Politician behaving badly

It takes a strong and special person to remain calm and steadfast while in the midst of turmoil and frustration. Conservative M.P. Helena Guergis is not such a person. Last week (February 19) Guergis and her posse showed up late for a flight out of Charlottetown. Upon being reminded that passengers really should show up two hours before flight-time the Right Honourable Guergis blasted, "I don't need to be lectured about flight-times by you!" Well it would appear obvious to most people that she and her crew do, in fact need to be lectured about flight-times, as they didn't bother to show up when they were supposed to. Of course there are a couple of other possibilities here. It is possible that the Minister and her lackeys support the terrorists, or perhaps they just don't believe that the rules which the little people have to live by apply to them. Or something.

Next, after refusing to remove her footwear, the good Minister's shoes set off the security alarm. She then, with what we can only assume to be her usual good grace, took off her shoes and slammed them into the carrying bin while shouting, "Happy fucking birthday to me. I guess I'm stuck in this hell-hole." (I was embarrassed to use the 'F-word' in the proceeding quote as Parliamentary language is foreign to me. I would have preferred to use the political euphemism "fuddle-duddle" but my ongoing quest for accuracy would not allow me to.) Once through the security stuff, she ordered one of her minions to get her boots as she was all busy having a king-sized hissy-fit.

The good news is that it only took her a week to figure out that the optics on this situation maybe didn't paint her in all that good of a light. "It was certainly not my intention to cause any additional stress for airport or Air Canada employees," she mushed, causing those who think a little more clearly to wonder just what her intentions actually had been. She then apologized for speaking "emotionally" and said that she had finally come to the conclusion that her behaviour had not been appropriate. Granted that while such behaviour while totally appropriate, and even encouraged, in the House of Parliament, out in the real world where the adults are, it is a definite no-no.

In a final attempt to show that she was 'just one of the guys', as it were, she mentioned that her dad had been born in Prince Edward Island, and then commented on "all the hard-working people who make it so welcoming." Welcoming, I guess, even to people who don't deserve it.

Anyway... Humouroceros