BTC: Great moments in Peter MacKay

"Is it next going to be tea with Osama bin Laden? This cannot happen."

That’s Peter MacKay, the current defence minister, commenting in September 2006 on Jack Layton’s suggestion that Canada consider negotiating with the Taliban.

Now here’s the first line of today’s dispatch from the Globe’s indispensable Graeme Smith.

"Canadian troops are reaching out to the Taliban for the first time, military and diplomatic officials say, as Canada softens its ban on speaking with the insurgents."

A quick Google search turns up similar dismissiveness from Ezra Levant, Charles Adler, our own Andrew Coyne, Christie Blatchford and no less than Condoleeza Rice.