The BBC must really be scared of Sarah Palin given the sheer amount of media space it helpfully allocates to those who seek to attack her. Have a read of this rant against her – and ask, where is the balance? Clearly the Huffington Post is a good source for BBC attacks
BIAS UNBRIDLED
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To be honest I don’t see any difference between Al Beeb’s website and the HuffPo.
Nice little dig at the “small minded attitudes” of small towns there. Of course, those who come from in small towns in the US must be morally inferior to those who come from cities – where kids kill each other for wearing the wrong color beads, crackheads put babies in microwaves and it’s not uncommon to have to step over someone lying in a pool of their own vomit and feces in the street.
Those unsophisticated small-town people! They’re too narrow minded to appreciate the joys of this kind of stuff (and hence unfit for office)
Oh and I almost forgot to mention – when someone invites you over for dinner in a small town, they tend not to pass around a mirror covered in cocaine after dessert. God forbid anyone from the BBC should ever have to contemplate such a miserable life of subsistence.
Latest:
Democrat Charles Rangel calls Sarah Palin “disabled”
Jason, interesting find.
re: “…and I am saying now, that she entered the campaign with a disadvantage in the area of foreign policy,” Rangel said in a statement.”
Interesting statement. Given that the only LEGAL foreign policy experience ANY of the three Senators in the race could possibly have would involve voting to ratify treaties someone else negotiated, or voting up or down on the President’s ambassororial appointments.
Anything else they might do in the way of “foreign policy” is flatly illegal.
It is all rather extraordinary, not least in the shadow of Clark County.
I really having trouble forming a view of the people and/or the policies involved, not that my UK opinion matters a jot to US voters, but such reporting standards have to create a backlash.
Trying my utmost to be objective, almost any ‘fact’ that gets unearthed seems to be trivial, given totally undue prominence considering the relative status of the object of focus… and is hard to look at as anything than spiteful hissy fits from a small, if vocal minority who don’t think others are smart enough to vote the ‘right’ way.
It may be there are other, more balanced ‘analyses’ of the other protagonists but I honestly can’t say I have noticed. This Sarah Palin obsession seems unrelenting. The Guardian and even The Telegraph has staff bloggers that run an endless drip of ‘anti-Palin stories. Trouble is, most seem to be either based on heresay or are plain wrong, and these sad, weak diatribes pale in comparison to the often YouTube-loaded rebuttals that in many cases can skewer Messrs. Obama and Biden by highlighting that whatever Mrs. Plain is accused of, they are on record of actually doing.
Despite some deep concerns on aspects of her policies and beliefs (such is the volume of red flagged effort across almost all ‘we know better’ media that might be true it’s hard not to), as a human being I have to confess she comes across as someone I would instinctively side with simply by who is ranged against her and the sheer clunkiness of these so called ‘smarter than the average PR’ commentator’s dollops of bitchiness vs. the Governor’s self-evident US-style ‘sass’ & ‘class’.
I can imagine how that plays with a more average voter outside of Washington, New York, Hollywood or indeed London, Paris or Berlin.
Yet again the arrogance of the (plus the paid-for ‘our’ in the UK thanks to the unique way our national broadcaster is funded) media elite establishment seems extraordinary.
But I have a theory, and it is that they are all indeed very smart, and are in fact seeking to reap all they sow in this way by design. Punt out obvious, nasty drip-fed digs playing the person rather than the ball in media no one reads or watches in the USA, but let the power of the internet bear the rebuttals across the pond.
It is hard to divorce the medium from the messenger, so when a foreign liberal media cabal say do one thing, I’m figuring the more conservative folk in the heartlands may just kick back.
A bit like how I just felt being told as top of story that Gordon Brown was a saint because the multi-billion earning author chum of his wife says so and has dropped some chump change on his bankrupt party. And especially via a dig a Mr. Cameron’s (of whom I am no fan) Party’s policy seeking to promote family units on the basis which the author deems nasty as she was a ‘single mum’. Thanks to the BBC’s relentless, celeb-obsessed, ‘word of the Gord’ coverage, I mainly heard a direct snub to some modest, middling family values and struggling ambitions ill-served in a decade by the incumbent Govt (we are £500 poorer, apparently), from another out of touch luvvie FOG (Friend of Gordon) who is empathising with her sisters. Which, by the nature of the coverage at least, is a tad different to most rich Conservative donors that will be cited in balance.
