Lyric discussion by mhare 

Cover art for Mean Streak lyrics by Tragically Hip, The

Two things. Firstly, the "stranger" line against the TV reference makes me think this song is about someone real and influential appearing on the news (like a politician) and suddenly saying something that makes them seem like an entirely differently, entirely worse person than you thought. "We never seen a stranger 'round here", we never thought we'd be betrayed by someone who said they had the same morality as we did. The last part about haywagon's might be a sly dig at the current US government as mock-cowboys.