"Man is the only animal that blushes. Or needs to." (Mark Twain).

"Look at him, blushing where he sits." (John George Diefenbaker).

Watching the Prime Minister during the daily Question Period-on those occasions when he attends-one can only but notice the frequency of his blushes. Comparing his demeanor with those of his eight immediate predecessors, it may be asserted that he is the blushingest Prime Minister Canada has ever had.

His colour ranges from pink to apoplectic purple depending on his reaction to the barbs and taunts to which he is subjected from the Official Opposition, the Bloc Quebécois, and the New Democratic Party.

That he is uncomfortable when responding to touchy questions is plain to see. He gives the appearance of being on the wrong side of every right issue and on the right side of every wrong issue.

His tendency to procrastinate has added to the perception of his public persona. And when he finally makes a decision, the timing is pitiful. The saga of the on again off again decision on ballistic missile defence is painful reading. His newly appointed ambassador to the United States was hung out to dry after saying Canada was participating, only to be contradicted two days later by the Prime Minister's announcement that Canada would not be a participant.

But nothing equaled the scale of the Prime Minister's discomfiture in late March when attempting to defend his bare-faced additions to the democratic deficit by appointing nine personally selected new members of the Senate of Canada. Huff and puff as he might, nothing could disguise the fact that the Prime Minister had no clothes. And the more he blustered, the redder and redder the blushes became.

His defence that he attempted to balance his choices by including three supporters of Opposition parties quickly fell apart. Two were supporters of a defunct party, and the third was disowned by the party which the Prime Minister said she supported.

All in all, it was a sorry spectacle, coming straight on the heels of the pledge given the week before by the Leader of the Official Opposition that, if he became Prime Minister, he would nominate only elected persons to become members of the Senate.

Even members of the Prime Minister's own party were notably ill at ease. Once again their leader had demonstrated his disregard for democracy. Once again he had demonstrated his disregard for the wishes of the vast majority of the Canadian people. Once again he was on the wrong side of a right issue.

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