Education secretary says government and backbenchers united in determination to wrest back powers from Brussels Michael Gove sought to play down the differences between the government and backbenchers after David Cameron suffered the largest postwar rebellion on Europe when 81 Conservative MPs supported a referendum on Britain’s membership of the EU. The education secretary insisted the policy differences between the government and rebels were exaggerated, and said the two sides were united in their determination to wrest back powers from Brussels. Nearly half Cameron’s backbenchers defied a three-line whip and voted in favour of a motion calling for a referendum on whether Britain should remain in the EU on the current terms, leave or renegotiate its membership. As a new opinion poll showed overwhelming support for a referendum , normally loyal backbenchers warned Downing Street that the prime minister would face further rebellions unless he takes a tough stance in EU treaty negotiations. A total of 79 Conservative MPs voted in favour of an EU referendum, while a further two were tellers for the rebels, bringing the total to 81. A further 15 abstained, meaning Cameron had failed to convince more than half his backbenchers to support the government. Downing Street attempted to reach out to the rebels, saying that it respected those who voted in favour of the referendum. Some Tories said Cameron had sanctioned an aggressive operation to persuade wavering MPs to support the government, but Gove told the BBC Radio 4 Today programme that attempts to persuade MPs to vote with the government had been cordial. He said those who decided to rebel were not disaffected Tories, but MPs who felt moved to vote “out of principle”. “Certainly there was a significant number of people who chose to take a different view [to the government], but I think that, while the numbers are significant, the difference in policy … isn’t that significant and it can be exaggerated. You have on the Conservative backbenches, and in the cabinet, colleagues and friends who want to change our relationship with the European Union. “The prime minister, not because it was wrung out of him but because he speaks from the heart, wants to refashion our relationship with the European Union. “There were a number of our colleagues who felt the motion last night provided a means to do so. I didn’t agree with them, but I respect the passion with which they put their case.” Gove admitted that MPs from the same party being divided in a vote was “less than perfect”, but said Britain’s relationship with the EU was an issue of the “deepest and most profound principle”. He said that if the government was ever in a position in which it was about to hand more powers from parliament to Brussels, a referendum would automatically be triggered. But he stressed that he was interested in the powers the government could take back from Brussels, saying the coalition agreement drawn up with the Liberal Democrats had a commitment to the “balance of competencies” between Britain and the EU. “I think we should take powers back over employment law. I think we should take powers back that affect our capacity to grow. There are some specific regulations which govern whom we can hire, how we can hire and how long they work, which actually hold us back,” he added. EU laws on employment safeguard a range of rights for workers, including a four-week annual holiday, maternity rights, parental leave and the working time directive. Asked when the government intended to claw back powers, he said: “I’d like to see that change in this parliament. “Things are changing rapidly, and the government needs to be ready to change, it needs to be ready to argue for its position.” Addressing the eurozone crisis, Gove said the government needed to ensure the problems “don’t touch us” and ensure money being spent to support eurozone countries does not come from the British taxpayer. Speaking in the Commons on Monday, Cameron said forthcoming treaty negotiations would give Britain an opportunity to further its national interest. But Mark Pritchard, one of the rebels and the secretary of the backbench 1922 committee, said that Europe as an issue would “not go away” despite the motion on a referendum being defeated in the Commons vote. Pritchard called for a “clear definition of what the coalition policy on Europe is”, telling Today: “I think that we need to have some beef on the policy – we need to have clarity. “Is it the case now, for example, that a fiscal union will not trigger a referendum under the European Union Act 2011, despite the fact that it will be a significant and fundamental change in our relationship with the European Union and with the eurozone?” David Nuttall, the Conservative MP for Bury North, who tabled the motion for a referendum vote, said Europe needed to realise that many people in the UK believe it has become too closely tied to the EU. He told Sky News: “I’m interested in trying to get a national referendum because I think that’s what the British people want. It would be one way of strengthening the prime minister’s arm in his negotiations with our European partners if he was able to go and say: ‘I have consulted the British people.’” David Davis, who faced Cameron in the final round of the 2005 Tory leadership contest, made it clear that the prime minister would have to give ground on Europe