I like the "drearily polite ... colourfully steamed" line.
OTOH, he's pointing out something very true. I'll elaborate:
\r\n\r\nWe are the people most like you in the world. We share so very much, probably more than any other two nations anywhere, from language, to political philosophy (checks and balances in political institutions are good), to trade and business, and even many wars (we don't want to go to Iraq, but we were right with you in Afghanistan and nobody here said boo about it). We participated in Gulf War I, and we provided the front line troops that settled the Suez Crisis and helped to kick off the massive decolonization that followed the Second World War.
\r\n\r\nAnd we're telling you this is a mistake, a mistake of global proportions. The latest thinking here is that Canada is going to sit this one out... some excoriate him for it (the neo-cons at the National Post), some praise him for it (Toronto Star, at the other end), and some (The Globe and Mail) just wonder what the long term fallout is going to be, as everybody here is well aware that right now the US is keeping a ledger containing those who were "for us" or "against us"... and the simplistic metric being used is that if Canada isn't for you it's against you.
\r\n\r\nThe last time this happened was Vietnam. We decided to sit that one out too. At the time, a lot of the same things were said about us in the US, despite the fact that we had gone to Korea nine years previously.
\r\n\r\nWhen we as a nation say you're making a mistake, it's probably a good idea not to dismiss it out of hand. The US is going to be heavily damaged by this war, no matter how it turns out... the only question is how much.
\r\n\r\nBTW- it's interesting to note that the Canadian compromise proposal seems to have made it... that is, definite benchmarks and a timetable, in an attempt to get the two sides of the fence to get rid of the fence. Typically, the origin of the concept has largely been forgotten... and typically, it's going to get fucked up because the time alloted is too short for anything meaningful to actually happen; three weeks is enough to actually see and assess results, but it's the ninth today... how much is going to realistically happen in a week?
\r\n\r\nThe biggest long term negative consequence of all this is that it's looking more and more that "Old Europe" and Russia are going to get together and start cooperating more closely, because right now Russia looks less dangerous than the US. This is going to have major long term negative effects on North America.
