"Damn Americans ... I hate those bastards."

[The Wanderer]

MP apologizes for calling Americans 'bastards'

26 Feb 2003

OTTAWA - A Liberal MP has apologized for saying about Americans: "I hate those bastards."

MP Carolyn Parrish was speaking to reporters about Canada's diplomatic initiative on Iraq. At the end of her comments Parrish said, "Damn Americans ... I hate those bastards."

A CBC reporter says Parrish then laughed as she was walking away.

In a written statement issued Wednesday afternoon, Parrish says she made the comments in the heat of the moment in a private conversation. She says they do not reflect her opinion of the American people.

"My comments do not reflect my personal opinion of the American people and they certainly do not reflect the views of the government of Canada," she said in her written statement.

Late last year, the prime minister's communications director, Francoise Ducros, resigned after calling U.S. President George W. Bush "a moron" during a conversation with a reporter in Prague.

Canadian Alliance Leader Stephen Harper said Parrish's comments won't make relations between the two countries any better.

"They don't do Canadians any good ? Canadians who are trying to cross the border for business, Canadians who are trying to sell lumber or agricultural products or manufactured goods to the United States," said Harper.

Written by CBC News Online staff

http://cbc.ca/stories/2003/02/26/bastards030226

Oh Canada... maybe she's just upset about the Senators' game last night?

 

[deep]

I don't think she hates Americans.

I think she is just sick of GW Bush and Co.

Many on both sides of the border feel this way.


It does make a good article, and radio talk shows will have a feild day with it.

She was smart to immedeatey apologise.

It won't have as long of legs now.

 

[The Wanderer]

true, you can never take a politician at their word, but we're all north americans here arent we? it could be construed as anti-Canadian by her enemies!

 

[meegannie]

That sounds EXACTLY like something I would say.

 

[verte76]

I suspect she's fed up with the U.S. government and not the people.

 

[The Wanderer]

i find it all amusing, considering the strong anti-french sentiment in the US right now, it will be interesting to see how the US press handles this one when it's the other way around

 

[bonoman]

I find this fucking hilariuos!!!

At least she speaks whats on her mind but shame on her for not being smart enough to relize that microphones are always on!!

Remember when Bush did the same thing a few years back!!

Comedy!

 

[Gickies Gageeze]

yup, shes only echoing the sentiments of many other people.

shes actually representing the people for once, if you know what i mean...

i imagine fox news will run a piece demanding that she be executed after a court marshal.

should be interesting to see how this plays out.

 

[kobayashi]

i think it will die right down. as the article describes this is just another step in canadian follies of this sort.
silly canadians.

she was understandably upset. the american's shot down the canadian solution to iraq-1441 without so much as a glance.

 

[gvox]

She's the rep in my city of residence, Mississauga.

She also organized a trip to Palestine for her and 9 Members of Parliament to find out the real deal about what was going on over there, much to the chagrin of Canadian Jewish groups.

One of the MPs kept a diary: http://www.colleenbeaumier.parl.gc.ca/Mission to Palestine.htm

In the end the MPs characterized what Israel was doing as crimes against humanity, and called for the US to exert the proper pressure to get Israel to back out.

Yay Carolyn!

 

[ladywithspinninghead]

Nice to see you're not only reading U.S. papers Wanderer!


- julie

 

[anitram]

She's the rep in my city of residence, Mississauga.

She's my rep (Mississauga central).

 

[Mrs. Edge]

I was wondering when I read that in the paper if it would wind up on interference.....I am glad everyone can see that it is merely a comment directed out of frustration w. the administration and not animosity to the Americans themselves...but still it's kind of the last thing we need right now publicity wise! You'd think that with all that press around she'd have the wit not to announce such things within earshot!

 

[verte76]

It's not such a great time to be making mistakes like this, what with emotions so intense all over. It seems like everyone thinks at least one world player is a real and is getting irked over the whole situation. This is a mess.

 

[Headache in a Suitcase]

"you know... canada is like a loft apartment over a really good party. keep it down down there eh!"

"ahhh we hate you americans. you are shit. you are nothing to us, you stupid americans. oh no, here come the germans... WE LOVE YOU AMERICANS!! COME AMERICANS!!! YOU ARE SO GREAT AMERICA!!!"
-Robin Williams

 

[bonoman]

ha ha ha....

