BS: Gorgeous George goes West.

Subject: BS: Gorgeous George goes West.
From: akenaton
Date: 16 May 05 - 12:37 PM

Look out all you Yankee varmits, "Gorgeous" George Galloway is moseyin' down your way and he's loaded for bear.

George has volunteered to face a senate committee who have accused him of profiting from oil options given to him by the Saddam regime.

George has of course denied all the accusations.

When asked on BBC radio if he was worried about facing the ten man committee single handed, George replied that in his experience "one good British parliamentarian was more than a match for ten American senators"

If you get a chance to hear George Galloway address the committee dont miss it, George will make the hair stand up on the back of your necks, and all you folkies know what that feels like!!....Ake

Subject: RE: BS: Gorgeous George goes West.
From: John MacKenzie
Date: 16 May 05 - 01:03 PM

Also can you arrange for him to stay over there, as I for one am fed up with the bombastic wee nyaff!
Giok

Subject: RE: BS: Gorgeous George goes West.
From: Bunnahabhain
Date: 16 May 05 - 01:12 PM

Can we drop him 500 miles short please? Washington is what, 50 miles, from the coast. Even he can't float on his ego that far, and it would make the world a better place...

Subject: RE: BS: Gorgeous George goes West.
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 16 May 05 - 01:19 PM

We have enough troubles with our own George, thank you very much. Unless you'd like to trade?

Subject: RE: BS: Gorgeous George goes West.
From: akenaton
Date: 16 May 05 - 01:56 PM

SRS....Try to hear him speak .....You'll be impressed...Ake

Subject: RE: BS: Gorgeous George goes West.
From: akenaton
Date: 16 May 05 - 02:11 PM

Everybody hates him.....So he must be doing something right.

Subject: RE: BS: Gorgeous George goes West.
From: John MacKenzie
Date: 16 May 05 - 02:41 PM

I don't hate him he's not important enough for that, I despise him, but then he's a politician and as such is automatically despicable.
Giok

Subject: RE: BS: Gorgeous George goes West.
From: Rapparee
Date: 16 May 05 - 03:24 PM

Not every politician is automatically despicable! There's my bro...oh, never mind.

Subject: RE: BS: Gorgeous George goes West.
From: akenaton
Date: 17 May 05 - 12:30 PM

George Galloway 1   Senate committee 0.

George gives Senate committee a few home truths over conduct before and during Iraq war.

Subject: RE: BS: Gorgeous George goes West.
From: John MacKenzie
Date: 17 May 05 - 12:36 PM

He's only saying what others have been saying for a long time. Yet Bush still got re-elected, just don't understand that bit!!
Giok

Subject: RE: BS: Gorgeous George goes West.
From: ard mhacha
Date: 17 May 05 - 12:48 PM

George made wee boys of them, this was fascinating TV, Coleman kept getting smaller and smaller as he withered under the blasting from Galloway.
George not only did you prove them wrong, you may even have got through to the brainwashed majority in the US.

Subject: RE: BS: Gorgeous George goes West.
From: GUEST,Giok
Date: 17 May 05 - 01:06 PM

The 'brainwashed' word will give you the answer to your own question Ard, if they do see it they won't believe it.
Giok

Subject: RE: BS: Gorgeous George goes West.
From: DougR
Date: 17 May 05 - 01:10 PM

He puts on quite a show. I've enjoyed watching the hearings.

DougR

Subject: RE: BS: Gorgeous George goes West.
From: akenaton
Date: 17 May 05 - 03:35 PM

Just in case any US Mudcatters think that the UK parliament is peopled by fearless orators like George.....

I'm afraid not , most of them are mealy mouthed wimps....just like yours.

However its good to see George setting out his stall in America.
Perhaps the American public will now take a long look at how their politicians work.

Subject: RE: BS: Gorgeous George goes West.
From: greg stephens
Date: 17 May 05 - 03:49 PM

I see he's toned down the slobbering grovelling adulation of Saddam these days. George Galloway is a fantastic performer, but don't mistake one word of it for political principle.

Subject: RE: BS: Gorgeous George goes West.
From: GUEST,Bunion
Date: 17 May 05 - 04:00 PM

GG is a self-opinionated, egotistical windbag who ran a most despicable campaign in the UK General Election to oust a black Labour MP in London's East End.

That said I can warm to the guy when he's duffing-up the Bush administration in the Senate.

Subject: RE: BS: Gorgeous George goes West.
From: akenaton
Date: 17 May 05 - 04:37 PM

Bunion....Are you saying that a sitting MP dosn't deserve to be ousted because they happen to be black.

Oona King took her career before her principles as far as I can see and supported Blair all the way, even over Iraq.
She must now face the consequences.

