Guardian writer calls for Bush assassination..

[Sam Spade]

http://www.guardian.co.uk/theguide/columnists/story/0,,1333748,00.html

Dumb show

Charlie Brooker
Saturday October 23, 2004
The Guardian

Heady times. The US election draws ever nearer, and while the rest of the world bangs its head against the floorboards screaming "Please God, not Bush!", the candidates clash head to head in a series of live televised debates. It's a bit like American Idol, but with terrifying global ramifications. You've got to laugh.
Or have you? Have you seen the debates? I urge you to do so. The exemplary BBC News website hosts unexpurgated streaming footage of all the recent debates, plus clips from previous encounters, through Reagan and Carter, all the way back to Nixon versus JFK.

Watching Bush v Kerry, two things immediately strike you. First, the opening explanation of the rules makes the whole thing feel like a Radio 4 parlour game. And second, George W Bush is... well, he's... Jesus, where do you start?

The internet's a-buzz with speculation that Bush has been wearing a wire, receiving help from some off-stage lackey. Screen grabs appearing to show a mysterious bulge in the centre of his back are being traded like Top Trumps. Prior to seeing the debate footage, I regarded this with healthy scepticism: the whole "wire" scandal was just wishful thinking on behalf of some amateur Michael Moores, I figured. And then I watched the footage.

Quite frankly, the man's either wired or mad. If it's the former, he should be flung out of office: tarred, feathered and kicked in the nuts. And if it's the latter, his behaviour goes beyond strange, and heads toward terrifying. He looks like he's listening to something we can't hear. He blinks, he mumbles, he lets a sentence trail off, starts a new one, then reverts back to whatever he was saying in the first place. Each time he recalls a statistic (either from memory or the voice in his head), he flashes us a dumb little smile, like a toddler proudly showing off its first bowel movement. Forgive me for employing the language of the playground, but the man's a tool.

So I sit there and I watch this and I start scratching my head, because I'm trying to work out why Bush is afforded any kind of credence or respect whatsoever in his native country. His performance is so transparently bizarre, so feeble and stumbling, it's a miracle he wasn't laughed off the stage. And then I start hunting around the internet, looking to see what the US media made of the whole "wire" debate. And they just let it die. They mentioned it in passing, called it a wacko conspiracy theory and moved on.

Yet whether it turns out to be true or not, right now it's certainly plausible - even if you discount the bulge photos and simply watch the president's ridiculous smirking face. Perhaps he isn't wired. Perhaps he's just gone gaga. If you don't ask the questions, you'll never know the truth.

The silence is all the more troubling since in the past the US news media has had no problem at all covering other wacko conspiracy theories, ones with far less evidence to support them. (For infuriating confirmation of this, watch the second part of the must-see documentary series The Power Of Nightmares (Wed, 9pm, BBC2) and witness the absurd hounding of Bill Clinton over the Whitewater and Vince Foster non-scandals.)

Throughout the debate, John Kerry, for his part, looks and sounds a bit like a haunted tree. But at least he's not a lying, sning, drink-driving, selfish, reckless, ignorant, dangerous, backward, drooling, twitching, blinking, mouse-faced little cheat. And besides, in a fight between a tree and a bush, I know who I'd favour.

On November 2, the entire civilised world will be praying, praying Bush loses. And Sod's law dictates he'll probably win, thereby disproving the existence of God once and for all. The world will endure four more years of idiocy, arrogance and unwarranted bloodshed, with no benevolent deity to watch over and save us. John Wilkes Booth, Lee Harvey Oswald, John Hinckley Jr - where are you now that we need you?

[J. J.]

Well if the assassins are as straight with their aim as the Guardian is with the news, Bush has very little to worry about.

[khirkhib]

I'm with you calling for the death of a president is an extremely ugly thing to do.

[opebo]

That last sentence or two was a bit over the top, but he's really got an accurate take on Bush. 

When I'm abroad, Europeans always ask me - how is it Bush is taken seriously?  I always reply - you don't meet the Americans in the middle, the ones that vote for him.  They don't go outside the hive.  Foreigners have no conception of places like the rural areas of my own state.  I tell them about the Jesus signs in nearly all the yards, the ten commandments posted beside little shacks - a society built upon exclusion and hate... but I don't think they get it.   Europeans, I think understand the US as little as they understand the Muslims.

[freedomburns]

I'm moving to Bangkok if he gets elected.  Or maybe India or something.  I am so over it.

I do think the world would be better off without Bush, but I don't advocate assassination.  I am also not in favor of capital punishment. 

He should be found guilty and sentenced to a lifetime of slavery. 

fb

[Filuwaúrdjan]

In all fairness to the Guardian it's not reknowned for an... er... efficient... editorial process and this little article came from the TV guide not the main newspaper.
I think the last paragraph was intended as a "joke" (not very funny though) not as a serious suggestion.

As for news content, the Guardian isn't that bad (the editorial line gets irritating at times, but it's not as bad as it used to be) and if they get stuff wrong they actually own up to it (unlike certain other rags) and they don't publish deliberately biased polls.

[Filuwaúrdjan]

yes....and he too is a limey, tea swilling, crumpet munching, boy buggering, lunatic fringe feckless crapweasel

That is EXTREMELY OFFENSIVE YOU RACIST PILE OF FETID DOG sh**t. I would like you to be banned.

[minionofmidas]

I'm moving to Bangkok if he gets elected.  Or maybe India or something.  I am so over it.

I'll advocate against India. I was repeatedly struck by parallels between the Indian and American political scenes.

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A spanish conservative European Commissioner said something very similar about Castro a few days back.

