After many, many months now of fighting with the White House to lift the ban on Alberta beef, Ralph Klein has decided that the ban-man you know is preferable to a wild card.

In the slipperiest political endorsement ever, Klein expresses his displeasure with the idea of an anti-Canadian-beef Kerry presidency (Kerry has made recent ranch-vote gathering comments on the mad-cow crisis), while not being able to complete the circle on his reasoning. From the Globe story:

“Mr. Klein said he doesn’t know where Mr. Bush stands on the issue.”

Well, let’s see… Bush is the sitting President and, so far, there’s still a ban. So, clue number one. A Google search of “Bush AND Canadian beef” brings up this CBC story from last April in which Bush says not a discouraging word about our cattle. And, to repeat, there is still a ban. This is the same sitting President who just last week asserted, again and again, that the US is winning the war in Iraq, so why wouldn’t we trust his word that he’ll lift the beef ban soon, despite all evidence to the contrary?

Could this be just a simple case of one straight-talking oil-rich rancher-dude standing up for another who’s being threatened by an eastern intellectual with complicated ideas?

BTW, I happily report to Alberta that I personally witnessed the leader of the federal NDP enjoying a generous portion of delicious, organic Canadian beef last week—so if you’re looking for on-the-ground support, you can find it in the intellectual east.