Interesting that the 'Daily Fail' headline is 'Jeered, scorned and ridiculed - still BNP's Nick Griffin milks his moment in spotlight on Question Time'.
Do they really not see that the one thing leads to the other..?
5 comments:
David Gillies
said...
Not having watched the broadcast live (but seeing snippets and reading after-action reports), or even living in the UK, to the extent that I give a shit about the whole affair, it looks like Griffin has shot himself in the arse with unerring precision. I mean, Olympic grade bullseye in the ringpiece. He's an inarticulate, angry tosser of the kind most of us will leave a pub or flee a party to avoid. The BNP's media director must be a 19-year old trainee called Nigel with florid acne and a copper-bottomed, ocean-going, money-back-guarantee misunderstanding of what is pissing people off in the UK right now. Because this stunt has been an unmitigated disaster for them. For anaerobic bacteria like Griffin, the oxygen of publicity is pure poison.
I watched it, Griffin did as well as expected against a very hostile audience, panel and host. Griffin kept his cool and made his points, though he was obviously nervous. Only made one major error over the friendly KKK, otherwise he was harried, bullied and endlessly interrupted. 5 onto 1 is never a pretty sight and he'll have got some sympathy from those who support underdogs which is what he'll have hoped for. A draw was the best Griffin could hope for, and the panel and audience handed it to him on a plate.
None of them came out of this looking too good, but in Griffins case, he didn't need too.
I had the feeling that a draw was really a win for Griffin. He wants to be seen as a reasonable guy speaking for the majority against bullies who put other interest groups ahead, and if the rest of the panel ganged up on him and he wasn't given the opportunity to answer in full that probably played into his hands. It's up on YouTube now so I can watch it in a little while and see for myself.
What is truly pathetic is that it's left to the idiot Griffin to be the lightning conductor for the genuine concerns of a substantial portion of the electorate. Griffin was woefully out of his depth.
Were he a better debater or better advised, instead of a draw, he could have won on points. He could have turned on Dimbleby early on and said that he didn't come on the programme to be subject to an inquisition by the so-called impartial chairman. He could have said, clearly, that the BNP garners votes where the major political parties have failed. He cannot justify IMHO his views on the Holocaust, his association with the KKK, his use of Churchill: nor should he even have tried. He could have - quite reasonably - banged on about immigration never having been the subject of any real debate in the UK, certainly since the end of WW2 and that his party is the only one putting its head over the parapet.
Instead we get a useless defence of the indigenous ("17,000 years of continuous occupation") population. To the incandescent black member of the audience screaming about his and his parents' contribution to this country he could have said that the screamer should be supporting the BNP since all his parents' and his efforts were going down the plug-hole of the multi-culti policies espoused by the three main parties.
Were I a supporter of the BNP I would be severely depressed this morning. Griffin was exposed as the political pygmy that he is. Nevertheless, he won't lose a single vote for his failure on QT: the performance of the representatives of the other parties will OTOH drive away voters in droves.
5 comments:
Not having watched the broadcast live (but seeing snippets and reading after-action reports), or even living in the UK, to the extent that I give a shit about the whole affair, it looks like Griffin has shot himself in the arse with unerring precision. I mean, Olympic grade bullseye in the ringpiece. He's an inarticulate, angry tosser of the kind most of us will leave a pub or flee a party to avoid. The BNP's media director must be a 19-year old trainee called Nigel with florid acne and a copper-bottomed, ocean-going, money-back-guarantee misunderstanding of what is pissing people off in the UK right now. Because this stunt has been an unmitigated disaster for them. For anaerobic bacteria like Griffin, the oxygen of publicity is pure poison.
I watched it, Griffin did as well as expected against a very hostile audience, panel and host. Griffin kept his cool and made his points, though he was obviously nervous. Only made one major error over the friendly KKK, otherwise he was harried, bullied and endlessly interrupted. 5 onto 1 is never a pretty sight and he'll have got some sympathy from those who support underdogs which is what he'll have hoped for.
A draw was the best Griffin could hope for, and the panel and audience handed it to him on a plate.
None of them came out of this looking too good, but in Griffins case, he didn't need too.
I had the feeling that a draw was really a win for Griffin. He wants to be seen as a reasonable guy speaking for the majority against bullies who put other interest groups ahead, and if the rest of the panel ganged up on him and he wasn't given the opportunity to answer in full that probably played into his hands. It's up on YouTube now so I can watch it in a little while and see for myself.
Quiet Man has beaten me to the same points.
What is truly pathetic is that it's left to the idiot Griffin to be the lightning conductor for the genuine concerns of a substantial portion of the electorate. Griffin was woefully out of his depth.
Were he a better debater or better advised, instead of a draw, he could have won on points. He could have turned on Dimbleby early on and said that he didn't come on the programme to be subject to an inquisition by the so-called impartial chairman. He could have said, clearly, that the BNP garners votes where the major political parties have failed. He cannot justify IMHO his views on the Holocaust, his association with the KKK, his use of Churchill: nor should he even have tried. He could have - quite reasonably - banged on about immigration never having been the subject of any real debate in the UK, certainly since the end of WW2 and that his party is the only one putting its head over the parapet.
Instead we get a useless defence of the indigenous ("17,000 years of continuous occupation") population. To the incandescent black member of the audience screaming about his and his parents' contribution to this country he could have said that the screamer should be supporting the BNP since all his parents' and his efforts were going down the plug-hole of the multi-culti policies espoused by the three main parties.
Were I a supporter of the BNP I would be severely depressed this morning. Griffin was exposed as the political pygmy that he is. Nevertheless, he won't lose a single vote for his failure on QT: the performance of the representatives of the other parties will OTOH drive away voters in droves.
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