BIGOTGATE IS RUBBISHED

*
The BBC blog went into overdrive last night to 'protect the emperor'. Any lingering semblance of balance vanished:

2125: Labour's deputy leader Harriet Harman says "gaffe" is the wrong word to describe Gordon Brown's comments about Gillian Duffy. She tells the BBC News Channel's Campaign Show he will be "very concerned" at the hurt he has caused.

2146: Former Lib Dem leader Charles Kennedy says "real people" have been "unanimous" in saying the Gordon Brown episode will not influence their votes.
(About which, please see Paul's comments about The Campaign Show on the Biased BBC Open Thread)

2148: Former Labour deputy leader Margaret Beckett says the media are using Gordon Brown's comments and apology as an excuse not to talk about policy.

2153: Michael Howard, the former Conservative leader, says Gordon Brown has made character an issue during the election campaign, meaning it is not easy for Labour to say now to reverse that decision.

2330: Asked about the furore over Mr Brown's comments to pensioner Gillian Duffy, immigration minister Phil Woolas tells the BBC that "obviously it was not the best point in the campaign". But he says Labour will be able to move on from it and he does not believe it will affect the outcome of the election

And then, yet another have-you-sayer sticking up for Brown:

2249: Neil Scott from Walsall, UK, writes: What I've "learned" today is that Gordon Brown has a different private face to his public face, just like everyone else. I'm tempted to change my mind and vote Labour now, just to show how sick I am with the holier-than-thou media who think the general public are idiots who need drip-fed opinions and treat people like Mrs Duffy as pawns. Have Your Say

Again I ask, was this sort of thing the ONLY thing tweeters and have-you-sayers were saying?

Checking out Have Your Say (with all its 'removed by the moderator' comments), there are a lot of Brown defenders and Labour supporters there for sure (as one commentator Phil Thomas noted "Either I'm out of touch with the public or this board has been hijacked by the Labour press office."), saying what a shame it is for him, that Sky's to blame, it's all hype, that Mrs Duffy is probably a bigot, vote Gordon, etc.. but there is also quite a lot of criticism of Brown too, plenty for the folk at the BBC blog to pick from to provide a spread of public opinion. They chose not too. How the hell can they justify that?

http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/haveyoursay/2010/04/gordon_browns_remarks_your_rea.html?page=2#comments