Moving on from Brand and Ross, it’s time to get the crystal balls out and predict who will be the mystery guest on tomorrow’s Question Time. At the moment it’s looking dangerously balanced: Elizabeth Edwards, a senior adviser on health care to the Barack Obama campaign; Simon (America has to choose: Obama or certain doom) Schama; Clarence Page (another Democrat); and Cheri Jacobus, a Republican political consultant and strategist based in Washington D.C. So only three to one against the Republicans at the moment! So who will be the fifth? And you can’t have Mchael Moore – I’m taking him. A pat on the back and a ‘jolly well done’ to anyone who gets it right.
UPDATE: It’s just occured to me that this might be unfair: the Beeb could, of course, be late announcing the fifth guest because they want to balance it but they don’t actually know any Republicans, in which case feel free to help them out with your suggestions….
UPDATE 2: They found one! After thinking long and hard and after much scouring of the Daily Kos and Huffington Post they found a whole bunch of Republicans working for that other guy in the Presidential race. Now all they had to do was pick one… “Look! Here’s one that’s related to Nixon – everyone knows he was a bad’n. He’s even got ‘Nixon’ in his name. Perfect!” And so the fifth panellist is… Christopher Nixon Cox, executive director of Senator McCain’s presidential campaign in New York. The show’s taking place tonight. In Washington.
Bill Ayers? Jeremiah Wright? Michael Pfleger? Tony Rezko?
Oh, no… I forgot – I think the latter is already in jail. 🙂
Robert peston?
George galloway?
Vince Cabal?
Charlie Kennedy
Penn and teller?LOL imagine that
what’s the name of that Israel hating Jewish academic?maybe him.
disillusioned_german: Shit! You beat me to it!
Sarah Palin perhaps 🙂
Hugh Hewitt or Denis Praeger..
both major league talk radio guys that has never got a minute on the BBC..
Russell brand?
The sound money is on Moore….
But I’m quite happy to take evens on some Pallywood dross like Redgrave, Clooney,Sheen etc or some lefty writer to provide an “outsiders” view….
Still can Al Beeb sink lower than Sky this morning by asking Tony Hawk…..
Martin: I forgot Barack’s other mate Rashid Khalidi 😉
Archduke: They could have Dennis Miller on the show. I love the guy.
I don’t think that it’ll be Moore because he really turned out the Republican vote in 2004. I’d reckon on Dan Rather.
Republican: Michael Savage, from the Savage Nation.
or
Liberal Scum: Rosie O’Donell
Ted Nugent would be my choice and would certainly liven things up a bit.
“More Republicans desert McCain” announces the BBC headline, but read the article and it’s only ONE new Republican who has deserted McCain, and he retired from the Senate more than 20 years ago (not that the BBC tells us that). Meanwhile, a former Obama speechwriter has come out for McCain but not one of the dozens of BBC Obama campaign activists (previously known as “journalists”) has reported this. Nor has any of them reported on the Khalidi tape, or the dodgy campaign donations, or the latest of many ACORN revelations, or any of the numerous other recent stories negative to the Obama campaign. The Brand/Ross saga is getting all the headlines but it’s the BBC’s US election coverage that is the true scandal.
DB – it’s also important to remember that the Republican mentioned was pretty much hated by his party and was as far to the left as a Republican can actually be.
From the above BBC article: “The Los Angeles Times, who backed Mr McCain during the Republican primaries, also endorsed Mr Obama for president.”
Holy shit, not the LA Times as well! The way the BBC reports it one would think this was a major surprise. No mention of the LA Times and the Khalidi tape, though.
would be amazing to see a fiery lunatic like ‘the nuge’ but alas it will be a lefty….
Ted Nugent on Al Beeb’s “QT”? It’s more likely that hell would freeze over first.
5 Doemocrats against 1 Republican. A bit biased towards the Republicans is it not?
Ahmedinejad.
No, screw it, I’m guessing it’s Osama Bin Laden.
Let’s pray it’s John Bolton.
Sorry for dangerously going off topic but I wanted to comment on Schama.
As a professional historical researcher, Schama represents all that is bad when it comes to TV historians.
The craft of a historian is to try and be objective and explain complex historical events/values within a global context without being judgemental-“dumbing down” or “condensing” history might make for “good” entertainment but also allows a distortion of historical events or applications of modern values onto the past where they did not exist.
I would go further and say that IMVHO, Schama only real work of any gravitas is on the Dutch Republic- a subject that is little known in the UK public domain, however his torrid analysis on America is woeful.
But the real reason why Schama is so often used is because he is frequently referenced in the OU- which is a bastion of liberal/left wing thinking and is very closely linked to the BBC.
Toynbee, Roszak, Marwick, Hobsbawm, A J P Taylor, all of whom are either referenced or actually write some of the units for the OU. All are polemics for either Marxism or even worse the New Left movement.
The endless fascination of the sixties counter-culture (rather than the more radical and arguably more important 80’s),the drip drip of “acceptable” political philosophies from Rousseau or Voltaire rather than the more “reactionary” Hobbs, Locke or Burke which only get a fleeting mention are just two examples that spring to mind. In short there is a noticeable bias within the OU which is matched by Al Beeb.
This interaction between left wing academics and the BBC is interesting, and I believe is fundamental to understanding the political axis that Al Beeb operates from, the emphasis on “peoples” or “popular” history (a la Who Do You Think You Are) fits very neatly into this pattern and has an additional advantage of promoting BBC personalities.
There is nothing wrong with WDYTYA but combine that programme with dross like the Tudors or Rome, with its cynical illustration of the ruling classes, then you begin to see that the BBC’s “educational” output is a creature of the New Left and is far from “objective”.
And don’t even get me started on Bonekickers…….
