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Make that “previous” , before I’m invited to join “The Spelling Society” .
http://spellingsociety.org/
yawn.. c4 are dragging out the “guns and ammo” side of america right now.
cue forests, hunters, and rednecks who cant stand obama cos he’s a “muslim”
hmm.. last time i checked right wing conservative talk radio – oooh , about say yesterday via the ipod – NONE of the big name conservative commentators are even raising the issue of Obama’s religion.
thats a no go area for americans – why? because freedom of religion is sacred. you just do *not* go there.
what is notable about british coverage of the elections is that brit journalists never seem to interview the movers and shakers in the GOP. instead we get hicksville USA in order to fit into the british MSM view of America.
seriously.
when was the last time you saw Hugh Hewitt in a British news report?
or Rush Lumbagh?
think about that for a minute.
Alan Healy | 07.10.08 – 8:45 pm
i’m a bit surprised that Scottish Unionists have accepted this.
then again, i had a few beers with Scottish unionists a few weeks ago, and to a man ,they all vote SNP.
they way they explained it is – scottish independence, but just the queen as a figurehead. to a man they HATE westminister. i.e. parliament.
but they have no problem with Her Majesty.
i came away understanding the Scottish thing vastly more. seems like Celtic and Rangers supporters are united in wanting independence.
is that a fair assumption?
Alan Healy | 07.10.08 – 8:45 pm
just clicked on your link – wow.. thats “in your face” stuff…
http://www.scotland.gov.uk/About/
then again – if the SNP want to stay outside of the EU, then i will admire what they are trying to do.
if they just go full on for the lisbon treaty, then your “independence” will be a joke.
you might as well declare Hampshire as being “independent”
I quite like brenda. best we keep the monarchy. underpins our liberal democracy.
only ever posted under this moniker – which is one of my favourite insults meted out to liberals. nor for the record any connection with the bbc.
uk not a secular state I agree. in that, we could learn a lot from the usa, which despite various assaults, remains so.
archduke – there was an interesting documentary about lee attwater last night; on
bbc4 I think.
Further to this uncritical BBC report on Labour government’s Muslim plan for dealing with the Islamic jihad threat in the UK:
“Muslim youths to advise ministers”
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/7656108.stm
– even the politically left blog,’Harry’s Place’ has this revelation and criticism:
” SWP activist appointed Government advisor”
It points out that a Ms. Sabiha Iqbal, aged 17, and a member of the Bradfor Socialist Worers Party is one such Muslim advisor to the Labour government:
[Extract]:
“The Socialist Workers’ Party is a small, fringe political party. It participates in elections, from time to time, behind various front organisations. However, it is a Trotskyite organisation, which aspires to overthrown the elected government, and replace it with a dictatorship. Fortunately, it is tiny, and most of its members are extremely weedy.
“Surely the Government could do better than appoint a member of an extremist party to advise it? Can you imagine what would happen if the Government appointed a member of the BNP to an advisory quango on ‘white people’? Given that the SWP has been active in promoting Islamist extremist groups – Jamaat e Islami, Hamas/Muslim Brotherhood and Hezbollah – as well as touring the militant anti-semite, Gilad Atzmon around, the parallel with the BNP is a strong one.
“I can’t imagine that the SWP Central Committee can be that happy to have one of their cadre colluding with the regime that they hope one day to overthrow.”
http://www.hurryupharry.org/2008/10/07/swp-activist-appointed-government-advisor/
One of the SNP’s electoral slogans is “Scotland – at the heart of Europe” (check the atlas – Scotland is a wee country of 5 million on the edge of Europe). This is a non-nationalist nationalist party which does not want real independence in the manner of Norway or Switzerland, but simply bases its vote on hatred of all things English. The SNP loves muslim and Afro-Carrib immigrants – “new Scots”, as they are termed, but white English are despised.
Why is there no serious hard core porn on the BBC?
The BBC knows there is market for such stuff, it isn’t illegal and would be hugely popular.
Why are we waiting?
Alan@Oslo
Thanks for the alert on the “Media Standards Trust”. I see from their website that one of this blog’s favourite Bebboids is a board member, namely:
Robert Peston (Business Editor, BBC)
Others include Roger Graef (Films of Record) and Baroness Helena Kennedy QC. Enough said.
Why is there no hard core porn on the BBC?
Hard core porn is legal, popular and obviously what a huge proportion of the people want.
