Recounting
the behaviour of Kathy Dunderdale, Richard Cashin has frequently invoked Carroll’s
unforgettable Novel to explain the Premier’s illogical behaviour and strange
utterances.
Other pundits
have spoken the name “Alice”, as metaphor, too.
It suddenly
seems appropriate to consider the powerful imagery to which all of them,
especially Cashin, has drawn attention.
To be clear, we ought to assume it is not our beloved Alice, but the Wonderland
she came to inhabit, that gives the parody context.
It is hard
to blame Mr. Cashin, or anyone else, for attempting to make sense of a place
gone mad. The Premier’s behaviour seldom
fits the reality; public policies have been turned upside down, she lets her
Ministers say one thing when the opposite is true; ‘what’s one seat?’ she
informs the voters of Harbour Grace-Carbonear as they head to the Polls. At
times, you would think it was she, and not the Mad Hatter, who intoned: “You
would have to be half mad to dream me up.”
