Monthly Archives: September 2008

THE PAIN FOR PALIN.

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Sarah Palin(Did I mention she has a pregnant unmarried 17 year old daughter?) has given a wonderful speech at the RNC and the BBC are most unhappy about it. I caught James Naughtie being interviewed about it at 6.35am this morning on Today and all he could observe was that by Palin (Did I mention she has a pregnant unmarried 17 year old daughter?) going for Obama – the Chosen One – she now left herself open to attack by Obama. Seriously!! As if the orchestrated and frenzied attacks on Sarah Palin and her famly by the Dem attack dogs and their media chattels since last Friday were just political foreplay. Oh – and whilst she may have covered ethics reform, energy policy, chief executive policy AND exposed the Chosen One’s lack of experience, James wrily noted she had not covered global warming. There you go then – Palin’s speech – just typical conference fare which plays into Obama’s hands. Unbelievable. There is NO WAY that the BBC is prepared to let go of its narrative that Obama is going into the White House and and so even when the GOP base is energised by Palin and American women have a real role model for vote for, it is relentlessly downplayed to the point of being almost muted by the rotten biased despicable BBC. (Oh, and don’t forget, Palin has a pregnant unmarried 17 year old daughter)

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More Palin

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Sorry to mine this again, but Frei’s contribution is possibly the best yet. As far as I can tell, his job is to make Webb look impartial.

As Frei says, it’s impossible to know where to start – so how about with the kids (that’s worked for us so far): “Her five children? Unusual names: Track – apparently named because his mother is a keen runner – Willow, Bristol, Piper and Trig – the Nordic word for strength.” Very dubious.

“Or should we dwell on the fact that the woman who might one day command the most powerful army in the world, run three wars and fix the economic engine of the planet has only been abroad twice in her 44 years of life?”

Hard to say, but we certainly don’t want to miss the cliche that the “US needs to figure out how comfortable it is with Mrs Palin being a heartbeat away from the Oval Office”. Nor forget the American stereotyping: “Then there is the fact that Sarah has been hunting… ever since she could walk. Add the fact that her husband Todd – known in Alaska as the “First Dude” – was arrested for driving under the influence of alcohol in 1986 and you get the picture… They are real, unvarnished Americans.”

The conclusion is obvious to all: “Once again, the Republicans are asking the world to suspend disbelief. They did it with Ronald Reagan and George W Bush. Why not do it with a 44-year-old governor of America’s second most distant state, a very modern woman with very conservative values? Does America want to go along for the ride? The world is watching, reaching for the Prozac and wondering what other historic surprises are in store for the 2008 election.” Genius.

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Other people’s money

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£29 million. That is a lot, isn’t it? You know you’re in trouble when even the Lib Dems are giving you a hard time. It’s also worth noting this bit: “…it does not include transport costs paid for by staff and claimed back through expenses”. Presumably that will include a lot of taxi fares. And all this is before the bill for the Olympics…

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FOR RUSSIA, WITH LOVE.

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The EU’s gutless response to the Russian invasion of Georgia gets the sanitised treatment by the BBC here. Nothing new there. But if you check out Mark Mardell’s blog here you will discover that he reckons the EU has been astoundingly tough on Russia.“I reported on TV last night that the EU summit was “surprisingly tough” mainly because of the suspension of talks on a partnership with Russia, but also because of pretty strong robust language” Gosh Mark, aren’t you the intrepid journalist pointing out that strong language. Putin and his puppet Medvedev must be trembling at those tough words. Mark seems a tad distressed that some of us point out just how impotent the EU response has been to Russia territorial aggression, we can but wonder why…..

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No pregnant pause

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If you suspected the BBC would never give the Republicans as much coverage as they gave the Democrats last week, shame on you. Since the Palin story broke, they been assiduous in keeping it on the front page, cooking up this feature on US teen pregnancies to do so.

“There is,” we are told, “a debate state-side as to the reason for this high pregnancy rate.” I’ve no idea what the debate is, though, because the piece simply blames it on abstinence programmes while being careful to mention that McCain opposed a Democratic proposal to pay for prevention programmes other than abstinence-only education. Oh, the irony.

Elsewhere Radio 1’s Newsbeat is also keen on the story, and interestingly has decided that Palin’s anti-abortion stance makes her part of the “far right”. Quality journalism all round.

UPDATE: Newsbeat has evidently thought better of it, and her anti-abortion stand is no longer a “far-right stance”. It’s progress of sorts, I suppose.

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General BBC-related comment thread!

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Please use this thread for comments about the BBC’s current programming and activities. This post will remain at or near the top of the blog – scroll down for new topic-specific posts. N.B. This is not an invitation for general off-topic comments, rants or chit-chat. Thoughtful comments are encouraged. Comments may also be moderated. Any suggestions for stories that you might like covered would be appreciated! It’s your space, use it wisely.

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What crisis?

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The comments at Guido have picked up well on the bias in Paul Mason’s “analysis” of the economic crisis the UK faces, compounded in his blog here. It’s headlined “What the worst downturn in 60 years really looked like”, and you’ll not be surprised that he’s referring to the Thatcher recession in the early 80s. As one Guido fan notes, in his piece on Newsnight, he managed to analyse previous economic downturns by going from Barber (Tory) to Howe (Tory) but skipping Callaghan (Labour) when Britain had to get an emergency bailout from the IMF.

The real bias, though, is in the comparison of data from 2007 and 2008 to 1983. In 1983 the recession was in full swing, but now, as Darling pointed out, we’re facing the worst crisis for 60 years – much of the real pain is yet to come.

But, then, what do you expect from a supporter of the Trotskyist group Workers Power?

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GROWING THE STATE

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. Have you caught the BBC’s coverage of Heathcliffe Brown’s alleged “rescue” package for the housing market? This reduces down to little more than an extension of council housing schemes that once so blighted this country along with Nanny State generously offering to take on shared ownership of your property. None of this goes anywhere near dealing with the central problem of a vastly over-priced property market but it does provide Brown with cover as he mendaciously uses the economic crisis he has helped create to now extend the size and reach of the State into private property. That is something of which the State Broadcaster heartily approves of and you can be sure that Brown’s re-launch is given a warm unthinking welcome.

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SARAH MONTAGUE.

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I was wondering which of the Today presenters is the most venomous in their left-wing bias and I suggest it is the not so fragrant Sarah Montague. Don’t know if you caught her this morning introducing a (brief) item on the Republican National Convention in Minneapolis by stating that the news that Sarah Palin’s “17 year old unmarried daughter was pregnant may dismay some people” James Naughtie to whom she addressed the remark instantly contradicted her and in fairness he provided a balanced commentary on the issue. So when even Naughtie sounds reasoned what does THAT say about Montague?

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PORRIDGE.

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One of the BBC’s favourite themes is that no one should go to prison (apart perhaps from those who won’t recycle or those who drive “gas guzzlers) and so one can imagine the delight with which they have welcomed the news that the liberal lobbying group NACRO is bidding to actually run two prisons. On the Today programme this morning the main BBC concern was that NACRO’s bid was in conjunction with a private security company and we all know that the private sector can’t really be trusted, right? There was no examination of the liberal NACRO agenda and how this relates to public concerns that prison regimes are already far too soft. It strikes me that the BBC keeps running stories themed around the thesis that the UK needs fewer prisons and less prisoners and those that we do retain should have liberalised regimes to help the convicts feel better about themselves.

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