[Filuwaúrdjan]

A spanish conservative European Commissioner said something very similar about Castro a few days back.

The same whacko that ranted about Gays [how ironic... if he ever gets appointed he'll be on the same Commision as Mandy] and Single Mums?

[??????????]

That last sentence or two was a bit over the top, but he's really got an accurate take on Bush. 

When I'm abroad, Europeans always ask me - how is it Bush is taken seriously?  I always reply - you don't meet the Americans in the middle, the ones that vote for him.  They don't go outside the hive.  Foreigners have no conception of places like the rural areas of my own state.  I tell them about the Jesus signs in nearly all the yards, the ten commandments posted beside little shacks - a society built upon exclusion and hate... but I don't think they get it.   Europeans, I think understand the US as little as they understand the Muslims.

Yes Opebo, we religious folks hate everyone. I am really getting sick of hearing it.

[minionofmidas]

A spanish conservative European Commissioner said something very similar about Castro a few days back.

The same whacko that ranted about Gays [how ironic... if he ever gets appointed he'll be on the same Commision as Mandy] and Single Mums?

No. You're thinking of that Italian, incoming, guy who's apparently so far out that he might lead to the whole commission being voted down by the EP. Rocco Buttiglione.
I'm referring to Loyola de Palacio, outgoing commissioner. One of the Vice Presidents of the commission, too. She basically said, "I'll be glad if he dies, and I hope he dies soon. I don't want to see him assassinated, but I do want to see him dead", in relation to his fall. That's, shall we say, unusually honest, not the kind of thing politicians are supposed to say, but not really wrong, either.

[AuH2O]

The European left is so sick. If Americans- in positions of power or in the press- called for Schroeder's death, I cannot imagine the outcry.

But I'll be honest- I can't really fault this loser too much. Because I would cheer the removal of several European PMs by force.

[Filuwaúrdjan]

The European left is so sick. If Americans- in positions of power or in the press- called for Schroeder's death, I cannot imagine the outcry.

*sigh* It was almost certainly intended as a joke. It's not funny and is insulting, and if the Guardian was edited properly (this won't happen 'cos of Tradition) it would not have been printed.
The article was published in the TV Guide on Saturday.

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I'd expect that from a Nazi like you

[J. J.]

I'm moving to Bangkok if he gets elected.  Or maybe India or something.  I am so over it.

Thailand or India's loss would be America's gain.

[AuH2O]

The European left is so sick. If Americans- in positions of power or in the press- called for Schroeder's death, I cannot imagine the outcry.

*sigh* It was almost certainly intended as a joke. It's not funny and is insulting, and if the Guardian was edited properly (this won't happen 'cos of Tradition) it would not have been printed.
The article was published in the TV Guide on Saturday.

You must be logged in to read this quote.

I'd expect that from a Nazi like you

Well, I assume the author did not actually expect Booth to kill Bush, seeing as Booth has been dead for well over a century.

But much of the article was offensive aside from his wish to see Bush dead.

I just think it's annoying that some miseducated limey thinks he should have any say with regard to US politics.

[Filuwaúrdjan]

I just think it's annoying that some miseducated limey thinks he should have any say with regard to US politics.

Xenophobe

[khirkhib]

I know that I'm very PC. (Being I was a Peace Corps volunteer) but really AuH20 you shouldn't use clearing insulting vocabulary like that.  Aren't the British are allies.  Do you want to alinate them.  I was born in England so I may be a little bit more sensitive to that term but really you aren't enhancing the dialog.  I'm sure you have fun phrases for Muslims and French too and Al you shouldn't call him a Nazi.  A fascist maybe but leave off the historical context.

[minionofmidas]

Khirkhib,
you know what I want you to do?

[khirkhib]

Don't know boss, What do you want me to do?

[AuH2O]

I just think it's annoying that some miseducated limey thinks he should have any say with regard to US politics.

Xenophobe

OOOOooooo I guess "Xenophobe" is a step up from "Nazi." Who woulda thunk it?

But dare I call some asshole a "limey," and Al gets his panties in a bunch.

Al should just work on improving his economic condition and stop wasting all his time studying the politics of a country that a) he can't vote in and b) wants nothing to do with people like him anyway.

khirkhib: there are some great people from/in Britain, and all countries. Speaking the same language (give or take) makes for a connection as well. However, so long as people denounce the US freely and without opposition, I won't feel any special need to avoid hurting a few Brit feelings.

[khirkhib]

xenophone (as far as I know) is not an insult.  It is a fear and hate of people different than yourself.  Xenophobes tend to use racial and nationalistic slurs, as you had.  And I'm not telling you can't hurt his feelings or tell him that he is wrong you just don't have to resort to stupid insults to do that.

[AuH2O]

My problem with the author in question and freaks like Al is not their nationality, it's their politics. That is only compounded when they interfere in another nation's election.

No one gets in a huff when someone calls Americans 'Yankee imperialists' or whatever. So I don't have a problem with calling Brits limeys, which, by the way, is not a racial slur because "British" is not a race.

[CollectiveInterest]

Why is calling for Bush's death any more immoral than calling for the death of somebody else?

Doesn't our political discourse assume it's OK to kill people for political purposes under certain circumstances?

[khirkhib]

I don't think Yankee and Limey are parallel words.
I would get in a huff whenever people in the DR called me a Gringo though.  They didn't know it was an insult and I told them the history of the word and that I would perfer that they not use the term. I don't want to sound like my skin is so soft that I can't take even the slightest barb but you were using the word to insult him.  If you look through the thread you were the instigator.  Sure you probably don't care but I don't think we need to drop our discourse to insults.

[patrick1]

British people crying racism and xenophobe...that's rich.