Conservatives query Gordon Brown's 'Obama praise'

[T_i_B]

Source: BBC

The Tories have asked Prime Minister Gordon Brown to explain an article he wrote in which he praises US presidential candidate Barack Obama.

He wrote that the Democrats were coming up with ideas to help people through "more difficult times" and praised Mr Obama's "foreclosure prevention fund".

A member of Mr McCain's team contacted the British Embassy in Washington DC to express concern about the article.

Downing Street said the prime minister was not backing Mr Obama. It said he was just highlighting centre left parties' responses to economic crises.



Read more: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/7607411.stm

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The article in question is here

http://www.housemag.co.uk/index.php?id=315&tx_ttnews=8113&tx_ttnews=92&type=editorial

[firedupdem]

1. expressing concern? Boy, they really like to try and intimidate

people and countries and polls and the media. Did I leave anything or anybody out?

[jjr5]

2. And we can't let them!

We need to give some push of our own!

[silverlil]

3. the UK media

and the UK is now controlled by Murdoch and he controls
the low information voters. Same thing going on here now.

Blair signed a deal with the devil (Murdoch) Murdock or whatever his bloody name is. He did, can I prove it no, but all of the newspapers pumped Blair up before the elections in 1997.

I should feel sorry for Brown, but I dont because he caved in and signed for England to be part of the EU and there was supposed to be a referendum to vote on. But Brown went against the will of the people. He was not elected into office but he should have stood by the english people and said no and requested a national referendum. He is from Scotland.

[Cessna Invesco Palin]

5. Um...

and the UK is now controlled by Murdoch and he controls
the low information voters. Same thing going on here now.

The UK media is not "controlled" by Murdoch. He owns some newspapers and TV stations, but nowhere close to all of them. There is no media monopoly in the UK.

Blair signed a deal with the devil (Murdoch) Murdock or whatever his bloody name is. He did, can I prove it no, but all of the newspapers pumped Blair up before the elections in 1997.

I don't think anybody disputes that Blair and Murdoch had a *lot* of quid pro quo going on.


I should feel sorry for Brown, but I dont because he caved in and signed for England to be part of the EU and there was supposed to be a referendum to vote on.

Wow, I wasn't aware that Brown was in such a position of power in 1973. I also wasn't aware that *England* was an EU member state. Perhaps you're thinking of the United Kingdom. And Perhaps you're also thinking of the Lisbon treaty, rather than EU membership. Blair promised a referendum on the EU constitution. It never happened due to the rejection of the treaty in the referendums in France and the Netherlands. But the EU constitution and the changes enacted by the Lisbon treaty are not the same thing.

He was not elected into office

No prime minister in the UK is "elected into office" by the people. But the people who voted Labour in the last election were well aware that they were voting for a Brown premiership.

but he should have stood by the english people and said no and requested a national referendum.

Nobody was ever promised a referendum on the changes enacted by Lisbon. The only country that held a referendum on Lisbon is Ireland, and they're only doing it because their constitution requires it.

He is from Scotland.

So is Sean Connery. What's your point?

[Dutch]

9. Why does it bother you that he's from Scotland?

Do you just dislike Scottish people? Or do you see them as colonial subjects with no business interfering with the UK's levers of power?

[LeftishBrit]

10. That's pretty inaccurate

(1) Murdoch has controlled a significant amount of the British media since the 80s. But not all of it. The BBC is relatively independent, and certainly not under Murdoch's thumb. The Guardian and the Independent have no Murdoch influence; neither does the Torygraph, right-wing as it is. And several of the right-wing tabloids are controlled by other people than Murdoch. He owns 'The Sun' but other disgusting people own the 'Daily (Hate)-Mail' and the 'Daily Express'.

(2) There is no doubt that Blair did cosy up too much with Murdoch.

(3) Ted Heath got us into the EU over 30 years ago. Whether one is pro-Europe or Euro-sceptic, I don't see how this can be blamed on Gordon Brown.

(4) There WAS a referendum on whether we should be part of the EU - in 1975! The vote was to stay in. Some people think there should have been a referendum on the new EU constitution (which came up during Blair's administration, not Brown's); but there wasn't 'supposed' to be one - it's just that some people think it would be a good idea. I would prefer to have one, but it's not one of my big issues.

(5) The main reason why Brown is unpopular is due to the economic downturn, and to his bad handling of the 10p tax band issue. Also some major government fuck-ups like people losing discs full of confidential data. The EU is not the main issue, except among a minority of people who would probably not vote Labour under any circumstances.

(6) What's all this England-versus-Scotland stuff? The UK is one country. You make it sound as though England could get out of the EU and leave Scotland in it, or something - not so!

[Waiting For Everyman]

4. McLame can put lipstick on that pig too, but it's still bullying.

I hope Brown flipped him the trans-atlantic bird. I'm wondering just who the hell McJerk thinks he is? Caligula?

[Indi Guy]

6. Rove & his lackeys are behind the McCain campaign....

Gordon Brown gets this, & so should we all.

[Orsino]

7. Conservatives in the UK and Canada...

...tend to have more in common with our Democrats than with the fascism of the GOP.

[Dutch]

8. Not the Conservatives in the part of the UK where I live

In fact, I can remember the half-wit Tory MP in a neighbouring constituency to mine loudly touting his support for Bush during previous election campaigns. British and Canadian Tories are in some ways a little more constrained by the political climate in which they operate, but I wouldn't give them much more credit than that.

[T_i_B]

12. Sounds much like the neighbouring Tory MP to my constituency

Mind you, he was shadow defence secretary at the time of the Iraq invasion so it's no suprise for him to be pro-Bush.

As to Labour's loyalties in the US presidential election? Well most Labour people I know are pretty much pro-Obama, there are a few who would have preferred it if Hilary Clinton was the Dem candidate, and following this controversy I would not be at all suprised to see Rotherham MP and former Labour minister Dennis MacShane writing an article in the Guardian endorsing John McCain.

[LeftishBrit]

11. They are very varied in the UK

Conservatives here range from comparative liberals (Thatcher called them 'wets') to extreme rabble-rousing right-wingers.

Thatcher would have been a Republican (as you remember, she was Ronnie's best pal); Macmillan and Heath probably Democrats. Cameron, insofar as he has political views, would probably correspond to a Democrat or very liberal Republican; but many others in the party are VERY right-wing, and would probably make sure that a Cameron government towed the RW line.