BBC News online has published an article today by “Washington-based journalist Seema Sirohi” asking why Indian-Americans prefer the Democratic Party. This being the BBC the journalist is of course strongly pro-Democrat (see example tweets below) and the article is basically an excuse for her to rail against the Republicans in the most obvious and partisan way. Sirohi even uses the awful device of making up a quote to prove a point about frustrated Republican opinion:
Interestingly, the support for the Democrats is stronger among the younger generation, a group where one might expect the mantras of the Republican Party – about success, getting ahead, Wall Street is Main Street and deregulation – might work the most.
Instead the young seem more enamoured of the fairness doctrine and an activist government.
This is much to the chagrin of the Republican Party whose Indian-American supporters – fewer in number – are puzzled, frustrated and even irked by the fierce loyalty to their opposite number.
“Why doesn’t the community just follow them into the ‘large’ [but mainly white] tent of the Republican Party?” they ask plaintively.
Fairly loaded writing there, but she really hammers home the point with “[but mainly white]” and “they ask plaintively”, doesn’t she?
That, however, is nothing compared to her description of Republican governors Bobby Jindal and Nikki Haley:
The Republican Party fielded two Indian-American governors – Bobby Jindal of Louisiana and Nikki Haley of South Carolina – at the convention. Mr Jindal could not make it because of hurricane Isaac which hit his state hard.
Both Mr Jindal and Ms Haley are stars in their own right, but both have shied away from their ethnic roots to gain acceptance.
They converted to Christianity from Hinduism and Sikhism, a move that many in the older generation frowned upon. Whether they did it for personal or political reasons is unclear.
The decision on conversion did not endear them to the community, which is largely Hindu, but only reinforced the feeling that the “family values” of the Republican Party are essentially Christian values.
In a piece which tries to paint the Republicans as intolerant that last paragraph is rich in unintended irony. However it’s the implication that Jindal and Haley may have converted to Christianity for political reasons that is truly outrageous, and she offers no evidence to support it. There’s a reason for that.
Jindal converted to Christianity in high school:
When he was 4, he decided to call himself Bobby — after the youngest son on the “Brady Bunch” television show. In high school, he gave up Hinduism and became a Christian; and during his first year at Brown University, he was baptized as a Roman Catholic. His wife, Supriya, is also a Catholic convert.
Haley first ran for political office in 2004. She married a Methodist in 1996:
Haley was born and raised as a Sikh. On September 6, 1996, she married Michael Haley in both a Methodist church ceremony and a Sikh gurdwara. Haley identifies herself today as a Christian, but attends both Sikh and Methodist services out of respect for her parents’ culture. She sits on the board for Mt. Horeb United Methodist Church.
A Q&A on her website offers this:
Is Nikki a Christian?
Truth: In Nikki’s words: “My faith in Christ has a profound impact on my daily life and I look to Him for guidance with every decision I make. God has blessed my family in so many ways and my faith in the Lord gives me great strength on a daily basis. Being a Christian is not about words, but about living for Christ every day.”
But clearly Sirohi knows better. Where does the BBC find them?
As promised – some of her tweets. Here she is responding to a friend’s comment about Bill Clinton:
@smitaprakash Took the words out of my mouth/tweet. heehhehe @chidu77
— Seema Sirohi (@seemasirohi) September 6, 2012
Another on Clinton:
He is laying into them Republicans without a telepromter apparently. Master of the Art. #BillClinton #DNC2012
— Seema Sirohi (@seemasirohi) September 6, 2012
And here she is gushing over Fauxcahontas Elizabeth Warren:
Elizabeth Warren: Star! “Not one person I met has an account in Cayman Islands.” #DNC2012 Going 2 ring with the young.
— Seema Sirohi (@seemasirohi) September 6, 2012
In her BBC article Sirohi talks of tokenism in the Republican Party but calls Warren (who claimed minority status as a Cherokee on the most ludicrous of evidence) a star. You couldn’t make it up.
Check out more for yourself.
Its a club isn’t it? You have send off 20 tweets insulting Republicans and that gets your name put into the hat for the next big job in the MSM, right credentials established.
