Better a silver spoon than a foot

Babble on.

Kinsella thinks gag trinkets and cartoons showing John Tory as Richie Rich are "clever."

"An engraved silver spoon. Pure genius."

Apparently John Tory thinks they're funny too. Good for him for rolling with the punches, not sweating the small stuff, letting it roll like water off a duck's back, and [any other hackneyed political cliche you want to insert here].

"I just smiled and said that's my old friend Warren Kinsella up to his tricks. He's a clever fellow and I like him very much because of that."

How very Marquis of Queensbury of the two of them. It's enough to make a grown man puke.

I think Kinsella and his minions are taking cheap shots again - and not even original cheap shots at that. I'm not saying you shouldn't be able to lampoon a political opponent - shots at Bush for stumbling over two-syllable words are fair game, because the man shows only a passing acquaintance with the english language. No, this line of attack is cheap because it implies something inherently indefensible: people born into wealthy families are unfit to hold elected office.

The National Post says it best:

If a Canadian politician tried to suggest that an opponent was unfit to govern because of his impoverished background, the gesture would be attacked coast to coast as an abhorrent attempt to foment class warfare.

And under the genteel veneer, I think John Tory understands you can't let the attack go completely unanswered:

“It's funny to me that you try and create resentment about success. I think success should be something that we should be trying to have everybody strive for in Ontario, not make people jealous of success or resentful of success,” [Tory] said. (from The Globe and Mail)

You know, if Kinsella has public-policy disagreements with any of the targets of his many attacks, he sure stays silent about them. No, he seems content to wallow in pettiness, engaging in the political equivalent of schoolyard taunts while his betters debate how we should go about the serious business of running a government.

Grow up or shut up Warren. Either will do.

Babble off.