Why don’t the BBC show it? As a broadcaster dedicated to public service why hasn’t the BBC become aware of the vast appetite for porn in the UK and responded appropriately?
Further to 9:09 pm (above),
Hugh Fitzgerald has a comprehensive critique of Labour government’s appointment of Muslim advisers (and the BBC has no questions/ criticism in its report referred to here):
“Fitzgerald: UK’s new Muslim advisers”
http://www.jihadwatch.org/dhimmiwatch/archives/023007.php#more
JB, thanks. Just as Common Purpose is trying to take control of the entire public and corporate sector (I really couldn’t believe this at first but, after some digging, the sheer scale of these leftists’ ambitions is staggering when some light is shed on them. The head of the large British oil company where I work is a CP-man), so is the Media Standards Trust attempting to control what is permitted to be reported in the MSM – and then we’re next!
I’d just like to inform the regulars here that there is a very active, anti-BBC/TV licence group on Facebook which has over 123,000 members.
The level of discussion isn’t of the highest quality (well, it’s Facebook) but i’ve witness a few ex-gruntled employees on there who seem to be spilling some interesting beans!
The Beeb is clearly pro the liberal clergy but anti the average Christian practitioner.
“…Why is there no hard core porn on the BBC?…”
Well if you want to see beeboids at it, try Hampstead Heath public toilets on a Friday night.
Jeff | 07.10.08 – 10:31 pm |
There is also someone who is “high up” in the Conservative Party who also understands the bias at the BBC. Along with the commentators
“Dealing with the BBC”
http://www.johnredwoodsdiary.com/2008/10/03/dealing-with-the-bbc/
Archduke
Sorry for the delay in the reply . I’m much more Unionist (in the Scottish sense) than the gentlemen you were talking to . I am a British patriot , regarding Britain as the best supra-national state which has ever existed .
The problem comes since we are now subsumed into another supra-national state – the E.U.
With this innovation Scotland has gone from being the junior partner in a major state , to being a far-flung region of a junior member of another state . Not a good position .
The best deal we can get from the new status quo is to become a junior member of the EU ourselves . That seems to be the SNP’s approach .
I don’t agree with it and would be happier to be part of Britain if we get out of the EU . If we don’t then this pseudo-independence is more than likely .
As for the SNP’s current popularity , it is more due to a real hatred of Labour among its former core support in Scotland than anything else .
Her Majesty The Queen ?
(Not Queen Elizabeth as the Beeb constantly and disrespectfully refers to her )
God Bless Her !
Common Purpose! What place do they have in the Biased BBC conspiracy firmament?
What a joke. the BBC have got that piece of human shit Greg Palast doing another pack of lies about the US election.
The turd on the BBC introduced Palast an an “Independent Reporter”
What a fucking joke. Palast is a left wing loon.
Martin | 07.10.08 – 11:07 pm |
Aren’t reporters for the Independent usually left wing loons?
The other day Nu Liebour were slagging Boris Johnson off for starting an inquiry into the treatment of ethnic minorities.
Er, so why is Nu Liebour now doing the same thing?
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1070938/Jacqui-Smith-orders-national-police-race-inquiry-Met-race-row-rages-on.html#comments
Alan@Oslo
I take your point about some Scots , not all of them in the SNP ,despising our white , English countrymen . Let me apologise on their behalf for the obvious offence this has caused .
However ,I would ask you to examine the comments pages of some English-based newspapers and blogs (even occasionally this one) when Scotland is mentioned .
Two wrongs make two wrongs , not a right . It is therefore the role of us sensible chaps not to be drawn into this poison and treat each other with respect . Don’t you agree ?
I’m almost sounding like a leftie here ! “Won’t someone please think of the Children ?”
Your other point is also interesting –
“Scotland is a wee country of 5 million on the edge of Europe” .
This is true , but so are Denmark ,Sweden , Finland , Southern Ireland and the Netherlands. They, however are all much richer and have their interests directly represented in Brussels . They also don’t have as much oil , however you draw the maritime boundary .
That Scotland is so much poorer , despite our advantages and our head-start in development , is a direct result of our involvement in the EU – not of English plotting to do us down .
Apologies for another long post – I’m far too sober .
Whitewine 10:54
Well, numerous BBC executives have been on Common Purpose courses at our expense, and the BBC’s political bias exactly mirrors Common Purpose objectives, so that is good enough for me.
