Did anyone listen to the debate with Chris Hitchens today? Well, it was more of a boxing match than a debate, but it was entertaining anyway. The moderator sounded entirely out of her depth, but fortunately the thing pretty much ran itself. I need to find a transcript...

Just read the transcript. Enough said. Galloway is a fascist, no matter what you think of Hitchens, Bush, et al.

If you're opposed to the war and to Bush, it's important that you understand how the leadership of your movement is being captured by people like Galloway - people who don't have a chance in hell at connecting with the average American voter.

Funny - I'd say that once upon a time, most of the people opposed to the war in Iraq were radicalizing figures like Galloway, but the more time goes on, the more "average American voters", - moderate Democrats, independents, and even a few Republicans - are turning against both the war and Bush. That's been my personal experience, as well as what the poll numbers tend to indicate.

That said, I really don't know all that much about Galloway, and have no reason to disbelieve what you say about the guy.

Here are the links to the mp3s of the debate:

• One
• Two

about 10mb each, 2 hours total.

There were 7 mp3's there when I went. The debate starts in the middle of mp3 #2.

http://kpftx.org/#galloway

Galloway's rhetorical style reminded me of the Nuremburg rallies (I hate to make statements that equate someone to a certain fascist from the 30s and 40s, but, listening to him on the MP3 I just had pictures of brownshirted guys giving him the zieg heil as he pounded his fist in his hand).

The debte was great, I thought. I was glad to see that the crowd seemed to match the polls, pro/con. I was expecting a lot more Galloway/con, given the forum. I also thought it was a lot more debate than boxing match than I expected, too. At least on the Hitchen side. Galloway consistently used ad hominem and strawman falicy, but if you can't counter the argument, that's what you have to do if you're not wiling to conceed. Hitchens got off a large number of shots at Galloway, of course, but his were conclusions resulting from his argument, not credibility attacks aimed as distracting from the argument. It was very impressive to see them both keep their cool. Some of the stuff Galloway said would have made my head explode, but Hitchens nevertheless countered with reasoned responses every time. Likewise, Galloway didn't turn into a hysteric, either. The British really know how to argue, even when they're loonie. I wish Americans knew how to do that.

You might want to bring some leaflets!

I'm disappointed that a Presbyterian Church hosted the event.

Some of my favorite quotes from George Galloway, Lord Tee Hee:

"Just as Stalin industrialised the Soviet Union, so on a different scale Saddam plotted Iraq's own Great Leap Forward."

"It is one of my first missions to bring him [Blair] in front of a court in The Hague and behind bars."

"If you ask that question again, I'm going --- I warn you now!"

"Two of your beautiful daughters are in the hands of foreigners: Jerusalem and Baghdad. The foreigners are doing to your daughters as they will. The daughters are crying for help, and the Arab world is silent. And some of them are collaborating with the rape of these two beautiful Arab daughters. Why? Because they are too weak and too corrupt to do anything about it." [On Syrian television]

"Saddam Hussein greeted me with a handshake, which, again to my surprise, is surprisingly soft considering how many people that hand had dispatched --- allegedly."

"In a region which has had few powerful leaders to whom people could point with pride, Saddam Hussein has become something of a folk hero. As poor of a hero as he is, the lack of any better candidates has assured him a position of respect and honor for Arabs and Muslims for generations to come."

"For them [Arabs], in the land of the blind the one-eyed man is king."

More of Lord Tee Hee's fascination with the one-eyed man:

"If, in the land of the blind, the one-eyed man is king, in the long, troubled history of Latin American dictatorship, Venezuela's relative freedom, democratic rights and respect for the rule of law suggest that that country is not some grim prison state or jack boot-ruled banana republic." (House of Commons, April 27th 1998)

"We have a saying in English, that in the land of the blind, the one-eyed man is king. And Saddam Hussein has one eye." (islamonline.net interview)

Wouldn't want my movement taken over by undesirable characters, nope..

But seriously, anyone inclined to take notice of Galloway beyond his ability to make himself or that asshat Norm Coleman look foolish is already too far gone. Cindy Sheehan would be a better example of a far-left-nutbar being adopted by the media and us liberals. I saw her speak in SF with a bunch of socialists who openly supported the insurgents- saw her go into full Zionist/PNAC attack mode, and was not a pretty sight.

