December 2 2002 OPINION Over The E Page 5 Who’s the Moron? (Besides Bush By Stephanie Wilson During the recent NATO summit in Prague, Czech Republic, a correspondent from The National Post news- paper, Bob Fife, overheard. Prime Minister Jean Chretien’s senior communications officer Frangoise Ducros call US president George W. Bush “a moron” during a private con- versation. The ‘National Post’ journalist quoted Ms. Ducros in print, and all hell broke loose. Two weeks later, Ms. Ducros has been forced to resign, CNN is mad at Canada, Iraq used the quote to show that the US has little support in its ‘Bomb Iraq’ campaign, and the Opposition is whining about Canada - US relations. Is a “moron” remark really a big deal? Not really. The late Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau and President Nixon didn't iTV National Premier Campbell was at UNBC on November 21st to unveil the plans for the new medical centre to be built start- ing next spring. That night DanTV News aired the report by a correspondent and now for the benefit of our readers we have decided to have the transcripts of that report in this issue. So here is that report: Stone: Gordon Campbell was here at UNBC and follow- ing him was quite a protest...here with a full report on the protest is DanTV News’ Chief University Political Protest Reporter, John Jacob Jingle-Hiemer Smitts, who has infiltrated the protest group by posing as a poor student hurt by rising tuitions. John: Thank you Stone, it is truly amazing to see a group of disenfranchised students come together to protest the democratically elected govern- ment that has been able to do whatever it wants due to the lack of true opposition in the legislature, certain members of the media, the British Columbia Chamber _ of Commerce and other business associations. Now | did man- exactly share a warm, fuzzy relationship, and Canada sur- vived. Nixon went so far as to refer to Trudeau as “an a**hole” Trudeau responded with, “I have been called worse by better people.” Political catfights aside, the real morons are the National Post and the journalist who overheard Ms. Ducros, Bob Fife. | realize journalists oper- ate on a different set of ethics, but if someone cannot private- ly exercise their right to free- dom of speech without fear of being overheard and ridiculed in a national newspaper, something is very wrong. What ever happened to ‘freedom of speech without fear of perse- cution?’ The second moron of the day, The National Post, has done nothing but make a harmless situation worse. One age, while hidden among the group, to take some notes on their message to the Premier. It started with the rousing and continuous chant of “Hey, hey, ho, ho Gordon Campbell has got to go!” Now | believe that this message is somewhat vague in its message. | per- sonally would have used a less subtle chant like the over- ly-used “What do we want? ! When do we want it? Now!” However this one is owned by the mas- sive Unions. | was impressed by the original chant “We can’t handle Gordon Campbell!” points for creativity and kudos for the excellent rhyming of handle and Campbell. Also one can’t forget the ominous “Recall!” blaring out of the of their journalists printed a quote that he overheard and therefore had no knowledge of previous context. Instead of letting it go, they attributed the quote to the entire Liberal cau- cus, and painted the situation like all relations between Canada and the US have deteriorated to the point of no return. The Official Opposition, the Canadian Alliance, started to whine about the comment, and the Post, whose main pur- pose is to pay lip-service to the Canadian Alliance and its sup- porters, to continues to back them up with a paper-full of articles bashing Ms. Ducros, Prime Minister Chretien, the Liberal government, Canadian diplomacy, and Canada in general. ; The whole situation is a joke. Not only is it a joke, but it has caused me to lose some seri- megaphone. Stone: So john, what exactly was their message? John: Umm...more cuts???? tax- John do you even know what they were protesting? John: Well the truth is that | was so fascinated by all the chanting and all the taunt- ing...that well | didn’t pay much attention to the actual protest...sorry...back to you Stone. STRIKE ZONE University Night $2.50 Tuesdays!!! Cheap Bowling! Cheap Tap! 2366 Westwood Drive 563-BOWL(2695) ous respect for journalists who listen in on private conversa- tions just to create a sensa- tionalistic story that really isn’t news, yet cost Ms. Ducros her job. | already know that many Canadians think Bush is a moron for pushing his ‘Bomb Honda North 105 Brunswick Street Prince George, B.C. V2L 2B2 Iraq’ campaign at a summit meant for welcoming seven new member states to NATO. And look, | can say moron in print without jeopardizing Canada - US relations! Bush is a moron! Bush is a moron! Scott Fanshaw Service and Fixed Operations Manager Sales: (250) 562-9391 Parts & Service: (250) 562-4744 Fax: (250) 562-5151 Email: info@hondanorth.ca Frank Jamin Photo ee Gordon Campbell was at the University to officially announce construction of the new medical building. Campbell also demon- strated to the public that he leans noticeably to the right.