Good grief, lighten up a little.  Climate Barbie like Rocket Man and President Orange and Helmet Head Harper and Lyin Brian and Shrillary Clinton and (pick a favourite) is simply a convenient and colourful shorthand to describe a politician with whom you disagree and to signal one reason why you disagree with him or her.

A sense of humour and a thick skin are both essential for a long career in politics.

So either Catherine should work on her sense of humour and her thick skin or she brought this up in concert with the PMO as one of the Liberals' diversionary tactics to take the public's attention off the latest tax grab proposal.

It may well be the latter.   Longtime Liberal loyalist and Toronto Star columnist Susan Delacourt wrote a day ago that the Liberals seem to have come back from summer recess in a "chippier" mood.  This would explain chips on the shoulder like McKenna's on this Barbie triviality.  Its now mid term, some promises must be kept, so no more Mr./Ms. Nice Guy!