The attempts by media nonentities Andrew Pierce, Jon Gaunt and Julia Hartley Brewer to demonise Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn over his choice of attire at yesterday’s Armistice Day commemoration were about as successful as the three’s media careers, which is to say, not at all. But Ms Hartley Dooda is not downhearted, and has used her TalkRADIO breakfast show to put the boot in on Jezza in no style at all.
Demonstrating the sly and dishonest way in which the right uses the broadcast media, Ms Hartley Dooda invited someone she knew was not just hostile to Corbyn, but viscerally and maliciously so, to give listeners the benefit of his superior insights. This was André Walker of Tory bullying infamy, someone who should not be let near a microphone, at least, not without some kind of health warning being issued beforehand.
We know who you are, thanks
That TalkRADIO was indulging in a cheap and underhand smear was underscored when Walker was described as “Columnist, Observer”. While this is technically true, listeners would invariably understand this to be a reference to the Guardian’s Sunday sister paper, but Walker would not get through the door at Kings Place. He writes for the online-only Observer published in New York, a firmly Conservative publication.
Press TV, eh? There's a man of high principles
Once Ms Hartley Dooda had wound up Walker and set him running, the abuse spewed out as from a sewer outfall. “On Twitter, a lot of people have suggested that this is some sort of a gaffe or whatever, or him being generally disrespectful. I actually have a more sinister view of it … I’m sure it’s something that’s absolutely deliberate. Jeremy Corbyn has never been a supporter of the British military”. Pulls out whopper, pauses for breath.
And carries on. “His support for Irish Republican [sic] through the 80s which [is?] actually legendary, and I think what he’s done is deliberately been disrespectful and then offered a fairly perfunctory excuse for it which I think will act as a dog whistle to his supporters, cos this is a man who I believe is pathologically obsessed with the view that his supporters are anti-war, anti-military, hates the Remembrance Sunday events, and want to see him being disrespectful. Obviously he can’t admit he’s being disrespectful, but I think the message is clear to his supporters”. And guess what Ms Hartley Dooda said in response?
“D’you know what, that was exactly my interpretation, that it was a deliberate nod towards … I’m here because I have to be here, I don’t really want to be here”. This was not an accidental smear. And Walker was allowed to trowel on the abuse yet further.
“This is something that’s clearly deliberate in my view. It just talks to the fact that this is a man who hates this country, hates the military, hates people who’ve sacrificed themselves for this country, and is grossly disrespectful”. And who was it said those words?
André Walker. Former boot boy to the disgraced Mark Clarke. Involved in the Tory bullying scandal that saw a young activist take his own life. A known smear merchant. A pathological liar. A bully. An utter shit of the lowest order. TalkRADIO and, indeed, Ms Hartley Dooda would have known his background. Which only makes it worse.
This was a premeditated, vicious and gratuitous smear. The recording shows that Ms Hartley Dooda clearly egged Walker on. TalkRADIO should not be surprised if Ofcom get involved and censure them for it. The Murdoch empire just carries on smearing.
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6 comments:
That's new! Insecure males comparing the size of their poppies.
Frankly Mr Corbyn could turn up at the cenotaph wearing a Mickey Mouse costume and it wouldn't offend me, but it would reinforce my view that his judgement is poor.
There are some occasions on which it is appropriate, however rebellious your instincts might be, to wear "uniform", and the fact that he doesn't seem to appreciate this is disappointing.
The real disrespect here is from Walker and Dooda and all their ilk who feel its perfectly acceptable to hijack the memorial to further smear a politician they do not like.
PS, Funny how they're not discussing Trump's no show because of the rain isn't it?
It's not even a general election......
When one rolls around, all Labour has to do is ensure the public are made aware of these lying smears and who owns and finances the outlets. The people of Merseyside showed how to respond with effective dignity when their boycott destroyed the Scum circulation plus tory existence there.
Of course there will always be those who WANT to believe the lies and smears. But decent independent social media has helped their numbers dwindle. This will continue even in the face of hysterical diversions and manufactured paranoia, even yet another mass murdering invasion of a small nation.
The far right propaganda described in this blog is living on borrowed time. It will probably take years to finally consign it to the dustbin of history, but the inevitable process has begun.
Future media historians will look at the archives and shake their heads in disgust at the likes of propaganda clerks and pedlars Hartley-Brewer and Walker, much as we do now at the poisonous vomit spewed by Goebbels and Streicher.
For an example of how not to behave at Remembrance Sunday, look at Trump's grinning face as he acknowledges the arrival of Putin, his master. https://www.theguardian.com/world/gallery/2018/nov/11/armistice-day-is-marked-around-the-world-in-pictures#img-4
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