when he defended his decision to vote in favour of a referendum. The former shadow home secretary said: “We have been told this is the wrong time. This is the time when all the claims of Nicolas Sarkozy and Angela Merkel are to centralise the EU even more to create a fiscal union. “It will have an impact on Britain, as the prime minister has said. So this is absolutely the time to think about this. We should be protecting ourselves from the consequences of the eurozone.” EU referendum Michael Gove Conservatives Liberal-Conservative coalition David Cameron House of Commons Foreign policy European Union Hélène Mulholland guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …Education secretary says government and backbenchers united in determination to wrest back powers from Brussels Michael Gove sought to play down the differences between the government and backbenchers after David Cameron suffered the largest postwar rebellion on Europe when 81 Conservative MPs supported a referendum on Britain’s membership of the EU. The education secretary insisted the policy differences between the government and rebels were exaggerated, and said the two sides were united in their determination to wrest back powers from Brussels. Nearly half Cameron’s backbenchers defied a three-line whip and voted in favour of a motion calling for a referendum on whether Britain should remain in the EU on the current terms, leave or renegotiate its membership. As a new opinion poll showed overwhelming support for a referendum , normally loyal backbenchers warned Downing Street that the prime minister would face further rebellions unless he takes a tough stance in EU treaty negotiations. A total of 79 Conservative MPs voted in favour of an EU referendum, while a further two were tellers for the rebels, bringing the total to 81. A further 15 abstained, meaning Cameron had failed to convince more than half his backbenchers to support the government. Downing Street attempted to reach out to the rebels, saying that it respected those who voted in favour of the referendum. Some Tories said Cameron had sanctioned an aggressive operation to persuade wavering MPs to support the government, but Gove told the BBC Radio 4 Today programme that attempts to persuade MPs to vote with the government had been cordial. He said those who decided to rebel were not disaffected Tories, but MPs who felt moved to vote “out of principle”. “Certainly there was a significant number of people who chose to take a different view [to the government], but I think that, while the numbers are significant, the difference in policy … isn’t that significant and it can be exaggerated. You have on the Conservative backbenches, and in the cabinet, colleagues and friends who want to change our relationship with the European Union. “The prime minister, not because it was wrung out of him but because he speaks from the heart, wants to refashion our relationship with the European Union. “There were a number of our colleagues who felt the motion last night provided a means to do so. I didn’t agree with them, but I respect the passion with which they put their case.” Gove admitted that MPs from the same party being divided in a vote was “less than perfect”, but said Britain’s relationship with the EU was an issue of the “deepest and most profound principle”. He said that if the government was ever in a position in which it was about to hand more powers from parliament to Brussels, a referendum would automatically be triggered. But he stressed that he was interested in the powers the government could take back from Brussels, saying the coalition agreement drawn up with the Liberal Democrats had a commitment to the “balance of competencies” between Britain and the EU. “I think we should take powers back over employment law. I think we should take powers back that affect our capacity to grow. There are some specific regulations which govern whom we can hire, how we can hire and how long they work, which actually hold us back,” he added. EU laws on employment safeguard a range of rights for workers, including a four-week annual holiday, maternity rights, parental leave and the working time directive. Asked when the government intended to claw back powers, he said: “I’d like to see that change in this parliament. “Things are changing rapidly, and the government needs to be ready to change, it needs to be ready to argue for its position.” Addressing the eurozone crisis, Gove said the government needed to ensure the problems “don’t touch us” and ensure money being spent to support eurozone countries does not come from the British taxpayer. Speaking in the Commons on Monday, Cameron said forthcoming treaty negotiations would give Britain an opportunity to further its national interest. But Mark Pritchard, one of the rebels and the secretary of the backbench 1922 committee, said that Europe as an issue would “not go away” despite the motion on a referendum being defeated in the Commons vote. Pritchard called for a “clear definition of what the coalition policy on Europe is”, telling Today: “I think that we need to have some beef on the policy – we need to have clarity. “Is it the case now, for example, that a fiscal union will not trigger a referendum under the European Union Act 2011, despite the fact that it will be a significant and fundamental change in our relationship with the European Union and with