Return Of The Diana Man

While Diana, Princess of Wales has returned to the news this week – more cheap and recycled copy from the usual suspects, no doubt – the man who interviewed her for a BBC Panorama special all those years ago has been easing himself into his new weekday slot at cable news outfit MSNBC.

Martin Bashir has an afternoon show on the channel, with the usual mix of talking heads discussing the day’s hot topics. Tuesday’s edition included among its guests former five time GOP Congressman Tom Tancredo, with the subject being border security. But Bashir started off with the death of Osama bin Laden.

He reminded Tancredo of his assertion that “Mr Obama is a more serious threat to America than al-Qaeda”, and suggested to Tancredo that such a suggestion was “ludicrous”. Tancredo strongly disputed that his assertion was ludicrous. So Bashir came back with a logical conclusion that his guest was not expecting.

“To follow your logic, would you have preferred then the death of the President as opposed to bin Laden?” he asked a by now horrified Tancredo, who disputed that this was a logical assumption. But, Bashir pointed out, Tancredo had welcomed the death of bin Laden, as well as saying that Obama was a greater threat.

The video shows that the former Congressman was not expecting that particular curve ball. And full marks to Bashir for calling out Tancredo on his inflammatory rhetoric.