- Reaction score
- 0
- Points
- 260
http://www.torontosun.com/news/2008/10/04/6974501-sun.html
NDP hopeful resigns over comments
By DON PEAT, SUN MEDIA
Last Updated: 4th October 2008, 2:31am
The Durham NDP candidate who called an anti-war activist a "fascist bitch" and other derogatory names has called it quits.
Late last night, the NDP issued a statement from Andrew McKeever pulling the plug on his candidacy.
"Because of the repetition of comments I made before becoming a candidate, comments that I have already apologized for and profoundly regret, I can no longer continue as a candidate," McKeever wrote. "This ceaseless repetition is damaging to everyone concerned including those I have hurt ... I cannot allow my candidacy to detract from the important decisions Canadians must make."
McKeever's online rants against supporters of U.S. war deserters, particularly activist Krystalline Kraus, had been making headlines for days as the Liberals continued to make political hay out of comments that seemed to defy the NDP's own support of the deserters staying in Canada and its opposition to the war in Afghanistan.
An NDP spokesman said the party accepted the resignation but declined further comment.
Kraus told the Sun yesterday McKeever shouldn't continue as a candidate after making such "misogynist and sexist" slams.
She originally settled for a public apology from McKeever and a statement reasserting the NDP's committment to supporting U.S. soldiers trying to stay in Canada. But while other candidates from other parties got dumped for controversial comments, Kraus questioned why the NDP wouldn't distance itself from McKeever.
The most recent Liberal release referred to McKeever's MySpace page, saying he wrote: "I like the part in Schindler's List when the guard starts waxing the prisoners" and listed his hero as "George W. Bush."
Last week, the Liberals published McKeever's comments posted on a Kraus' Facebook group that supports war resisters.
"I can guarantee, if I ever see you face to face I will make you squeal for the same authority you have such a baseless disdain for," he wrote in one post.
Despite his withdrawal, McKeever's name will still appear on ballots for the Oct. 14 election because it's too late for Elections Canada to change them.