All these guys can do what they like, with however much they want but… and this is the key point… the way it gets served up is not playing as well with this one-person voting constituency as well as those who spin may have intended.
The extent of BBC bias is terrible. Even the photos of Palin is taken at a bad angle while Obama looks like he knows what hes doing.
By way of balance, and ‘to be fair’, in light of my JK Rowling comment above, I just watched the BBC Breakfast TV anchor tear into a Labour MP on the substance of this effort.
His only reply? “Why not ask David Cameron about all those who support his party?’
I really hope DC has a good answer to hand if asked, as this seems to be up on a plate with even the BBC happy to dine off whoever spins more convincingly.
Of course the bbc is in trouble over Palin.
She is a real woman, hunts and fishes, has no sexual deviation as a mother of 5, is photogenic and smartly savvy,and the hunt to find some dirt on her means she is in the limelight.
She certainly does not meet the bbc stereotype of being a minority, PC, feminist, truly dowdy, and stridently overbearing.
Loved the “dialogue” from Brit in France this morning on Today about the £1 million donation from “beyond the darkness”.
Never heard a donor given so much of a platform to espouse their views. But I guess the Save Gordon operation is underway.
By way of analysis
– No mention that JK Rowling grew up a single mum and hence context to her position re. the tories and marriage.
– No response rebutting the criticism given to the conservatives.
– No detail given on the level of Labour’s total debts.
Indy – JK Rowling donates £1m to Labour –
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/jk-rowling-donates-pound1m-to-labour-936434.html
‘Prime Minister Gordon Brown said: “I am delighted that JK Rowling, who is one of the world’s greatest ever authors, has made such a generous donation.’
I know she is popular, and deservedly so IMHO, but… Bless.
When can we expect to see al-Beeb publish an article with more of an Instapundit-type feel instead of the HuffPo nonsense?
The piece is flagged on the website as an opinion piece by a liberal political commentator. Similar pieces are promised on the website in the future. If they’re all anti-palin, then you have a point about bias on the BBC. But on the evidence of this piece, and given how it’s trailed, you don’t.
I enjoyed reading the article – much better standard of writing than Webbo or sneer-boy Frei.
I don’t think it’s a good example of bias.
Latest outbreak of Palin Derangement Syndrome – Paul Theroux on R4’s Excess Baggage.
Jason
There really does seem to be a culture war going on. Small-town Palin versis East Coast elite.
I have followed US elections for decades. I have never ever seen the amount of vituperation that has been unleashed on Palin. And the BBC has played along with it all, never focusses on her positive achievemts.
What’s really surprising about the BBC’s Palin obsession is that the vast majority of the BBC’s audience doesn’t have a vote and are not that interested in who is standing for US vice president.
When will the BBC realise that most Brits are not interested in foreign news, especially foreign political news, to anything like the extent that BBC news staff are? I suspect they do realise, but they are being completely self-indulgent as usual. Like many public employees they put themselves first rather than the people they are paid to serve.
“‘Prime Minister Gordon Brown said: “I am delighted that JK Rowling, who is one of the world’s greatest ever authors, has made such a generous donation.’ ”
The man is certifiable.
But then, so is she.
The piece is flagged on the website as an opinion piece by a liberal political commentator. Similar pieces are promised on the website in the future. If they’re all anti-palin, then you have a point about bias on the BBC. But on the evidence of this piece, and given how it’s trailed, you don’t.
whitewineliberal | 20.09.08 – 10:32 am
But ithis BBC article suggests balance with Virginia-based author Joe Bageant claimed Republican VP candidate Sarah Palin as a fellow “redneck”, in a recent essay for BBC Radio 4’s Today programme. He meant it as a compliment.
Bageant was by no means complimentary
We come in one size: extra large. We are sometimes insolent and often quick to fight. We love competitive spectacle such as NASCAR and paintball, and believe gun ownership is the eleventh commandment.
We fry things nobody ever considered friable – things like cupcakes, banana sandwiches and batter dipped artificial cheese…even pickles.
…It represents many of the worst traits in American culture and a few of the best.
And that has every thinking person here in the US, except perhaps John McCain and Sarah Palin, worried.
Very worried.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/today/hi/today/newsid_7600000/7600592.stm
Why am I not surprised I can’t find this on the BBC?
