By the time you read this, the U.S. election will be over. It seems that over the past um-teen months we have been bombarded with media hype advising us who is more stupid than the other guy. Polls over the last couple of weeks put the Obama/Biden camp ahead of the McCain/Palin camp almost 2 to 1. It appears as though the USA no longer has the stomach for the war in Iraq, the war in Afghanistan, or the human rights violations of the Bush administration and right wing politics in general. If everything went as the pundits predicted the world now has Obama as the President of the U.S of A. But then again, stranger things have happened.
Sarah Palin is just too folksy for her own good.
What probably hurt the McCain campaign was a telephone call from Canada. By now we have all heard about the prank telephone call made from Montreal radio station CKOI comedians, The Masked Avengers. These two notorious fellows impersonated President of France, Nicolas Sarkozy. The conversation, which lasted nearly 7 minutes long, exposed Palin as being ignorant of international politics, made her sound like a blushing schoolgirl talking to a rock star, and exposed her as not being a good listener.
Typical of our impression of the average American, Palin missed the prankster referring to the Prime Minister of Canada as being Stef Carse, a Quebec pop star. She missed Johnny Halladay, another French pop-icon being referred to as the U.S. adviser to France. Other points of embarrassment was Palin missing the prankster referring to ‘his’ wife as being good in bed, and appreciating the ‘documentary film’ “Nail ‘in Palin” made by Hustler magazine. Palin on all these points sounded like she was ignoring some of the risqué moments, only being flattered by his call, and showing interest in the caller.
In essence, Palin sounded like she had just received a telephone call from her idol, and was quite star struck. But one must at least admit that the Quebec caller spoke very fast with a thick French accent, switched from broken English to French during the call, and interrupted Palin at every turn in order to keep her off guard.
This call from Canada exposed Palin in a way that no political candidate would want to be. It showed that she is not internationally aware of her neighbours to the north, nor has she developed the guarded political stance that one would expect from a person of experience holding the Vice-Presidency office. It also showed that her campaign office is as folksy as she is. They in no way vetted the caller. But the fact that this call came from Canada in no way should make us proud.
Most politicians seeking office are not ‘fully aware’.
Take for example eight years ago when George W. Bush was running for office. CBC comedian Rick Mercer in his “Talking to Americans” segments stops Bush and advises him that Prime Minister Jean Poutine would endorse him. Bush replies, “He understands I want to make sure our relationship with our most important neighbour to the north of us is strong and we’ll work closely together.” Did Bush missing the faux-paux of our leaders name make his statement invalid, or even make him invalid? Just like Palin’s gushing over meeting the President of France on the telephone and missing the names spoken in a foreign accent make her inappropriate for office. Her casual approach to the prankster simply points out that she appreciated meeting President Nicolas Sarkozy via telephone.
When these people run for high office, the campaign road is intense. They talk to what could be thousands of individuals approaching them for a comment, quote or just to get a piece of them. For most people who run for office, all they would hear is, “Prime Minister…… Canada ….says..” Their response would be one of many that they used throughout the campaign. The point being is that they hear the title and not necessarily the name. Its their response that completes the joke. In the Palin call, the distorted accent didn’t help her.
But is Canada targeting active American Campaign candidates appropriate behaviour?
Shock radio is not a new thing. People enjoy listening to talk show hosts banter about politics, and poke fun at people they tend to disagree with. Palin was the perfect target, but a target that should have been left to an American Radio Station hands. The “Masked Avengers” from Quebec have not only tampered with a foreign election, they brought shame on themselves and maybe Canada.
Yes, talking to Americans and exposing their ignorance of Canada can be fun. But our style of humour has lasting consequences in places we have no business being.
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