Smears: down memory lane
Paul Linford, 3rd October 2006:
It wasn’t all Osbourne’s fault. The word was put into his mouth by the Blairite journalist Mary Ann Sieghart who has penned her own piece justicative HERE. Sieghart, who was once so close to Mr Tony as to aspire to a job in the No 10 policy unit, gaily reassures us that “autistic” is an epithet that “plenty of politicians and journalists” have used about the Chancellor. “He does, after all, have an obsessive personality and rather low emotional intelligence. That is why the audience laughed: Mr Osborne’s joke resonated with them.”
In other words, because it’s Gordon Brown we’re attacking, that’s okay then.
I have finally found a column by Mary Ann Sieghart that I can’t disagree with. It was she who interviewed George Osborne at the Tory conference when he made his quip about Gordon Brown and autism. Read her column HERE. Paul Linford, however, seems to have had a sense of humour failure HERE.
Anyone who knows George Osborne knows he has a wicked sense of humour and is also a great mimic. Let’s hope this experience won’t have put him off being spontaneous. This whole episode was manufactured by bored journalists wh had nothing better to write and love a bit of faux outrage. Again, the lesson for the Conservatives is to keep the media beast fed and watered. If you don’t, don’t be surprised if it turns round and bites you.
Some may see this as a schoolboy spat between two bloggers with egos the size of a mountain. Maybe. But my experience is important as it demonstrates how the Number Ten lie machine will target anyone whose reputation it wishes to damage.
…
Perhaps this sort of affair is symptomatic of something more deep-rooted at the heart of government. All administrations flag after a while. They become gaffe- prone. People go off-message more frequently. A sense of malaise is almost palpable. It’s what happens when empires crumble.
hat/tip: Chicken Yoghurt
---------------------------
| Tweet |
Sorry, the comment form is closed at this time.
Reader comments
Hell, this is nothing new. John Bull, a journal, in 1915 smeared Ramsay MacDonald, using his illegitimacy to support claims that he’d been elected to Parliament under a false name. You could probably find clay tablets from Sumer smearing Gilgamesh.
And is there any surprise that a partisan commentator such as Dale practices blatant hypocrisy and possesses a selective memory?
I thought the one thing we’d taken from this weekend that we on the Left have to rise above using the other side’s conduct for justification. n’est pas?
Question is, was Osborne seriously suggesting that Brown was autistic or was it just a joke in bad taste? If the former then there’s definitely hypocrisy here.
So, he’s a hypocrite.
Or he’s seen the light.
Either way, it’s douchebags at the heart of New Labour at fault this time, and crying about what people said three years ago isn’t going to change the fact that this time it’s your party wallowing in the shit.
This isn’t a story about the media or right-wing bloggers, it’s about the fundamental shittiness of those who concocted the stories in the first place.
Shoot the messenger all you like.
Brown is toast.
Why does nobody understand that, on the internet, if you disagree with a point of view it’s really not a clever idea to have almost all of your posts for the last few days linking to its arch proponents?
Yes indeed Dale is a hypercritical little Tory shit.
And the Tories are so outraged about this, outraged, OUTRAGED, DO YOU HERE, That they are keeping it in the news for days, and days, and days.
Nobody smears like the Tories, and nobody feigns outrage like the Tories.
Reactions: Twitter, blogs
- Liberal Conspiracy
New post: Smears: down memory lane http://tinyurl.com/dng6zp
Sorry, the comment form is closed at this time.
You can read articles through the front page, via Twitter or RSS feed. You can also get them by email and through our Facebook group.
» Why Quantitative Easing doesn’t make common sense
» Barclays was also bailed out – Diamond doesn’t deserve a bonus
» Ten myths about private rented housing
» Even on the left, morality has its limits
» The NHS bill could be a Waterloo moment for the govt
» Ken Livingstone and gay rights – it just isn’t an issue
» Abu Qatada deportation: what about our principles?
» New study shows a Robinhood tax would boost growth
» In defence of Sky News’ re-Tweeting ban
» Another reason to continue banker bashing
» An attack on the wind industry is an attack on UK jobs
|
5 Comments 15 Comments 17 Comments 26 Comments 42 Comments 21 Comments 13 Comments 49 Comments 11 Comments 78 Comments |
LATEST COMMENTS » BenSix posted on Fabians change policy on unpaid internships » Have Labour realised the election is more than three years away? | My Blog posted on Labour's wonks are becoming part of the problem » Owen Blacker posted on Dorries says Osborne wanted Lansley "shot" » Richard Blogger posted on Dorries says Osborne wanted Lansley "shot" » Daniel Henry posted on Dorries says Osborne wanted Lansley "shot" » nonny mouse posted on Dorries says Osborne wanted Lansley "shot" » Socrates posted on Dorries says Osborne wanted Lansley "shot" » Bloody Yank posted on Why Quantitative Easing doesn't make common sense » Bloody Yank posted on Why Quantitative Easing doesn't make common sense » Robin Levett posted on An attack on the wind industry is an attack on UK jobs » kernowjim posted on High pay - in football and banking - shouldn't be about morality » ROFLMFAO posted on Fabians change policy on unpaid internships » Cherub posted on High pay - in football and banking - shouldn't be about morality » jojo posted on Venables journo has manslaughter conviction » Sun journos nicked in hack enquiry shocker « andrew henley posted on Venables journo has manslaughter conviction |