Lots and lots of people have been on common purpose, from all sectors of society. So it shouldn’t be good enough for you
Alan Healy: Oh dear, where do I start. I have no problem with Scotland going its own way, in fact I want it badly.
However, you Scots don’t seem to want to pay your way.
Alex salmond said that an independent Scotland would still use the DVLA for example. That’s nice of him, will he be paying towards the upkeep of it I wonder?
What about all those jobs in Scotland that Nu Liebour devolved (like tax offices). Why should my tax office be in Scotland? Might as well have it in France.
Oh and will the Scots pay towards the upkeep of English roads to transport their goods through England to europe?
No one seems to ever get an answer out of Salmond. I’ve emailed the above into Simon Mayo when he’s had Salmond on. They’ve never been put to him.
Salmond was wanking on about oil the other month when it was nearly $150 a barrel. Now it’s just over $80 a barrel he’s shut up about it.
Alan Healy | 07.10.08 – 11:14 pm |
Well said – I don’t want to sound patronising but I like Scotland, in fact I will be going there soon. As for
“Her Majesty The Queen ?
(Not Queen Elizabeth as the Beeb constantly and disrespectfully refers to her )” Not the Lord Jesus – but “Jesus”
But always “The Prophet Mohamed”!!!
Independent indeed – Palast’s a loony left extremist – about as “independent” as George Galloway.
Katherine Harris calls Greg Palast, ‘twisted and maniacle.’ But Michael Moore calls his reporting for BBC television ‘courageous.’ And Noam Chomsky says: Greg Palast “upsets all the right people.”
In England, Palast is known as, “the most important investigative reporter of our time…” (Tribune Magazine, UK). But, his award-winning investigative reports for BBC television have been banned from us airwaves. His writings for Britain’s Guardian have been stopped at the border.
Greg Palast is the author of the book, The Best Democracy Money Can Buy — nearly one year on the New York Times best seller list – the special elections edition is released this month.
Palast is best known in the USA for his reports on the theft of the election in Florida and the connections between the Bush family and the Bin ladins which form the basis for Michael Moore’s latest film.
Clearly the man you’d go to for a fair look at US voting laws – if you were a famously impartial national broadcaster.
Your BBC – Keeping the Josef Goebbels spirit alive
Martin
You are correct – no one in Scotland ever pays any tax on anything .
Our duty-free beer and fags are famous throughout the western world ; all goods and services are paid from the public purse ; our NHS is so well-funded that nurses make £7 million a year, as well as having free helicopter transport to and from their luxurious mansions , when they are not handing platinum-plated scalpels to the world’s top surgeons , head-hunted from around the globe .
The only down side is that the massive oil-fields off our coasts produce no revenue at all and need , themselves , to be subsidised by generous English tax-payers , who receive no benefits from state spending at all .
Thank you for your contribution , Martin .
Seriously , are you by any chance a Liberal Democrat from a South West English constituency ? When I lived down there I noticed that the normal people were British patriots too , while the Lib-Dims (they were few , but vocal)moaned about how they were going to pave the streets of Devonport with gold salvaged from the Thieving Jock Ingrates . This was at a time when the Lib-Dems were in government in Scotland and had been the proposer of most of the policies which they abhorred in SW England .
Divide and Rule ?
EU-loving hypocrites?
You decide .
Ok , Martin .
I’m sorry a called you a Lib Dem .
Are we still pals ?
Seriously , what’s the problem with dealing with government offices located in other parts of the UK ? I didn’t blame England and the English when I was phoned on my mobile by some scrote at TV Licensing in Bristol threatening me with gaol because I hadn’t renewed my licence a fortnight before it was due .
I blamed the BBC .
Then again , you don’t think Scottish people pay any tax , so they don’t pay for the upkeep of these offices .
If that’s true you could have a point .
Jon | 07.10.08 – 10:49 pm | provides an interesting link into John Redwood’s blog and his article about dealing with the BBC.
In the comments there are some suggestions concerning the digital switchover and making it subscription.
I’m not up to speed on this so can any one give it to me in layman’s terms about the digital inception, what’s required, and if it’s a box like Sky can it be cheaply programmed to act on a subscription basis such as Sky.
If it’s technically simple to do and the cost is minimal, then clearly this is the future of TV broadcasting in the UK.
With regard to the Telegraph reports of Jeremy Hunt, the Conservative Culture & Arts shadow, well I hardly think he’s going to come up front at this stage and say, “We’re seriously pissed off with the BBC and when we get elected in 2010 we’re going to sort them out.”
