Letters to the Editor
maureenodonnell
Published Letters: 475 Editor's Choice: 5
-
sUEnj97 I hate to disillusion you but you must have met a crowd of dunces in Oxford in the mid-80s
[Read the article: Views of the race from across the Atlantic]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Ted Kennedy put himself forward as a Presidential candidate in l980 and failed miserably, perhaps because he could not live down the shame of Chappaquidick when he abandoned a young woman to her death. Maybe I'm getting the wrong inference but were you suggesting that Oxford undergraduates were seriously suggesting Ted Kennedy as a potential President? Oxford not only has a famous university but is also a town in its own right. Perhaps you were talking to less rarified types in the town because anyone with the slightest knowledge of American politics - or any general knowledge at all - would have known that Ted's Presidential aspirations got a sharp rebuff in l980 and rightly so, in my opinion. I'm Irish but don't buy into all that "Kennedy clan" ballyhoo. Opinions should not be based on ethnicity but on the competence and character of a candidate.
-
The man's name isn't "Bond - James Bond" but Jeremy Paxman.
[Read the article: Tucker Carlson unintentionally reveals the role of the American press]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]I notice that some of those writing on this article don't even get the man's name right but are miffed at the idea that a British journalist could be so much better than anyone produced by the American media. Undoubtedly, Paxman is the "gold standard" who is best known for making British politicians jump through the hoops. His private life is essentially private, he's not part of any showbiz circuit, he's non-partisan but he is a highly-intelligent man who has no interest in the tittle-tattle surrounding people in power. He skewers them on policy, lets them know that he's nobody's fool because he is so thoroughly steeped in national and international issues. I admire Jeremy Paxman immensely and have been very surprised by the tatty and shoddy quality of your own commentators. Maybe I've missed out on hearing about the gems of American journalism as it stands (or crawls) today but, so far, all I've been able to glean is that it's a collection of minor grotesques, dolled-up versions of the old-style Soviet Union propaganda machine called "Pravda". I wouldn't trust Carlson, Russert or any of those types any further than I could throw them - and even that would be giving them too much "clemency", to reiterate a word used by Carlson when he tried to talk down to Gerri Peev who couldn't possibly be as important as him because she writes for a paper produced in a country (Scotland) which doesn't threaten other nations. Yes, we do get the message out here on the edge of Europe.
-
Ziegler, Samantha Power has tied herself up in knots.
[Read the article: Tucker Carlson unintentionally reveals the role of the American press]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]I saw Ms. Power on Irish television news last evening when she was in Belfast, apparently promoting her book on the assassinated diplomat, De Mello. She was extremely flustered when asked about her "monster" aside on Hillary Clinton and, quite honestly, I felt she'd "lost the plot" completely as she told the reporter how much she admired HRC, the way in which the candidate had broken "through the glass ceiling" etc. etc. Her effusiveness was embarrassing but she's clearly under strain. We have an expression here "You should never send a boy to do a man's job" and that sums up her situation. As someone of my own nationality (although I presume she is naturalised American) Samantha Power might be expected to bring out chauvinism in me but she most certainly does not. She's not up to the job although I'm sure that she's perfectly fine in her own Harvard hothouse. To think that Samantha was Obama's senior adviser on foreign policy (that's the way she was presented here and in the UK) is quite frightening. She means well, I'm sure, but she has no "cop-on". She should also have been much more aware of her audience as, for instance, she stated using the four-letter Anglo-Saxon word "We effed up in Iowa". Yes, that word is used mindlessly and extensively but is not a part of political discourse in the British Isles and long may that situation continue.
I think Samantha Power is quixotic, in the best sense of the word, and has been overwhelmed by Realpolitik. Let's see, Canada and Scotland have already become embroiled in the Obama campaign and this involves only two advisers. That's quite good for starters!
-
Sorry! I mentioned the wrong State.
[Read the article: Tucker Carlson unintentionally reveals the role of the American press]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Samantha Power spoke of effing up in Ohio.