the eurozone?” David Nuttall, the Conservative MP for Bury North, who tabled the motion for a referendum vote, said Europe needed to realise that many people in the UK believe it has become too closely tied to the EU. He told Sky News: “I’m interested in trying to get a national referendum because I think that’s what the British people want. It would be one way of strengthening the prime minister’s arm in his negotiations with our European partners if he was able to go and say: ‘I have consulted the British people.’” David Davis, who faced Cameron in the final round of the 2005 Tory leadership contest, made it clear that the prime minister would have to give ground on Europe when he defended his decision to vote in favour of a referendum. The former shadow home secretary said: “We have been told this is the wrong time. This is the time when all the claims of Nicolas Sarkozy and Angela Merkel are to centralise the EU even more to create a fiscal union. “It will have an impact on Britain, as the prime minister has said. So this is absolutely the time to think about this. We should be protecting ourselves from the consequences of the eurozone.” EU referendum Michael Gove Conservatives Liberal-Conservative coalition David Cameron House of Commons Foreign policy European Union Hélène Mulholland guardian.co.uk
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• Third-quarter profits rise to $5.14bn, up from $1.8bn • Production down by 12% • Asset sales rise to $45bn BP boss Bob Dudley said on Tuesday that the embattled oil giant had reached a “definite turning point” following last year’s Gulf of Mexico disaster as he revealed a boost to third-quarter profits. BP reported profit of $5.14bn (£3.2bn) for the three months to September, compared with $1.8bn in the same period last year when BP was hit by heavy charges for cleaning up the Gulf spillage. BP said oil production over the quarter fell by 12% to 3.32m barrels due to the suspension of production in the Gulf, though BP expects production to be higher in the current quarter. Dudley has been under pressure following the collapse of a deal with Russian group Rosneft to explore in the Arctic region, but today unveiled an increase in the company’s asset sale programme from $30bn to $45bn . Dudley said he expected BP’s cashflow to grow by around 50% by 2014 – meaning greater returns for shareholders. The American, brought in to replace Tony Hayward in the wake of the crisis , said the extra cash would enable it to double its spending on new exploration and to increase its investment in its deep water operations, its giant fields and building its gas operations. The group’s payments into the Gulf of Mexico Trust Fund will end in 2012 and will provide half of the increase in cashflow, he added, while 17 new projects are due to come on stream over the next three years. The group has restarted operations in the Gulf and last week received approval for an exploration plan for the Kaskida field in the region. The cashflow forecast assumes oil prices of $100 per barrel, compared with an average of $112 so far this year, though lower production and higher maintenance activity and costs offset the benefit of higher prices in the latest quarter. For the nine months to September, BP posted profits of $15.9bn. “The company has steadied, turned round and now, this month, with high-margin assets returning on stream, we have reached a clear turning point,” Dudley said. He added that BP had lived up to its commitments in the Gulf and was putting “safety and risk management at the absolute heart of our business”. Shares rose 3% after the update. BP Oil Oil and gas companies Energy industry BP oil spill guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …• Third-quarter profits rise to $5.14bn, up from $1.8bn • Production down by 12% • Asset sales rise to $45bn BP boss Bob Dudley said on Tuesday that the embattled oil giant had reached a “definite turning point” following last year’s Gulf of Mexico disaster as he revealed a boost to third-quarter profits. BP reported profit of $5.14bn (£3.2bn) for the three months to September, compared with $1.8bn in the same period last year when BP was hit by heavy charges for cleaning up the Gulf spillage. BP said oil production over the quarter fell by 12% to 3.32m barrels due to the suspension of production in the Gulf, though BP expects production to be higher in the current quarter. Dudley has been under pressure following the collapse of a deal with Russian group Rosneft to explore in the Arctic region, but today unveiled an increase in the company’s asset sale programme from $30bn to $45bn . Dudley said he expected BP’s cashflow to grow by around 50% by 2014 – meaning greater returns for shareholders. The American, brought in to replace Tony Hayward in the wake of the crisis , said the extra cash would enable it to double its spending on new exploration and to increase its investment in its deep water operations, its giant fields and building its gas operations. The group’s payments into the Gulf of Mexico Trust Fund will end in 2012 and will provide half of the increase in cashflow, he added, while 17 new projects are due to come on stream over the next three years. The group has restarted operations in the Gulf and last week received approval for an exploration plan for the Kaskida field in the region. The cashflow forecast assumes oil prices of $100 per barrel, compared with an average of $112 so far this year, though lower production and higher maintenance activity and costs offset the benefit of higher prices in the latest quarter. For the nine months to September, BP posted profits of $15.9bn. “The company has steadied, turned round and now, this month, with high-margin assets returning on stream, we have reached a clear turning point,” Dudley said. He added that BP had lived up to its commitments in the Gulf and was putting “safety and risk management at the absolute heart of our business”. Shares rose 3% after the update. BP Oil Oil and gas companies Energy industry BP oil spill guardian.co.uk
