's wandering right out there to say that the mere plebians of Canadian society who haven't been annointed with the oil of governing bureaucracy can't manage their own money, let alone raise their own children. He also seems to imply that they're venal, consumeristic alcoholics. What made it even worse was John Duffy deciding to stand behind a comment that obviously insulting to parents. Duffy's a smart guy, even if he is a Liberal, he should known the conotation is not the sort of message you want out there.

    The Liberals want to make the election about how they love Canada, but comments like that play into the Conservative strategy of "we trust Canadians to do what's right with their own money".

    By Blogger Chris, at 5:09 p.m.  

  • Hey, it looks like Reid has already apologized for his gaffe. Any word of an apology from Pallister?

    By Blogger Robert McClelland, at 5:20 p.m.  

  • Candace: As a woman

    Robert: You misspelled partisan hack.

    Meow.

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 5:31 p.m.  

  • A Freudian slip from Reid regarding popcorn and beer - perhaps a glimpse into his own childhood - might explain a few things...

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 5:37 p.m.  

  • Ruder things are said by women to women at curves than anything Brian Pallister(sp) said.

    As for Ried and Duffy, their words say it all about the Liberal's thoughts on the family

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 5:46 p.m.  

  • "at least [reid] won't be making any gaffes to cost Canada the referendum election"

    CG: Definitely, since the beer and popcorn remark was very Yvette-esque.

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 5:50 p.m.  

  • "Reid has already apologized for his gaffe. Any word of an apology from Pallister?"

    They both apolgized within 24 hours for poor choice of words:

    "...said yesterday the phrase was 'poorly chosen'"

    "...admitted he had chosen 'a dumb way to make my point'"

    Anyone hear if Duffy has apologized?

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 5:56 p.m.  

  • I have no doubt that some parents would use the money for beer and dope, that's why Martin's proposal is better.

    By Blogger WarBicycle, at 6:00 p.m.  

  • How many of us, if given a $1,200 cheque from the government tomorrow (which they claimed was a payout to help Canadians manage their debts), would actually go out and spend it on paying down our credit card/student debt, or something to that effect? Rather, I think the majority of us would not.

    Something to think about… (Not to argue that that Reid phrased his comments as diplomatically or eloquently as he could have).

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 6:02 p.m.  

  • anon:

    You missed the point.

    The stay at home mom or dad gives up 10s of thousands in income in order to buy beer or popcorn?

    You are free to ignore the fact that everyone has some cost to provide care, but that comment added insult to injury.

    The parents Reid talked about will be crawling over fields of glass to get to the ballot this time.

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 6:21 p.m.  

  • anon:

    Reid just killed that talking point. he forced Paul Martin to dismiss that entire line of argument:

    "There's no doubt in my mind that parents are going to use (the money) for the benefit of their families"

    "They're going to use that money in a way that I'm sure is responsible. Let there be no doubt about that."

    The CPC should buy him more beer and more popcorn.

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 6:33 p.m.  

  • Another slip from Martin: "are going to use" not "would use", implies that even he expects the CPC to form the next government, hehe!

    Pallister did apologize, heard it myself. As a woman it did not bother me that much. I found him guilty of being in bad taste and was pleased he acknowledged it. At least he did not accuse me of being stupid by choosing beer and popcorn over the well being of my children.

    Yes, I would put that money to my kids, 100%! Both my kids were under one year when I returned to work and having that money would have been great. Since our closest daycare is one hour and twenty minutes away and I worked shifts this daycare crap, which will cover about 30% of parents, is useless to people like me. I also would not appreciate having the social engineers trusted with my children. I was happy with the one person two children ratio of a wonderful woman two homes away from me. I had the benefit of knowing her myself not relying on the government to choose the right people.

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 7:00 p.m.  

  • Anne, you're an idiot for trying to score points on a subtle error of conjugation.

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 7:20 p.m.  

  • I can't believe there are Liberals on here trying to defend the beer and popcorn comments.

    Besides, if it were anything, it'd be beer and pretzels... or beer nuts.

    By Blogger Michael Fox, at 9:26 p.m.  

  • The correct answer would be to fire Scott Reid and John Duffy, or at least transfer them to Nunavut detail. Except that would be insulting citizens of Nunavut.

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 9:36 p.m.  

  • A bigger problem than alienating parents:

    ALIENATING BEER DRINKERS

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 9:41 p.m.  

  • i can't be trusted with the money. scottie's right on that.

    i'm just waiting for my energy rebate check to head out to the gentlemen's club.

    my children like sleeping at 15 degrees. honest.

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 10:38 p.m.  

  • Who does Scott Reid have pictures of because this man is an incompetent blowhard. Has he not offended at one point or another every province and group of people in Canada. Typical Liberal PC BS - do as I say not as I do.

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 11:15 p.m.  

  • Re: Pallister's gaffe vs. Reid's.
    Pallister probably listens too often to Verdi's aria "La donna è mobile" which translates into "woman is fickle." He should refrain from using operatic allusions, especially with the uncultured media.
    Reid looks so self-satisfied and full of himself that he's in danger of blowing up. His comment is one more proof of his total contempt for anyone not sharing his point of view.

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 11:51 p.m.  

  • The thing about Scott Reid is, even Liberals can't stand him. He's got the job for two reasons - a) Martin loyalist who truly believes that Paul Martin can do no wrong, and b) he's really, really good at taking on the opposition on those political panels.

    I watch him on those things, and on the one hand I can't stand him because he's so loudmouthed and arrogant, but on the other hand, I can't help but admire the brilliant way in which he is able to take what Geoff Norquay, or more recently William Stairs, is saying, pretend to address it but actually completely ignore it, bring up some other issue, answer that issue in a completely nonsensical way, but do it all without skipping a beat, with a straight face, and more amazingly, do it convincingly.

    Yeah, there's a reason he has that job. No one spins like Scott Reid. I bow my head in amazement to his skill.

    By Blogger Ryan Ringer, at 2:17 a.m.  

  • The Libranos have got to go: Reid's comment is telling: they think that they know best, that's way they continue to dictaet, to infringe on freedoms, to overtax, etc...

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 3:12 a.m.  

  • Hope Reid crys like a baby again on election night!

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 3:25 a.m.  

  • I'll admit Reid is affective against the Conservative and NDP pannel B teams, he never comes off nearly as well when he has to deal with Tim Powers and Jamie Heath though.

    The guy is slime though, and so full of pompous, smug satisfaction it was really only a matter of time until he managed to offend several large groups of people.

    By Blogger Chris, at 5:52 a.m.  

  • I meant I hope he cries like a woman like Miss Universe at Nathan Phillips Square.

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 5:04 p.m.  

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