He must be doing it deliberately, surely. Please tell me how this can be defended. It’s Webb, of course – on Palin, of course, who he describes as “the woman rational, educated Americans regard with ever-increasing horror”. What exactly is the point of the editorial guidelines when they’re so clearly ignored by the senior staff? Is there anyone stupid enough to now doubt where Webb would put his vote, and if not how can he possibly be said to be reporting impartially?
Speechless
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Ah, but it’s in his blog, so’s maybe it doesn’t er… ‘count’?
No matter what I, or anyone else feels about Sarah Palin, as a person or pol, proven or not from her own words or actions when passed on by reasonable objective reporting standards, I would dearly love to see this one ‘explained away’.
‘Trust the Trust, Luke!’
Once again I’ve had my comment criticisng Webb’s output referred to the moderators. Here it is:
I can’t believe Justin Webb is serious when he cites Andrew Sullivan as a source for Republican views about Sarah Palin. Sullivan couldn’t be more in the tank for Obama if he tried, and he’s one of the few people with an even more extreme case of Palin Derangement Syndrome than Justin Webb. I get the impression from Sullivan’s recent demented rantings that he writes his blog onto the padded walls of a secure cell with a chunky crayon wedged between his toes, and then some poor intern at the Atlantic Monthly has to transcribe it for the internet. The “If Palin were a male candidate” article doesn’t work because there’s a male candidate with no executive experience who has far more extensive and dubious past links and has received a free pass from the MSM – Barack Obama. Likewise AP’s earth-shattering revelations about Palin’s failure to remove a potential fire hazard from her home, and receiving a free ‘awesome facial’ and some ‘absolutely gorgeous flowers’ as gifts – wow, it’s Watergate all over again. Only a very biased journalist could claim that these trivialities are important; they’re certainly not in the same league as Rezko, Ayers, ACORN, Obama’s $1m earmark for his wife’s hospital following her huge salary increase, or a host of other dodgy deals and associations brushed under the carpet by the media. The BBC likes to claim its journalists are objective, impartial observers, but Webb once again proves this is nonsense.
Ah DB, see once again you have made the mistake of believing Webbs blog is an open forum to discuss all the issues related to the election 😉
Mailman
(I think I tweaked a couple of lines before posting eg “far more significant dubious past links” – but I didn’t add anything overtly nasty. I certainly haven’t written anything as bad as some of the vile stuff the “progressives” have been allowed to get away with over there.)
As far as I can see, what a couple of months back was a contest between two strong candidates has degenerated into a sub Bush/Kerry battle of the imbeciles, which is frankly down to all concerned. I can’t see how Webb can pin the whole thing on Palin, bizarre though she is. Anyway the main point stands. BBC correspondents shouldn’t be putting opinions that strong anywhere near the public domain.
DB | 29.09.08 – 1:46 pm | #
Great stuff!
I think there is certainly a case to have Webb removed from his employment at the BBC, or at least to have his blog permanently shuttered. It is clearly an abuse of license payers money. If Webb wishes to blog his subjective feelings to the world and attack McCain/Palin on a daily basis, he can go to wordpress.com and set himself up with a free account.
Rational and educated. He means Democrats I suppose. As we all know from the BBC, Republicans are not educated even if they’ve been to Ivy League colleges and merely to be Republican shows that they are irrational.
I bet Webb empathises with the sentiments expressed here:
My reaction to her, and the way the Republican Party threw her in our faces, and the pandering and hypocrisy that was behind their decision to do so, was immediate, visceral, and indeed, vicious. I have crossed every line I believed should never be crossed in public discourse — I have criticized not only her policies and her record, but her hair, her personal style, her accent, her abilities as a mother, etc. I’ve also begun to suffer personally and professionally. I bore my friends with my constant tirades against her, and am constantly distracted from my work by my need to continually update myself on the latest criticism, and indeed, ridicule, of her.
http://www.salon.com/mwt/col/tenn/2008/09/29/sarah_palin/index.html?site_design=grapenuts
OK, mailman, let’s ignore any mention of even handed reporting by Webb over the qualifications and judgment to be president of Obama and his links to Ayres, Resko, corrupt Chicago politics, Rev Wright etc etc….
Here’s the giveaway from Webb: “college-educated centre ground”.