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Libyan dictator buried at dawn after corpse’s decay forced government to withdraw it from public display, al-Jazeera reports The Libyan government buried Muammar Gaddafi in an unknown location at dawn on Tuesday, al-Jazeera television reported, citing a source in the ruling National Transitional Council (NTC). Officials from the interim government had said earlier that the ousted Libyan leader would be buried in a secret desert grave, ending a wrangle over his rotting corpse that led many to fear for the country’s governability. Government forces had put the body on show in a cold store in Misrata while they argued over what to do with it, until its decay forced them to end the display on Monday. The killing of the 69-year-old in his hometown of Sirte brought to a close eight months of war, finally ending a nervous two-month hiatus since anti-Gaddafi fighters overran the capital, Tripoli. But it also threatened to lay bare the regional and tribal rivalries that present the NTC with its biggest challenge. NTC officials had said negotiations were going on with Gaddafi’s tribal kinsmen from Sirte and within the interim leadership over where and how to dispose of bodies – Gaddafi’s son Mutassim was also on display in Misrata – and over what rebel leaders in possession of corpses might receive in return for co-operation. “No agreement was reached for his tribe to take him,” an NTC official told Reuters. With the decay of the body forcing the NTC leadership’s hand, it appeared to have decided that an anonymous grave would at least ensure the plot did not become a shrine. An NTC official told Reuters several days ago that there would be only four witnesses to the burial, and all would swear on the Qur’an never to reveal the location. NTC fears that Gaddafi’s sons might mount an insurgency have largely been allayed by the death of two of those who wielded the most power, military commander Khamis and Mutassim, the former national security adviser. Mutassim was captured along with his father in Sirte and killed in similarly unclear circumstances. The NTC official said he would be buried in the same ceremony on Tuesday. Khamis was killed in fighting earlier in the civil war. But the official said Gaddafi’s long-time heir apparent Saif al-Islam was in the remote southern desert and set to flee Libya, with the NTC powerless to stop him. “He’s on the triangle of Niger and Algeria. He’s south of Ghat, the Ghat area. He was given a false Libyan passport from the area of Murzuq,” the official added. He said Muammar Gaddafi’s former intelligence chief Abdullah al-Senussi who, like Saif al-Islam, is wanted by the international criminal court, was involved. “The region is very, very difficult to monitor and encircle,” he said. “The region is a desert region and it has … many, many exit routes.” The death of the fallen dictator allowed the NTC to spark mass rejoicing by declaring Libya’s long-awaited “liberation” on Sunday in Benghazi, the seat of the revolt. But it also highlighted a lack of central control over disparate armed groups, and jockeying for power among local commanders as negotiations begin in earnest to form an interim government that can run free elections. Muammar Gaddafi Libya Arab and Middle East unrest Middle East Africa guardian.co.uk
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Libyan dictator buried at dawn after corpse’s decay forced government to withdraw it from public display, al-Jazeera reports The Libyan government buried Muammar Gaddafi in an unknown location at dawn on Tuesday, al-Jazeera television reported, citing a source in the ruling National Transitional Council (NTC). Officials from the interim government had said earlier that the ousted Libyan leader would be buried in a secret desert grave, ending a wrangle over his rotting corpse that led many to fear for the country’s governability. Government forces had put the body on show in a cold store in Misrata while they argued over what to do with it, until its decay forced them to end the display on Monday. The killing of the 69-year-old in his hometown of Sirte brought to a close eight months of war, finally ending a nervous two-month hiatus since anti-Gaddafi fighters overran the capital, Tripoli. But it also threatened to lay bare the regional and tribal rivalries that present the NTC with its biggest challenge. NTC officials had said negotiations were going on with Gaddafi’s tribal kinsmen from Sirte and within the interim leadership over where and how to dispose of bodies – Gaddafi’s son Mutassim was also on display in Misrata – and over what rebel leaders in possession of corpses might receive in return for co-operation. “No agreement was reached