.
Wondered if anyone else has been reading Justin Webb’s blog today? Even by his twisted and prejudiced standards, it is dripping with anti-Palin toxicity! Justin is plainly disturbed to witness just how popular Sarah Palin is with Main Street but he admonishes “And yet the Palin world-view – essentially ignorant, unable to name a single paper read – is not the view that a nation facing an economic catastrophe, complex and international and baffling to most minds, is likely to choose.” He goes further saying that “to hear Palin screeching on about Reagan must be painful to many Republicans who knew him. Reagan knew what papers he read. ” Got that – screeching and ignorant.
For years the lousy BBC ridiculed Ronald Reagan, now they ridicule Sarah Pale and Justin Webb is to the fore in the character assassination. Any pretence of objective reporting has been jettisoned and we now see the full-on pro-Dem bias that the BBC exudes. I hope the McCain-Palin camp are observing this.
Quiz: Who said this?
“The mountain of rubbish poured out about Palin over the past month would rival Everest. What a disgrace for our jabbering army of liberal journalists and commentators, too many of whom behaved like snippy jackasses. The bourgeois conventionalism and rank snobbery of these alleged humanitarians stank up the place. As for Palin’s brutally edited interviews with Charlie Gibson and that viper, Katie Couric, don’t we all know that the best bits ended up on the cutting-room floor? Something has gone seriously wrong with Democratic ideology, which seems to have become a candied set of holier-than-thou bromides attached like tutti-frutti to a quivering green Jell-O mold of adolescent sentimentality.”
Answer: Feminist icon Camille Paglia. Wow! At last!!!!
Also turning out on Palin’s behalf in the last few days was left-leaning actress Annette Benning treating Palin with respect even though their political views may differ.
Webb’s blog goes beyond commentary. The word “screeching” gives him away. He’s quite simply an elitist male snob. Once again I wonder if female Beeboids will take this man to task for his sexist comments? Somehow I doubt it.
Amazing! You get to be Governor of Alaska and you’re an idiot.
You get chosen to run on United States Presidential ticket as the VP and you are an idiot.
You get to be Washington hack for the State Run Broadcaster of a puny power buried within the EU and you’re a genius.
………as I said. Amazing!
Webb has competition:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/newsnight/petermarshall/2008/10/its_all_relateable.html
Incidentally, Newsnight bloggers would appear to be thicker-skinned than Justin Webb when it comes to criticism.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/newsnight/petermarshall/2008/10/its_all_relateable.html#comment2
http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/newsnight/fromthewebteam/2008/10/prospects_for_thursday_9th_oct.html#comment11
Maybe they’re just thankful for any attention at all.
“…a candied set of holier-than-thou bromides attached like tutti-frutti to a quivering green Jell-O mold of adolescent sentimentality.”
Committed to memory.
Personally I think Palin is indeed a bad joke, but the Beeb’s sudden desire to rehabilitate Republican figures that they’ve previously demonised purely for the purpose of making her look bad in comparison is a worse joke.
Cockney:Nonsense. The liberal media are simply upset that someone who isn’t an arse licking media lover is running for VP.
Take a look at our great leaders. We have Gordon Brown a man that despises the English and English middle classes in particular (those are the ones he continually milks for taxes), a man that has NEVER been elected to a position by anyone other than a handful of tartan wearing Scots.
Then you’ve got Cameron. A man who went to a priviliged school and has never had to work for a crust in his life.
As for Nick Clegg. What a tosser.
The very idea that Sarah Palin would be running the US economy is a joke. No President does. Obama is as clueless about the US economy as McCain, he just wanks on about change and a tax cut for 95% of Americans, when there isn’t 95% of Americans that pay tax in the first place. So even simple maths is beyond Osama. He can’t even remember how many states there are in the USA.
What Palin offers is a person who speaks ot the ordinary people, that’s the ones the politicians despise but need to vote for them.
At least Palin was elected into office. What vote do we get on the BBC?
Thank you DB. I checked out Jon Kelly blog. His simplistic political history American country music makes me weep. I followed the trail from Kelly’s blog to Buzz Carson and Ed Pettersen’s “Music City For Change” website to check how popular the left-wing resurgence in country music really is. There I found this email from someone called Susan:
“Hi,
If you can help out at the debate viewing party at Edgehill Studios tomorrow, 10/2 please contact me. We could use a couple more hands. It¹s unlikely you¹ll do much during the actual debate but watch it with everyone else, but we could use you before it starts and after. We¹d need you there around 6:45 tomorrow. Let me know.”
