Matt Frei simply cannot help himself. In his latest blogpost, he reveals his political bias when he says this:
I know John Boehner has the Tea Party Taliban breathing down his neck
Ha, ha, very droll. Just one more bit of slander from a BBC employee. I’m sure Helen Boaden is proud.
Not to mention the fact that Frei’s piece is generally a humorous dressing down of the new Speaker of the House. You know, I don’t recall Frei or any other Beeboid doing something even remotely similar about Nancy Pelosi, or, in fact, any Democrat. No, all their “humor” is reserved for Republicans.
And what a surprise – Nancy Pelosi made a snide remark about the size of Boehner’s gavel, just like Frei and BBC North America editor, Mark Mardell. However, Pelosi made her remark on the floor of the House of Representatives, while in session, as she handed over the gavel to him. Pretty crass, yet the BBC’s humor is reserved for the Republican who exhibited far more class than Pelosi or any Beeboid.
While Frei and Mardell and other partisans focused on superficial personal details of the Republican, they missed an opportunity to inform you of the difference between the outgoing Speaker and the new one. Pelosi gave a little speech before she handed the gavel over, and Boehner gave one after receiving it. Both speeches can be viewed in full here.
Pelosi’s speech was full of self-aggrandizement, celebrating herself. Not only that, but she crowed about the Democrats’ recent accomplishments, the very ones which led to her party getting soundly defeated last November, as if she has no connection to reality.
In contrast, Boehner was more humble, more grounded:
“The American people have humbled us. They have refreshed our memories as to just how temporary the privilege to serve is. They have reminded us that everything here is on loan from them. That includes this gavel, which I accept cheerfully and gratefully, knowing I am but its caretaker. After all, this is the people’s House. This is their Congress. It’s about them, not us. What they want is a government that is honest, accountable and responsive to their needs. A government that respects individual liberty, honors our heritage, and bows before the public it serves.”
Yet Matt Frei and his colleagues see fit only to ridicule.
As we’ve seen over the last few days, the Beeboids are deathly afraid of the non-Left’s new-found strength. They view Boehner and the Republican majority in the House as a threat to the President. In fact, they’re so afraid that they seem to be exaggerating reality. Frei’s interview with Tom Cole (video at the bottom of his post) is an example. Here’s his description of the interview:
Today, I spoke to Congressman Tom Cole of Oklahoma about the party’s plans for their new power.
Power? They control the proceedings in one House of Congress, not both, and certainly don’t control the Presidency. They can’t do all that much without actual bi-partisan cooperation. But the Beeboids are afraid.
Naturally, the first words out of Frei’s mouth are about the size of Boehner’s gavel. His line of questioning begins by assuming that the Republicans will be hyper-partisan. Then Frei sneers at Boehner’s humble speech. Rep. Cole, fortunately, corrects Frei every step of the way. Every single question is an attack, and nearly every answer begins with a variation of “No, actually….”
Matt Frei’s partisanship is clear. This is the man who leads the BBC’s nightly news broadcast targeted directly at the US (BBC World News America), and is a main conduit between the license fee payers and news about US issues. I’d say “caveat emptor”, but as you’re forced to pay for the BBC it’s not appropriate.
Frei really is a smirking, snide little s**t !
Tom Cole came over very well. Wish we had some politicians like him this side of the pond.
Frei and Mardell clearly think they are on The Now Show – where if you are not sneering at America (The One excepted) you must be very very biased. I don’t understand why the BBC don’t just appoint Jeremy Hardy and Marcus Brigstocke as their North American Editors, and cut out all those Frei and Mardell travel expenses and hotel bills. Simply reprint Democrat press releases and intersperse with left-leaning jokes, all from the comfort of home.
It would make you ashamed of the BBC but for the fact you already hold them in abject contempt.
I have to say, I barely saw anything wrong with Frei’s article or his interview. His snide reference to the Tea Party is questionable, but beyond that I’ve seen far, far worse on the BBC.
As for the speeches of Pelosi and Boehner, I voted for Boehner’s as the best, but only because I’m a conservative. I thought each according to their lights gave good speeches that were a credit to the democracy they serve.
The gavel Boehner has chosen is unusually large. I dont see anything wrong with the good-humoured attention Pelosi or Frei drew to it. Like Frei said, its big enough to fell an ox.
