Offensive, vile, and mean-spirited

Once again, Danny Wiwwiams is suffewing fwom huwt feewings:

“His behaviour has been vile, for want of a better term. You know, the statements that he made in the email were very, very offensive. Not only offensive to me but offensive to a lot of people. Then, when he and the Liberal party came back and said that this was really a joke, that just made it worse.

Williams called the comments “mean spirited” and said he felt it was important to point out Westcott’s previous actions.

“I don’t want the caucus members in my party subjected to this kind of vile behaviour.

You see, gentle reader, here’s the funny thing.

There is no small number of people who would think it vile — for want of a better term — when the Premier of a province says of certain public health-care employees, “It's disgraceful. They should be shot over there."

There is no small number of people would would think it mean-spirited to refer to members of the legislative opposition as “Quebec lovers”, and belittle the Leader of the Opposition by sarcastically calling her “mademoiselle”, one of the four French words he knows.

There is no small number of people who would think it offensive to call refer to the leader of the NDP, given her former career, as “holier than thou”.

There is a huge number of people, a huge, silent number of people, who thought it gravely offensive for an officer of the court to suggest that a Supreme Court Justice “got up on the wrong side of the bed” for making a decision that did not meet Our Dear Approval.

There is an even huger number of people who thought it offensive when the heard, live on the air, the same man berate a radio journalist, whose mind was insufficiently blown by some announcement or another, that “we don't need that kind of crap and pessimism coming out of your mouth”

There is at least one person who was offended when he sneeringly dismissed a member of his own caucus with “Pfff. Anyway, for what it's worth, he's entitled to his opinion.”

There’s at least one person who could have torqued it as a threat of violence, when he threatened a municipal election candidate with a “shit-knocking”. And, invoking the new Westcott precedent, even though this episode was before he entered into his current job, it still matters.

There are some people who find it vile and offensive when he refers to domestic political opponents, or even private citizens, as “traitors” who “betray” us with their “betrayal”.

And there are people who still remember the patronizing, bordering on sexist, comments, by the leader of a party and a government, who expressed his “disappointment” in female leaders of other parties for having the temerity to question or oppose him; for snotty references like “Miss Guy can do her 'Dear Diary' notes alongside of her, whassername”; or for using the phrase “Joyce Hancocks of the world” as a pejorative.

Vile, offensive, and mean-spirited.

And those kinds of things are bad, apparently. At least when they directed at Him.

Which is, of course, why He apologized for all of those comments.

Oh, wait. No it isn’t.

In fact, on one occasion, when expressly offered the opportunity to apologize for one of His dantrums, He was offended at the very suggestion:

"No are you kidding, apology?" a visibly upset Mr. Williams scoffed to reporters Thursday, defending his government and Health Minister Ross Wiseman's role in an Eastern Health press release boondoggle this spring.

"There will be no apology. Why should I apologize for protecting the health and the safety of the people of this province?"

In the matter of Westcott vs. Williams, it’s no trouble to see who is the bigger man.