for his tribe to take him,” an NTC official told Reuters. With the decay of the body forcing the NTC leadership’s hand, it appeared to have decided that an anonymous grave would at least ensure the plot did not become a shrine. An NTC official told Reuters several days ago that there would be only four witnesses to the burial, and all would swear on the Qur’an never to reveal the location. NTC fears that Gaddafi’s sons might mount an insurgency have largely been allayed by the death of two of those who wielded the most power, military commander Khamis and Mutassim, the former national security adviser. Mutassim was captured along with his father in Sirte and killed in similarly unclear circumstances. The NTC official said he would be buried in the same ceremony on Tuesday. Khamis was killed in fighting earlier in the civil war. But the official said Gaddafi’s long-time heir apparent Saif al-Islam was in the remote southern desert and set to flee Libya, with the NTC powerless to stop him. “He’s on the triangle of Niger and Algeria. He’s south of Ghat, the Ghat area. He was given a false Libyan passport from the area of Murzuq,” the official added. He said Muammar Gaddafi’s former intelligence chief Abdullah al-Senussi who, like Saif al-Islam, is wanted by the international criminal court, was involved. “The region is very, very difficult to monitor and encircle,” he said. “The region is a desert region and it has … many, many exit routes.” The death of the fallen dictator allowed the NTC to spark mass rejoicing by declaring Libya’s long-awaited “liberation” on Sunday in Benghazi, the seat of the revolt. But it also highlighted a lack of central control over disparate armed groups, and jockeying for power among local commanders as negotiations begin in earnest to form an interim government that can run free elections. Muammar Gaddafi Libya Arab and Middle East unrest Middle East Africa guardian.co.uk
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Last known Javan rhino in Vietnam has died, leaving only a small population in Indonesia to ensure the species’ survival Poaching has driven the Javan rhinoceros to extinction in Vietnam, leaving the critically endangered species’ only remaining population numbering less than 50 on the Indonesian island that gave it its name, the WWF and International Rhino Foundation said on Tuesday. “The last Javan rhino in Vietnam has gone,” said Tran Thi Minh Hien, WWF-Vietnam country director. “It is painful that despite significant investment in the Vietnamese rhino population, conservation efforts failed to save this unique animal. Vietnam has lost part of its natural heritage.” The Javan rhinoceros ( Rhinoceros sondaicus annamiticusare ) was believed to be extinct in mainland Asia until an individual was killed by hunters in Vietnam’s Cat Tien region in 1988, leading to the discovery of a small population that by 2007 numbered just eight. From the mid-1990s, a number of organisations worked to set up habitat protection programmes to safeguard the rhino and its food sources, leading to the establishment of a national park. But even within a protected area, it has proved extremely difficult to defend the species from illegal hunting. In April 2010, local people reported the discovery of a rhino carcass. A forest patrol team was immediately deployed to the site where they confirmed the dead animal was a Javan rhino. It had a bullet in its leg and its horn had been removed. Rhinos are poached for their horn, which is a highly prized ingredient in traditional medicines, and has recently been lauded as a cure for cancer, despite there being no scientific evidence to support this. Between 2009 and 2010, in an effort to determine the exact Javan rhinoceros population status in Cat Tien, WWF conducted a field survey, using highly trained sniffer dogs from the US to locate rhino dung samples. The results of DNA analysis conducted on the samples, published today in a new WWF report, have confirmed that all of the dung collected in the park belonged to the same rhino, which was found dead shortly after the survey was completed. “Reintroduction of the rhinoceros to Vietnam is not economically or practically feasible. It is gone from Vietnam forever,” said Christy Williams, WWF’s Asian elephant and rhino programme co-ordinator. The Javan rhinoceros is now believed to be confined to one population, comprising less than 50 individuals, on the island of Java. The species was once was found on Indonesia, and throughout south-east Asia– including India and China, but increasing pressure on its rainforest habitat has put a question mark over the future of the species. “This makes our work in Indonesia even more critical. We must ensure that what happened to the Javan rhinoceros in Vietnam is not repeated in Indonesia a few years down the line,” said Susie Ellis of the International Rhino Foundation. Illegal hunting to supply the wildlife trade has reduced many species in Vietnam to small and isolated populations. The Indochinese tiger, Asian elephant and endemic species like the saola, Tonkin snub-nosed monkey and Siamese crocodile are on the verge of extinction in the country. Conservationists have warned that inadequate law enforcement and ineffective management of protected areas, and infrastructure development occurring within and close to Vietnam’s protected areas will only exert additional pressures on already fragile populations of species. Wildlife Conservation Endangered species WWF Animals Indonesia Vietnam guardian.co.uk
