He used WHAT word?

Today in the House, Belinda asked for an apology from Peter MacKay:

“Mr. Speaker yesterday during question period the minister of foreign affairs used a very inappropriate word to describe me.”

Anyone hearing this would assume that MacKay had stood in the House of Commons and called her a bitch. He wouldn't have been far off the mark, but the accusation against MacKay is that he said -- 'You've already got her.' There's a distict difference between implying she's a bitch and actually calling her one.

Belinda says that this kind of thing will have a 'chilling' effect on women who think about entering politics:

“It goes beyond this. It is really, I think, a reflection of the character and of the attitude of this government towards women. The fact that no one would take responsibility for this kind of a comment today, I think shows that,” she told reporters.

When a woman is a fully grown up person, capable of holding her own in the public eye, speaking up for herself, handling pressure and standing up to criticism -- then this sort of incident won't have a 'chilling effect' on her desire to enter into politics. The huffy response of Belinda & her shrill, patronizing chorus demonstrate that Liberals think that women need coddling. Hardly a progressive attitude.

The Liberal leadership debate actually opened with the 'great-eight' warbling about the need for more women in politics. There was even the suggestion of targets -- a certain number of women fielded as candidates in the next election. Seems they have little faith in women to take charge of their own destinies -- so like everything else, they want to engineer it.

They just don't get it -- whenever they take offense at a verbal slam directed at a woman, they demean women. By huffing and puffing they're making out that our frail souls and tender confidence can't handle pressure.

We are not so weak that we can't defend ourselves, and most of us don't identify with the Stronachs of this world, so there's little worry we'd think MacKay was taking a jab at all women in the person of Belinda. This was not about what Peter or conservatives think of women, it's about what one guy thinks of his ex -- and it's not even that -- it's about rude comments in the House of Commons which are given and gotten by everyone. Making it about gender might make a more interesting news story, but if they are really concerned about 'civility' in the House, they'll decry all incidents of rudeness -- not just the ones by men toward women.

Why did no one rush to Ken Dryden's rescue last year, when Rona Ambrose called him an 'old, white man'? Could it be because the Liberals believe men are capable of defending themselves? What does that say about their opinion of women?

canadianna