5 Feet of Fury

George Stroumboulopoulos is Barbara Walters with a soul patch

My latest in FrontPage, with files (extremely large files…) from Jamie Glazov (look for any bits about Stalin…)

And so, Stroumboulopoulos was a natural hire for the CBC. In 2004, he co-hosted one of those typically desperate and patronizing CBC programming “events”, a series called The Greatest Canadian. Viewers voted for the historical figure they felt most deserved that accolade, and Stroumboulopoulos successfully championed the father of Canada’s bloated, inefficient – but “free” – healthcare system, socialist leader Tommy Douglas.

Aside from the sickening notion that Canadians are prouder of a broken down government entitlement program than, say, their soldiers’ bravery on D-Day, the ugly fact is that Douglas, like so many “enlightened” progressives then and now, championed eugenics.

Having “won” the televised contest, Stroumboulopoulos got his own show, The Hour, in January 2005. Critics weren’t kind. One TV columnist called the program “short attention span theatre” and compared Stroumboulopoulos to “Poochie”, the “cool” surfing dog on The Simpsons, brought in to (unsuccessfully) modernize the “Itchy and Scratchy Show.” Many singled out Stroumboulopoulos’ wardrobe for special criticism: the all-black ensemble favored by artsy college kids, enlivened only by those colorful plastic bracelets advertising the latest liberal causes.

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And he’s so cool that even when his guest is a political or artistic giant, the possibility is always there that Stroumoulopoulos might call the dignitary “dude.”