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http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/politics/election_2010/8649012.stm

Aw man, I needed a laugh, and I got it.

Hopefully the Tories will latch onto this and not let go and finally destroy this unelected idiot.

I think it will cause some damage but I can't see it swaying the undecided much to be honest - it would take a bigger gaffe than this one.

I like Brown for the same reason I like Nixon: both crooks, both puppets, but neither able to maintain the charade convincingly.

Thanks Gordon, up until now this election has been depressingly short of gaffs.

I think Cameron and Clegg would be hypocrites if they jumped on it. I imagine they say the same sort of things when they get back in their cars. Seem to remember Clegg being caught out by a journalist on a plane last year saying something similar.

was she a bigot? Did she say something bad about immigrants? Bush called somebody an a@@hole and he did great.

Flashman called it right- they all are going to react in a similar fashion.

She sounds more like old school British Working Class socialist, but yes, she made comment about the immigrant workers from Eastern Europe.
And then asked where they are all coming from!

The crazy thing is this will be a bigger story than how the National Debt issue is going to be handled. Or some other really trivial issue. But why does this not surprise.

Can you translate why this is offensive to "American" for me?

That makes more sense. I guess the phrase "bigoted woman" doesn't mean much to me

Cannerus_The_Unbearable wrote:That makes more sense. I guess the phrase "bigoted woman" doesn't mean much to me

Bigoted in this context is a "polite" way of saying she was at best prejudiced or at worst racist.

Why wouldn't the country applaud the politician calling the woman on her "gak?"

We hate how politicians choose their words really carefully and always present a diplomatic face.

When we catch one talking about someone that pissed them off in the same way we all talk about people who piss us off we act outraged.

This kind of 'haha he said she was bigoted' no we've got him is exactly why we've created a political dialect that requires candidates to say little and do less.

That's interesting. So it's more that he complemented her then said crap behind her back. Last year our president called a celebrity a "jackass" and we all had a good laugh about it

In Obama's defense, Kanye West is indeed a braying jackass.

I'm sure someone will do it better but...

Gwar! wrote:http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/politics/election_2010/8649012.stm

Aw man, I needed a laugh, and I got it.

Hopefully the Tories will latch onto this and not let go and finally destroy this unelected idiot.

I have nothing nice to say about Gordon brown but the coment that he is unelected is unfair.

We don't elect Prime Ministers in the UK, never have. We elect local MP's, the party with the highest number of seats forms the government. Yes we might think about voting for Clegg, Brown or Cameron et al but its actually not what we are doing, unless one of more of those are in our local constituency.

Yes Gordon Brown should have gone to the country shortly after taking office, as John Major did, and that mistake cost him, for a start he would have won. However it is wrong to say he is unelected. He is rightfully the MP for the constituency of Kirkcaldy and Cowdenbeath and eligible to be Prime Minister if the legal majority Labour government wants him to be.

Orlanth wrote:

Gwar! wrote:http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/politics/election_2010/8649012.stm

Aw man, I needed a laugh, and I got it.

Hopefully the Tories will latch onto this and not let go and finally destroy this unelected idiot.

I have nothing nice to say about Gordon brown but the coment that he is unelected is unfair.

We don't elect Prime Ministers in the UK, never have. We elect local MP's, the party with the highest number of seats forms the government. Yes we might think about voting for Clegg, Brown or Cameron et al but its actually not what we are doing, unless one of more of those are in our local constituency.

Yes Gordon Brown should have gone to the country shortly after taking office, as John Major did, and that mistake cost him, for a start he would have won. However it is wrong to say he is unelected. He is rightfully the MP for the constituency of Kirkcaldy and Cowdenbeath and eligible to be Prime Minister if the legal majority Labour government wants him to be.

The thing is, who leads a party is a major factor in who you vote for. Can you honestly say that had the UK known this idiot would be in charge, they would have still voted Labour?

But where is it RAW?

You should switch to Democracy 2: Democratic Republic. Its like Democracy: Rise of the Parliment but with all new campaigns and party members. And the graphics are better.