I suspect they are keeping their powder dry on this issue and the BBC know it. One only has to look at how the BBC has become more extreme since Gordon took a nosedive in the polls.
Alan Healy: You’re missing the point. If Scotland goes its own way, why should it expect to use services paid for by the English tax payer for free? Alex Salmond have never said that Scotland would contribute to elements of the civil service that are so intertwined between the British nations.
Are you really suggesting that Scotland’s hauliers shouldn’t pay towards the upkeep of English roads that they use to transport goods to Europe?
Are you really suggesting that Scotland should get the free use of services like the DVLA whilst the English have to pay to run it?
As for the oil and gas. I don’t know what % of it belongs to Scotland. To be honest I don’t care. I’d let Scotland keep it all anyway, just to get rid of it.
However, I would change the law in England that would prevent a Scotsman from holding a senior cabinet post so that we the English are finally rid of the Scottish mafia from our politics.
You Scots think too much of yourselves. No one in England really cares about Scotland. Jesus, even most of your own politicians don’t give a toss either.
Look on the brightside though. If you go independent Sean Connery’s going to move back to Scotland. Whoope fucking do.
whitewineliberal | 07.10.08 – 11:19 pm |
Lots and lots of people have been on common purpose, from all sectors of society.
Like that’s going to reassure conspiracy theorists? That makes us even more paranoid.
Atlas Shrugged, call your office.
“Climate change may hasten the spread of diseases that can move from wild animals to humans, warns the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) in a report”
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/7657415.stm
Does this idiot know that the WCS is a pressure group, like WWF or Greenpiece?
Spot the Climatologist Black
http://www.wcs.org/globalconservation/northamerica/NorthAmericaStaff
It seems that anyone who is a scientist of what ever discipline can predict what the climate will do – I have an MSc and I predict that we are heading for an Ice Age – now print that BBC.
“Busses are better than trains” says the British Bus Society.
Martin
I think you’re missing the point . The Scottish taxpayer already makes a roughly proportional contribution to public services . We don’t use them for free .
Road haulage ? How much do English hauliers pay for the upkeep of roads in France , Germany , Italy , etc., when they travel across them ?
DVLA ? Isn’t it in Swansea ? I’m also sure that it gets paid for by whoever pays for their driving licence/car tax . I’m sure I saw one of these motor carriages in Dumfries once . Perhaps it was one of our English benefactors on another philanthropic visit .
Cabinet ministers ? If Salmond gets his wicked way you won’t have the problem of Brown Mark II – or even Bonar Law Mark II – as there would be no Scots in Westminster , at least not representing Scottish seats . After all Aden’s independent but we’ve still got Keith Vaz !
As for Scottish mafia , it’s not the fact that Brown and co are Scots , it’s the fact that they are a shower of corrupt , lying , liberal elitists . They are as unrepresentative of , and hated by , the Scottish people as they are the English .
Lastly “You Scots think too much of yourselves” . Are there no mirrors in your house ? Besides , of all the posters on this blog , you are the one who harps on about Scotland and how we Scots rob you daily .
You are clearly an English Nationalist – good luck to you .
I am a British patriot and I believe in Scotland as part of Britain .
Anyway , if Salmond gets his way I won’t have to worry about Double O 700 ,
I’ll be moving in next door to you !
Will you still keep bunging me all that money ?
Just seen Newsnight and a report by one Greg Palast about potential voting fraud in the US this year. He is laughingly referred to as an “independent” reporter by the BBC airhead who hosted the prog. He then proceeds to catalogue a whole list of Republican “plots” to disenfranchise “poor” voters. Then in the interests of “balance” he investigates Democrat “frauds” and finds that there is no basis…surprise, surprise…..just google this clown and you will see how “independent” he is – but actually once you see him with his hat doing his Sam Spade impression you can see how phoney he is – just another example of how deep the BBC is in the tank for BO and the Dems
Quite right, callingallcomets – and not a word about Acorn!
The thing that astonishes me is the barefaced cheek of the people who pop-up here, trying to pretend the BBC has no case to answer.
I don’t know how many of you watched the US Presidential Debate but John McCain simply didn’t do enough for me. I hate to be pessimistic but I fear Barack Hussein Obama may become the next President of the USA.
