Justin Webb

I have found myself getting more and more irritated by the pro-Obama "news" pieces on the Today programme this week by both James Naughtie and Justin Webb. So when I found Justin Webb's BBC blog I knew I was in for a treat and when I found that he had live-blogged Barack Obama's speech I knew that I would find comedy gold.

Now this is a blog by the BBC's North America editor, not a member of Barack Obama's campaign team so let's look at some of the live-blog - my comments in italics.

"20:12: He strides out very purposefully, dressed very formally - presidentially, wearing a white shirt and a restrained red tie. The look is sober and that's important."
Line 1 and Justin Webb has associated Barack Obama with the word presidential.

"20:29 By the way - it's a stunning evening here in Denver. I mention this because some fundamentalist Christians of a right-wing persuasion prayed for rain - proof that God is a Democrat?"
Well done, Justin, managed to associate right-wingers (and so Republicans) as being fundamentalists and to get God onto the side of the Democrats.

"20:35: Quite a brave line there on oil drilling. John McCain is proposing to open up America's coast for drilling, which has proved popular. Obama is sticking to his line that it's not a solution."
Even Barack Obama has to suffer for the BBC's environmentalist agenda.

"20.38: A good line on health. About how he watched his mother arguing on the phone with insurance companies as she lay in bed dying of cancer - an experience familiar to many Americans."
I presume Justin Webb still believes that there is no free health care in the USA, or maybe it's just a line he chooses to push.

"20:41: A very interesting choice of word there - on who would make the better Commander-in-Chief, he asked who had the better temperament. What could he mean?"
Ooh, a little slur throwing at John McCain - nicely done.


"20:43: Great Bin Laden line - "John McCain says he'd follow Osama Bin Laden to the gates of hell, but he won't even follow him to the cave where he lives.""
I have read that line a few times and it doesn't really make sense.

"Conclusion: This needed to be a serious speech and it was. I'm still not sure about the Doric columns, but he's managed to be convincing despite the overbearing backdrop. One of the features of the speech was the frequent reference to the future. He's not saying McCain's too old for the job - at least not in so many words. But the Obama camp know that Americans are worried about McCain's age and ever so subtly they are making an allusion to it."
Barack Obama's not saying John McCain's too old, but why should he when unbiased reporters like you will?

I look forward to Justin Webb's equally fulsome appraisal of John McCain's speech next week.