Posted on 10/25/2004 2:55:50 AM PDT by kingattax
The Guardian has taken a remarkable step by replacing a column in which the writer appeared to call for the assasination of George W Bush with an apology.
The columnist, Charlie Brooker, reviews television programmes for the Guardian.
In his October 3 column, "Dumb Show", Mr Brooker reviewed the debates between Mr Kerry and Mr Bush and found both candidates lacking -- but reserved a particularly venomous evaluation for Mr Bush.
He wrote: 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, sniggering, 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.
It was the closing paragraph, howver, that got global attention.
In that passage, Mr Brooker wrote: 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?
Today, the Guardian withdrew the column from its website, replacing it with this:
The final sentence of a column in The Guide on Saturday caused offence to some readers. The Guardian associates itself with the following statement from the writer.
"Charlie Brooker apologises for any offence caused by his comments relating to President Bush in his TV column, Screen Burn. The views expressed in this column are not those of the Guardian. Although flippant and tasteless, his closing comments were intended as an ironic joke, not as a call to action - an intention he believed regular readers of his humorous column would understand. He deplores violence of any kind."
All of which leads one to wonder whether the Guardian doesn't have a special, private dictionary in which "irony" has a definition not readily available to the rest of the world.
Welcome as the apology was, it fell short. Ironically, the Guardian seems unaware of the full import of the original column. But the well known Powerline Blog perhaps summed it up best: "This is, of course, where the liberal campaign of hatred and violence has been going for some time. I do think it is likely that someone will get killed; I hope it isn't President Bush. One can only wonder: if such a tragedy occurs, will the liberals come to their senses?"
It was no joke and they damn well know it. It's like this: Some Brits are heirs to Churchill, some to Chamberlain. God Bless the former!
Nice letter Ivan.
Drudge Report 24th October, 2004
Drudge Reported and Article Published in the UK Guardian with the final line (and paid for by advertising from Toyota, American Express, AARP):
UK GUARDIAN: 'John Wilkes Booth, Lee Harvey Oswald, John Hinckley Jr - where are you now that we need you?'...
The UK Guardian, under threat of Title 18, which explicitly forbids direct or indirect threats against the President of the US, the immediate 1st family, Candidate for President, or the Candidates 1st Family, retracted this article but only after and estimated 20 million readers viewed it (not to mention the countless others that will continue to see it via fallout).
This is the anti-war, pacifist, hate mongering, win at all cost, ends justify the means attitude that is being tolerated by the 75% voting for Kerry out of hate for Bush (vs love for Kerry).
Hate Blinds………
Just in case you’re swoon by the fact that “It was Only a Political Comedian” remember, “Humpty Dumpty” was a encrypted message to arms disguised as a children’s rhyme. This kind of hate, and those that tolerate it, or reward it, will only breed and incite the very people they’re so jokingly asking for.
PRESIDENT LINCOLN liberated and emancipated the Slaves, at a cost of over 600,000 lives; when over 50% of the country “HATED” him and called him a right wing, fundamental religious fanatic. He was murdered for this good deed.
PRESIDENT KENNEDY fought communism and for the long overdue civil rights of the Blacks. He was murdered for this good deed.
PRESIDENT RAGAN fought the enslavement of communism and liberated hundreds of millions behind the iron curtain. He was shot for this good deed.
PRESIDENT BUSH has freed 50 million people from the tyranny of Extremist Islamic Fundamentalism that castrates women and forces them into servitude as cattle, stones them for what free, civilized nations consider minor infractions, bombs, plots, and executes military type action against non-military targets and civilians, blows up buses with children, straps explosives to suicidal maniacs that walk into public places and take the lives of young children. A President that has run against a culture of hate and the taking of 50 million unborn babies lives, many at the moment of birth (partial birth). A President that is running against a political flip flopper that has spent his life void of a moral compass to finish a war in Vietnam that took the lives of 3 million upon our exit, brought shame upon an entire nation, and lied about and ridiculed 2.2 million vets that served honorably. A flip flopper that to this day cannot release 100 pages of his military records for fear the public would not understand his Dishonorable Discharge (his honorable discharge was sign in 2001 as a political move). And what does this culture of hate reward this President with…a call for John Wilkes Booth, Lee Harvey Oswald, John Hinckley Jr….
History looks grimly on the Slave Owners of the South that tried to succeed and appointed Supreme Court Justices with the moral compass that defined life for some as less than human (Dred Scott). History looks grimly on those that thought communism was the wave of the future and on those that saw Stalin as Uncle Joe (who murdered an estimated 25 million Christians). History looks grimly on those doves that returned from Germany to sing praises of a man named Hitler shortly before he invaded Poland and gassed and murdered 1.6 million Jews. History looks grimly on those that thought the League of Nations was the throne of God.
History will look grimly on those that think abortion is a good thing (don’t kid yourself into thinking that the hate for Bush started with him personally, it started with any threat to the far left agenda to maintain Roe vs. Wade which has become the Magna Carta and Rosetta stone of far left thought). History will look grimly on those that stand by and watch as Millions of innocent lives are wasted as we quibble over whether or not the cost of 1000, 2000, or 50000 American lives are worth the cost (far less than what our founding Patriots thought worth our Freedom and Democracy). History will look grimly on those that have called this comedy and political satire…History will look grimly…
YOU DA MAN!
Brooker is a zit-faced thug.
A joke, eh? I guess the IRA is just a barrel of laughs over there at the Merry Olde Guardian.
I hope your (insert favorite socialist here) is assassinated by screaming, sword wielding Islamic fundamentalist who laugh at his cries for mercy as they saw off his head!
OH!
Did somebody actually READ this?
Oh......Well... it was just a joke!
(snicker)
For the last few months, having watched the disintegration of Democratic politics from smashmouth indecency to downright thuggery and intimidation, I've said that we will shortly start seeing liberals openly calling for political assassinations.
It looks like it's started.
This is no joke. This is what lies underneath these pigs.
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