A plea for someone – anyone – to come and play at the event. Resurgence? What resurgence?
I can think of a thousand bands not working in Nashville right now who would rather die than join Susan. Jon Kelly talked to an unrepresentative sample of music city…but it helps him continue the BBC narrative.
You gotta love this withering demolition of Biden by the Grande Dame herself, the wonderful Anne Coulter:
http://www.anncoulter.com/
Amazing how none of those facts have ever made it onto the airwaves or webpages of our beloved Beeb, isn’t it?
Metioning Regan in the US is I suppose like mentioning Thatcher – Both people did more to defeat communism than anyone in history – that is why the Marxist BBC has for years peddled out hate filled propaganda at two of the worlds greatest leaders of the 20th century. They would propbably try and undermine Churchill if they thought they would get away with it.
Sorry! Sorry! Sorry!
Re my last post: It must be the definition on my computer screen, or perhaps my blurred vision before my shot of coffee, that made “hands” look like “bands”. So let’s get this right: Susan (see above) didn’t want bands to attend her Democratic rally. That would have been a stretch. She actually wanted ‘hands’, i.e. people, men, women, dogs, cats, anyone, you don’t need to play, or sing. Please, anyone, go to her rally and be part of the Democratic Party resurgence in Nashville as reported by Jon Kelly.
yeah, it is striking to see Reagan’s name used in this way.
But I see the same thing in the US too. In the past 5-10 years he’s become elevated to status of ‘Great President’, and even Democrats seem able to muster some sort of respect for him, the same way Republicans now do with JFK or FDR.
In 10-15 years, don’t be surprised to see revisionism in the press in how ‘W’ is treated, not saying he’ll be remembered as great, but even Nixon was revered as an elder statesman in his later years.
“In 10-15 years, don’t be surprised to see revisionism in the press in how ‘W’ is treated”
doubtful. i think the one thing he’ll get credit for is proposing a private lead, incentives based approach to the climate change issue whilst everyone else was waving about wildly optimistic plans and doing nothing.
everything else seems a done deal. foreign policy? well even if you agree with the general ideology of the “war on terror” we lost 5 years through an almost wilfully idiotic implementation plan.
culture wars? no progress that i can see (in either direction)
healthcare? education? ditto
economy? f*cked
the bloke was crap – time to move on
Webb – Subtlety and irony exist outside Islington.
Sarah Palin was irritated by the implications behind the question. Are you so blind that you didn’t see that? As though the ‘tards up there in Alaska didn’t have access to “sophisticated” magazines (them ones wot has colour pictures inside!!!)
She kept a smile on her face – she’s a polician, not a toxic rat-faced member of the uppity TV journalist rat pack. I for one could sense her steely resolve not to give the interviewer the satisfaction of getting an answer. She decided not to accept the insult, on her own behalf and on behalf of her fellow citizens of Alaska, who get exactly the same publications and TV shows as they get in the lower 48.
So she stonewalled. With a steely smile on her face. The interviewer should have got the message, but then, smug people never realise when they’re being toyed with.
As the chief executive of the richest state in the United States, Sarah Palin probably does one hell of a lot more reading – including oil company annual reports and policy statements, and Texas and Canadian oil and gas magazines and daily bulletins – than silly little wimps whose job it is to report on the world’s important people.
Palin could have asked Katy Couric how often she uses Botox.
“essentially ignorant”
She’s got a son fighting in Iraq.
How many of Webb’s children are in the British army?
“Cockney | 09.10.08 – 6:50 pm ”
utter bollocks.
the economy under George Bush , DESPITE the dotcom crash and 9/11 tootled along very well.
and on top of that they were fighting two wars. No mean feat.
I’m no great fan of GWB either, but the Carter years were disasterous too, and he too is now hailed as an elder statesman.
Something about human nature tends to look at the current lot of politicians as the ‘worst ever’, and previous ones look good by comparison.