George Galloway in his election speech was gracious to Miss King, calling her a good constituency MP and saying he believed she would be back in politics before long.

Im afraid I dont agree with George on that one, parliament is already crowded with career politician eager to tow the party line and throw their principles out of the window.

We could do with a few more like George...be they black white or orange...Ake

Subject: RE: BS: Gorgeous George goes West.
From: McGrath of Harlow
Date: 17 May 05 - 04:43 PM

"...a most despicable campaign in the UK General Election to oust a black Labour MP" Is the implication that somehow it's wrong to stand against a "black" politician, regardless of any political issues?

The argument George Galloway and most of her constituents had with Oonagh King was definitely nothing to do with her being black, it was primarily about the fact that she had supported the war on Iraq. And how many times when Tony Blair had been criticised about that had he said that it was up to people who disagreed with that war to show what they felt at the appropriate time, the General Election?

Subject: RE: BS: Gorgeous George goes West.
From: GUEST
Date: 17 May 05 - 04:52 PM

That's right - and he got re-elected.

Subject: RE: BS: Gorgeous George goes West.
From: McGrath of Harlow
Date: 17 May 05 - 05:20 PM

An election in which candidates in his party - many of whom made a point of saying how much they disagreed woith their leader - stacked up a massive 22% of the potential voters, and 39% of the actual vote. The lowest "winning" vote percentage in British history.

Subject: RE: BS: Gorgeous George goes West.
From: A Wandering Minstrel
Date: 18 May 05 - 08:26 AM

And in which the average swing away from Blair was around 6%

Subject: RE: BS: Gorgeous George goes West.
From: John MacKenzie
Date: 18 May 05 - 08:46 AM

Voting should be compulsory.
G..

Subject: RE: BS: Gorgeous George goes West.
From: GUEST,Liz the Squeak
Date: 18 May 05 - 09:13 AM

"who ran a most despicable campaign in the UK General Election to oust a black Labour MP in London's East End."

It was the same sentiment that landed Jeremy Paxman in hot water with Gorgeous George - rather than congratulate him on an election won, he tried to blame GG for singlehandedly ousting a black female politician as if it were his personal fault and the result of some private vendetta. Perhaps the people of the East End had had enough of Ms Kings' support of a war that no-one except politicians wanted. Fully half her former constituents are black, Asian or   Muslim. Maybe the voters of that constituency voted for the person they thought most suitable to get them out of that war.

LTS

Subject: RE: BS: Gorgeous George goes West.
From: akenaton
Date: 18 May 05 - 12:29 PM

Just heard a report on Georges' appearance from Fox News!!

Talk about biased reporting, they made it sound as if George had been found guilty as charged.

Why do you good people not protest en masse over a media which treats you with such utter contempt?....Ake

Subject: RE: BS: Gorgeous George goes West.
From: George Papavgeris
Date: 18 May 05 - 01:28 PM

Ake, we all have the governments we deserve. And if we are treated with contempt and don't protest, then we deserve the contempt too.

Subject: RE: BS: Gorgeous George goes West.
From: akenaton
Date: 18 May 05 - 01:43 PM

Couldn't agree more El Greko.

Thats why my Zimmer and I will be outside Gleneagles Hotel in July under the green and black banner.   Ake

Subject: RE: BS: Gorgeous George goes West.
From: Big Al Whittle
Date: 18 May 05 - 01:50 PM

I bet the Yanks offer him a talk show

Subject: RE: BS: Gorgeous George goes West.
From: CarolC
Date: 18 May 05 - 01:52 PM

The reason many are not protesting such contemptuous treatment from the media here in the US, FOX in particular, is because they don't understand that they are being treated with contempt.

They have been persuaded to believe that the media (FOX in particular) is protecting them from the leftist, Ivory Tower "intellectual elite", who are working to undermine their way of life as well as the very fabric of this nation and society. This is, of course, a tried and true method with which the real ruling elite have controlled and contained the masses for a very long time.

Subject: RE: BS: Gorgeous George goes West.
From: GUEST,Hannity
Date: 18 May 05 - 02:00 PM

Our job is edutainment.

Subject: RE: BS: Gorgeous George goes West.
From: CarolC
Date: 18 May 05 - 02:11 PM

I think you mean propagandtainment, Mr. Hannity. Or maybe entertainpaganda.

Subject: RE: BS: Gorgeous George goes West.
From: akenaton
Date: 18 May 05 - 02:26 PM

I have a friend with dual nationality, who spends most of her life in the USA.

She says that the public in general have much more respect for authority and the political system than we do in the UK.

