Comment. Rick Mercer’s herpes comment.

I’m referring to Mercer’s blog entry (and coincident editorial in The National Post) concerning Bob Rae’s bid for leadership of Canada’s federal Liberal Party, in which Mercer jests:

Nothing against Rae of course, I’m sure he means well – it’s just that his record as NDP premier of Ontario will never go away. It’s like Herpes. That’s forever.

Now, full disclosure: I used to think Rick Mercer was one of the most astute political commentators on the scene, here in Canada and abroad. His black-and-white “streeter” segments on This Hour Has 22 Minutes were things of beauty, with just the right measure of whimsy and rage. I secretly enjoyed him even more when I learned, well before he came out publicly, that he was a big homo. I’ll admit to all of that.

Oh! And your petition to force Stockwell Day to change his name to “Doris” was fuckin’ brilliant, dude.

But I must admit this, too, Rick. When you talk about Bob Rae’s stint as NDP leader and Premier of Ontario as forever like “herpes”, I can think of one thing only: your presence as opening “act” for the wildly-contrived, thinly-veiled attempt at image-resuscitation for Brian Mulroney known as Canada’s Greenest Prime Minister. As far as I’m concerned, Mulroney was an embarrassment to Canada, hitching his wagon to the wheezing corpse of Reagan (and Reaganomics) and being one-half of the creative team responsible for undertalented, orange-complected, Canadian Idol host Ben Mulroney.

To call Brian Mulroney anything even remotely resembling “green” (his singing of “When Irish Eyes are Smiling” with Reagan notwithstanding) is to court laughter. But getting back to laughter Mercer… Within weeks of Stephen Colbert’s blistering appearance at the White House Correspondents Dinner, Mercer had an arena in which his most pointed, bitter and revealing barbs could be thrown. And? Nothing.

Lame jokes, lamely delivered, intended to gently rib a politician recently revealed to be one nasty piece of work. The most acid political commentator in Canada, defanged and reduced to a fluffer for one of the most odious, venal gasbags in this country’s history.

Something to remember forever, Rick. Like Herpes.

And, I dunno, maybe it’s because The Daily Show and The Colbert Report are so damn good, but your show simply couldn’t be less funny.