Forgive me, Justin, “old boy”, but this smacks of a little “them vs us”. A touch of the elite. After all how can a woman from Alaska be as informed as someone who has been through Sidcot, the London School of Economics and been sanctified by the blessed hand of BBC conferring special status in the almost religious succession from the blessed Saint Robin Day through Jeremy Paxman? Sarah Palin has never been to Britain, never seen Big Ben, and my God, old boy, she’s never even put a foot inside Television Centre where the world begins and ends, or had a Macon and a curled sandwich at the BBC Club?
Webb is typical of all BBC flunkies, twitching and smirking and raising their eyebrows in the all knowing superiority of the truly ignorant. It’s all there in those few words “college educated centre ground”. That’s code for “people like us, ‘old boy'”.
“Where’s she from, old boy?”
“Alaska, old boy, I mean Alaska of all places!”
Remember a few years ago when “chaps” like Webb sauntered about the corridors of the Beeb bemoaning the scandal of a British Prime Minister who was nothing more than a grocer’s daughter from Grantham.
“Grantham, old boy, I mean Grantham of all places!”
Folks, this is about more than politics – it’s about identity. Palin is an existential threat, not just to the cozy left and their 1960s/70s mind set, but more importantly to so-called “feminists”. The dowdy, man-loathing Greer types who have lauded it over the sofas of TV studios on both sides of the Atlantic for years. These women hate her. Hate her. Hate her. They hate her even more than they hate George Bush. After all Bush is only white, Christian and male. She’s female too! The word is out “Destroy Sarah Palin!”
The real tragedy is this: because of this cultural war, Obama – probably the next President of the USA and the leader of the free world – has gone without real scrutiny by a media which is quite simply “in love” with him. What does he believe? What will he do in a crisis? WHO IS HE? We don’t know and “chaps” like Webb aren’t even trying to find out.
And with an Obama victory, it’s game, set and match to V. Putin.
I had the misfortune to catch a bit of “Saturday live” on Radio 4 at the weekend. It’s always been pretty much to the left, but this one out did itself with its attacks on Palin – usual jibes about passport, hockey Mum and her “fearful” stance on abortion. All used as a run-in to a 10 minute item from a pro-abortion campaigner. No balance given on the other side of the abortion debate of course, and it all seemed to be a bit of a ruse to have a go at Pailin and America in general. I don’t know why they singled American out, there are lots of countries where abortion is still illegal, why didn’t they have a go at those? Oh of course, it’s because they only really hate America
The funny thing is all those people bleating about Palin being a dictator, religious zealot, control freak…yet they cant once point to anything she has done as a governor to stamp her personal views on Alaska.
Thats right, you can still get an abortion there, you wont be force fed creationism and quite possibly if you wanted to you might have been able to shoot a wolf from the air.
Naw, why report facts when you can report your opinions aye Webbo?
Mailman
I don’t think I’m going to defend Webb, because he does have Palin Derangement Syndrome pretty bad. But he’s certainly right that some Republicans are getting pretty queasy about her shakiness on details particularly to do with foreign policy. (I don’t think his link was intended to be to Andrew Sullivan’s views but to the Republican Sullivan was quoting. It’s interesting and instructive about Webb that he linked to Sullivan’s piece rather than directly to the Republican commentator’s – indicating that he was reading Sullivan not the other guy.)
The “college educated” centre ground is a lovely BBC-ism, showing a large chunk of where the BBC’s bias comes from, but several college educated non Dem sympathising Americans I have spoken to are uneasy about or dismissive of Palin. Of course she’s only running for VP and in a couple of years she would be up to speed – Obama has got himself up to speed, at least for the purposes of interviews and debates, in a couple of years. However, I think Webb is right that the VP debate is likely to be a train wreck for Palin.
Joe Biden:
“As President, FDR went on TV in 1929”
Sure, this guy just oozes “intelligence” compared to Sarah Palin.
Mr Moore. See you Friday to accept your apologies after Palin hands Biden his hair plugs on a plate.
Let me guess, you think Sarah Palin said “I can see Russia from my bedroom window.”
beeboids like a good fact, so it is quite surprising they tend to ignore the figures showing Palin has an 80% approval rating as Govenor in her home state – rather inconvenient for them I supose , far better just to point out that their friends, ‘the rational, educated ones,’ don’t like her !