She describes it as "The Waltons syndrome", that they long for a patrician set up as portrayed in the old TV series, where a homespun philosophy cures all the worlds ills.

I wonder if this condition occured naturally, or was it encouraged by the less than homespun masters..Ake

Subject: RE: BS: Gorgeous George goes West.
From: CarolC
Date: 18 May 05 - 02:52 PM

I think your friend is pretty accurate in her assesment, akenaton, and it is my opinion that this condition exists because it has been carefully cultivated by all of the media, news as well as entertainment, and also by the government, for as long as those institution have existed in this country.

Subject: RE: BS: Gorgeous George goes West.
From: John MacKenzie
Date: 18 May 05 - 03:28 PM

Homespun philosophy and a gun on your hip, that'll do it!
G..

Subject: RE: BS: Gorgeous George goes West.
From: akenaton
Date: 18 May 05 - 05:32 PM

Seriously, do you think the Hollywood take on early America.......The pioneers, John Wayne, Alan Ladd, Garry Cooper have had an effect on the formation of present day American society.

If true, this is amazing and shows how insideous the system can be.

Possibly the problems with the gun culture in the US can also be laid at the door Sam Goldwyn and John Houston....The minds boggles..Ake

Subject: RE: BS: Gorgeous George goes West.
From: Liz the Squeak
Date: 18 May 05 - 07:18 PM

You missed out Charlton Heston.... all those times he played God, did he have his rifle under that robe?

LTS

Subject: RE: BS: Gorgeous George goes West.
From: CarolC
Date: 18 May 05 - 07:54 PM

You have to keep in mind that the US is a recently invented country. Created by people who came here from other places to reinvent themelves and their lives. So the popular culture here can be seen as a reflection of that, and it is very much shaped by the images and the narratives that we are spoon fed by people whose main function in this society is to shape the thoughts and attitudes of the population at large. And also to apply pressure to those who don't want to conform.

Subject: RE: BS: Gorgeous George goes West.
From: ard mhacha
Date: 19 May 05 - 03:38 AM

Liz, Heston was just pleased to see you.
Everyone knows that the Hollywood syndrome goes right to the top,Reagan is a case in point and then there is Arnold Swarzzenbugger, and not forgetting Mickey Mouse, George Bush.

Subject: RE: BS: Gorgeous George goes West.
From: akenaton
Date: 19 May 05 - 03:57 AM

Thanks Carol......very profound.

I often think the common perception of the Scots as having a very combative nature,   excessive pride, especially in military regiments, and being extremely nationalistic, is based on a well constructed myth.

These chacteristics are present in many Scots but rather than occuring naturally, I feel that a "national character" can be moulded by those in power.   Over a long period of course.

I can just remember as a child ,the end of the old Gaelic culture in rural Scotland,which was not at all nationalistic but rooted in the clan system, which I presume would equate to the native American tribes.

I remember these old people to be soft hearted and contemplative... like ancient hippies I suppose.

But greed, materialism and the emerging capitalist system swept it all away, just as happened to the native American culture.

Ah well "Thats progress for ye"....Ake

Subject: RE: BS: Gorgeous George goes West.
From: akenaton
Date: 19 May 05 - 12:25 PM

Just been reading Mr Happys' thread on George from 2003, it makes very interesting reading.

The vast majority of Mudcatters at that time thought George a hypocritical arse-licker. they were also sure that his political career would end with his expulsion from New labour.
Instead George has been re-elected as an independent, defeating one of Blairs favourites, and is also the toast of American progressives.

Hate to say "I TOLD YOU SO!!"...Ake

Subject: RE: BS: Gorgeous George goes West.
From: John MacKenzie
Date: 19 May 05 - 12:38 PM

I had the same thought Ake, well done very prescient you smart bugger.
Giok ¦¬]

Subject: RE: BS: Gorgeous George goes West.
From: akenaton
Date: 19 May 05 - 12:44 PM

Chill out Jock...(%^)

Subject: RE: BS: Gorgeous George goes West.
From: John MacKenzie
Date: 19 May 05 - 12:48 PM

I'm cool, just hate being wrong like most people ;~)
Giok ¦¬]

Subject: RE: BS: Gorgeous George goes West.
From: GUEST,Mr Happy
Date: 19 May 05 - 07:19 PM

Subject: RE: BS: Gorgeous George goes West.
From: Mr Happy
Date: 19 May 05 - 07:28 PM

Just been watching him in action again on 'Question Time' - BBC 1 tonight.

On a panel of predominantly Scottish MPs, commenting on unclear power v renewable energy,rights to peaceful public protest, & other issues.

George's command of language+ its content was to be admired & considering other commentators reports that he seemed a little worried after his grilling by the US senators, exhibited tonight no obvious signs of stress whatsoever- on the whole totally at ease with the proceedings.

