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Great White North
Green candidate says his 2002 column cheering 9-11 was 'symbolic'
2007-04-14
(CP) - A Green candidate for the next federal election says he was just being "symbolic" when he wrote a column in 2002 cheering the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.
"Yeah, really. You can't take what I said in the past seriously."
Kevin Potvin said Friday it should be obvious that he wasn't happy with the deaths of the thousands killed that day. Potvin is the publisher and editor of the alternative Vancouver newspaper The Republic. In November 2002, he wrote a column saying that when he saw the first of the World Trade Centre towers fall Sept. 11, 2001, "there was a little voice inside me that said 'Yeah!'

"When the second tower came down the same way, that little voice said 'Beautiful.'
Posted by:Fred

#16  Joe Hazelwood.
Posted by: Shinens Squank4444   2007-04-14 21:24  

#15  I prefer the old "dragging a body burnt beyond recognition behind the rusty pickup truck" symbolism myself.
Posted by: bigjim-ky   2007-04-14 18:59  

#14  Hanging from a lamp post by a rope is also "symbolic".
Posted by: Redneck Jim   2007-04-14 12:30  

#13  If he was telling the truth, he deserves contempt. If he was lying, he deserves, well, contempt. The Canadians deserve better than this.
Posted by: whatadeal   2007-04-14 12:03  

#12  The radical “Greens” preach that by “eliminating consumerism” all will be able to traverse the road to Utopia. Translation: Capitalism is the evil impediment to their visions for a Perfect-world society. And therefore must be eradicated at all costs. If billions of dollars in infrastructure can be obliterated as a catalyst, to that end, innocent human life is their version of collateral damage. This is the dogma of the Ward ChrurhillsÂ’ of the world. The obvious hypocrisy is glaring. But itÂ’s their kinship with Islamists that exposes their naivety. The first order of business under Sharia Law will not be a universal recycling program.
Posted by: DepotGuy   2007-04-14 11:01  

#11  Nice curse, Tony! Did you e-mail that to him?

Please do. I'm working on a short and sweet curse myself.
Posted by: Bobby   2007-04-14 10:57  

#10  You're also a complete wanker Mr Potvin.

And there you have it.


Posted by: Shipman   2007-04-14 10:01  

#9  Well when you die I will be cheering and raising a beer in happiness. Along with you, Murtha, Osama, Islamofascists and cheese eating surrender monkeys. All in a purely symbolic way, of course.
Posted by: DarthVader   2007-04-14 09:03  

#8  One of the few fictions that make it possible to tolerate Greens is that, theoretically anyway, they "care" about people and the environment.

Would Kevin Potvin allow two tankfuls of jet fuel to be burned in an empty downtown lot in Vancouver for symbolism's sake? Of course not.

Most Greens who would imprison Bob Hazlewood (Exxon Valdez) for life are also strangely silent on Saddam's destruction of the Marsh Arab eco-system.
Posted by: JDB   2007-04-14 08:48  

#7  I think it will be symbolic if he gets his head busted...
Posted by: badanov   2007-04-14 08:27  

#6  "I go to great pains to make clear that I'm not talking about the deaths of anybody. After all, as you can imagine, I'm a human being. I'm a father, I'm a hockey dad, I'm a businessman, I'm a community leader."

You're also a complete wanker Mr Potvin.

I hope you are visited at night by vile dreams that won't go away, will eat at what's left of your soul and will leave you shaking in the morning - until the following night...

What a shite - a true melon!
Posted by: Tony (UK)   2007-04-14 08:19  

#5  But wait! There's more:

We share common cause with the Islamist terrorists

Far from being unreasonable fanatics, the terrorists fight for the same things we do. We have a common enemy.

by Kevin Potvin (kpotvin@republic-news.org)
The Republic No. 118 - July 21 to August 1, 2005

. . . Our government leaders would like us to believe that unreasonable terrorists are trying to kill us because they hate us, and our leaders would like us to think that terrorist attacks have nothing to do with our governments’ policies. But the true picture is quite different. Our government leaders, currently in thrall to an enemy common to members of our society as well as Islamic societies—irresponsible global corporations—is lying about the terrorists. It is our own government leaders who are unwilling to negotiate with the reasonable Islamists, and it is our own corporations that are in the business of killing both our societies. The Islamists are fighting back for a cause that we endorse. We can help them, and ourselves, by telling our governments and our companies to back off from both our endangered societies.

(h/t Kathy "Relapsed Catholic" Shaidle)
Posted by: Mike   2007-04-14 07:36  

#4  Green Party Leader Elizabeth May said she found the statements in Potvin's column "shocking."

"I'm shocked he was dumb enough to publish them. We usually keep these things to ourselves here on the Left."

She wondered whether news reports had taken him out of context

Deploying the old "taken out of context" defense. If that doesn't work, the next step is the old "passive voice" trick: Mistakes were made. Words were published. Shots were fired. The object of the sentence was used as its subject.

and said she'd give him the benefit of the doubt for now.

"At least until it all blows over, or something comes along to distract--Oh! Look! It's Anna Nicole and Paris, naked!"

But she added: "If those reflect his real views, he will not be a candidate for the Green Party."

"Not that we don't agree with him, mind you, we just need to find someone, you know, a little quieter, more discreet . . . .
Posted by: Mike   2007-04-14 07:15  

#3  Yo, Kevin!

That was my 'symbolic' fist rearranging your lying face. Oh, by the way, don't ask me to vote for you. You won't like the results. Now go crawl back under your rock, pissant.

DanNY
Posted by: DanNY   2007-04-14 05:11  

#2  The Left is allied with Islamic terrorists...oh, now there's a newsflash.
Posted by: gromky   2007-04-14 03:44  

#1  Mass murder is always so "symbolic", isn't it. Tattoo this bastard's 9-11 column onto his back and cut him loose naked at ground zero in New York city. I'm sure they'll also be saying "Yeah" and "Beautiful" as they give him a nice warm "symbolic" welcome.
Posted by: Zenster   2007-04-14 01:08  

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