Remember Nannygate and Caroline spelman that was HEADLINES on the BBC fo rdays, despite that cunt offf Newsnight not having any evidence.
Then the BBC ignored Peter Hain, then the BBC igoned the scandal around the Scottish Labour MP who resigned a while back and now this.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1058575/Labour-MP-Keith-Vaz-faces-sleaze-inquiry-outrageous-bid-sway-judge-behalf-crooked-lawyer-friend.html
And don’t forget how little coverage the BBC gave to David Blunkett’s affair when other news providers were full of it because it was a personal matter. He was only a cabinet minister after all. When David Beckham was in the news for an alleged affair the BBC eagerly told us as much as any other broadcaster. Mr Beckham’s personal life was fair game for the BBC.
For jaw-dropping PDS vitriol, you would go far to beat the sickening rant by Sandra Bernhard on You Tube, which you can find on Michelle Malkin’s site. Truly disgusting, and I’m thinking some of the statements made, especially the references to gang-rape, would be actionable in law.
Sandra Bernhard is absolutely charming in the video clip. They should show it here on BBC television. Or maybe she could be a guest speaker at the Conservative party conference.
DB:
Latest outbreak of Palin Derangement Syndrome – Paul Theroux on R4’s Excess Baggage.
DB | 20.09.08 – 11:21 am | #
Is that supercilious tosser still peddling his patronizing “observations.”
Wouldn’t it be nice to follow he twit around for a month filming his every bowel movement, then cut it together to make him look like a complete twat.
Not that that would take much effort.
John A – I too have followed American elections for years, and I too have never seen the volume of vitriol sluiced over a candidate like that the BBC sloshes unrelentingly over Governor Palin.
She is everything – everything! – they hate. She pushes every hate button! Five children!!!! WHAT? Haven’t they heard of abortion up there in the land of igloos and whale meat? Har har har. Plus a pregnant 17-year old daughter who also has never heard of abortion! Oh, God, help me up off the floor from laughing! Married for life – and it isn’t even a “gay marriage”! She’s swimming in scandal which we are working round the clock to uncover. Meanwhile, if you have any rumours or testimony from Alaskans who have a grudge against her – as in employees of the previous administration who she fired – plse email us or call us collect. We’ll pay your fare over for an interview.
Slithy … hissing … and roiling worshipfully around Obama’s feet. “Master! Master! Ssssssssssss.”
How infuriating it must be that Americans not only don’t have the faintest interest in the opinions of foreigners, but most have never heard of the BBC. (The BBC seems to think that it’s on everyone’s lips in the US, which is such a hick Weltanschuuang, don’t you think?)
Peter 10:23 a.m. – Prime Minister Gordon Brown said: “I am delighted that JK Rowling, who is one of the world’s greatest ever authors,”
Thanks for that.
Regarding Joe Bageant: “We are sometimes insolent and often quick to fight. We love competitive spectacle such as NASCAR and paintball, “ I honestly read that as “competitive spectacles” given what a hit her glasses are.
John W – If you were a gal who looked like Sandra Bernhardt, would you be bitter, too? She was in a movie with Jerry Lewis and I watched it on video a few years back and was so distracted by her sheer ugliness – her mouth alone is an emetic – that I gave up because I just couldn’t follow it. Was she ever in a movie? What is her career? Does she work other than Hallowe’en? God, wouldn’t you hate to be Sandra Bernhardt’s dentist and have to work on that mouth? Maybe they draw lots.
Sandra Bernhardt’s mouth is a No-Tell Motel for gum bacteria.
Verity, calm down. You are mega-hysterical.
Here’s someone at breaking point about the Sarah Palin witch hunt.
Verity,
Yes, that Bernhardt movie was the King of Comedy. A comment on the lunacy of celebrity worship (hello Obama, are you listening?) I recall that her serial ugliness was a joy to behold even then – and the ensuing 26 years has done her no favours whatsoever. The irony is that we would all have been better off if her mother had done the right-on thing and exercised her lifestyle “choice” in true liberal fashion. If ever there was an advert for lifestyle abortion, she is it.
A nasty, ugly piece of work and the epitome of everything that militant, Marxist feminism represents.
John W – V good! Why didn’t I think of that? A poster girl for lifestyle abortion! How totally apt!