I look forward to further displays of this nature.

Subject: RE: BS: Gorgeous George goes West.
From: akenaton
Date: 19 May 05 - 07:56 PM

Yes Mr Happy, and the biggest cheer of the night was reserved for George as he exhorted the audiance to join him at Gleneagles, where some of the worlds biggest criminals will be appearing on July 8.

Heres hoping Gleneagles Hotel lays out some nice orange jumpsuits for its illustrious guests....Ake

Subject: RE: BS: Gorgeous George goes West.
From: Mr Happy
Date: 19 May 05 - 08:05 PM

He's clearly no angel though- see here:


George Galloway
George Galloway was born on 16 August 1954 in Dundee.

On the 5th May 2005, standing as a Respect candidate, former Labour MP, George Galloway narrowly took the Bethnal Green and Bow constituency from the Labour Party.

George Galloway joined the Labour Party when he was 15, and became the youngest constituency party secretary in Dundee in 1972, and then the youngest Chairman of the Scottish Labour Party in 1981.

From 1982 to 1987 Galloway was General Secretary of War On Want, where he denied accusations that he indulged in a lavish lifestyle that cost £21,000 in travel and entertainment expenses. Galloway was cleared by an independent auditor's report.

In 1987 George Galloway won Glasgow Hillhead from one of the SDP's 'Gang of Four', Roy Jenkins.

Galloway admitted having had sex at a conference in Athens, and the Daily Mirror also reported that he had a 'lovenest' in London. He has been dubbed 'Gorgeous George' by some.

A supporter of Celtic and Dundee United, Galloway scored a goal for the MPs v the Lobby.

In 2002, Galloway caused the first ever suspension of Westminster Hall after refusing to withdraw his allegation that Ben Bradshaw was "a liar".

Bradshaw had described Galloway as "a mouthpiece to the Iraqi regime over many years".

George Galloway was famously expelled from the Labour Party in October 2003 as a result of his stance on the Iraq war. Labour chairman Ian McCartney said Galloway's comments: "incited foreign forces to rise up against British troops".

Galloway had accused Tony Blair and George W. Bush of acting "like wolves" in invading Iraq.

Since then, George Galloway has been a leading figure in the anti-war party, Respect - The Unity Coalition.

Galloway decided to stand as a candidate for Respect in the 2005 general elction in the London constituency of Bethnal Green and Bow.

In the run-up to the election, Galloway's Palestinian-born wife, Dr Amineh Abu-Zayyad, told the Sunday Times that she intends to divorce him over his friendships with other women.

In December 2004, George Galloway won his libel case against the Daily Telegraph over their claims, published in April 2003, that he received money from Saddam Hussein's regime in Iraq.

Galloway denied seeking or receiving money from Saddam Hussein's government saying he had long opposed it.


**********

But after all he's only human- but yes Ake, glad u saw the prog. & other big cheer was from environmentalists when he emphasised about USA's output of poisonous greenhouse gases & wastefulness of fuel consumption.

Subject: RE: BS: Gorgeous George goes West.
From: akenaton
Date: 19 May 05 - 08:30 PM

Mr Happy....Interesting how animated the audiance were on Question Time, and a large percentage of young people with a healthy dislike of politicians.

Perhaps theres still hope that we will see some progress on environmental issues.
I see a resurgence of idealism in a section of our youth, which must be good for the health of the planet.

I was pleased you started the thread on George Galloway in 2003, its certainly turned out to be quite prophetic.

As for Georges penchant for the ladies, another great Scot "Randy" Rabbie Burns enjoyed their company and he's a national icon...Ake

Subject: RE: BS: Gorgeous George goes West.
From: dianavan
Date: 20 May 05 - 12:32 AM

Who wouldn't like a man that stands up to the biggest bully in the world? Who cares if he's not squeaky clean? He has the courage it takes to become a leader. Hopefully, other politicians will use him as a role model and quit sucking up to the U.S.

Subject: RE: BS: Gorgeous George goes West.
From: RobbieWilson
Date: 20 May 05 - 05:31 AM

Mr Happy
You mentioned that Galloway caused the suspension of the house of commons by calling Tory MP Ben Bradshaw a liar and refusing to withdraw his remarks. You did not mention that the affair was resolved by Bradshaw apologising to Galloway and admitting he was wrong.

Subject: RE: BS: Gorgeous George goes West.
From: GUEST,Mr Happy
Date: 20 May 05 - 05:50 AM

Robbie,

I actually didn't say anything of the kind.

I copy/pasted a brief bio of GG from here:


http://www.answers.com/topic/george-galloway