In mid-April, the Liberal Riding Association in St. Catherines put out an eight-page newsletter. On page 3 of that newsletter, riding association president Jane Cornelius included the following joke in a column she wrote:
This story was sent to me with the comment — Enjoy! I hope this brings a smile and a chuckle:
Prime Minister Stephen Harper was visiting a primary school and he visited one of the classes. They were in the middle of a discussion related to words and their meanings.
The teacher asked the PM if he would like to lead the discussion on the word “tragedy.” So the illustrious leader asked the class for an example of a “tragedy.”
One little boy stood up and offered: “If my best friend, who lives on a farm, is playing in the field and a tractor runs over him and kills him, that would be a tragedy.”
“No,” said Harper, “that would be an accident.”
A little girl raised her hand: “If a school bus carrying 50 children drove over a cliff, killing everyone inside, that would be a tragedy.”
“I’m afraid not,” explained Harper. “That’s what we would call great loss.”
The room went silent. No other children volunteered. Harper searched the room. “Isn’t there someone here who can give me an example of a tragedy?”
Finally at the back of the room, Little Johnny raised his hand … In a quiet voice he said: “If the plane carrying you and Mrs. Harper was struck by a ‘friendly fire’ missile and blown to smithereens that would be a tragedy.”
“Fantastic!” exclaimed Harper. “That’s right. And can you tell me why that would be tragedy?”
“Well,” says the boy, “It has to be a tragedy, because it certainly wouldn’t be a great loss … and it probably wouldn’t be an accident either.”
I've got a PDF of the page from the newsletter so you can see the whole thing in context.
I got this PDF from the Conservatives in St. Catharines. Thought it's been kicking around St. Catharines for more than two months, they sent it out, coincedentally enough, on the same day Dion is in St. Catharines.
Here's a brief story on this.
Technorati Tags: conservatives, Liberals
It would have been funnier if it had been Harper and George W. Bush on the airplane.