Bush Can Call Me Steve--Harper

'Specially when the silent dog whistle doesn't work.--Metro

I'd suggest "Little Stephen", Steve, but he's extremely cool and you're . . . not.

When this first became an item of interest in Canada (That is, * treating non-US-ians with the usual contempt):

"Longtime friends contacted Friday say Canada's 22nd prime minister has been known as Stephen to family, friends and teachers since grade school. Never Steve."

--From CBC.ca

What's interesting is that Harper's now saying "just a few close friends" have ever called him Steve.

"But I've been called a lot worse than that - including by people who say they like me."

--Steve Harper (aka Stevie, Stevester, the Steve-a-rama, the Steverino, Steve-ums ...)

Considering how few people actually like him, I suppose it's possible they've just been overlooked.

It may seem a small and petty thing. But it's really just one facet of a much larger issue: Bush has no respect for anyone besides himself, and no nation but his own.

The fact that he calls the elected leader of the largest truly free nation on Earth by a diminutive doesn't mean they're chums. It tells us what he thinks of Harper and our nation as a whole.

As Paul Frazer (former Canadian and now Washington Consultant) says here: "You don't need tight [friendships], you need respect".

Must be rough getting neither, Steve-O.