Nixon revered? Reviled surely. He was a crook. Bush has not been a success. But then most post war presidents have been pretty poor. Reagan one of the few exceptions. Truman another in my view. Carter a fool for sure. But Bush probably pips him for worst post-war president. History though will need to judge
Talking of which, is everyone looking forward to Simon Schama’s new series about the US? His history of Britain was up their with Civilisation, Ascent of Man and Seaside Special. The episode about Churchill and Orwell was breathtaking. As good a piece of TV as i’ve ever seen. His generation of British historians are of staggering quality.
“up there”. Forgive my comprehensive education
Reagan was despised by the leftist chattering classes in the UK as an ignorant cowboy who would start a nuclear war. How little they knew of him, the US, or themselves. Not a lot has changed. reagan was an outstanding communicator with a well thought-out political philosophy.
Carter is NOT revered as an ‘elder statesman’, except by the Mandela/Arafat/Chavez Fan Club.
I think history will be kinder to Bush than his present standing, when people can look a little more objectively at jihadism. But it may be too late by then.
Tony | 09.10.08 – 8:52 pm
Carter is hailed as an elder statesman by the MoveOn.org left and only them.
most centrists and right wingers see him for what he was – an utter disaster for America.
and what do we find here… the roots of the credit crunch..
introduced by Carter, expanded by Clinton
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Community_Reinvestment_Act
Bill Clinton has admitted the Democrats tried to block the Republicans from putting tougher regulation on Fannie Mae
http://gatewaypundit.blogspot.com/2008/09/bill-clinton-defends-john-mccains.html
anyone know where i can get a “Nobama” t-shirt.
Martin | 09.10.08 – 10:11 pm |
clever. clinton sticking the boot into obama, indirectly.
or maybe he’s just being honest and sick to death of obama getting away with lie after lie after lie after lie.
archduke: If Obama wins Hillary will never be President. Simple as that.
I can remember as a kid having the distinct impression that Reagan was nothing but an empty puppet with no brain. Looking back, it’s not hard to see where I got that idea from, given that I watched Spitting Image every Sunday night. Remember their portrayal of Reagan? His head had a lid on it from which his brain was always escaping.
It was only when I got older that I realized what a good president he really was.
I notice the Beeb has uploaded its latest Obama campaign ad onto it’s site:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7661758.stm
Still peddling the lie that Obama is/was not close to Ayers, of course.
“Mr Obama has repeatedly denied close ties to Mr Ayers, now a university professor in Chicago – a claim supported by independent observers, the AFP reports. “
Of course if BBC “journalists” had any integrity/skills whatsoever they’d know that there are many independent observers who have pointed out the exact opposite.
“The advert describes Mr Obama and Mr Ayers as “friends” who have “worked together for years “and claims that Mr Obama’s political career was launched in Mr Ayers’ living room. “
Claims? This is now established fact. The Obama campaign itself is no longer denying it. Notice how the BBC uses the word “claims” to describe something which is objective fact, but they would never think of using the word in the context of something within their ideological agenda that really was under question, e.g. man-made climate change.
“Mr Obama once served on a charity board with Mr Ayers. “
It goes way deeper than that, as the BBC does of course know but chooses to censor.
I’m really getting sick of this. End the BBC.
anyone catch kenneth clarkes sneering remarks about sarah palin – with barely concealed utter contempt.
no wonder they rebelled in 1776, the class war is alive and well in Kenneth Clarke , because he obviously thinks that a peasant like Palin has obviously risen about her station.
Even Ruth Lea, a so called “conservative” dives in and finds Palin “frightening”.
one begins to wonder if there are any real conservatives in this country.
Ruth Lea points out that Sarah Palin didnt have “a clue” about the “bush doctrine”.
trouble is – nobody has a clue what the bush doctrine is – if you google it, you’ll find about 20 definitions.
of course this all goes unremarked and uncommented by Dimbledore.
folks – and i am being serious – if you think you are voting “conservative” by voting for a Tory MP, you are sadly deluded.
move to America or Aussieland. England is fucked.
sorry about the “move to aussieland” comment above – i might have offended some English patriots on here.
but you should have seen it – the viseral anti-americanism on raw display when it came to Sarah Palin on QT.
worthy of a blog post with an embedded video clip on this blog all by itself.
if anything , to warn americans that the “special relationship” is a load of bollocks. so called “conservatives” will play to the crowd when the yanks arent looking.
to be honest i dont see that with conservatives in Eastern Europe.
at least they have a sense of who they owe one to.
with such viseral anti-americanism on display on QT, i’m half beginning to think the Ron Paul was right – “fuck them all , we’ll take care of ourselves”. No more nuclear umbrella for Europe…
There are not.