Just finished watching the debate:
I hate to say this but McCain deserves to lose. He was a jellyfish. He didn’t throw any new zingers at Obama, he was soft on the Democrats, soft on the Messiah, he stumbled and stuttered, he just outright STANK.
I don’t know what the hell his campaign aides are doing, they are running perhaps one of the worst presidential campaigns in US history.
They KNEW that McCain had to savage Obama in this debate. It’s not as if they don’t have enough ammunition. Look all over the internet, at discussions, blogs – there is enough out there to disqualify Obama from getting anywhere NEAR the White House. McCain should have sacked his campaign team and just surfed the internet a little this afternoon. He could have found enough arguments, enough points, enough word flow to kick that socialist bastard into next week.
But what does he do? He leaves Obama alone. He hardly mentions Fannie and Freddie and the Dem’s role in the crisis. He doesn’t even mention ACORN. He doesn’t mention Ayers, or Wright, or any more of Obama’s disgraceful past which, truth be told, should be enough to disallow him any kind of national security clearance at all. The extent of Obama’s radical past just gets worse and worse with new developments today and McCain missed a fantastic…ESSENTIAL opportunity to convince the American public that his opponent is the worst thing possible to happen to America.
McCain is so set upon being the friendly, non-partisan “reach across the aisle” bringer-together that he’s lost the election. What a chump. I hate his campaign team right now. I hate him, sad to say.
And right at the start – a bombshell! McCain, in a disastrous attempt to appeal to the handout-demanding middle classes, has said that he will NATIONALIZE bad mortgages. I can’t believe what I just heard and saw. Get ready for President Obama 2008. McCain just failed to convince the undecideds and stabbed his conservative following in the back.
I saw his campaign manager being interviewed on Fox a while back, I can’t recall his name. But I remember thinking, what an idiot. What a weasel-faced, inadequate man. The answers he was giving to the questions were evasive, inadequate and pathetic. I remember thinking, THIS is the man who is at the helm of the McCain campaign?
Did you catch John Humphries “trying to get” George Osborne “to say” that he agreed with the Brown bail-out and to say if he had any other plan. Funny, I don’t remember him being quite as stroppy with Gordon Brown who is the fool who is one of the fools that got us into this mess in the first place.
Alan Healy: You just don’t get it. If Scotland goes independent are you suggesting Scotland should be able to access English services for free still?
Actually I want foreign lorries to pay to use Englsih roads as well, the Tories have a plan to bring in such a charge. Our discussion was about Scotland and yes as Scotland is so dependent on English roads I don’t see why you shouldn’t pay to use them.
You might be a fan of the Union, I’m not.
What I don’t understand is the cowardice of the Scots. They hate the Englsih, they vote in an SNP Government, they claim they would be better off independent, but….. Where’s the beef? Do it, go, leave. Just stop whining about it.
Nu Liebour destroyed the idea of a ‘Union’ when they brough in devolution for everyone except the Englsih. Why should Gordon Brown be able to vote to force Tuition fees on the Englsih but not have the same thing in Scotland?
I could go on about care for the elderly, foundation hospitals and so on.
“I hate to be pessimistic but I fear Barack Hussein Obama may become the next President of the USA.”
Looks like it. The depressing thing to me as a relative neutral is how bad the pair of them have looked in the last few weeks. At the start of the campaign i genuinely thought we were looking at two extremely impressive candidates but the financial woes have found them out completely. It’s bush v kerry all over again.
Cockney: I still think McCain will win. However, they have to change the way they attack Obama.
McCain can’t win by talking about the economy, people will blame his party regardless of the fact he’s had nothing to do with the whole thing.
I think they should use Palin a lot more to attack Obama’s character.
However, they should only stick her on the live shows where the leftist media can’t edit her comments.
But we were told McCain would be taking the gloves off in tihs debate. Perhaps he’s simply waiting, but he’s leaving it very late.
Who knows what’s going to happen over the next 30 days or so.
If the markets stabilise come Nov 4th things might have calmed down a bit.
For all of what’s gone on Obama has only got a lead of around 6% in most polls.
For all Obama’s efforts, that’s not a big lead.
I heard Juan Williams on Fox the other day who reckons that McCain can get another 5% from voters who won’t admit that they will not vote for a black man at election time.
Also rememeber that historically, young people in America have a habit of not turning out in the polls.
As we know opinion polls can say one thing, but the voters another
The Unnamed threat.
