{ 18 05 2005 }

galloway, my hero

Did you see Dundonian George Galloway ‘interviewed’ by Jeremy Paxman immediately after his election win? Totally hilarious. Paxman gets his puss rapped (and the questioning had to be defended by the BBC afterwards).

He earned even more respect from me though in his reaction to the recent accusations levelled by the US Senate. The general idea is that a pro-war US senator – Norm Coleman – is pursuing revenge tactics against a small number of anti-war politicians (British, French, Russian).

In Galloway’s case the charges seem identical to earlier – disproved – allegations made by a US newspaper. Rather than simply issuing a statement (like the others) then, George realised the diamond PR opportunity this gave him. He insisted on meeting the Senators in person, and laying the smack down with good old-fashioned British Parliamentary verbal. A profound shoeing was administered.

In fairly uncomplicated language Galloway called the panel leader Coleman a “pro-war, neocon hawk and the lickspittle of George W. Bush,” and somehow survived. He also quite openly pointed out that Coleman simply sought revenge against anyone who did not support the invasion of Iraq.

Definitely not the way it was meant to happen for the US panel. As The Times note, they were “completely unused to being attacked by a belligerent foreigner with a peculiar tan and a strong Scottish accent”, and the “brawling methods of British politics”.

The best bit is that the US press (of all denominations) reports it the same way. Check the Houston Chronicle and amazingly the right-wing New York Post: “BRIT FRIES SENATORS IN OIL”. I love it.

Update: nice coverage by Yahoo News.

Posted by air on Wednesday, May 18th, 2005, at 1:07 pm, and filed under Uncategorized.

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