17 Comments

1. Kevin P:

Roger:

I was dissapointed with the lack of discussion in the American blogs on the election too. I have to include myself in the crtique because I didn’t even make a symbolic effort to push any of the bloggers I read into posting on it. And of course there is always the wonderfull solution of the new information world, Start your own blog. Even though I fear Blair’s lust for the EU I was glad he won. My wish’s could be too parochial but his support of the War under trying circumstances and his refusal to pull his troops out even though it would have garnered him another twenty seats in Parliment should be admired also. Even though he probably thinks my reasons are short sighted I am eager to hear from Peter UK on the election. I just heard Howard will step down and the UKIP seemed to have a dissapointing showing.

May 6, 2005 - 9:57 am 2. alan:

One advantage of the parlimentary system over ours. The election was held a month after it was called rather than after the year of nonsense we have to put up with.

May 6, 2005 - 10:08 am 3. Robert Crawford:

What, exactly, could the US blogosphere have contributed? Not our politics, not our election, not our country. Chiming in with anything more than a comment or two would, in my opinion, get too close to the kind of crap we have to put up with during US elections, when foreigners keep telling us who THEY would vote for.

Personally, I think the blogosphere is above the Guardian’s standards.

May 6, 2005 - 10:17 am 4. Kevin P:

Robert:

I don’t think anyone was requesting more coverage to influence the outcome.I can say for myself that my desire for more coverage was based strictly on couriousity and my belief that it was an important story.I watched the coverage on C-SPAN and I went to some of the English newspapers over the last month but sometimes it is interesting to examine a foreign story from an American viewpoint. I tend to be a bit of an anglophile and I do not think Roger has committed any grave offense by not concentrating more attention on it. His plate is very crowded as it is.

May 6, 2005 - 11:05 am 5. Pat Curley:

The British elections are doggone hard to blog because it’s not one race, but 550 or so races. It’s like if we made Denny Hastert the President because his party won the majority in Congress; how would you cover the 435 individual races that make it up? I mean, sure the focus is on Blair vs Howard, but almost nobody is voting for either of those men, they’re voting for their local candidates.

May 6, 2005 - 11:32 am 6. Coisty:

What annoyed me was that those Americans who did cover it were in two parochial camps: those who wanted Blair to win because supporting the Iraq war’s all that matters to such people; and those who wanted Blair to get a bloody nose because opposing the Iraq war is all that matters. I’m an expat and I really don’t care much about Iraq. When one looks at how British civil society seems to be collapsing due to multiculturalism, welfare statism, the EU, and other potentially lethal diseases, it’s hard to care much about some conflict half a world a way. I think I agree with Mark Steyn that the referendums in France and to a lesser degree Holland on the EU constitution may be more important to Britain’s future than yesterday’s election.

May 6, 2005 - 12:13 pm 7. Coisty:

For those Americans who’ve only read about the left-fascist George Galloway who defeated a black, half Jewish Blair loyalist, Oona King, in their race you might want to click onto this http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/vote_2005/frontpage/4519575.stm# then go to the top right and watch the video of Galloway’s much talked about interview last night on the BBC. Off the top of my head I can’t think of a more odious person than this man.

May 6, 2005 - 12:32 pm 8. Terrye:

Coisty:

Galloway is a disgrace, for about a million reasons. Odious is a good word to describe him.

I don’t really feel qualified to make a judgment about the British election. On one hand I appreciated Blair’s political courage when it came to Iraq, but at the same time I have my misgivings about the EU.

I felt kinda sorry for the Tory Howard. I think he felt like he let his party down.

But I know there are a lot of problems with immigration and things like that and I have heard some spooky things about London not looking like England anymore.

I guess that Americans are used to everyone watching our election but we don’t really watch theirs. Unless it is Iraq. Maybe we should pay more attention but we just don’t.

I think Mark Steyn is right about most things including the referendum in France. I was just amazed to hear the French might vote no.

May 6, 2005 - 12:49 pm 9. alcibiades:

So, what’s the thinking on the replacement for Michael Howard? I must say I found him rather odious. His position on Iraq lacked all backbone, as he was trying to exploit Blair’s weakness on Iraq in the most dishonest of ways.

Does anyone know how William Hague is on the issues? I used to love watching him on C-Span against Blair. It was so highly entertaining. But I didn’t follow his opinions on issues at the time so closely, since it was before the internet bonanza and news of the opposition in British politics more sparse.

Are there any other decent, likeable choices?

May 6, 2005 - 1:08 pm 10. someone:

Terrye: I dunno; I’m expecting King County-levels of fraud in that election. No way that regime lets something like democracy get in the way of their big plan.

May 6, 2005 - 1:11 pm 11. alcibiades:

Melanie Phillips has some obstute observations about developments in the election.

May 6, 2005 - 1:19 pm 12. Kevin P:

Roger:

I see that in Galloway the UK has it’s own David Duke.

May 6, 2005 - 2:11 pm 13. reel cobra:

Some in the blogosphere noticed a negative trend in the MSM coverage of the Blair victory http://reelcobra.blogspot.com/2005/05/youd-think-blair-lost.html

May 6, 2005 - 2:46 pm 14. chuck:

Steyn blogged the election, there was an open thread at Harry’s Place, and of course there were the British papers, so it isn’t like the information wasn’t out there on the net. Better yet, I didn’t have to stay up all night to get the results.

Perhaps Norm wishes that there was more comment on American blog sites. I don’t know what to say, really: the usual pro-war sites noted Blair’s success, as they did Howard’s in Austrailia. How much more is there for a non-Brit to do?

May 6, 2005 - 3:34 pm 15. Terrye:

someone:

I wondered the same thing myself. Chirac might be stuffing something other than his pants, like ballot boxes.

You would never know Blair won this thing the press is so busy running him down.

never mind if it was the first time Labor ever won a third term.

May 6, 2005 - 4:15 pm 16. richard mcenroe:

KevinP ó More like its own Vidkun Quisling

May 6, 2005 - 8:44 pm 17. maryatexitzero:

I didn’t pay much attention to the Blair vs. Howard election for the same reason I’m ignoring the NYC mayoral race. I’m not a voter, the viable candidates are neither fascist or insane, so may the best person win. I did enjoy reading Norm’s coverage of the event, though.

I was very interested in the Bethnal Green and Bow election, with the certifiably fascist/insane candidate George Galloway. While Labour?s victory is good news, Galloway’s election is very bad news. Of his victory, Galloway?s supporters said:

“For a while, I shall be rubbing the faces of Nick Cohen, Johann Hari, David “I give them a year” Aaronovitch and Harry’s Place in the sh*t. Smell it, you f**kers, and feel this hate.

That quote is thanks to Norm, who said “Such is now the public language of someone appealing to, and purporting to speak for, the lineage of Marxian socialism – recalling nothing so much as the spirit of Vishinsky. All play-play? Mere words on a blog? Public language, especially when there is sharp division, especially in light of the bloody history of what has already been done in the name of socialism, has higher responsibilities. And it is never innocent of the darker dreams of those who abandon all verbal restraint.”

A group of Bethnal Green youths pelted Galloway’s opponent, Oona King, she attended a memorial to Jewish war dead. According to Harry’s Place,

“Police were called to the scene but arrived after the memorial was finished. Clive Bettington, who was one of the organisers of the memorial, said: “The police aren’t interested about what goes on in this area. Christians and

Jews are regularly attacked. It’s an outrage. “This is something which the Government has to address.””

It is important to pay attention to the activities of Galloway and his supporters.

May 7, 2005 - 10:46 am

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