BBC Radio 4 bulletin, after 8 am today, carried a ‘nudge, nudge, wink, wink’ reference to the Labour government’s latest euphemistic attempt to tackle ‘security’ issues among British schoolchildren.
The BBC news item did not mention the words, Islamic jihad or Muslim once.
The Labour government, and its loyal BBC news reporting, does not emphasise that the security threat is from Islamic jihad, nor that it is a threat to British values, and to Britain as a nation. It is all presented as part of a ‘multiculturalist’ project, as the BBC ‘Today’ programme allowed Professor Anthony Glees the whole of 5 minutes to explain (at 7:15 am ):
http://news.bbc.co.uk/today/hi/today/newsid_7658000/7658287.stm
All this follows on from yesterday’s announcement of how the Labour government is turning to Muslim people for advice on how to tackle the security threat from the (unnamed) Islamic jihad, and how these politically privileged Muslims will advise the British Labour government about Muslim concerns on e.g. foreign policy.
Talk about feeling like a foreigner in one’s own country. All this represents more political subservience for the vast majority of non-Muslim British people. This is where ‘Multiculturalism’, as practiced by Labour and the BBC leads.
And Labour’s mass immigration continues. And Labour still enthuses to have 75 million Muslims Turks to enter the European Union.
… and talking about the calibre of the UK’s new muslim advisors, this is what Hugh Fitzgerald of Jihad Watch has to say: http://www.jihadwatch.org/dhimmiwatch/archives/023007.php
Futher to Labour government’s setting up of a Muslims- only, political advisory group, dutifully and uncritically reported by the BBC:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/7656108.stm
-The ‘Telgraph’, in contrast, has this:
“Baroness Warsi: Labour’s Young Muslim Advisory Group is patronising and divisive”
[Extract]:
“Baroness Warsi, the shadow minister for community cohesion, claimed the move was another example of Labour’s discredited policy of state multiculturalism and would just drive communities in Britain further apart.”
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/politics/labour/3155177/Baroness-Warsi-Labours-Young-Muslim-Advisory-Group-is-patronising-and-divisive.html
Even more perceptively, ‘Cranmer’ has this:
[ Extract, on Baroness Warsi]:
“She is herself the shadow minister for community cohesion, which is itself a little patronising. Is this all that ethnic minorities are expert in? Is it the limit of her capability to journey to Islamic lands to free schoolteachers who inadvertently call teddy bears Mohammed?”
http://archbishop-cranmer.blogspot.com/2008/10/baroness-warsi-labours-young-muslim.html
Here’s a video clip of a CNN interview with that gem of a guy, Jon Voigt, loyal supporter of Sarah Palin:
And here’s the transcript, in two parts:
HENRY: Sarah Palin, you can hear the crowd gathering already. She’s going to be appearing at this rally here in Carson, California shortly. And appearing her will be the actor, Jon Voight. A lot of people talking about that debate, nearly 70 million people watching the debate. How do you think Sarah Palin did?
JON VOIGHT, ACTOR: She was wonderful in the debate. My deepest concern, you know. Let me just say — can I say something honestly about the debate? The thing that concerned me about the debate, all these people, 70 to 80 million people watching this debate, and I found so many things that I found Joe Biden said that were – that I recognized as out-right lies. So I’m saying, isn’t anybody on this? And of course, we’re talking to CNN and I know where you guys stand. And I’m saying, guys, we’ve got to not have a partisan press. We’ve got to have real journalism here. And it’s a sad event for me to witness this.
HENRY: Let me ask you, you mentioned republicans are pointing out that there were a lot of things that Joe Biden said that were not true. One thing that Sarah Palin stressed was that Barack Obama has voted 94 times to raise taxes. When you peel that back that’s not exactly true.
VOIGHT: Of course, you’re going to give me that side of it.
HENRY: I want to give you —
VOIGHT: Absolutely the truth. But the larger things for me which struck me was this whole thing — the thing about Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and talking about how the democrats — he’s saying that the democrats wanted regulations. The democrats did not want regulations. That was the whole thing about this big fight between Barney Franks and Bill O’Reilly yesterday.
Contd:
HENRY: Let me ask you, you mentioned the economy, an important issue, without going back and forth. Let’s just talk broadly. How do you think the economy, the financial crisis is affecting the campaign trail. (INAUDIBLE) Barack Obama.