You are right.
UK is F****d.
America has provided security guarantees to Europe for 60 years and in so doing has earned only its contempt.
Perhaps Europeans would be happier to have a different hegemon, China anyone?…….Germany?
I’m still living in hope that someone, somewhere has the 9/11 QT on video and gets round to uploading it onto YouTube.
I think that would do more than anything to convince Americans just how sour the truth about Britain really is.
Justin Webb is a total twat. What the hell does he know about politics anyway? The last time I read his Blog he was just droning on and on about how he liked having sex with strangers, and thought Arsenal were wankers and what mobile phone number we should call if we wanted to meet up with him and have a shag. And he hadn’t even bothered posting it properly on the web either. Instead he’d scrawled it all over a toilet wall in the Kings Arms pub, in Croydon Hight Street.
Twat. Who the hell is going to find it there?
I think the Raila Odinga story of Obama’s endorsement and participation in Kenya in 2006 will come up again.
Who paid for him to visit Kenya and support Moslem agitation, and what was his motive of being there other than supporting his cousin?
This could be more difficult for him to talk away to the American public, but the timing of bringing it up again needs to be right.
“and thought Arsenal were wankers”
Whatever his political views he’s absolutely spot on when it comes to footy.
“Twat. Who the hell is going to find it there?”
People from Croydon?
“one begins to wonder if there are any real conservatives in this country.”
It’s perfectly possible to be a (small c) conservative and find Palin frightening. Surely conservatism stands for the supremacy of good sense and rational thought in leadership above naked populism and tokenism. I really can’t see that putting a remedial chipmunk on the ticket for the presidency because she’s female and shares some of the same strands of moronic belief as joe average in the mid-west is in any way conservative. I’m perfectly willing to believe that she’s a good organiser at Alaskan level through a bit of charisma and sheer bloody mindedness but we’re talking about the vice presidency of the US here. I’ve now seen the full unedited vice presidential debate and I genuinely can’t believe that anyone intelligent, conservative or otherwise, can take this utter imbecile seriously. Hence Question Time.
Here’s the transcript from the Rush Limbaugh show yesterday. The caller had been queueing to get into a McCain-Palin rally when she started talking to a Beeboid, quite possibly Justin Webb himself.
CALLER: None of it. And if I can tell you one quick story, ’cause I know your time is limited, but as we were all waiting in line and slowly move ahead because (as a previous caller described) the lines twirled around numerous buildings. There was a gentleman whom I knew had to be from the media, although I didn’t recognize him. He had a microphone in his hand, and right next to him was someone with a camera. So as I’m passing him, I said, “Make sure that you report the attendees accurately.” I didn’t really think he’d respond, but indeed he did, and I think he was kind of taken aback that somebody might challenge his journalistic integrity. He asked why I would suggest that he wouldn’t do that, and I said, “Well, it’s really quite obvious. You rarely report the Republican attendees very accurately.” And then with that, of course, he tried to engage me and of course I was a willing participant in, you know, why I would choose to vote for McCain as opposed to Obama because Obama was better on the economy. I stopped him dead in his tracks and reminded him that really was a specious argument.
RUSH: Wait a second. I have lost you here. He asked you a question who you’re going to vote for, McCain or Obama because why would you vote for McCain, because Obama is so much better on the economy? The reporter said that to you?
CALLER: Why he did. He was from the BBC. That’s why I didn’t recognize him.
RUSH: Ah.
CALLER: He was trying to lead me in that direction, and I quickly reminded him that I believed his argument — and my daughter would love this expression, the argument — was a canard. Clearly I don’t believe Obama is better on anything, much less the economy. But he persisted, and I said to him, “Number one, I reject your argument out of hand that Obama would be better for the economy. He’s an anti-capitalist. He’s anti-business. He’s anti-everything I hold dear. But even if you were right — and I don’t expect that you are — what good is a sound economy if we’re not kept safe?” That seemed to surprise him. So he said, “So you think McCain would keep you safe?” I said, “Indeed I do.” He said, “So you think that being kept safe is more important than a sound economy?” So I had to remind him that clearly a sound economy is of no value if you have terrorists at your doorstep. So actually it was kind of an interesting exchange.
