Close.
Posted on 06/23/2007 3:49:17 AM PDT by Clive
We don't want to knock our fellow journalists. Like them, we see how tempting it is to establish one's class bona fides by sneering at the Conservative party's sponsorship of a NASCAR Canadian Tire series vehicle. Or, better yet, by having anonymous "observers" do it for you, or claiming on a news page that there is an unspecified "buzz" of controversy in the air. Nothing could be easier, and nothing says more clearly "this byline does not belong to the kind of person who likes to spend a day watching a guy turn left 800 times." Rest assured, scribes, we understand that you would never dream of having anything but Italian opera on your iPods, single malts in your highball glass and PBS on the television. If you have a television.
Among journalists, the Toronto Star's Susan Delacourt has worked the hardest to distance herself from the people who can tell a wrench from a ratchet: in a June 19 column she called NASCAR "the stuff of young boys' wish lists" along with hockey and the military, bewailing the "heavily male symbolism" of the car sponsorship and churning it together with a passel of underreported, feeble nonsense about "attributes of political culture that "turn women off the whole business of politics." Actually, the article wasn't nearly so offensive about NASCAR as it was about the Canadian Armed Forces, which it placed on a par with auto racing and hockey as if it were some sort of locus for arbitrary rooting interest. Perhaps she thinks the only real difference between the Taliban's soldiers and ours, like the difference between the Leafs and the Habs, is the colour of the laundry.
More focused, but scarcely any more logical, was Sun Media's ordinarily admirable Greg Weston. On Thursday, he complained that "If the NASCAR deal were being paid entirely by donors to the Conservative party, it would not be an issue [but] thanks to the genius of Jean Chretien's banning of corporate and union donations, Canadian taxpayers now fund the federal parties to the tune of roughly $28-million this year."
Yes, and the whole point of that funding is for parties to buy what they consider to be the most effective available political advertising. It's replacing much larger amounts they are forbidden to collect and spend in the private sector. Mr. Weston's quarrel presumably isn't with political advertising as such, so we wonder what can be wrong in particular with the kind that revolves around a track at high speed.
Liberal leader Stephane Dion at least had the sense to avoid these criticisms and stick mostly to jokes on Thursday. "We already knew the Conservative party likes to go around in circles -- now they're paying somebody else to do it for them," he quipped in a speech. Well, we know belly laughs aren't the Opposition leader's forte. But we have to admit, when he fired off the gag about how the NASCAR sponsorship "is like everything else the Conservatives do, a car crash waiting to happen," the fact that he was wisecracking about injury and death so callously almost gave us a subversive Lenny Bruce thrill. Mr. Dion was never more reminiscent of his victorious predecessor Jean Chretien, who thought only of a nice steak whenever pepper spray was mentioned.
The one objection shared amongst everyone who dislikes the Conservative's deal to brand a race car is the environmental one. As Mr. Dion noted, a NASCAR Canadian Tire entrant that finishes a race will go through about 600 litres of fuel. But then, that's a drop in the bucket compared to the fuel consumed by the live attendees -- at a car race, or any other sport or cultural event. The real difference with a stock car race -- if there is one, aside from the fact that the fans favour tube tops and trucker hats -- is that stock car racing actually helps automakers research advancements in aerodynamics and engine construction that can help lead to greater fuel efficiency down the road for every driver.
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I wonder how long it’s going to take the Libs to figure out that their great leader (Mr. Cretin - deliberately mis-spelled) totally decimated the party’s ability to fundraise with his legislation. What they failed to bank on was the income difference between hard-working conservatives and “sucking on the teat” liberals.
REALLY. I'll bet she doesn't shave her legs.
And her arm pits look like she has buckwheat in a headlock.
They’re sponsoring a car in the Canadian regional series. Like the Grand National division.
Grassroots short track racing.
Ah man. I was having a visual and looked up and it was Hillary's face. Absolutely retching.
Are they trying to say that anyone who gets in a vehicle for recreation purposes is hurting the environement.?
You see, this is what you get with federal funding of political parties. You will get the left and right sniping about the use of taxpayer money.
While I have no issue with advertising on a NASCAR vehicle, imagine the liberal equivalent ---- taxpayer funded advertising in a Michael Moore movie.
The bottom line here is that liberals push for these rules (like publicly funded political parties) and then complain about the results.
Thanks! NASCAR is getting goofier and goofier, so I wouldn’t be surprised.
NASCAR never made me a conservative. Don’t watch the show. I don’t blame them for getting some votes for Republicans though. Good for us. Democrats should just go find their own group and have them get sponsored.
I suspect that reading deeper it is just a manifestation of Male Hate.
After all, we compete with women like this for the women.
That is why men have to be portrayed as brainless inept dolts in movies and commercials. The very special type of male chosen for ultimate contempt is the Breeding Father.
Yes, there are many such males. But they are balanced by this writer, who is able to prove in a few sentences that raging hatred of the opposite sex is an Equal Opportunity malady.
I’ve been to one Nascar race. I admit, I’d never stand in the rain for days to get a ticket, but it was fun. To save money on souvenirs, just dump several cans of paint on a t-shirt and just like magic......you’ve got a Nascar Shirt! No one will know the difference. You’ll fit right in. The money you saved can be spent on more 22 oz cans of beer.
LOL!!!
You win the award for the most image-inspiring words posted so far today!
Close.
If you’re ever chased by a mob of NASCAR fans, run away, and then make a right turn.
. . . 6, 7, 8, . . .
THankyoo very much. I’ll be here all week. Remember to tip your waiter.
Thank you so much, bush hog anyone?
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