“Seema Sirohi@seemasirohi Republican narrative is an alternative universe. #BillClinton #DNC2012 ”
What a pointless lefty “ethnic woman-card” playing tosser.
“It’s a club isn’t it”
I bet she attends Washington events for female and/or foreign journalists and has therefore been vetted for the correct political views by BBC editorial staff. “One of us – put her on the list.”
Of course if they had been Democrats, their conversions would have shown what caring, compassionate people they are. BBC – twisted always.
More of the drip, drip, drip informing you that Republicans are the party of racism. What’s a little white lie between friends, eh, BBC?
I wonder if this has any relation to the controversy over the Democrats removing language about “God-given talents” from their platform, and then forcing it back in despite the clear objection from the delegates. All censored by the BBC, of course.
I await the BBC article – commissioned from an outsider, even – about how George Galloway professes to be Muslim for convenience only, proof of which is that he took a secular oath for his seat in Parliament.
I’m rather bemused by the BBC’s intense, perhaps undue, interest in US politics.
I know that the US President is described as the leader of the Western world and all that, but really; ask the British man in the street if he cares what colour he wants the US President to be (and I mean red or blue)?
No, we are not that interested.
I have a feeling that their coverage strays into the category of infotainment. What I mean by that is that the Beeb staff examine their own preferences and assume that US Christian/Republican/NeoCon bashing gives them and their mates pleasure and so must surely go down well with British licence payers.
I doubt that such people really in their hearts care much about putting the world to rights – not if it interferes one iota with their own skinny latte sipping lifestyle.
That is what I describe as Casual Leftism.
I also hold to a theory that for the more determined left-wing commentators US politics and the Democrat Republican fight are used as a cypher for British politics where the BBC are a little more closely held to account (ha ha). The Beeb can say things about Mitt Romney and the Republicans that they actually mean to direct at the UK Tories.
We saw from Madell’s BBC CoJ appearance that the Beeboids do think that their own personal beliefs reflect those of the general public.
They ought to mix with people who DON’T live in Hampstead then.
What the BBC is basically saying to licence payers who side with Republicans rather than Democrats is, “Thanks for the money, now sit back and watch us use it to say you’re all morons. And there’s fuck all you do about it because we don’t care what you think.” (Actually, that same point could be made about many views that don’t coincide with the BBC received opinion.)
Forgot to add – agree with As I See It’s view that the BBC allows its journalists to use GOP vs Dem as a proxy in the wider struggle.
DB, have you ever caught any of DV’s occasional posts asking very politely for us to watch our language?
Apologies – I was doing a Seema Sirohi and making up a quote to represent my interpretation of the BBC.
What will the BBC do if Romney wins.
They will have to have extra large amounts of coke and rentboys to cheer themselves up.
She sounds about 6.
Which may explain, but not excuse her lack of professionalism and integrity.
Oh, and hiring (as a temp?) by the BBC, who seem to feel making stuff up to ‘quote’ serves as reporting.
One presumes her articles, as her tweets, come with the now standard ‘just because I do this as part of my BBC employment doesn’t mean they’re responsible’.
That really is a disgraceful article.
Are we having to pay for this biased and mostly-irrelevant crap ? Why does this nonentity get such a big chunk of space on the BBC website ?
‘Why does this nonentity get such a big chunk of space on the BBC website ?
She appears to tick a variety of boxes, incoming and outputting, that near guarantees it.
What about BarackHussein Obama or Barry Soetoro?
Did he change his religion/name/identity for political gain?
Born to a white woman who spent a glorious 7 months living with her then husband Barry o senior. He then spent the rest of his time either with his mum or stepdad yet suddenly at UNi he becomes the blackest man on the planet.
Roy Keane in his bountiful wisdom described people like me as plastic paddy’s because I wasn’t born in Ireland even though my family is Irish. Barry O goes around doing the black equivalent of begorrah and bejesus doing the whole Africa Bambata thing and no one calls him on it.
