Beyond The Commons

Aaron Wherry covers all the goings-on in and around Parliament Hill. Follow Aaron on Twitter: @aaronwherry

Categories: Beyond The Commons, Capital Read

In fairness, Fox has way cooler sound effects

by Aaron Wherry on Saturday, June 13, 2009 2:13am - 14 Comments

The Prime Minister talks to Neil Cavuto about what to do when your house is on fire and how best to ensure that increased border security does not limit the ability of little league baseball teams to pass freely between our two great nations.

Tags: fox, Fox News, Neil Cavuto, Stephen Harper

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http://www.canadianrosebud.blogspot.com rockfish

Stephen Harper – he's only in it for the free US cable coverage.

Douglass

Free? Why are we paying that consultant then?

madeyoulook

…about what to do when your house is on fire and how best to ensure that increased border security does not limit the ability of little league baseball teams to pass freely between our two great nations.

Oh, and a whole host of actual substantive serious issues in Canada-US relations at the moment. Thanks for the link. The interviewer was sympathetic to Harper and to Canada, and even a little pushy trying to get Harper to diss Obama for many of The One's destructive decisions — and Harper stayed quite diplomatic.

All in all, a pretty good interview.

Aaron, I think you either meant "In fairness to Harper" (given that you continuously mock him for daring to avail himself of the opportunity to promote the country he leads), or perhaps "With all due respect to the CBC" (for mockingly using sound effects to explain why Harper would prefer to sit for a quarter hour on a satellite link with Cavuto). Either that or it's way to late for me to be parsing turns of phrase.

http://dredtory.blogspot.com/ Sir_Francis

… you continuously mock him for daring to avail himself of the opportunity to promote the country he leads.

Yeah, here's the thing. Some of us think Harper would be promoting Canada better if he actually spent his time leading it rather then chewing the fat with right-wing U.S. talking-heads. What quantifiable net benefit do these interviews bring to Canada, exactly?

If I suggested that Harper is haunting U.S. media in order to promote himself in the States in advance of his inevitable Stateside job search once his PM gig comes to an inglorious end, would that be totally off base?

http://intensedebate.com/people/madeyoulook madeyoulook

… Harper would be promoting Canada better if he actually spent his time leading it rather then chewing the fat with right-wing U.S. talking-heads…

Because a 15-minute video conversation where the PM chats about common issues with his country's number one trading partner, ally and friend somehow equals NOT leading his country? To the point that this 15-minute conversation forces him to drop the ball dealing with issues that really matter? You know, if we care that much about the value of time management of our PM, I would propose that he give up on QP instead…
madeyoulook

… Harper would be promoting Canada better if he actually spent his time leading it rather then chewing the fat with right-wing U.S. talking-heads…

Because a 15-minute video conversation where the PM chats about issues common to his country's number one trading partner, ally and friend somehow equals NOT leading his country? To the point that this 15-minute conversation forces him to drop the ball dealing with issues that really matter? You know, if we care that much about the value of time management of our PM, I would propose that he give up on QP instead…

http://dredtory.blogspot.com/ Sir_Francis

I would propose that he give up on QP instead…

Heh. He has. They all have.

Believe me–most M.P.'s spend their QP time texting, Blackberrying or doing paper-work. It's not a total time-waster.

Crit_Reasoning

Slightly offtopic, but check out this eerily prescient article published in the Toronto Star fifteen years ago, in 1992!

Journalist described as next PM of Canada
Toronto Star. Toronto, Ont.: Apr 2, 1992. pg. A.3

LONDON (Staff) – Make way for Michael Ignatieff, the next prime minister of Canada.

At least that's the view of one newspaper here.

Ignatieff, a Canadian journalist and novelist who lives here, is being seriously considered to take over the federal Liberals, the Independent newspaper claimed in a column Sunday.

He "is being spoken of as a possible leader," the newspaper reported.

The columnist, who signs himself "The Weasel," said Ignatieff is being touted to replace the "lacklustre leadership of Jean Chretier (sic), a peculiar man with a Maurice Chevalier accent."

The change will take place "in a year or two," the columnist said.

It will happen because "the chattering classes of Toronto and Ottawa" are afraid that "Quebec is almost certain to declare independence within three years."

Ignatieff is a "scion of a distinguished family," who would be a "young, attractive candidate." He is son of the late George Ignatieff, a distinguished Canadian diplomat, and he hosts a TV show in addition to writing a weekly column in a rival paper, The Observer.

Handsome and well-spoken, he has been referred to in profiles as "the thinking woman's crumpet."

However, the columnist who said he was "informed" of the push to install Ignatieff as new Liberal leader added that no one has told Ignatieff himself of the decision.

Contacted yesterday by The Star, Ignatieff laughed and insisted he was hard to locate because "I have been in conference with my spin doctors all week."

Ignatieff, who is covering the British election for his paper, said that "the hacks on the bus look at me with new respect, so I'm not discouraging them."

Wotcher?

"the thinking woman's crumpet."

What a great campaign slogan that would make.

http://dredtory.blogspot.com/ Sir_Francis

The columnist, who signs himself "The Weasel"…

Gee. I wonder if his prognostication was taken seriously…

Really, though, in any given year, thousands of Canadians are dubbed "the next PM of Canada". That includes just about every graduating Ontario Scholar who chaired his school's Debating Society.

Hell, even I was declared a future PM (my mother and former Man in Society teacher are most disappointed in me).
Crit_Reasoning

Yes, but few of those Canadians are dubbed "Canada's next PM" in an article in the Toronto Star.
Habitant

On behalf of Canadians, i would like to extend my thanks to Mr. Ari Fleischer for the good work he has done in securing our PM a spot on Fox News. We feel, in these tough economic times, that you have earned your (few) installments of 24 thousand dollars and change (drawn from our tax dollar). We seldom get to see our PM spend such quality time with our own networks, it is a remarkable thing to see him so chatty with your friends on American conservative news programs. You (Fleischer), have made great contributions to Canada, and you are an asset to its people.

Note to Mr. Cavuto: You alluded to Mr. Harper's conservative roots. You have been misinformed.. Mr. Harper's roots are liberal actually (see Young Liberals), it's his offshoots that turned conservative!

Note to Mr. Harper: You have received ''value'' for spending our tax dollars on Mr. Fleisher… However, I think you might have tapped Mr. Fleischer's well dry (Fox News, etc…). If you make your way down a flight of stairs from your office, you might be able to hook up with a guy who could score you precious airtime on another few American networks, some British networks (including BBC, Channel 4), even some French networks. Throw in some opportunities in many worldly periodicals, magazines, and newspapers. It would be like Ari Fleischer, except in the real world.

http://dredtory.blogspot.com/ Sir_Francis

…it's his offshoots that turned conservative!

No. They turned "conservative".

Anyways, those offshoots are going to be treated to an electoral pruning real soon.