A British Take on the two Johns

Rot 911 · 08-03-2004, 01:34 PM

From the Daily Telegraph. Never heard of it, for all I know it could be a right wing rag. Could Kerry Slum It in the White House?

My favorite quote from the article: "The photo-op didn't go smoothly. Kerry went over to say hi to some marines, who turned out to be Bush supporters and resented the interruption to their lunch. More telling was Teresa Heinz Kerry. She pointed to the picture of the bowl of chilli above the clerk's head: "What's that?" she asked. He explained that it was something called "chilli" and she said she'd like to try a bowl. The Senator also ordered a Frosty, a chocolate dessert. They toyed with them after a fashion, and then got back on the bus."

widebody911 · widebody911's Garage

Quote:

Originally posted by Kurt V
More telling was Teresa Heinz Kerry. She pointed to the picture of the bowl of chilli above the clerk's head: "What's that?"

(*sniff*) I smell an urban legend coming on...

CamB · CamB's Garage

The Daily Telegraph is pretty middle (Guardian is right, Independent is left, I think).

The author however, is "right" out there - it is in their "opinion" section after all:

http://www.marksteyn.com/index2.cfm?edit_id=32

Check out his list of referring sites at the bottom.

MFAFF · 08-04-2004, 01:49 AM

Telegraph is the right wing one....

Independent is middle of the road/leftish

Guardian is left of centre and the London Times, well it belongs to Rupert Murdoch so it has his agenda....

Purrybonker · 08-04-2004, 05:45 AM

The Telegraph belongs to ex-Canadian Conrad Black (he sold out Canada for his peerage) - about as right-wing (well, just about) a sort of fellow as you get in these parts. He lives in Palm Beach while he collects earnings from his paper empire, which includes the the Jerusalem Times, et al....

Mule · 08-04-2004, 05:53 AM

Come on Thom cant you fit neocon into a post on this?

jm951 · 08-04-2004, 05:57 AM

Definitions of "left" and "right" might be different on the other side of the pond. Best to see what they mean first over in the UK.

MFAFF · 08-04-2004, 06:35 AM

Well, they mean much the same as over there, maybe shifted a little to the left generally but not much different...

PS Conrad Black is not 'really' the owner of the Telegraph any longer, its the Barclay Brothers who have purchased the holding company, or some such commercial action.

Purrybonker · 08-04-2004, 07:21 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by MFAFF
PS Conrad Black is not 'really' the owner of the Telegraph any longer, its the Barclay Brothers who have purchased the holding company, or some such commercial action.

...forgot about that, thanks for the correction.

Quote:

Originally posted by jm951
Definitions of "left" and "right" might be different on the other side of the pond. Best to see what they mean first over in the UK.

...how provincial. Rest assured, the rightists like to bomb stuff and the leftists like to go on strike no matter where you go in the world.

jm951 · 08-04-2004, 07:38 AM

Provincial?? So it's better to wade in without understanding the players first??

That's what happens with some foreign posters here on the American political scene. Take Edwards for example, he probably wouldn't be reelected here in NC for the Senate, so he had better run for something. He's made his pile on malpractice suits based on doubious science, but not many have taken the time to check it out. Kinda hard to go against a kid with CP if you're on a jury and Edwards is in the room. Never mind that the causes of CP aren't proven, but Edwards never takes a case he doesn't think he could possibly win. Ask a doctor why his malpractice premiums are sky high and the cost of health care in NC are going way up, and you might hear Johnnie boy's name mentioned in the mix more than once.

MFAFF · 08-04-2004, 08:35 AM

Oppps, its Toy Town Tony Blair, a New Labour Prime minister who's in bed with George W in bombing the Afganis and Iraqis....so the left like to bomb, oh and the Unions are getting ready to 'strike' over the summer, well they want time off too all because a left wing government is being mean to them.. Oh I forgot many here are calling TB the best Consevative Prime minister since Maggie Thacher...

And its right to refer back to the Old World when you new boys get a little disorientated

CamB · CamB's Garage

Oooops, I buggered up the Telegraph and the Guardian. Sorry.

Must remember for next time (I get mixed up

)

Purrybonker · 08-04-2004, 03:53 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by MFAFF
Oppps, its Toy Town Tony Blair, a New Labour Prime minister who's in bed with George W in bombing the Afganis and Iraqis....so the left like to bomb, oh and the Unions are getting ready to 'strike' over the summer, well they want time off too all because a left wing government is being mean to them.. Oh I forgot many here are calling TB the best Consevative Prime minister since Maggie Thacher...

And its right to refer back to the Old World when you new boys get a little disorientated

Lol - oh yeah, lots of "left-leaning" governments have been known to toss ordnance around pretty liberally (pun intended). My choice of analogies wasn't the best - I was only making the point that left on the political scale is left and right is right no matter where you are in the world.

You're right that it's the damn politicians that go messing up the mix and make it difficult to tell the players without a program. We have the same problem in Canada.

The US political scene tends to be more uni-dimensional.

MFAFF · 08-05-2004, 02:32 AM

Actually there is a big difference betqween being Liberal and being Left wing or Labour.....

This Labour, left wing government is a government regulation freak. They would like to prescribe every action and possibility of behaviour and severly restrict the freedom of the individual to behave in the way they wish, hardly Liberal......

Over here the liberals the ones between the left and the right, they haven't been in power for ever and a day and currently are in their usual position, behind the others...

They are generally against big government, which is restrictive and against the complete commercial freedom which leads to exploitation. So every one dislikes something in theri policies and they get few votes.

Let's face it the Republicans bakc the free market with all its advantages and disadvantages, and the Democrates are not liberal at all. They want to define what you can and cannot do etc etc. Hardly 'liberal'. Oh they may want to make gay marriage legal or other cahnges but the fundamanetal approach is to increase regulation and reduce individual choice.

Have fun in November because from over here both are pretty dreadful and your options, like ours are limited.