In a new record for fastest internet scalping, Gawker took down a Congressman this week in just over three hours from breaking to vacating. Rep. Christopher Lee was a married Republican congressman serving the 26th District of New York who thought he would put some sexy pictures of himself on the internet. Sound familiar?
Has the old country taught them nothing?
Today’s unsophisticated storm whipped up by the left about political rhetoric came at a rather unfortunate time for the former NUS President and Labour councillor/MP wannabe Wes Streeting. In his headline piece on the Progress website he talks about turning Labour guns on the Tories:
He better hope that no Tory politico is ever violently attacked because obviously, following their logic, the left would instantly blame him. There goes that safe seat…
This morning’s Guardian leader lambasted the violent rhetoric they claim is to blame for the tragic shootings in Tuscon. However true to form they haven’t always practiced what they preach. Take for example this picture of a hanging effigy of Nick Clegg taken outside the Guardian’s King Cross HQ. Did any Guardianista step up and slam that? No.
Nor did they have any problem with one of their own using shooting rhetoric during the election. Say Cameron had been shot or attacked, would the lefty twitterati have riled against Toynbee for suggesting the LibDems and Labour needed to “turn their guns on the real enemy”? No of course not. While having a debate about what is an acceptable way to describe your political opponents is one thing, doing so on the back of an attempt to politicise the actions of a deranged lunatic is a new low.
The Defence, Press and Broadcasting Advisory Committee (DPBAC) which consists of top MOD civil servants and representatives from the media have according to Wikileaks issued a “D-Notice” – an attempt at a news black-out, on the imminent release by Wikileaks of two million diplomatic wire conversations between US Embassies and the White House/CIA. Rumours have been swirling around all day of US envoys meeting counterparts in Israel, London and Australia etc preparing them for extremely embarrassing news. Guido wonders what the US had to say about Blair, Brown and Cameron before bi-lateral meetings. Apparently Obama has been smoothing feathers on the phones.
Guido has just put a call in to Andrew Vallance, the DPBAC, secretary and is awaiting confirmation. If it is true something tells Guido that this isn’t going to work.
Remember what happened to Trafigura and their super-injunction…
Well not quite, but to a ranch in Texas in fact. Guido learns that Murdoch has secured the serialisation of George W. Bush’s long awaited “I was right all along and screw you all” book and The Times editor James Harding is flying out next week for cigars and non-alcoholic beer on the ranch. Shame no one will get to read the pay-walled interview though, just this week Harding was moaning it was a “tricky business”.
Tea Party candidates advanced; Republican Mike Lee in Utah, Rand Paul of Kentucky and Marco Rubio of Florida enter the upper chamber. Republicans took the House in the biggest shift in power since the Republicans gained 54 House seats in 1994.
The Democrats clung on to the Senate but symbolically lost Obama’s old Senate seat and half-a-dozen other seats.
All three of Sarah Palin’s Mama Grizzlies have won their gubernatorial races: Susana Martinez, a Republican from New Mexico, Mary Fallin, a Republican from Oklahoma, and Nikki Haley, a Republican from South Carolina.
Proposition 19 to legalise dope was lost in California…
Guido has just watched a preview of tonight’s BBC documentary, “Tea Party America”. Surprisingly it did not characterise them all as closet Klu Klux Klan loving creationists – usually the BBC finds the nuttiest looking demonstrator and interviews them as a typical Tea Partier. Probably because Andrew Neil was reporting and didn’t go in with the usual pre-conceived agenda…
Brillo has been even handed, though he seems wary of Glenn Beck’s populism and suspicious of some Tea Party elements on the fringe. The Washington beltway consensus seems to be that Sarah Palin, the Tea Partier’s sweet-heart, won’t run in 2012, which from an entertainment perspective is a great disappointment. The Tea Partiers will however have an impact this week. Something those of us who think we’re “Taxed Enough Already” will welcome.
See also: “Tea Party America” tonight at 19:00 on BBC 2. Dan Hannan has been reflecting on the Tea Party phenomenon on his blog.
Guido would like to film something similar with a group of future German school kids laughing at the Irish…
Lib Dems Should Support EU Referendum | LibDemVoice
Feldman’s Denial | Fraser Nelson
Obama’s Presidency is Imploding | Nile Gardiner
Miliband Could Be a Great PM | Thomas Pascoe
What Are You Really Paying in Income Tax? | TPA
Galloway’s Mad Month | The Commentator
Murdoch: Facebook is the New MySpace | Telegraph
Clegg’s Manifesto Referendum Pledge Spin Unravels | ConHome
Coalition Here to Stay | Ben Brogan
Tories Plan Coalition Divorce | Times
Public Doesn’t Back Dave on Europe | Peter Kellner
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Tom Harris bemoans the public’s attitude to politicians…
“Mr Oborne echoes the lazy, anti-politics whine we hear so often these days, all based on the absurd notion that politicians were once loved and only fell out of public favour during the expenses scandal. He should take a walk to the Strangers’ Bar. But not to sup with the patrons he seems to despise so much, dearie me, no; he should instead look at the paintings on the corridor outside the bar, which depict the devastating fire which consumed most of the Palace in 1834. And he should reflect on the fact that on that dramatic night, as the Commons went up in flames, a crowd gathered on the South Bank to clap and cheer.”
The thing that Dave needs to work out is which group is more likely to vote Conservative. Mad swivel-eyed loons or mad homosexuals wishing to get married.