I wonder DP if you think you may have been viewing this too much through partisan blinkers
hippie, I don’t understand how you can veiw Pelosi’s celebration of the Democrats’ forcing legislation through in direct defiance of the will of the people as a credit to any kind of democracy outside Venezuela. She openly crowed about how proud she was that her party accomplished things for which they were voted out. The fact that she’s no longer Speaker is far more a credit to democracy than anything she has done or said. Even the Washington Post is aware that more Democrats abandoned her in the vote for Speaker than has happened to any other Speaker in nealry 100 years. She still made a speech in complete denial of that fact, yet Frei had nothing to say about it. His humor is reserved exclusively for Republicans and the non-Left.
Also, anyone with even a passing familiarity of Pelosi’s statements and behavior during her time as Speaker would know that she bears little resemblence to anyone who views themselves as a servant of the people.
I’m equally baffled as to how you can see Pelosi’s snide remark about the gavel as something even remotely professional or appropriate to the event.
Frei’s remarks were reserved exclusively for the Republican. His interview with Cole was a list of partisan attack talking points, which the Rep. had to refute one by one. It was pretty obvious that Frei had prepared these questions from the opposite viewpoint, rather than asking neutral questions about what Cole intended to do and let his guest explain the Republicans’ goals. This is partisan behavior.
Frei’s comments about Boehner’s personal background come across as back-handed compliments from someone who looks down on those traits. He wrote this piece from a partisan perspective.
The operative word was “barely”. I see your point about not giving Tom Cole a proper chance to directly explain the goals of the Republicans, like he said was the intention of his interview in his last line, but aside from that and the Tea Party comment, there’s nothing I’d gripe about unduly. Nothing that I think a neutral observer would readily see wrong.
Nancy Pelosi was hardly going to say in her valedictory speech ‘what a schmuck I am’. Neither, if she believes what the Democrats brought in is going to do the country good is she going to disown it. Her view will be that come the next elections the benefits will show and she (or someone else) will be back to banging a ‘girly gavel’ as the electorate swing back towards them. Not your point of view, not mine, but hers and that of her party, which she is there to express.
It seemed to me that the speeches by the outgoing and incoming Speakers were very much tailored for the occasion and did the occasion honour.
I can see your point that if an outgoing Republican speaker had the record Pelosi had it is quite unlikely it would escape comment from Frei, but at the same time his expressions of endearment for Boehner I did see as backhanded. That’s the way I see it.
Make the last line ‘Didn’t see as backhanded’
Why does the BBC even have a USA correspondent? Nearly all of the BBC’s paying customers have no interest in US politics, or any foreign politics for that matter. He should be sacked or given a useful job fetching and carrying on the set of Eastenders or Casualty. Or perhaps he could front another antiques or house buying programme for daytime BBC. There’s always room for more of those.
Employing a large staff of foreign correspondents is not appropriate for a corporation which is overwhelmingly concerned with the mass maufacture of downmarket TV and pop music radio for a domestic audience.
Perhaps if the BBC’s foreign news coverage was of a different nature and quality to the main bulk of the corporation’s output its existence would be justified. But it isn’t.
As proved in the 2008 US elections, the BBC-NUJ does all it can to support the Democrat Party. Beeboids cannot disguise their predominant political affiliation to Pres. Obama.
Matt Frei is best suited for lightweight human interest stories. Actually, his storytelling technique is so twisted these days that he was crap at that when reporting from the “Cauldron of Hope” in Chile.
How BBC-NUJ attempts to dismiss the American Constitution in one sentence:
“The constitution was ratified in 1788 when the US consisted of just 13 states and doesn’t directly address many of today’s significant political issues.”
-from report:
“US Constitution read aloud in House of Representatives”
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-12131137
Exactly. Just like I said the other day, the BBC follows the Ezra Klein/far-Left ideologue line: it’s old, so is confusing and irrelevant.
An alternative viewpoint not presented in BBC analysis is that the Constitution definitely addresses the key political issues of the day (not including homosexuals in the military, which is now moot anyway). ObamaCare, anyone? Free speech? Gun rights?
Hey, Beeboids: The Communist Manifesto is also really old. Would you say that it doesn’t directly address many of today’s significant political issues?
I wonder if Beeboids would consider the US Constitution old and irrelevant if someone proposed repealing the Thirteenth Amendment.
Ashley,
Ha ! Ha ! Excellent point. ( 13 th Amendment , Abolition of Slavery ).