Mark Steyn oozes into Ottawa

Don't know what it is about Mark Steyn, but it seems when people write about him variations of the word "ooze" pop into mind.

Dr. Dawg writes:

I was one of the first to arrive, followed by John Pacheco of the now-defunct blog SoCon or Bust, and then Mark Steyn, with a two-man entourage. The group of them got into a happy conversation, and like a pot set vigorously aboil, the waiting room was soon splattered by the frolicsome four: "radical secular left," "cultural relativism run amok," "post-modern world," "the mushy middle," etc.

Steyn did not disappoint, by the way. All of my prejudices and preconceptions were borne out. He is an insufferably smug man, his sense of self-importance positively oozing from his frame.

And John Pacheco, who's SoCon or Bust is not defunct, only on a new platform, wrote about first meeting Mark Steyn:

I cordially introduced myself as the blogger for Socon or Bust and he was kind enough to show that he remembered the name. If he did or did not remember it, I don’t know, but Mark is too much of a gentleman and scholar to say he didn’t know my blog from a hill of beans.

We then proceeded to have a wonderful conversation about the whole Human Rights Racket for the next half hour. If you’ve never heard Mark Steyn in person, and you get an opportunity, I highly recommend you go and hear the man speak. He is just as entertaining in real life as he is in print. His humour and keen observations are so natural for him that it is easy to understand why he is such a successful columnist and author. The man just oozes dry wit and soft sarcasm. The fact that he will be the subject of one of these farcical human rights complaints makes Canada look worse than the banana republics that we like to castigate for their “human rights abuses”. The only significant human rights abuse going on right now in this country is the existence of the Human Rights Commissions and their lackeys pimping for and encouraging the attack on the most basic human right which is the right to free speech. It’s a national disgrace that Mark Steyn was covering a CHRT hearing today for Maclean’s. In June, he is going to be the one covered.

As much as I enjoyed Dr. Dawg as perhaps a more civil left-winger, one with whom it seems one can cordially agree to disagree with warmth and good humor, I share John Pacheco's perception. I didn't find Mark Steyn self-important or smug at all. I'm disappointed that Dawg has contributed to WK's smear campaign against Steyn, which is something I would hope he would rise above. Civility in the form of a handshake does not equate with agreement or support. Steyn's defence of freedom of speech even for repugnant speech, does not mean agreement with that speech, only old-fashioned tolerance. I mean, Obama gets a pass on his close association with a racist preacher who thinks AIDs was invented by white people. So, Dawg, give Steyn a break. Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.

The differing reactions to Mark Steyn remind me of a Canadian Association of Journalists' sponsored talk by Conrad Black in the late 1990s, after he had bought Southam and created the National Post. (If my memory serves me correctly). Anyway, the room was packed with journalists and about half the room laughed at Black's wit, recognizing that his big vocabulary words are a form of self-deprecating humor. The other half of the room seethed with rage as if to say, "Who does this blowhard think he is." I guess they were the more literal minded in the group.