On unlikely agreement

It's exceedingly rare for me to agree with much of anything Lorne Gunter has to say. But as one might have guessed from my post yesterday, I'd have to say that he's on the mark when it comes to the real problem with Helena Guergis' airport eruption:

This Friday, Guergis apologized for speaking "emotionally" and admitted her behaviour was "not appropriate." But even if only half of the foregoing is true, this goes way beyond simple emotionality and inappropriateness. This exemplifies the worst of the arrogance that gets into the heads of some politicians.

Who in this day and age arrives at an airport 15 minutes before a flight and expects to be waved through check-in and security? Only someone who is so convinced of her own importance that she has come to believe the rules that apply to mere mortals do not also apply to her.

Witness her remark about how she had been on the island working hard for "you people." There is in that a regal complex in which the speaker believes her magnanimity towards the little people entitles her to their gratitude and favour.

Of course, I strongly disagree with Gunter's apparent view that we should assume that the problem is solely with Guergis personally rather than with the Cons' government as a whole. Which is why I part company with the suggestion that firing Guergis should be enough to put the incident in the past.

But hopefully we can agree that if Stephen Harper continues to defend Guergis, then that will tell Canada that the regal attitude is at least accepted if not fully shared by the Cons in general.