Thanks to Bourque, we have this charming bit from BC Liberal Party President Jamie Elmhirst, recalling the words of Industry Minister David Emerson:

Jack Layton had a great weekend in BC. First he managed to find something nice to say about Svend Robinson, although the performance struck me as a touch insincere, even for Jack Layton. How did Minister Emerson describe his style at our Convention dinner? Oh yes, he said that Jack Layton had a boiled dog's head smile. That would have made even me wince if I hadn't have been laughing so hard.

First, I'm certain David Emerson would like to to have a chat with Elmhirst about what is to be kept in confidence, and what is to be repeated on a public website, assuming that phone call hasn't already been placed.

But are either Emerson or Elmhirst guilty of pulling a Klander?

I don't think so. The description of Jack Layton having a "boiled dog's head smile", as unappealing as that is, is descriptive but not racist or homophobic. It does not draw an identifiable group into the insult, to be used as part of the insult, thus insulting both that group and the original target.

For instance, when Stephen Harper is described as looking "gay" in a cowboy suit, Mike Klander was clearly relying on stereotyped views of homosexual appearance, as if there was such a thing, as a basis for the insult. The offends homosexuals as well as Stephen Harper, and so is deemed unacceptable. The Olivia Chow insult was keyed on Olivia Chow's name and her Asian appearance, and in doing so cast the insult on all Asian women, and so it also goes too far.

Basically an insult should endeavour to avoid too much collateral damage, as it were.

That isn't the case here with the "boiled dog's head smile" insult. But in the aftermath of the Klander incident, we might be too willing to take every puerile (or even elaborate) insult flung by the Liberals and try to turn it into a firing offense.

That would be a mistake.

First, it is unlikely to work, since people will be able to tell when an insult goes too far, and when it doesn't. A constant bleating about every insult will sound foolish and petty. No one likes a crybaby.

Second, on the off chance that it does work, and yet another insult results in yet another firing, the chilling effect can do more harm than good in stifling legitimate political discourse.

The bottom line here is that any insult that is based on physical appearance, whether specific to an individual (probably acceptable) or based on gender or race or some other broadly applicable characteristic (almost certainly unacceptable), is a weak and ineffectual insult, no matter how cleverly constructed. Physical appearance is not something we can alter all that dramatically, and almost never provides real insight into the thoughts of the person.

It is the ultimate ad hominem attack, and reflects poorly on the person making the insult.

So David Emerson made fun of Jack Layton's smile, at least according to Jamie Elmhirst. Not a big deal in of itself, in my judgment. But it is indicative of a recurring pattern within the Liberal Party of slinging insults, whether it is against parents who want to be entrusted with their own children, or against Asians, or against homosexuals, or against people who don't vote Liberal, or against people who don't live in Toronto, or against men with thinning hair and toothy grins.

At this rate, just about everyone is going to be at the receiving end of an insult from a senior member of the Liberal Party before January 23. Some insults will cost people their jobs, others won't. But either way, the people being insulted are going to have think long and hard if it was their intention to vote Liberal.

And if you weren't insulted, look around at your friends and family. Were any of them collateral damage from a Liberal attack? How did they feel? Then look at your ballot again. It is a secret ballot, of course, and with reason. But if it wasn't, would you still feel comfortable voting Liberal, and then facing your friends and family, insulted and angry as they are? I know I would factor that into my decision.

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