It's Canadians' Fault

Now here's a funny joke. Maclean's has an article suggesting Canadians are to blame for their dislike of George W. Bush.

"MAYBE IT'S THAT SMUG LITTLE SMILE. His penchant for fantastically expensive military photo-ops. Or the swaggering, belt-hitching walk that cries out for a pair of swinging saloon doors. And though, God knows, we have too many of our own syntactically challenged politicians to be casting stones, shouldn't the leader of the free world know that "misunderestimate" isn't a word? Yes, we're cavilling, but clearly there is something about George W. Bush that gets under the skin of Canadians. After all, vehemently disagreeing with the policies of American presidents is almost a national pastime. ..."

Hmmm... I thought negative Canadian reaction to Bush had more to do with:
- Leaving Afghanistan to be ruled by drug dealing warlords...where did all the reconstruction money go?
- Before the smoke had cleared in Afghanistan, trumping up fallacious accusations of WMD to justify preemptively invading and occupying Iraq
- Not simply ignoring the protestations of the international community over the war in Iraq, but attacking many of them for dissenting
- Mis-managing the occupation in Iraq, moving the country ever closer to all-out civil war
- Patriot Act I&II
- a 400 billion US dollar deficit
I could go on, and on, and on...

Ok sure, whenever Bush speaks it looks like he knows he's pulling a fast one over the world, and he's loving every minute of it. But I think the record of his administration is telling. There aren't any American presidents who have done more to damage the reputation of the US than good ol' G.W. has. That Canada's purported "national magazine" would print unbalanced trash like this, suggesting the blame lies with Canadians, just demonstrates the lack of concern prominent media in North America have for insightful dialogue.