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Last known Javan rhino in Vietnam has died, leaving only a small population in Indonesia to ensure the species’ survival Poaching has driven the Javan rhinoceros to extinction in Vietnam, leaving the critically endangered species’ only remaining population numbering less than 50 on the Indonesian island that gave it its name, the WWF and International Rhino Foundation said on Tuesday. “The last Javan rhino in Vietnam has gone,” said Tran Thi Minh Hien, WWF-Vietnam country director. “It is painful that despite significant investment in the Vietnamese rhino population, conservation efforts failed to save this unique animal. Vietnam has lost part of its natural heritage.” The Javan rhinoceros ( Rhinoceros sondaicus annamiticusare ) was believed to be extinct in mainland Asia until an individual was killed by hunters in Vietnam’s Cat Tien region in 1988, leading to the discovery of a small population that by 2007 numbered just eight. From the mid-1990s, a number of organisations worked to set up habitat protection programmes to safeguard the rhino and its food sources, leading to the establishment of a national park. But even within a protected area, it has proved extremely difficult to defend the species from illegal hunting. In April 2010, local people reported the discovery of a rhino carcass. A forest patrol team was immediately deployed to the site where they confirmed the dead animal was a Javan rhino. It had a bullet in its leg and its horn had been removed. Rhinos are poached for their horn, which is a highly prized ingredient in traditional medicines, and has recently been lauded as a cure for cancer, despite there being no scientific evidence to support this. Between 2009 and 2010, in an effort to determine the exact Javan rhinoceros population status in Cat Tien, WWF conducted a field survey, using highly trained sniffer dogs from the US to locate rhino dung samples. The results of DNA analysis conducted on the samples, published today in a new WWF report, have confirmed that all of the dung collected in the park belonged to the same rhino, which was found dead shortly after the survey was completed. “Reintroduction of the rhinoceros to Vietnam is not economically or practically feasible. It is gone from Vietnam forever,” said Christy Williams, WWF’s Asian elephant and rhino programme co-ordinator. The Javan rhinoceros is now believed to be confined to one population, comprising less than 50 individuals, on the island of Java. The species was once was found on Indonesia, and throughout south-east Asia– including India and China, but increasing pressure on its rainforest habitat has put a question mark over the future of the species. “This makes our work in Indonesia even more critical. We must ensure that what happened to the Javan rhinoceros in Vietnam is not repeated in Indonesia a few years down the line,” said Susie Ellis of the International Rhino Foundation. Illegal hunting to supply the wildlife trade has reduced many species in Vietnam to small and isolated populations. The Indochinese tiger, Asian elephant and endemic species like the saola, Tonkin snub-nosed monkey and Siamese crocodile are on the verge of extinction in the country. Conservationists have warned that inadequate law enforcement and ineffective management of protected areas, and infrastructure development occurring within and close to Vietnam’s protected areas will only exert additional pressures on already fragile populations of species. Wildlife Conservation Endangered species WWF Animals Indonesia Vietnam guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …Goldberg: If They Slobber Over Obama in ’12 Like They Did in ’08 ‘Media and the President Would Have to Get a Room’
October 24, 2011 No Comment
Is it possible for the press to gush and fawn over Barack Obama during this upcoming presidential campaign as much as they did in 2008? Political analyst Bernie Goldberg, appearing on Fox News's O'Reilly Factor Monday, didn't think so claiming instead, “If they slobber all over him as much this time as they did last time, the media and the President would have to get a room” (video follows with transcript and commentary): BERNIE GOLDBERG: The media can’t possibly be as enthusiastic this time around as they were last time around. I think that’s a physical impossibility. I mean, if they slobber all over him as much this time as they did last time, the media and the President would have to get a room. But if the question is will they be as enthusiastic, or not as but enthusiastic again, I think the answer is “Yes.” Look, four years ago they picked up their pompoms the media did and put on their short skirts and they went and cheered him because Barack Obama was not Al Gore or John Kerry or Michael Dukakis or one of those guys. He was a historic figure, and they fell madly in love with him, Bill. And it isn’t easy once you fall madly in love with somebody to just a few years later fall out of love with that person. Look, the best indicator of how somebody’s going to act in the future is how they’ve acted in the past, and I think based on that, the media once Obama is facing a real opponent will do what they’ve done in the past and they will be enthusiastic for him again.