George, you don’t know me, so please don’t try to give me orders, there’s a good chap. BTW, if you remember your Greek, mega means large, or great, not “very”.
I just googled Sandra Bernhard and came across a page that asked, “Who is Sandra Bernard dating?” I clicked forward in a panic. I just couldn’t bear to see a photo of the Texas prison inmate who drew the short straw.
The page made mention that she’d had plastic surgery, but it didn’t say whether the accompanying photo was before or after.
One of the things that amuses me about J.K.Rowlings support of Brown is that she doesn’t seem to realize that Brown is a very close copy of Cornelius Fudge, the Minister of Magic Rowlings wrote off as a bad job.
He seems to support so many of the things Rowlings raved against in the Harry Potter series, primarily being a “do nothing” type.
well its proof positive that Labour and the BBC are living in fantasy land.
if the best example of support they can offer is writer of fantasy, then that says a lot about their standing in british society.
JohnW | 20.09.08 – 7:56 pm |
Verity | 20.09.08 – 9:00 pm |
It in no way excuses the ugliness of her attack on Sarah Palin but I also googled Sandra Bernhard. She was Playboy cover girl Issue # 476 – September 1992.
I think some comments here conflate physical appearance with political attitudes. They are the mirror image of the hysterical attacks on Sarah Palin by the BBC and others.
I suspect Mrs. Palin might pull in a large sympathy vote from people who are appalled by the venom.
Thank you Verity for the link. Good to know our metallic youth have their values and I will send it to the bbc for their response – none anticipated.
Deegee – Unfortunately, you are not skilled at detecting pastiche, are you?
BTW, please do not refer to Governor Palin as “Mrs Palin”. This is against protocol. You don’t refer to John McCain as Mr McCain, do you? It’s Senator McCain. Governor Palin is senior to all three other candidates.
Also, BTW, in general: Joe Biden (that’s the Senator Biden who’s running for Vice President) was interviwed in the US by Katy Couric and when she asked him his plans for the Vice Presidential debate he responded, “It’s hard to prepare because I don’t know what she wants.”
Well, Senator, how about full employment, an end to an over-mighty government and drilling to end dependency on foreign oil and the concommitant outflow of billions of dollars from the US?
I believe she’s mentioned these items a few times.
Frankly, Biden’s panicked. I wouldn’t be surprised if he didn’t drop out. In fact, I have a feeling he’s asked to be let go and Obama said, “Michelle would kill me.”
Deegee – I suspect Mrs. Palin might pull in a large sympathy vote from people who are appalled by the venom.
No. Voters don’t vote for presidents and vice presidents on the sympathy vote. That is not the American way. Americans vote to strength.
I’ve passed Sandra Bernhardt in the street in the West Village on occasion.
She looks every bit as ugly in real life as she does on TV, I’m not kidding. I don’t normally stoop to calling women ugly but she has a face like (I can’t decide):
1) A blistered piss-pot
2) A bulldog licking piss off a thistle
3) A blind cobbler’s thumb
4) A burst wellie
5) A plumber’s toolbag
I hate to say it, but when she talks about Palin getting gang raped in New York I’m sure there’s more than a hint of jealousy and resentment in her voice. A dog wouldn’t lick her face if it were covered in fish paste. And THAT’S being kind.
Jason – You don’t have to decide! You can keep all five options open and use them on a case by case basis!
When she is styled “a comedienne”, is that like Jo Brand is a “comedienne”? I.e., not a funny person?
Did the plastic surgery take?
Deegee,
Your comment: “…Sandra Bernhard… was Playboy cover girl Issue # 476 – September 1992…”
Some also say Damien Hirst is an artist – but I beg to dffer. My view is that he’s an idiot fawned on by other similar deluded idiots. Don’t I have the right to express that view? I’m not exactly advocating that he be gang-raped or anything like that – although that may be a lifestyle choice he would welcome. Who knows what warped ideas swirl around the brain of someone who thinks that a cow floating in formaldehyde is “art”.
Anyway, fact is she’s still ugly, and should never have been allowed to spew her venomous filth like that in a public forum. You have to ask yourself why the liberal media is allowed to say anything and everything, with no boundaries whatsoever. Are we all supposed to just shrug our shoulders and give her a free pass by saying it’s all freedom of speech and that, after all, she’s just expressing her “art”? Who is going to hold her to account for such statements? The liberal Obaba-sucking media?
