Getting distracted, Del Mastro style

On Facebook, I get a link to a message from Mike Rilstone, Friend of a Friend, under the title

WAKE UP CANADA!
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At what point in time does a party duct tape a buffoon's mouth?
Isn't a used car salesman taking a medical doctor to task in her own field, (albeit something a bright Grade One kid would probably know), a bit much?

What he's talking about is the comment PC MP Dean Del Mastro made on radio to Liberal MP Carolyn Bennett that biology was not science. Bennett is a medical doctor. Apparently she burst out laughing. On blog spots, and comment sites all over the internet, Del Mastro has been pilloried as a bozo, a clown, and, as above, a buffoon. Maybe so. But don't expect him to get the duct tape treatment any time soon, because in making these kinds of comments, he is doing pretty much the job assigned to him. He is not supposed to be an expert; he is supposed to be a distraction. 

Need proof?  Ask yourself, what was the occasion for this comment? Why were these two MPs being interviewed in the first place? About what? What was the outcome for the issue they were debating? 

Discussion of the "Sex: A Tell-All Exhibit" at the museum of Science and Technology and of criticism of the government's  negative response to it, has pretty much disappeared, as amused and irate commentators shift focus to the nonsense spewing from the mouth of Del Mastro. He has become the issue. He has succeeded. And because he has succeeded, he will be rewarded with  more opportunities to be a stand-up distraction in the future.

Del Mastro is not a newby to parliament. He is in his third term, so the Prime Minister knew what he was getting when he promoted Del Mastro to positions of increasing responsibility and visibility. 

That's right: his third term. Somebody in Peterborough likes what he is doing for his constituency--a lot of somebodies.

That reminds me of the third verse of Tom Paxton's satirical song, "What did You Learn In School Today?":

What did you learn in school today,
Dear little boy of mine?
What did you learn in school today,
Dear little boy of mine?
I learned our government must be strong.
It's always right and never wrong.
Our leaders are the finest men.
And we elect them again and again.
That's what I learned in school today.
That's what I learned in school.

Within the parliamentary connotations of the word, Dean Del Mastro is doing a "fine job."  Even if a lot of commentators are wondering if he went to school, and if he studied or passed any science courses while he was there.

Another angle he pursued in his analysis of the Exhibit was that if people wanted that kind of information, they should go to an adult video store for it, prompting a few to wonder if he has spent much time in adult video stores, because he seems to need to learn a lot about them, their services and products, too. 

See--a distraction.