Lee Moore | 29.09.08 – 4:29 pm
I don’t think his link was intended to be to Andrew Sullivan’s views but to the Republican Sullivan was quoting.
I’m pretty sure Zakaria (and Newsweek) would prefer Obama to win.
Afternoon Jack Bauer
No I don’t think that’s what she said about Russia and I’d be delighted if Palin wins, but I don’t think she will.
It may well be that all of Biden’s foreign policy experience is negative – ie he has been in the Senate a long time and has been wrong on almost every foreign policy question that has come up in that time (against Reagan’s defence build up, against the first Gulf war, against the surge etc) – but he does know some facts, Palin knows virtually nothing. I thought it was pretty clear who was the expert and who was the novice in the McCain-Obama debate on foreign policy. Although he did well, Obama’s answers were noticeably thinner. I was surprised that it showed. It will show even more in the VP debate. Palin clearly knows less than Obama about national and international issues. This is not a criticism of he ability, just her experience and knowledge. She has not been running for President for three years.
So I’ll be delighted to apologise if she wins. But she won’t.
How many more times does it have to be said. Governor Palin does not have any foreign policy experience and does not need any to be VP
The only reason this question arises is the comparison with Senator Biden. How blind do you have to be; Senator Obama has less foreign policy experience than Governor Plain – So what? President Clinton had less experience than Governor Palin and he was elected POTUS. This is an enormous strawman issue. Get over it hasn’t mattered before and it doesn’t matter now.
What foreign policy experience does Gordon have – bugger all, his only experience is with economics and he is crap at that.
Lee Moore:
Afternoon Jack Bauer
No I don’t think that’s what she said about Russia and I’d be delighted if Palin wins, but I don’t think she will.
There are plenty of crazy Democrats who do. By the way, in case people don’t know, that’s a line from Tina Fey in an SNL skit two weeks ago.
As to this mindless assertion:”but he does know some facts, Palin knows virtually nothing.”
Oh please. That’s pathetic. Truly braindead. On what basis do you make this assertion? How does anyone be a Governor of a state for two years by “knowing nothing?” I don’t follow that line of reasoning at all.
You do understand that this is a general debate; and not focusing on what is supposed to be Biden’s strong suit: foreign policy.
Biden has no executive experience. So clearly Palin will know more about taking executive decisions than Biden despite his 35 long long years in the Senate. So she knows that, if nothing else.
As I said, I’ll see you Friday morning. This is like the convention speech redux. Remember, the one Palin hit out the park, effortlessly.
I’m confident you’ll be the one eating crow. And Biden — who like all leftists, has a unwarranted and unearned belief in his own superiority.
The compliant MSM, including the Beeb, is doing whatever it takes to put Obamessiah into the White House.
A similar thing happened when Clinton was running against Bush snr. The numerous rumours of scandals involving Bubba, especially his womanising, weren’t touched by the media. (Contrast that with the MSM sleuthing up in Alaska right now!)
The MSM’s blindeye to Bubba’s indiscretions culminated in the Lewinski train wreck.
No Republican candidate with a similar background to Clinton have had such stories left uninvestigated.
I’ve been a bit disappointed that the McCain team have kept Palin hidden away too much.
Of course she doesn’t have the foreign policy knowledge of say McCain. She’s a State Governor. Can anyone remind me of what Jimmy Carter had in that department?
However, Palin should be quite well up on domestic issues and in particular energy. She should have made that her issue.
As for this one heartbeat away from the Presidency nonsense I’d say to that, McCain shouldn’t be running for President if he’s not fit enough to do 4 years. I therefore assume he is.
Funny that the leftist media don’t point out the fact that Boden’s health isn’t the greatest and he’s not released his medical records.
Sorry if this is posted elsewhere, but it is well worth reveiwing.
EUReferendum think so too.
http://eureferendum.blogspot.com/2008/09/interesting.html
Some very interesting stuff at the beginning, you will need to use the pause & start buttons to read the screen shots.
Regards
DB – Great stuff and all true and being investigated by American political bloggers. I think we can expect to see more about ACORN.
Cockney – Could your regarding Sarah Palin, a well-known type in the US, especially the West, as “bizarre” have anything to do with your never having been to the United States? She is anything but “bizarre”.
Bodo – 50 different states have 0 different laws on abortion.
