In the parallel universe inhabited by Beebazoids this panel might seem like a representative, even right of centre, assortment of opinion regarding the next four Bush years. Having selected eight panelists, all the Beeb can muster is two solid Bush supporters and a semi-supportive one. The remaining five might consider Michael Moore a bit too mushy. Alice in Wonderland makes better sense. The BBC must still be trying to come to terms with the idiocy of the American electorate.
Struggling BBC employees have a voice on the panel in Nancy Pew, who states: “Inauguration Day 2005 will be a day of mourning, reflection and prayer for me.”
Well what a surprise, a majority of Dems on the panel. Interesting to compare this to ‘Don’t have your say’. As regulars know, DHYS has the caveat:
“The following comments reflect the balance of opinion we have received so far”
Even the BBC will be aware that the ‘balance of opinion’ amongst US voters falls the way of Bush. So we can’t have that this time. For the ‘Voters’ views: Bush’s second term’ so-called story, the caveat we have is:
“The readers’ panel has been selected from as wide a cross-section of people as possible and may not be representative of wider US public opinion.”
No shit!
And how random was the ‘selection’, I wonder? I Googled the name of one of the named Dem supporters, Nancy O’Leary Pew, and found she founded Blankets for America. In their own words they are:
“Supporters of Howard Dean (all progressives are welcome) and his progressive agenda work together to make blankets and quilts for people who are at risk, live in shelt
Let’s have that quote again …
“Supporters of Howard Dean (all progressives are welcome) and his progressive agenda work together to make blankets and quilts for people who are at risk, live in shelters or otherwise need support.”
I suspect that the BBC simply has a database of people to call on and decides in advance the ‘balance of opinion’ they want to project to the world.
“The readers’ panel has been selected from as wide a cross-section of people as possible and may not be representative of wider US public opinion.”…
..”It is however, representative of the ideological climate here at the Beeb and was the most skewed group we felt we could publish before being accused of taking the p*ss”
Inauguration Day 2005 will be a day of mourning, reflection and prayer for me.
Damn fundamentalists are ruining this country!
From here in downtown DC, the view is mainly of a combination of very happy reasonable people, and very angry unreasonable people – marching as if the election hasn’t happened yet.
They’re even invoking the orange colors of the Ukraine – handing out armbands saying “we demand honest elections in kiev AND in columbus” (ohio)…
Strange that they would forget that the US government took no side with the “blues” in the Ukraine, that the left was silent about the whole thing, etc, etc.
They were also handing out pins saying “Bush cheated” – how very adult. Just like the last time, it’s a completely unsubstanciated bit of invective. Bush won Ohio by 144 000 votes. 2 000 were deemed dodgy by the left – (no figure ever mentioned about the county where they counted more democratic voters that there were registered voters) so they want to call the election “unfair.”
Ridiculous – they complain about the cost, entirely by donation (except for police overtime), and forget a
cont’d:
Ridiculous – they complain about the cost, entirely by donation (except for police overtime), and forget about Clinton’s “Inaugural WEEK” in 93.
Rotten. Just plain rotten.
Sure the mone COULD have come to tsunami relief, but so could have the tens of millions spent on the remarkably forgettable Golden Globe Awards in Hollywood.
Tonight on BBC2’s program The Culture Show, the cultural divide in the US was examined. The presenter said that Bush was re-elected by the “narrow majority” of 51%. Two hours later on aprogram examining the provenance of Roman Abramovich’s oil billions, former President Yeltsin was described by one of the interviewees as having won his election by a “substantial margin” having obtained 52% of the vote.
Firstly, the BBC’s presenters fail to mention Bill Clinton’s electoral poll of 42% (courtesy of Ross Perot).
Secondly, do the BBC’s producers still claim to be impartial when clear evidence to the contrary appears within two hours?
“The following comments reflect the balance of opinion we have received so far”
I have come to recognize that disclaimer as a clear warning sign.
One of the things that I have noticed about the BBC’s selection of emails on their website is that their chosen posters present one side of the argument in short clear rational postings, and the other in scattered ranting “crazy retired colonel” screeds.
They do this especially when the topic of the EU comes up. Everyone for the EU sounds level-headed, and most posters against read like nutters. Now, given the high percentage of voters who tell polsters that they oppose EU measures, is that really plausible?
Alan- you’re SO right. The Whirled Service has been busking for the “Americans Explain America”, “a deeply divided nation” for WEEKS…. Odd that they would never call it that if it was just as divided under the left.
It wouldn’t enter their minds for a moment.
The BBC’s coverage of the inauguration was every bit as slanted as you would expect. I switched on BBC1 just before 7:30 yesterday morning after which it took them a whole 6 minutes to mention the phrase ‘a divided nation’. Strange that it was never ‘a divided nation’ when Bill Clinton was twice a minority president.
In the Beebazoid world of deciding what we should think, all centre right politics produces “division” whilst centre left politics does not (at least that’s what they tell us).
Thus on news coverage of GWB last night, coverage begins with a single protester (that is, if the bearded organism on show was human) shouting opposition to Bush. See! Division! The BBC proves it is right yet again! They failed to pan the camera out to all the tens of thousands of other protesters present (could there have been a reason for that?).
Eamonn
all centre right politics produces “division” whilst centre left politics does not (at least that’s what they tell us).
You have identified a central plank of most leftist thought. Similar to the way that when democrats are out of government the CBS/NYT/CNN criticize republican administrations for not being ‘bipartisan’. When democrats are in government bipartisanship doesn’t get a mention in mainstream media
Are you people filling in the BBC’s complaint sheet?
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/help/3281777.stm
And did anyone see Declan Curry losing it this morning when he interviewed the lady from the CPS? Her report highlighted how some working parents are just a single £ better off than some non-working single mothers.
Curry was so aggressive and emotional in his ‘interviewing’ of this lady that even the main BBC presenters that morning were surprised: ‘Throw him some red meat – quickly!’ one remarked.
The man should learn some restraint…
Actually, he shouldn’t. I’m sure his stock will rise in the BBC now he’s shown his leftist credentials.
The tone throughout the inauguration was negative and cynical as ALL BBC American coverage has been since Bush became president.
If John Kerry had won, and made the same speech, they’d be singing and dancing about it.
Great Bush speech btw, of course those against Bush can’t see it.
Be fair. I beleieve the BBC readers panel was the same as they used for the US election coverage.
(I liked their New York correspondent with his pre-election interview with ‘three NY Republicans’ – all of whom by strange chance were voting for Kerry).
If Kerry had won by 51% the theme would be ‘US rejects Bush’. As he lost the theme is ‘divided nation’.
“Tonight on BBC2’s program The Culture Show, the cultural divide in the US was examined. The presenter said that Bush was re-elected by the “narrow majority” of 51%. Two hours later on aprogram examining the provenance of Roman Abramovich’s oil billions, former President Yeltsin was described by one of the interviewees as having won his election by a “substantial margin” having obtained 52% of the vote.”
Nitwit. The narrow majority was 2%. Kerry got 49% of the vote. Narrow majority, narrow majority, narrow majority.