RUSH: Okay, let me tell you what’s going to happen to that exchange, because when I was much younger in this business I thought that when journalists asked me a question, they really wanted my answer. It took me a long time to learn that they don’t care what you say. It is their question and how they can then cut up what you say. The whole point of that interview was to portray you as a typical McCain-Palin nut and kook. And they’re going to take that interview and splice you with one or two words, maybe a sentence, with others that he had talked to, to do a cross-reference of people who are so out of touch and so dangerous. I guarantee you, that’s what that was.
CALLER: Well, you’re probably right.
RUSH: That’s why you cannot accept the premise. You started out with this exactly right. It was very good. You don’t accept the premise.
CALLER: Well, I agree with you that’s probably what he was going to do or has done, but as you’ve said for so long, those of us in middle America are so outraged by what the media says, does, doesn’t say, and doesn’t do, that when you have an opportunity — regardless of what he’s going to do with the interview; albeit, you know, short as it was — I made it clear. Even if it’s one person, I needed him to know that I know what he does, and I felt better about that.
RUSH: Well, that’s good. That is excellent. There are very, very few exceptions to this. Trust me. Don’t doubt me.
CALLER: I do. (laughs)
RUSH: You will never change their minds. Don’t ever waste time actually debating a journalist. You will never change their mind. They’ll make you think they’re engaging you and debating you. They’re not. They have an agenda, they have a narrative, and they have a template and you’re either going to fit into it or not.
CALLER: Well, I expect that that’s very true, particularly from the BBC.
RUSH: From all of them!
CALLER: Yeah, but particularly from the BBC. But I would agree with you. I didn’t see any of the national media. Our local affiliates were all there.
Also re: Webb, the reviews of his new book suggest that its hugely pro-American – pretty much a wholesale (and timely) defence of the nation’ culture and foreign policy.
Which begs the question – why does he sound so contemptuous at times when reporting for our esteemed national broadcaster. It’s almost as though he feels the need to suppress his natural enthusiasm in order to reflect the “balanced” view, universally shared by all Brits of course, that Americans are pitiful morons. Ho hum.
I remember a couple of years back when amongst the usual Bush=Hitler phone in fiasco Webb suddenly launched into a passionate rant in defence of the US. Apparantly subsequently the Beeb was deluged by letters of complaint from appalled Guardian readers which it clearly acted on immediately to ensure that this never happened again.
Rush Limbaugh – “Don’t ever waste time actually debating a journalist. You will never change their mind. They’ll make you think they’re engaging you and debating you. They’re not. They have an agenda, they have a narrative, and they have a template and you’re either going to fit into it or not.”
Who said Americans don’t get irony 😀
Thing about Limbaugh is that everyone knows his agenda, whereas the BBC isn’t supposed to have one. And Limbaugh isn’t supported by a poll tax.
RR | 10.10.08 – 10:58 am |
Nice find. It could have been any number of Beeboids, since the swarm of them seems to grow larger every day. It could have been Frei Boy or that boy on the bus. They’re both equally capable of saying something like that, Frei most of all.
I don’t give Limbaugh much credit here. Too bad he’s too far up his own ass to think there might be a problem when the Official National Broadcaster of a foreign country attempts to meddle in our elections. He just went into boilerplate mode, as usual. But that’s his shtick. The attention he could bring to the issue would be useful.
At least he said “all” journalists are like that. He didn’t single out any network or paper, and didn’t except Fox.
I can take or leave Rush Limbaugh. The interesting thing is the way that it’s just assumed that the BBC’s biased.
There is too much guff spouted by the BBC about the US period.
Probably because it’s easy reporting – just plug into the news feeds, comfortable (you’re on expenses in the US), and it’s easy to be lazy and trade on British people’s stereotypes.
There is a clear BBC anti-Bush and pro-Obama bias, but it’s the volume of reporting from the US that’s the biggest problem. No wonder we’re ignorant about most of the world.