More Belinda..

Well, I have waited almost 16 hours for Kristin to post on this. I figured that when the morning came and if there was no post for her I would talk about how unfair some of the criticism is against Belinda Stronach. (I repeat, SOME of. I am speaking of the comments made that call her sex into play.) I started to pull together my links but then found that the Toronto SUN beat me to it.

Toronto SUN:

"Regardless of party affiliation or personal reactions to Belinda Stronach's decision to cross the floor, we should all deplore the offensive language that has been used by a number of public figures and in the media," said Rosemary Speirs of Equal Voice, a lobby group dedicated to getting more women into politics.

An Alberta MLA, Tony Abbott, apologized Wednesday for saying Stronach had "whored herself out for power."

Ontario MPP Bob Runciman called the billionaire heiress "an attractive . . . dipstick."

Conservative MP Maurice Vellacott alluded to an act of political prostitution.

The Liberals immediately leapt on the intemperate commentary to label it a product of the Conservative party's leadership.

The SUN goes on to further report that the name calling has muddied the real issue which is:

...one of a neophyte politician without any verifiable track record in business or politics vaulting directly into a senior Liberal cabinet post on the eve of a crucial confidence vote in the Commons.

I could not find anything at the Toronto STAR online.

The Globe&Mail reported:

"Criticism is to be expected when someone makes a political decision of this magnitude," Toronto MP Sarmite Bulte said at a press conference staged by women in the Liberal caucus to decry the comments.

"What is not to be expected is the personal and sexist tone of so much of the commentary."

The National Post didn't have anything on their online paper either.

I suppose though that in fairness what Belinda did was so shocking it must be hard to OVERstate your feelings for her right now. In one of the above stories they remind us that one politician who used some sexist language is clergy who apologized for ever having said those things. I do understand the anger for sure. I think Kristin mentioned she did too.. just not the rhetoric they chose to use.

A lady wrote in to the Globe asking how comments like these were supposed to sway voters? All in all a good point.