Political Junkies: Watch UK Prime Minister Debate Live on the BBC! Begins shortly!

[flpoljunkie]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/shared/election2010/liveevent/

[flpoljunkie]

1. It has begun!

[BrklynLiberal]

2. THANK YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[jenmito]

3. It's also being shown on C-Span 3. n/t

[gateley]

5. Thanks! nt

[woolldog]

4. thanks for that link...

one of the reasons I love this site

[gateley]

6. Do you Political Junkies have any opinion on who "we" would like to see win? nt

[jenmito]

7. I heard that Gordon Brown is more liberal than the guy from the "Liberal Democrat Party." n/t

[gateley]

8. I think that guy is the one speaking now. I liked his first response -- about

getting everyone together to actually talk.

Is Brown in trouble? I think I heard he was.

[jenmito]

9. Yes, he's in trouble because he was caught with a "hot mic" calling a constituent a bigot. n/t

[gateley]

10. I heard about that -- but despite that, how was he doing? One thing I'm noticing

about their debates versus ours, is that they at least sound like they're answering the questions, rather than just almost ignoring the question and inserting one of their talking points. That's what was so frustrating to me about our debates. Just answer the fucking question!

[jenmito]

13. He was in 3rd place BEFORE that...

by about 8 points from what I saw. I agree about their debates.

[Guy Whitey Corngood]

29. It's because this format is new to them. The BBC was discussing today how

debates in the US (ie Kennedy vs Nixon) used to be much freer and open until all the political consultants started fucking the way debates are conducted.

[flpoljunkie]

12. He was expected to come in third already. He's in even bigger trouble after his 'bigot' gaffe.

[mwooldri]

16. It'll certainly turn undecideds away from Labour, that's for sure...

... but if the individual constituency parties can rally their supporters and get out the vote then they'll keep a lot of their seats, especially if their MPs have been very engaging in the local community. There will be a good number of people saying I'm voting for so and so not because s/he's in the Labour Party but because s/he is a good MP.

[flpoljunkie]

17. Thanks for your thoughts. It is certainly an intriguing contest!

[flpoljunkie]

18. Definitely not good, if they vote for Camerson. He sounds the most like our Republicans!

[mwooldri]

24. Cameron is close to McCain in political idealogy.

But a certain celebrity politician who used to govern Alaska is probably more aligned with Dr. Ian Paisley of the DUP - a Northern Irish Unionist party.

Mark.

[flpoljunkie]

26. Have never been a McCain fan.

[mwooldri]

15. On the left-right scale Gordon is same as Nick.

But Nick is much more libertarian than Gordon, who is *much* more authoriative, even more than some Republicans.

Ironically our President's political views are much more closer to the Lib Dems than they are to Labour. It used to be that the Conservatives were on the right, Labour in the left, and the Liberals (or Liberal Democrats as they are now known as) in the middle. Nope. Conservatives are very right wing, Labour is still right wing, and Lib Dems are not as much right wing - but none of them are left wing. But Labour is very authoriative, Conservatives slightly less so, Lib Dems are more libertarian... some could describe them as "Green Lite".

[flpoljunkie]

19. Interesting comment on the blog...

Is Labour's strategy to hope that people will see Lib-Lab co-operation as a real possibility after this debate? Economists say the biggest single issue for the years ahead will be the horrible cuts that any party would have to make in public spending.

[flpoljunkie]

20. Gordon is stodgy, but I totally agree with his saying, 'Don't shrink the economy.' It will hamper

the recovery. This is a worry for our country, as well.

[mwooldri]

11. As a British ex-pat, I know who "we" would not want to see win.

In parties, definitely NOT the BNP.
I'd definitely NOT prefer to see the Conservatives win.

Given that though, the British Conservatives' views are more in line with the right of the Democratic Party than the left of the Republican Party.

[flpoljunkie]

14. Nick Clegg is engaging. Have noticed several in audience nodding and smiling at him.

I definitely do not want David Cameron to be the PM either! I understand Clegg can not hope to cobble together a coalition to be PM, in any case. Interesting, he once interned for The Nation magazine her in the U.S.

His wiki bio is intriguing, to say the least:

Clegg was born in Chalfont St Giles in Buckinghamshire, in 1967, the third of four children. His father, Nicholas Clegg CBE, is chairman of United Trust Bank,<2> and is a trustee of The Daiwa Anglo-Japanese Foundation,<3> where Ken Clarke was an advisor.<4> Clegg's paternal grandmother, Kira von Engelhardt, was a Russian Baroness whose family fled from the Bolsheviks after the revolution. Clegg's paternal grandfather, Hugh Anthony Clegg was the editor of the British Medical Journal for 35 years.<5> Clegg's great-great-grandfather, the Russian nobleman Ignaty Zakrevsky, was attorney general of the imperial Russian senate.<6> His great-great aunt was the writer, Baroness Moura Budberg.<7>

Clegg's Dutch mother, Hermance van den Wall Bake,<8> was, along with her family, interned by the Japanese in Batavia (Jakarta) in the Dutch East Indies. She met Clegg's father during a visit to England in 1956<5> and they married on 1 August 1959.<9>

Leo van de Pas has traced back Clegg's lineage to Johann V, Count of Nassau-Dillenburg which links him to David Cameron as a 16th cousin.<10> Van de Pas claims Clegg is descended from William the Conqueror, Edward I of England and Charlemagne.<10>

Clegg is multilingual; he speaks English, Dutch, French, German, and Spanish.<11><12><13> His background has informed his politics. He says, "There is simply not a shred of racism in me, as a person whose whole family is formed by flight from persecution, from different people in different generations. It’s what I am. It’s one of the reasons I am a liberal."<14> His Dutch mother instilled in him "a degree of scepticism about the entrenched class configurations in British society".<1>

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nick_Clegg

[flpoljunkie]

21. Oh, God! The Republican Cameron is touting phonics, too! Paging Sarah Palin!

[brooklynite]

22. Did Gordon Brown just acknowledge he was likely to lose in his closing statement?

Something you'd never see in the US....

[flpoljunkie]

25. Perhaps. Warning folks that Cameron and Clegg could form a government.

It is an exciting election, in any case. Their debates are so much better than ours--much more lively.

[flpoljunkie]

23. Interesting. Clegg shook Brown's hand and Cameron's. Brown and Cameron did not shake hands.

Also, interesting that Gordon Brown tried to tie together Cameron and Brown--saying they would form a government.

[Guy Whitey Corngood]

27. You mean Cameron and Clegg?

[flpoljunkie]

30. I meant what I said. I am not sure what you are asking.

David Cameron and Gordon Brown did not shake hands.

[Guy Whitey Corngood]

32. ''Gordon Brown tried to tie together Cameron and Brown''. Brown tied Cameron to himself? I thought

you meant to say Brown tied Cameron and Clegg.

[brooklynite]

28. Question-Does anyone doubt that if this had been a US election debate...

...that the first question would have been something about Brown's gaffe yesterday?

[flpoljunkie]

31. Brown alluded to it when he first spoke. I understand immigration not been debated before.