George G. vs. George B.
Say what you like about George Galloway - and I frequently do - he turned in a largely impressive performance in front of the Americans yesterday. Chicken Yoghurt has a good take, while Martin Stabe has a roundup of US blog reactions, a particular highlight of which is this little gem:
"We won the Revolutionary War fergossake. This shouldn't be so hard."Heh...
Meanwhile, Respectites Meaders and Lenin seem to have been enjoying themselves - even Harry's Place had to admit George put on a good show, but it seems that the folk at the New York Post weren't quite as impressed:
"SOMEBODY, please inject our senators with a heavy dose of testosterone.I say again - heh!
"Maybe then they'll be able to deal with thugs and bullies like George Galloway.
"...He insulted our administration. He decried the war against terror.
"...It gets worse.
"As he hijacked Congress to unleash his outrageous, insulting tirade, our senators did not pipe up.
"Rather, they assumed the look of frightened little boys caught with pants around their ankles, nervously awaiting punishment."
IslamOnline have a good press roundup for those who fancy some other reactions.
The only question now is will he ever get a chance to go off on a similar rant in the House of Commons, or will he (as I suspect) somehow fail to catch the Speaker's eye?
1 Comments:
Hi Nosey... like your picture. Any children?
Figured I'd give you a break and a respectful recovery period after the trauma of your last election, which I neither understood nor cared about but which seemed to cause you a lot of upset. Nothing some extensive medication at the pub does not seem to have fixed though.
As far as the George thing goes his was a pretty uninspired performance when compared with some of the Mafia Godfathers that have graced the Senate chambers on occasion. Not one memorable line, like the "Ah jus sell tomaytahs senator" from our homegrown Carlos Marcello.
See this is the US Senate, and a bit of culture shock from the Brits is understandable. It's less understandable when our own folks in the States expect some dramatic result. Yelling and screaming is just not what these folks do. They don't practice it, aren't good at it, and consider it beneath their dignity. This is not "let's all go to parliament and scream and holler day" that we occasionally see latenight on CSPAN over here. I judge George would be pretty good at that too.
The best media take on what happened, and all I saw was a replay on the web, was from The Scotsman. I don't have the link but I've read it on the web. You see, basically George "took the 5th". This is a popular (and the usual Mafioso) replay when asked a serious question, meaning that the law frees you from answering any question under oath that may incriminate you. George did it in a blustery and loud fashion, but essentially he refused to answer any of Senator Levin's questions. Yelling that "dem papers are fake" and accusing Coleman and Levin of being politicians (when you're a Brit MP) is not a specific defense. But this is what Senate comittees do. They get whatever you say on the record and under oath. That's the purpose. Then they let the little people check it out and research it, and if they find something amiss, they indict you.
Most of the good fellas that made the witty and memorable comments in front of Senate comittees died either deported or in prison. But of course George is a Brit and they can't deport him, and if indicted he can move to Iran. What's more, he hasn't been convicted of anything yet, and may never be.
But don't let a few loud insults shouted in stern defiance charge you up too much. Could be the righteous anger of a man unjustly blamed and maligned. Could be an in your face attempt to intimidate and bluster through. If George is innocent then the US Senate owes him an apology. But it's not like local pol's with little talent for anything but publicity and access to lots of easy money haven't soiled their fingers before. But nothing has been proven yet. No idictments yet. Just a backbench (correct me if that's the wrong term) in "My Government."
After all, maybe George was just selling tomatoes.
Post a Comment