Tuesday, June 22, 2004
i just lost any respect i had for peter mansbridge.
his behaviour shouldn't surprise me considering the fact that he works at the whim of the prime minister, but i still couldn't help loathing his every word.
the program was cbc news's democratic feature, "canada votes: your turn with stephen harper", a rather curious title when you stop to think. i'm talking, of course, about the 1 hour tv question and answer forum with each of the major federal party leaders in which 'average' canadians in the studio get to ask pressing political questions of the candidates.
'average', that is, if you're an angry, militant, leftist-propagandizing, slightly incoherent enemy-for-life of all that is right wing, fundamentalist, religious, or moral.
so during the entire show there was only 1 questioner - that's right, one - who had any kind of civilized attitude towards harper. the rest of the audience questioners put forth their thinly veiled attempts at political assasination at the behest, no doubt, of the cbc studio managers who depend on liberal patronage for their livelihoods.
the whole hour they kept standing up and asked increasingly pointed and misleading questions of harper until at last peter mansbridge took over the inquisition and attempted to skewer harper with his razor sharp wit. it was less than impressive.
but while his material didn't give him much to work with and harper answered the belligerent questions with intelligence and panache, the result of this endless heckling left a foul taste in my mouth. that rot comes straight from the cbc though and i couldn't be prouder of stephen harper, manifestly and by a wide margin the most rational, moral, coherent and all around capable man on the ballot to run this country.
cbc television never was very good, or of any real value to anyone, so i won't miss it now that i've decided not to watch it ever again. at least until it stops insulting my intelligence. the radio is good though, when it stays away from politics.
