Tuesday, August 12, 2008

At least Thibault didn't mention her knitting

Robert Thibault’s comments re: Marjory LeBreton were dumb. He should apologize, and I understand that he has. Here’s what he said:

Mr. Thibault called Ms. LeBreton an "idiot" and said: "Marjory should go back to making tea for Brian Mulroney and stay out of serious people’s business."

As I said, stupid, inexcusable remarks. Here’s the thing though. If you were one of the people defending Peter McKay when he called Belinda Stronach a dog and lied about it despite the tape, when he told Carolyn Bennett to “calm himself” and “be more helpful,” then I don’t want to hear you piously preaching about Thibault’s sin.

If you were one of the people that heard these remarks Peter made about Alexa McDonough:

"We'll just see what happens," MacKay replied. "I think you better stick to your knitting and win your own riding."

…and took pains to explain how that wasn’t sexist at all, that it’s just an expression, then you don’t get to say “making tea” or “serious people’s business” constitutes sexism. Sorry, but I just don't want to hear it. You can’t have it both ways. Partisanship doesn’t determine sexism.

I said Peter was wrong at the time. And I say Robert was wrong now. They were both wrong. Life is much easier with a little ideological consistency.

P.S. Can we chip in and send Thibault on a vacation? Somewhere far away from microphones, preferably. This guy really needs to get out of town and take a break.

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4 comments:

rabbit said...

Having shot off one foot, Thibault takes dead aim and cooly shoots off his other foot to demonstrate how fair and balanced he is.

It's amazing how often people get into trouble not for doing something dumb, but for doing something even dumber in an attempt to compensate.

And I love his apology...

If anything I said can be interpreted as sexist, I unequivocally and wholeheartedly apologize and withdraw my comments.

He doesn't apologize for making a sexist remark. He apologizes for making remarks which could be interpreted as sexist.

This guy shouldn't be allowed out in public unsupervised.

Loraine Lamontagne said...

Did Le Breton make tea for Mulroney?

rabbit said...

LM:

LeBreton was a senior political advisor for Mulroney and was appointed to the senate by him.

But any political hay Thibault could have made by connecting her to Mulroney was buried beneath Thibault's patronizing tone.

Kai_Wolf said...

You know, LeBreton can take care of herself. She doesn't need anyone to stick up for her.

Just like when Peter McKay said something similar to Alexa McDonough, these type of incidents always seem to get blown out of proportion.