Klein Has a Temper Tantrum (Again)

During Wednesday's session of Question Period in the Alberta legislature, Premier Ralph Klein once again found himself having to apologize for opening his mouth and inserting both feet - a disorder he's been afflicted with pretty much all of his life.

I'm sure many of you remember when he called Ontarians "bums and creeps", blamed "dinosaur farts" for causing the Ice Age, and who can forget the incident when he stopped, threw money at homeless people in a shelter and told them to get jobs, while he was being chauffeured around drunk as a skunk? He had to publicly announce his drinking problem after that one and beg for forgiveness. And Albertans, being the conservative sheeple that the majority are, simply proclaimed shock and awe and promptly reelected him.

Okay, so he's given up drinking and is now, apparently, stone cold sober - so what could possibly have set him off this time? Simple: criticism. The king does not like to be challenged - about anything - ever. And he especially hates it when it's done during that most pesky time of day, Question Period, when the minions in the opposition actually have the audacity to question his eminence.

Considering how short our legislative sessions are in the first place, I'm sure Ralph thinks the opposition should be grateful for the little time they're bestowed by him to represent their constituents. Who cares about those constituents anyway? They elected liberals, for God's sake! That just smacks too much of democracy.

So, what did Ralph do that he had to apologize for? Well, he asked for "good ideas" from the opposition when they criticized his proposed Third Way (the rich get their way and the poor can rot) health care reforms. The Liberals responded by having a page hand Klein a copy of their health policy red book. It was at that moment that Ralphie snapped - in front of a gallery full of school children. He threw it back at the page and called it "crap". Maybe he was just giving the children a lesson about bullying - using himself as an example of what not to do. (I think that's how the Conservatives should spin this one).

At the end of Question Period, Klein found himself having to apologize. I don't know about you, but I'm kind of tired of the "honey, I'm sorry I hit you, I bought you these flowers" routine. His fans, however, seem to want to believe him - just hoping tomorrow will be a new day. You'd think that, after all of the bruises and broken bones, they'd know better by now.