 

[DebbieSG]

There are twenty-three countries on the continents (count them, north and south) of America.

etymology for the day: America comes from the Italian who discovered South America, Amerigo Vespuchi. They figured that the West Indies were not part of the Asian India, and gave the whole enormous land mass the name of Italy's traveller, rather than Columbus, since he just ran into a few inconsequential islands....(waiting for a rant from someone from cuba, dominican republic, jamaica, trinidad, virgin islands, etc etc)

America: the US of America (note preposition, "of")

thank you, that is the end of our lesson today.:smug:

 

[gvox]

She's my rep (Mississauga central).

So anitram = ????

Do I know ya?

We must be fairly close neighbors..

 

[gvox]

Has anyone actually seen the footage, or like in most situations is everyone just reading it from somewhere and then also absorbing the 'anti-American' spin that the writer injects?

I saw the clip last night. She was coming out of a meeting and had found out that our proposal for Iraq wasn't even being given a second thought. She's laughing and walking and says '...bastards...hate those damn Americans'....she keeps walking and laughingly joking with someone...

Like, get a grip. She wasn't standing at a press conference shaking her fist angrily while she spewed hatred at the American public...she was reacting jokingly to the news that our proposal had been given the brush off.

It was about the most inoffensive 'offending' comment I've heard in a long time. Dont people have better things to do than turn jokes into fodder for public debate?

 

[anitram]

Do I know ya?

We must be fairly close neighbors..

I'm not sure if we've ever met in any of the GA lineups or U2 things in the GTA.

But you're right, we must be pretty close by.

 

[gvox]

I'm not sure if we've ever met in any of the GA lineups or U2 things in the GTA.

But you're right, we must be pretty close by.

Well do you know about the U2_GTA group and the various tribute band happenings?

There is pretty much something every weekend!!

 

[Mrs. Edge]

Parrish 'can't guarantee' she won't do it again
'Damn Americans' remark cheered MP

Toronto Star -

Liberal MP Carolyn Parrish pulled no punches on Mike Bullard's Open Mike talk show, saying while she apologized for her rude remarks about Americans, her comments reflected her feelings about U.S. policy on Iraq. Parrish poked fun at herself as she was interviewed last night by Bullard, saying she was in trouble with her mother for saying "bastards" on television.

But when it came down to recounting what happened last Wednesday when she remarked "Damn Americans, I hate those bastards," in the corridor of the Liberal caucus room, the Mississauga-Centre MP preferred to tell her side of the story with a straight face.

"Honest to God, I thought I was thinking it ... it just came out of my mouth.

``Obviously, it's something I believe in," she said, recalling just how she uttered the phrase after stepping out of a media scrum.

"I opened my mouth, I inserted my foot, I wiggled my toes," she said.

"I can't even guarantee I won't do it again," she added.

Reflecting on what has happened since her comments were made public, Parrish said she truly is not upset with Americans.

But she alluded to the Bush administration's policy on Iraq.

"I think, you know, the shenanigans that are going on with the United States I am not impressed with," Parrish said, noting she had only "apologized for the rudeness" of labelling all Americans with a "bad name."

The comment, the focus of talk radio shows across the country, drew criticism from opposition MPs as well as some of her own Liberal colleagues.

But Parrish noted Prime Minister Jean Chr?tien has not reprimanded her. When the tape of Parrish's remarks was played, the audience showed approval with loud applause.

"You seem to have the support of these draft dodgers," joked Bullard, who said that he didn't appreciate the implication that Canadians are somehow cowards because they don't support military action in Iraq.

"History has shown that Canada during the 20th century has stood alone many times while other people were late to the game," Bullard said.

Parrish has already apologized to the House of Commons and U.S. Ambassador Paul Cellucci, saying she wasn't thinking when she made the off-the-cuff remark and that she really doesn't hate Americans.

Cellucci has said it hasn't hurt Canada-U.S. relations.

Parrish's remarks have resulted in more than 4,000 angry e-mails from Americans.

Chr?tien has shrugged off the controversy, blaming it on the atmosphere around caucus meetings.

"You know with these (boom) mikes, sometimes people get out of caucus, they are frustrated and they talk," the Prime Minster said while in Mexico on a state visit last week

The uproar over Parrish's comments hasn't had quite the same impact as when the Prime Minister's former communications director, Francoise Ducros, sparked a controversy by referring to U.S. President George W. Bush as a "moron."

But in Washington, a U.S. state department official said the Bush administration saw the two incidents as part of a "disturbing pattern."

 

[meegannie]

I'll disturb the Administration's face.