William Clinton, former Governor of Arkansas, had no foreign experience when he came to power. Neither did Jimmuh Cahduh. It wasn’t an issue because “foreign” isn’t what Governors do. I don’t believe Ronald Reagan had any foreign experience either.
“Foreign” is dealt with by the State Department, on a national level. My God, do we really want 50 state governors wandering round the world trying to negotiate policy? What a stupid issue.
This is a made-up issue because the MSM can’t find anything against Palin, and because it infuriates them to see people responding to her so positively.
Obviously, I meant to type “50” different laws on abortion.
I tried commenting again at the Webb blog, but even this has been referred to the moderators:
I think Justin Webb is [full of it] correct about everything and I really [dislike] admire the way he uses his blog to [attack] shed light on Sarah Palin. His recommendation of Andrew Sullivan as a source on this matter is [laughable.] impeccable in its neutrality. The Miami Herald piece is [ludicrous] great because it [claims] shows that the media is refusing to examine Palin’s record because she’s a woman, unlike Barack Obama who [has received a free ride for other reasons] isn’t a woman. The Associated Press investigation into the free facial and flowers is important [only if you are deranged by hatred of Sarah Palin]. Keep up the [unrelenting propaganda] good work.
I wonder if this one will be [allowed through] referred to the moderators.
Arthur Dent has it correct. The rest is much ado about nothing.
That canard along with Cockney’s own seemingly prejudiced remark (if you think she is bizarre because of her religious beliefs, that’s prejudiced – just like so many say about anti-Muslim statements on this blog. Fair’s fair.) gives the rest of Webb’s game away.
It’s true that it’s only on Webb’s blog, which is supposed to be personal and not considered part of his official reporting for the BBC. However, the way his analysis and statements there lead into his reporting blurs the distinction so badly that no rational or educated person can really pretend his reporting is not biased by the personal views he continuously expresses.
I’ll pose a hypothetical to any lurking Beeboid or BBC supporter:
If a BBC reporter or editor made remarks on his blog like this, but rather than being anti-Christian showed a distaste for Islam, would that Beeboid be allowed to continue working on air as if nothing happened? Would that be different somehow than what Webb is doing?
house of representatives have just voted “No” to the bailout bill.
holy crap…!!
can the senate or president overrule them?
archduke:
house of representatives have just voted “No” to the bailout bill.
19:45
And the BBC in the middle of coverage just go straight to a speech by the Obama Messiah!
It’s live now on BBC News254
Really depicts him as the saviour..
David Preiser
Robert Kilroy-Silk’s experience suggests it would be very different.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/7641733.stm
and you can see that it’s clearly the Republican’s fault, despite the Democrats having a majority in Congress
http://eureferendum.blogspot.com/2008/09/interesting.html
Interesting indeed
So which high street bank do I need to take my money out of tomorrow? Geoff Randall from The Telegraph has been on Sky of all people tonight spreading fear off the back of this vote impasse. Its all going to be much worse than anyone feared. Thank you Geoff – irresponsible journalism. Looks more to me like the Repblicans misjudging a tactical vote to get the rescue package blamed on Democrats if and when it fails to do the job. I can’t get any serious analysis from anywhere – its the election, stupid. Isn’t that what I pay the licence fee for? Apparently not.
Educated and rational. Hah! The perpetual Webb sneer is never far away. Juvenile Justin is neither.
Education was clearly wasted on him and he is so irrational in his venom that he is shown up completely by the more analytical and thoughtful comments in response on his own blog -even those which do not favour Palin or those who think she will not win the debate.
Webb is a misogynist, something that he has in common with his hero the would-be messiah. This became apparent back in about January / February time when his venom towards Hillary Clinto surfaced in such a blatant way that he dispensed with normal courtesies and conventions of journalism to give vent to his spiteful and petty little impulses. This spite and bias was one enthusiastically shared by the egregious editor of Newsnight at the time. It’s a very BBC-type thing.
As far as reporting being differentiated from blogging, by some on this thread, another thing to note is that Webb isn’t just a reporter; he is the North American EDITOR. Now, whatever that means, it must imply some responsibilities for judgement, selection and quality control of material from and about North America. I am baffled as to how someone in such a position of responsibility can behave in such a manner, let alone someone bound by the much-vaunted, but much-abused charter of impartiality, standards etc
Heron | 29.09.08 – 7:52 pm |
Robert Kilroy-Silk’s experience suggests it would be very different.