Suprise , suprise. So you are Israeli promoters, dolubtless living off a little grease from some CIA helper, or do you rely on the "goodwill" of some other "person".

I just want to note how quickly you have lost interest in the fat sack of guts that was given a royal send off by a Scot's boot the other night. Can it be the light has dawned for even a shill like you that there is no future in slandering the Lancet or its top notch research articles, inlcuding the impeccable statistical study relatating to Iraq. Oh well, some other way can be found, to be sure. Maybe you could get enthusiastic about how it is a great idea to cut away all wage supports in the Gulf States and hand ALL the contracts to Haliburton since that will surely speed along re construction. The people there are poor anyhow, so why spoil them with a livng wage. You could maybe tell us all about how the VP of the US was busy arranging all that when no one could find him in the recent period.

garhane #13:

I think you meant "surprise, surprise." And check the spelling of dolubtless.

Speaking of checking: WoC comments policy here. Any future contributions should adhere to it, 'kay?

I'm disappointed that a Presbyterian Church hosted the event. Is good ...

Actually, there was a sci-fi story about a sighted man in the land of the blind. The way it actually worked out (and this made sense), he was effectively a disabled person.

Galloway's disability is known as classic fascism in the Eichmann mold, and has a different origin.

#13 - George, is that you? You sound just like him: a blizzard of talking points strung together, heavy on the conspiracy theories, with no references or coherent argument. In fact your comment on the Lancet study is practically word for word from Galloway.

BTW here's lots on the Lancet study.

garhane -

That's a pretty fair Galloway impression, I suppose, except that you didn't threaten to sue us all.

Do you also share Galloway's uncanny resemblance to Julius Streicher? If so, you could get a job as Galloway's Saddam-double.

Galloway's villa is on the Algarve coast, Portual and he has a large home in Streatham, London.

Either way Galloway is an oily and untrustworthy bloke.

Was the Crime Coast around Marbella too obvious?

You have substituted a new entry in the place of the item to which the above comments were tied. No one would do that except someone who did not believe that the set up of a blog really meant anything at all. Certainly it would not be done by anyone who had the slightest regard for those who had commented on the original version.

Is that worse than a spelling error ( which you pounced on in this writers' contribution). Well, yes it is, but more to the point if you will will go the length of switching posts to leave your commentors dangling from a post they never read, why would you get all flustered about spelling? You would not. So that was fake also. If you do lot care about your readers, and you don't care much for the content of your blog, what are you doing? Are you working?

You do not sound like a sincere blogger given this extreme of disrespect.There is a lack of committment shown in your confused slogans, and piling up of press release type statements. Why even type up such crap?

I am afraid you have strengthened my impression which was that you are simply a telephone pole for the display of Israeli press releases , tugging the forelock all the while, to a USA minder and patron. No wonder the only passion you show is a hatred of Galloway and a sucking up to a has been gossip. Get out of blogging you fake.

Dear Folks,

Galloway was here in Madison, WI on Sunday and I crashed the press conference and got four questions with him on video.

Story and video here:

Mr. Galloway comes to Madison

Cordially,

Uncle J

garhane, I'm not sure if your glasses or meds need adjusting. I changed the date on the previously existing post, which moves it and all the comments attached to it in the presented page.

I did add the note on the top about the fact that I did so...

Loved the "Israeli press releases" bit...

A.L.

Garhane (#21), that was me and not A.L. who wrote post #14 chiding your spelling.

So, please, I'm the telephone pole for the display of Israeli press releases , tugging the forelock all the while, to a USA minder and patron.

If I got that right.

There are times when I admire the simplicity of the pseudo-reality in which Galloway's admirers live. The simple joy of "understanding" that the mobs of brownshirts and fascists enjoyed.

All that is wrong in the world is the fault of a conspiracy of jews.

The only price for such peace of mind is that one actively support mass murderers. For the weak, this is evidently not as costly a price as it would be for those of us with a sense of honor and conscience.

Joe K, that's "In the Country of the Blind" by H.G. Wells, not just some science fiction story.

Wells wrote alternate endings, by the way, in which being sighted was alternately useful and not.

If you check my eyeglasses prescription, you'll see I have a special fondness for the story.

Marshal Festus: I'm the telephone pole for the display of Israeli press releases ...

And I'm the one with the direct cable connection to the Mossad installed in the back of my head.

This service is not available in Britain, unfortunately.