Continue reading …AP on Rubio Assumes He’s Still the One on the Defensive Over Parents’ Cuban Departure
October 24, 2011 No Comment
Despite all the huffing and puffing over Florida Senator Marco Rubio's alleged “embellishing” at the Washington Post , the fact is that his parents were Cuban exiles (meaning number 5 at link: “anyone separated from his or her country or home voluntarily or by force of circumstances”). That fact essentially undercuts everything about the WaPo article except the problem with the opening sentence of the biography at Rubio's Senate web site, which has been corrected. That didn't stop two Associated Press writers, Brendan Farrington and Laura Wides-Munoz from doing quite a bit of embellishing of their own (a better word would be “mischaracterizing”) in an item currently time-stamped early Saturday morning, while pretending that the rebuttal to the Post written by Mark Caputo at the Miami Herald doesn't exist. The AP pair's pathetic prose has two particular howlers which simply must be debunked. First, there's the matter of whether Rubio is getting a break from the Cuban exile community which he somehow doesn't deserve (bolds are mine throughout this post): So far, prominent members of the Cuban American community are standing by him, including the head of one of Miami's oldest and most respected exile groups, who said Friday that he is willing to give the rising GOP star and tea-party favorite a pass. Uh, no, that's not what the Cuban exile lead the AP pair quoted said: The head of the Miami-based Cuban American National Foundation, Pepe Hernandez, himself an exile and longtime opponent of Castro, said Rubio's parents' initial departure date was unimportant. That's not a “pass.” It's an example of “Don't waste our time with this irrelevant garbage. His parents were exiles.” . Giving someone a “pass” presupposes that the person involved has done something wrong. There's nothing which requires a “pass.” Second, the AP woefully mischaracterized Rubio's U.S. Senate victory last year to the point of parody: But Sean Spicer, a spokesman for the GOP National Committee, said the attacks will only strengthen Rubio by causing Republicans to come to his defense. The conservative was elected in 2010 after an upset over the GOP establishment's choice, Gov. Charlie Crist. Upset? What a joke: Rubio's command of the GOP primary race during the Spring of 2010 was so obvious that incumbent Governor Charlie Crist withdrew before the party's primary even took place. In the general election , Rubio was heavily favored for months and took 49% of the vote. Crist got 30%, and the Democrat received 20%. An ” upset ,” in context, means “to defeat or overthrow an opponent that is considered more formidable, as in war, politics, or sports.” Rubio's was the prohibitive favorite on election night. Besides breathtaking ignorance, which I wouldn't buy if claimed, the only reason the AP would want to describe Rubio's win as an “upset” would be to miscommunicate an impression that the election was close. It wasn't; it was an utter rout. Besides, I wasn't upset about the result, and I suspect few readers here were either. :–> Unfortunately, those who haven't followed the Rubio story closely and are relying on their local paper or broadcaster to relay accurate information will instead find some or all of the AP pair's work. That's why nicknaming the self-described Essential Global News Network as “The Administration's Press” is not at all out of line. Cross-posted at BizzyBlog.com .
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