There is nothing wrong with clinging to cultural identity and enhancing it a bit especially on six nations days but when beebdems have a go at others when giving Barry a free pass it shows what a joke auntie is
For sure, for sure, for sure .. 😉
No answer as yet from Sirohi to this question:
The Rev Wright admitted that Barack Hussain Obama converted to Christianity for political reasons, so that he could enter the ‘black experience’.
Can’t remember the Beeb making a fuss about that or ever mentioning it.
Shhhh. Rev. Wright is under the bus. Can’t mention him now. And it’s racist to suggest that the President isn’t a Christian.
Come to think of it, maybe the reason why the President (allegedly) worked so hard to get that support for Israel back in the platform language was that there are so many people under the bus that there was no more room for Israel.
I’ve just caught a clip on C-Span of Barack Obama’s speech to the Democratic convention in 2000 that first got people talking about him as a future Presidential candidate.
It ended with him saying something like ‘Do we follow people who believe in cynicism or do we follow people who believe in hope’?
Quite.
Errm, remind me once again why Kilroy got kicked off the BBC?
Expressing partisan opinions in The Sun is a sackable offence, but somehow Twitter doesn’t count?
What a bent organisation the BBC is.
Nor does publishing a book celebrating Occupier art or Left-wing economics papers for one’s think tank.
Lets just go back a shade over four years…
” Washington, June 16
India and the Indian American community has got caught in the crossfire between two top Democratic presidential hopefuls. Illinois Senator Barack Obama’s campaign derided New York Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton’s ties to India and the Indian American community and labelled her the “Democrat from Punjab.”
Obama’s campaign staff circulated a three-page document criticising Mrs. Clinton, a tactic not unusual in American politics. She is leading Obama in most opinion polls.
The document’s title – “Hillary Clinton (D-Punjab)’s Personal Financial and Political Ties to India” – is a reference to a joke the former first lady used at a fundraiser hosted by Rajwant Singh, chairman of the Sikh Council on Religion and Education, at his Potomac, Maryland, home last year. Standing amid a sea of turbans, Mrs. Clinton joked, “I can certainly run for the Senate seat in Punjab and win easily.” Nearly $50,000 was raised at the event for Mrs. Clinton’s re-election.
“The Clintons have reaped significant financial rewards from their relationship with the Indian community, both in their personal finances and Hillary’s campaign fundraising,” the Obama campaign paper says. ”
That’s Obama….pure and unexpurgated.
Excellent find, RGH.
“The Democratic Party freak show sinks to new depths”
by Donal Blaney.
http://blaneyblog.dailymail.co.uk/2012/09/the-democratic-party-freak-show-sinks-to-new-depths.html
“KRAUTHAMMER HAMMERS OBAMA: ‘ONE OF THE EMPTIEST SPEECHES I HAVE EVER HEARD ON A NATIONAL STAGE’”
(inc video clip)
http://www.theblaze.com/stories/krauthammer-one-of-the-emptiest-speeches-i-have-ever-heard-on-a-national-stage/
Good speech at the end of the Democratic Convention. Hope the BBC will show it. Pro life, government to serve the people, support for the serving men and women in the forces, one nation under God, defence of religion.
http://www.breitbart.com/Breitbart-TV/2012/09/06/God-Gets-The-Last-Word-Cardinals-Pro-Life-Benediction
Just as the President came out for His speech last night, BBC News Pentagon producer Joan Soley tweeted that she was going to “put down Twitter to just listen, for once”. Isn’t that sweet?
Within minutes she was tweeting no fewer than 11 quotes. At least they were all about foreign policy, her patch. And unlike nearly all Beeboid tweets about Republican speeches – but just like most Beeboid tweets about Michelle Obama’s speech – it was pure quotes with zero commentary.
Then Soley tweeted:
Yes, when He speaks, Beeboids dutifully regurgitate quotes, like the guy who repeated the Sermon on the Mount to the people way in back who couldn’t hear Him properly.
Just noticed that Joan Soley’s very next tweet was a retweet of Miliband Major saying that The Obamessiah’s acceptance speech was great and that He would be re-elected. How reassuring. No retweeting of any less than enthusiastic remarks. Imagine that.