Steven Fry?
Katty Kay?
I see the BBC are playing DOWN the Ross/Brand story now. The usual thing from the BBC. Nothing happening here, move along please.
No beeboid wankers. We want more blood.
Toynbee is the woman who thinks australia should be in the eu
watched the daily politics show on iPhone today. Beeboid kept ripping into the Tory with rampant new labour stuff about the economy ‘it’s no good looking backwards is it?’that was the retort to the ‘who was chancellor for 10 years?’ I was actually stunned at the savage nature of the beeboid mouthpiece! Really blatant bias. Couple that with Ross and brand and ‘the one’ coverage…makes me want actually eat my own head! Help!
Spike Lee:
“Do the right thing and shut up, Lee urges Pastor”
[Extract]:
“Director Spike Lee has waded into the ongoing controversy surrounding Jeremiah Wright, the Chicago pastor whose provocative statements have proved a thorn in the side of Democrat frontrunner Barack Obama. Lee advises the preacher to do the right thing and keep quiet. ‘The more he opens his mouth, the more damage he does,’ he told the Guardian yesterday.”
http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/2008/may/01/news.spikelee
Sorry for dangerously going off topic but I wanted to comment on Schama.
agreed— not a patch on AJP Taylor or Robert Graves —serious scholars who could bring history to life without resorting to “Are you being served” campness. Taylors history of the first world war is great –and not a flounce in sight
If it’s PJ O’Rourke or Mark Steyn, I might actually watch it. But it won’t be.
Jonathon Ross? not much else to do
I’d put money on it being Jon Stewart.
Is there a prize for the correct answer?
cameron: Was that the dopey cow Anita Annand or whatever her name is? She was the one who on Radio 5 at night when talking about I think being someone else for the day when suggested being a Tory she went “oh no never that” or something ot that effect.
She’s a Labour loving beeboid alright.
(General thread playing up).
PESTON’s blog.
Ironically, will BBC Labour-supporter R.Peston’s very words on his blog here involve ‘the risk of a dangerous run on the pound’? We know how influential he likes to be in City circles:
“There can be no doubt that he [DARLING] will have to reform the fiscal rules in a matter of weeks, and come up with a convincing plan to reduce the national debt as and when economic growth resumes – because in this economic age of anxiety, failure to do so would bring the risk of a dangerous run on the pound.” (R.Peston).
http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/thereporters/robertpeston/
How about, Charlie Wolf???
martin.
Indeed it was her she was almost hysterical at how could anyone not know that brown is our saviour ‘ the man for the job’. What worries me is that the BBC will play the victim once again , with help from mandy and some how wing an election result for BBC liar blair. Why oh why aren’t the tories hammering on about this bias on tv every night of the week? I really think most Tories seem almost supine. They need to be banging on about referendums scrapping the licence fee – that’s what you call ‘eye catching’ – any ideas ?
Penn and teller?LOL imagine that
I’d like to to see Penn Jillette on QT. He’s a Libertarian, and he likes that weird, old nutjob, Ron Paul, but nevertheless I agree with a lot of his views. Plus he’s a shithot magician. The BBC wouldn’t have him on in a political capacity though; to them he’d just look like a conservative.
Maybe the special guest will be a Clinton. That’ll give them a 4:1 ratio of lefties to righties. BBC-brand balance.
The taxpayer has been conned:
http://www.thetrumpet.com/index.php?q=5625.3950.0.0
Nice of Paulson to steal taxpayer’s money to help his rich friends.
Now we know that the bailout was a scam.
With the Beeb on the back foot they’ll be watching themselves. It’ll be David Frum.
It’s off-topic but I would just like to endorse the astute comments by The Hum about Schama (his or her remarks about the OU and its malign influence were spot-on, too).
I was rather surprised the other day when this topic came up, by the apparent respect held for Schama, whom I also consider to be a glib, populist social historian. I’m glad I’m not alone in that view.
David Vance? Well, he’s out of the UK at the moment.
Where’s St Al of Gore ? Must be some room in the program for a planted global warming question
emil:
Where’s St Al of Gore ? Must be some room in the program for a planted global warming question
emil | 30.10.08 – 10:17 am | #
Was thinking something similar. Or perhaps arch turncoat Colin Powell – but I don’t think he could stand up to serious scrutiny.
Lord Mandy of Rim
or
Bliar of the talk (oh no he’d want all the £3.5 bn)
The fifth one has to be a journalist. If they are going for a Republican, they will find they will find one who is a bit loopy.
It will be interesting to see how they pack the audience with Democrats.
I predict the first question “Do you believe Obama when he says he has stopped taking cocaine ? “
Adam 11:41
Funny, I think the EU should be in Australia.
Surely, the obvious 5th member should be George W. Bush.
The Hum:
You’re absolutely right about Schama. Frankly, I’d rather see historians who know their subjects in depth on the telly. It works well when you’ve got a Starkey on the Tudors, for example, or someone like Blair Worden on 17th C England, when he gets the rare chance. Why not the great and good Norman Stone on modern Europe?
Asked about Shama’s Britain series, Stone once recounted how he’d caught a bit of it while at the bedside of a sick relative. It was dull enough in all conscience, but when there was a shot of Schama from below, silhouetted against the sky, it became apparent that, as Stone observed “even the cameraman was bored-effing-stiff”.
Probably a Republican who’s defected to Obama like Ken Adelman, Christopher Buckley or Colin Powell, or a Republican who thinks Palin is a loser – David Frum, for instance.
Rudy Guilliani – if he’s well. He’d be useful.
Karl Rove
Mitt Romney
Rush Limbaugh
Or my no. 1 choice:
Mad Mel Phillips!
She’s just nuts enough to balance all the lefties. the Beeb want to throw up.