“Bush is a moron, as presidents go”

If someone can lose their job for speaking the truth, then we are all in trouble, say respondents to The Daily News Hotline.

Forty of the 58 callers and e-mailers said an aide to Prime Minister Jean Chretien should not lose her job for being overheard calling U.S. President George W. Bush a “moron.”

The Hotline asked if Chretien should have fired the woman on the spot for the remark.

Francoise Ducros, Chretien’s communications director since 1999, has since resigned, saying the controversy would “make it impossible for me to do my job.”

The matter has been in the headlines since last week, when Ducros referred to Bush as a “moron” in a private conversation with a reporter. The comment was overheard by another reporter, who published the remark.

Chretien accepted Ducros’s resignation after first refusing to do so.

George Publicover of Moncton said it would be difficult to fire someone for speaking the truth.

“Bush is a moron, as presidents go,” Publicover said. “If the aide gets fired, it should be for lack of judgment, not for speaking the truth.”

Halifax’s Richard McConnell said, “Bush is the American equivalent of Canada’s Stockwell Day, and thus, a moron.”

A female caller said Ducros’s biggest crime was not being politically correct, while a second said she has a few more things she could call Bush.

Paul Brodie of Halifax said Ducros should receive the Order of Canada “for her honesty in assessing (Bush).”

Frank Arsenault of Truro said Ducros could have called Bush “a lot worse and still been right.”