Frankly, I can’t wait for Ann Coulter to let rip on her.
Ann Coulter is one righteous dude and will not spare the horses.
Disclaimer: I mean no offence to any horse anywhere by mentioning it in the same sentence as the words “Sandra Bernhardt”.
If I wanted to offend by verbal contiguity, I would mention Sandra Bernhardt and Tony Blair in the same sentence without apology to either.
Latest:
Obama to Supporters: Argue With Your Neighbors, Get In Their Face
Now we know where Obama’s mean, nasty, abusive followers get their marching orders. At a Nevada rally Wednesday, Obama said this:
“I need you to go out and talk to your friends and talk to your neighbors. I want you to talk to them whether they are independent or whether they are Republican. I want you to argue with them and get in their face.”
Nice. So much for the politics of hope and unity. So much for teaching our youth how to be good citizens and neighbors. So much for teaching tolerance, respect, and bi-partisanship. If someone doesn’t agree with you, especially if they don’t choose Obama, just get in their face and pick a fight.
Deegee – Unfortunately, you are not skilled at detecting pastiche, are you?
No. I have my hands full detecting irony and sarcasm. In fact I had to google the word. The explanation was a ‘generally light-hearted tongue-in-cheek imitation of another’s style; although jocular, it is usually respectful’. Who were you imitating?
BTW, please do not refer to Governor Palin as “Mrs Palin”. This is against protocol. You don’t refer to John McCain as Mr McCain, do you? It’s Senator McCain. Governor Palin is senior to all three other candidates.
I stand spanked. I probably would have referred to Senator McCain as Mr. McCain. Would ‘he’ object? I find it a bit odd that it is acceptable to refer to the politicians as Joe Biden and Sarah Palin or even George W. without an honorific but it is too familiar to call them Mr. or Mrs.
Last train to Simulacrum, leaves from Platform 9¾. 🙂
Verity:
“BTW, please do not refer to Governor Palin as “Mrs Palin”. This is against protocol.”
It may be against protocol in the U.S. (and Mexico?) but this is a British site and there is no such protocol in Britain when referring to individuals of any nationality. It is certainly not disrespectful.
Deegee,
Quite right not to bend over. (For the spank)
Verity,
Do you see this blog as a tournament? You will undoubtedly be the winner having defeated us all.
I do admire your comments though. I particularly enjoyed the one about someone’s wobbly head over at Mel’s.
You never quite know where you are with these pesky Simulacra. (Googled it)
Latest little trend – guests on BBC programmes using “we” when giving opinions about the presidential campaign:
Kathy Lette on the Gabby Logan Show: “If Obama wins, which we all hope…”
Mariella Frostrup on the Andrew Marr show last week talking about Sarah Palin: “I think we’re terrified about what she’s about because it’s like Bush Two, isn’t it?”
They’re on the BBC therefore they assume, quite rightly, that they’re among friends who share the same left-liberals views. The BBC belongs to these people.
Latest PDS outbreak • comedian Ed Byrne on this morning’s Broadcasting House: “I’d just like to leave (sic) by congratulating cabinet minister Hazel Blears who at a fringe meeting in Manchester branded Sarah Palin, US vice presidential candidate as ‘horrendous’, which I really think is an excellent word to describe someone who considers global warming to be just God holding us a little tighter.”
That’s a twofer – PDS and climate change. With views like that another BBC series must be a formality.
“Some also say Damien Hirst is an artist – but I beg to dffer. My view is that he’s an idiot fawned on by other similar deluded idiots.”
I agree.
.
To balance all the bile directed at Sarah Palin, the BBC’s Rachel Harvey has a hard-hitting article about Joe Biden. And by “hard-hitting article” I mean “glowing puff-piece“:
Despite concerns about his reputation for long-winded ramblings, sprinkled with the occasional spice of verbal gaffes, Joe Biden has hardly put a foot wrong.
She does concede that his comments about Hillary being a better pick than him and taxes being patriotic “raised some eyebrows”, but Harvey spins this by claiming it has “raised his media profile again.” And no mention of him telling a man in a wheelchair to stand up. When it comes to the Democrat ticket the BBC takes its lead from the Johnny Mercer school of journalism: “You’ve got to accentuate the positve/Eliminate the negative…”