First off you vote for (or should do) a party based upon their policies and track record if appropriate. Do not vote for a person based upon their haircut, accent or any other personal trait. This is shallow and indicative of many of the things which are wrong with the UK. People are becoming more interested with style over substance.

As for the comment, who here can say that they haven't walked away from someone they disagree with and muttered the word "idiot" if not worse then similar. For me this just shows that Brown is as human as the rest of us. Polititians from opposing parties will jump on this like flies on a fresh turd, racing to condemn Brown for speaking his mind but unfortunately getting caught out, pretending that they would never say such a thing themselves. Well I supose they don't have the time for it with all those claims they have to put in for bell tower repairs and duck islands

Clegg said something pious about it, which was a bit rich seeing as he was caught by a journalist on a plane last year slagging off his own MPs (but I suppose they don't count ).

Cameron has remained commendably silent so far, but as Squilverine says, who doesn't mutter something offensive about individuals with whom they don't see eye to eye. Everyone does it, even Gillian Duffy, so she can stop looking so bloody wounded.

Personally I would have found it hilarious and would have spent the afternoon telling the journalists camped on the front lawn to sod off and go and report on something important.

Marshal2Crusaders wrote:You should switch to Democracy 2: Democratic Republic. Its like Democracy: Rise of the Parliment but with all new campaigns and party members. And the graphics are better.

This should not have entertained me the way it did

I would like to play that game tbh
it sounds jolly good fun to me

But not many want to upgrade the system sufficiently to allow the software to run

Apart from which our hardware is also ed

Ah Gordon... what a toilet of a man.

Osborne cleverly came out and said something like 'I'm not going to comment it - I don't need to, It speaks for itself'.

Which is, of course, saying something.


It's not just the fact that he called her a bigot - it's the fact that he smiled in her face, then as soon as he thought he was out of the spotlight he started saying it had been a disaster and blaming his aide for setting up the interview with this 'bigoted woman'.
She did seem fairly bigoted, to be honest, but certainly no more than the average working-class northerner!

Saying that, it's indicative of New Labour - complain about immigration and you are branded a bigot.

Now even by the Prime Minister.

To be fair, newxtwoman was a bit fik. I mean she did say "All these eastern Europeans, where are they coming from?" which warrants a big WHAT DO YOU THINK? with attached nouns and adjectives.

Mexico?

The really, really concerning thing for labor is that this woman is/was a bolted on labor voter, the same sort of twit who will vote for them no matter what (the tories have them too).
They are exactly who Labor needs to keep voting for them.

Many of them are concerned about immigration (intra european and illegal immigrants from outside euro)- Stuffed by labor
Many are concerned about taxation and the economy - in a diabolical state under the watch of labor.
Many don't like the leader of the party they have voted for all their lives calling someone just like them a degoratory term. because he just called them that.

This will kill labor because he has just turned a large chunk of non swinging voters into swinging voters, or more importantly, labor voters who won't vote at all in protest- likely resulting in even more marginal seats going- turning a hung parliament into a tory win and a likely loss of power for 3-4 elections.

For me, rather than the language used by Brown or the fact that he said one thing to her face and another behind her back, it demonstrates the contempt for it's citizens that the incumbent government hold. I'm not that bothered by what he said (although I perhaps would be if it was me he said it about), nor am I bothered he did it 'on the sly' so to speak, which we have all done from time to time.

Firstly, why should he apologise? If he thought she was a bigot then he's allowed say she's a bigot. Whether he's right or wrong is another thing, it's his opinion.

Secondly, he's no different to any other politician. They're all are generally polite to your face, then when out of site will speak their mind if they disagree with you. I would imagine that Cameron was the same the other day when he got collered by that father and special needs schools.

People should stop being so holier than thou.

Cannerus_The_Unbearable wrote:Why wouldn't the country applaud the politician calling the woman on her "gak?"

because she asked fair and open questions to which he talked crap in reply . was outfoxed by a member of the public and got he hum
Brown has been suspected of been a bully and a thug for a number of years and this is a slip of his private / public face.