VOIGHT: Let me just say this, look, if you checked Barack Obama — I’m going to just say this and it’ll get rid of it. Check Barack Obama’s record, what he did in the — with the William Ayers, with his alliance with Alinsky, Sol Alinsky, tactics and philosophy. With his work with ACORN, know all that stuff before you ask a question like that. Let’s get off this for a second and let’s just talk about something else because after all I’m an actor here, I have these — we’re going to have a nice little cheerleading section for Sarah, who I’m crazy about. And I’m not really the fellow that should be talking about this. But the real journalists should be getting into this thing.
HENRY: The issue number one for Americans right now is the economy. That’s why I asked about it. Last thing, on Tuesday, what does John McCain need to say in the second presidential debate? What do you expect him to do?
VOIGHT: You see, you’re asking me all these questions. You think that I’m the fellow that I should be answering these kinds of questions?
HENRY: What are you doing here with Sarah Palin then? I thought you were ready.
VOIGHT: I’m ready to talk to you. But let me just say this, John McCain will handle himself just fine, just as Sarah Palin handled herself just fine. And it’s not for me to coach them. But I’ll be tuning in and I’ll be rooting for my fellow. But a lot of this stuff has to be on the board. What I would like to see done is that these things are handled in the press, that the press put partisanship aside. It’s become a partisan press. And this is almost criminal because it doesn’t allow people to make an informed vote.
HENRY: Thank you for your opinions. We appreciate it Jon Voight. You heard the take from Jon Voight, he clearly thinks that Sarah Palin did very well in that vice presidential debate, thank you sir.
Further to notasheeps comment, if I may turn this thread momentarily from blatant bias to blatant incompetence and irresponsibility (although bias breeds incompetence – and vice versa), Humphrys’ interviews on Today this morning with Osborne and Darling were eye-watering examples of Baldwin’s portrayal of the press as harlot (“power without responsibility”). Humphrys’ mock-indignation and pointless aggression got us nowhere (as usual). There is no point at the moment (and maybe not for another week) in trying to pin Osborne down as to whether he “believes” the bail-out will work: he and the rest of us don’t know. Osborne, quite reasonably, said he hopes it will work: “belief” doesn’t come into it. He knows as much about what’s happening behind the scenes as Humphrys (probably less). OTOH if Osborne had said that he didn’t believe the bail-out will work, the market (and the banking system) would go into free-fall: not that Humphrys cares apparently.
Coming to Darling – the rabbit in the headlights: all he needed to say to Humphrys (who seems to equate rescuing banks with building a statue of Montagu Norman in gold on top of Bank Tube Station ie expensive but useless) was that he was trying to save the system and ask Humphrys if he could suggest a way of saving the system without saving the major constituents of that system (ie the banks). In response to another fatuous line of questioning around the topic of enforcement procedures (or lack of same) to compel restraint in banks invested in by the Treasury, all Darling needed to say was that if a bank is in such dire straits that it has to come to the Treasury for re-capitalisation, the bank would accept any conditions imposed (or go bust): you don’t have to spell out chapter and verse in the legislation.
The only interesting question Humphrys might have asked Darling (but pointedly didn’t) was why it took until 5:30 am in the morning to come up with a definitive rescue plan: what have the geniuses at the Treasury and elsewhere been doing since the Paulson plan was first bounced, then passed or since B&B was nationalised? From Darling’s performances in Parliament and the fruitless meeting with the major banks over the week-end (damagingly mis-reported by Peston apparently), it’s evident that no Plan B was in the offing.
Humphrys isn’t just aggressive and chippy – he’s positively dangerous
Martin | 08.10.08 – 9:02 am | #
But we were told McCain would be taking the gloves off in tihs debate. Perhaps he’s simply waiting, but he’s leaving it very late.
Quite honestly, I think McCain’s decided not to go all out. He’s got this stubborn, stupid idea that he’s not going to appear “partisan” and continue to tout this “reach across the aisle” image. I think in his mind, if he can’t win the election by acting like a gentleman, he doesn’t want to win. I’m disappointed, I thought he was a warrior.
I heard Juan Williams on Fox the other day who reckons that McCain can get another 5% from voters who won’t admit that they will not vote for a black man at election time.
I hate to say it, but I hope this is true – for the sake of America!
Also rememeber that historically, young people in America have a habit of not turning out in the polls.
Yes but this time they’re voting for a rap star whose poster they have on their dormitory walls.
As we know opinion polls can say one thing, but the voters another
Well, there are those who say polls are inherently biased towards the Democrat candidate this time…I sure hope so.