I forgot about him. QED, then.
Millie,
This is the thing isnt it, Webb and that other goon have a responsibility to report what is happening in North America.
I couldnt give a rats arse about their opinions…all I want to know is what is going on!
Mailman
David,
You cannot view Webbs blog as being a seperate entity from Al Beeb simply because his blog is hosted by Al Beeb, is produced on Al Beeb time and is paid for by Al beeb.
Mailman
From BBC Toys:
http://img525.imageshack.us/img525/9496/webbdollla6.jpg
DB
That Justin Webb doll is priceless – especially the list of quotes !
That Justin Webb doll is priceless – especially the list of quotes !
JohnA | 30.09.08 – 12:07 pm
Thanks John. I was going to post a link to it on his blog but everything I write gets removed. It’s OK to call McCain “scum”, or say anything you like about Palin, but robust criticism of Webb and the articles he links to is a no-no.
I keep telling you DB, your mistake is believing Webb and co’s blogs are places for free and open discussions!
Mailman
DB, I’m guessing it is one of your comments at no 164 on Webb’s attack on Palin which has been “referred to the moderators,” and it’s practically inevitable that it will eventually progress to being “removed by the moderators.” The long gap between “referral” and “removal” is one of the most negative aspects of the BBC blogs. It’s now around 24 hours since that comment was posted. The long gap while they are apparently scratching their heads about the comment is just a ploy. In the unlikely event of the comment being eventually approved, it will be so far back up the thread that few people, if any, will access it and it will certainly not be part of any ongoing debate.
They have treated my comments in such a fashion a number of times on these BBC blogs. I have no doubt it is deliberate.
DB, I had to laugh at comment no. 200. LURKINGBLACKHAT posted your comment word for word and they accepted it. Good way of proving a point.
Bryan | 30.09.08 – 5:13 pm
That’s funny – bit of a shame the comment got mangled (sentences cut and pasted in the wrong order) but I guess something is better than nothing!
I keep telling you DB, your mistake is believing Webb and co’s blogs are places for free and open discussions!
Mailman
Let’s see if my latest comment gets through. It’s the first one under his latest blog post – a link to the Justin Webb Talking Action Figure.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/thereporters/justinwebb/2008/09/never_on_a_sunday.html#commentsanchor
DB, Yup, it’s “referred.” I have a feeling Webb is sitting there himself scanning and sifting the comments. Would suit his egoistic style. Maybe you should comment under another pseudonym. It’s become a knee-jerk reaction to ban you whenever your name appears.
I regard this post of his as subtly antisemitic:
And couldn’t the Jewish ones have stayed to fix the crisis? I know in America everyone is allowed to do anything, say anything, think anything, if it has a religious element – but couldn’t even the Jewish members have binned the holidays this year?
http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/thereporters/justinwebb/2008/09/where_are_they_going.html#comment5
Was that crack at the Jews an awkward attempt at levity by the Webb monster? I didn’t understand what he was on about really but then he isn’t exactly a master of clarity or expressiveness in the art of writing.
DB: I wonder if the Beeb picks up the comments by IP address rather than by name.
“but he does know some facts, Palin knows virtually nothing…”
Lee Moore:
This is about character. Biden is in for oral surgery weekly to get his own foot re-removed. It won’t be too hard for Sarah to smoke him and put him out with her high heel.
She hasn’t been seen much of – what would you be doing if you were her? How about studying until your eyes pop, filling in all those gaps in knowledge.
Governors are preferred as presidents, she’s the only governor running. She’s good material, and she’s going to win.
She’s going to win because her adversary lacks true character, and conviction, and inner strength.
Millie Tant | 30.09.08 – 9:56 pm | #
I wonder if the Beeb picks up the comments by IP address rather than by name.
Yes and I wouldn’t be surprised if they’re cross referencing the address of that IP with their list of who’s paid their subs and who hasn’t.
Millie Tant | 30.09.08 – 9:54 pm,
I think it’s just Webb subtly sneering at the Jews.
She is being crucified in the media daily. She’s not part of the elitist illuminati, and they’re trying to make America think she’s not worthy. The media is doing a great job working for the liberals.