(Untitled)

[dubhagan]

The bozo years are over for Alberta. What now?Bozo Years? Don't these columnists have any standards? It's one thing to criticize, it's another to insult. I don't care if this columnist doesn't like Ralph Klein, but resorting to name calling is just juvenile and should not be tolerated, especially at one of the top newspapers in Canada in the

Comments

[clairespawprint]

But it's okay for a well-known politician to make crude sex-jokes at the expense of another politician, in public?

I'm all for doing away with crude name-calling, but lets not have too many double-standards while we're at it.

Ralph Klein gets called a Bozo because of how he has acted in public. Actions and behaviour he definitely had a choice over. If he'd acted differently, the parting monologues would be toned differently.

[lifeisacabaret]

*applause*

[dubhagan]

But is it ok for a columnist to sink to Klein's level? Two wrongs don't make a right.

[clairespawprint]

That's true. But it's also indicative of a lot of things that have taken a "downturn" in our society these days...

[moldyspam]

It's the press, it's bias. If you don't like the bias then read something else. Newspapers have to sell. Just like anything else they have to appeal to a consumer. People will buy it for the exact same reason you say it's unprofessional. If it sells papers I've got news... the Globe and Mail doesn't care.

[dubhagan]

Oh, I didn't read it in the Globe, as I don't read that paper. Heck, thanks to the internet, I don't read the paper, any paper, any more. I actually heard about it on the radio (680 News) this morning because of the controversy it had created.

[moldyspam]

Regardless, you talking about it is exactly what the author and the newspaper wants. Professionalism will always take a back seat to marketability.

[dubhagan]

Uh... Good point. I never thought about it that way. Whatever sells more papers I guess.

[warrioreowyn]

That is extremely unprofessional; the answer to your question is apparently "no".

Did anyone else see Klein on the Rick Mercer Report? I thought he was great.

[springbokkie]

Whether one agrees with him or not, I'm surprised to see Jeffrey Simpson use the term "bozo".

[pensivegargoyle]

bo‧zo  /ˈboʊzoʊ/
-noun, plural -zos. Slang.
1. a fellow, esp. a big, strong, stupid fellow.
2. a rude, obnoxious, or annoying person: Two or three bozos tried to cut in ahead of the rest of us in the supermarket line.

Okay, not number 1 necessarily, Klein isn't stupid. Number 2's on the mark, though.

[dubhagan]

Oh, I never said I disagreed with that comment, I just don't think a newspaper columnist should use those words, it's unprofessional.

Funny story, yet true. Back in December, during the last election, I was talking to a friend of mine, and fellow Conservative. I asked him what he thought about what Klein had said (which I forget), he said "we should send him on a fact finding mission to French Polynesia to study the mating habits of the local tortoise. He should be back around March." Yeah, even his own party mates don't like it when he opens his mouth.