RIPPING UP HER REALITY CARD

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Following Jon Sopel's discussion with the delicious Miranda Green and Sarah Sands, The Politics Show went rift-hunting in Birmingham, sniffing out a disgruntled Lib Dem. This particular Lib Dem, interviewed by beebette Susana Mendonca, was so disgruntled he had just resigned from his party and joined the ultra-left Greens - which kind-of (as they say in Beebland) suggests where he's coming from (as did all of his subsequent remarks).
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Susana didn't neglect to mention Charles Kennedy's disquiet and added that "we know that around a hundred Lib Dem supporters have actually left the party since that deal was made last week. I'm joined by one of those people..." Wow, a whole one hundred people!!!!
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The beebette then asked the disgruntled Lib Dem, Eddie Hartley "You must be furious to take that course of action?" The jackass (a Labour chief whip Nick Brown lookalike) was.
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Susana was wholly on his side, echoing and pre-echoing his words over PR and Trident. She went on to ask him "Now you're not the only one who's..er..basically left the party (no, there are around a surprisingly insignificant number of others, or so you keep telling us!). Do you think this will be a sign of things to come? What do you think's going to happen to the party?"
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The jackass, prompted by the beebette (and I really do mean 'prompted'), then ripped up his Lib Dem membership card on camera. The beebette then, shamelessly, stood in front of the camera and said "And there we have it. One Liberal Democrat member there ripping up his card live on air. I suppose the message to the Liberal Democrat leadership couldn't be any clearer here." Nor could the message from the BBC be any clearer.
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I hope the Liberal Democrat leadership is taking notes.
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The utter stupidity and sheer brazenness of this report were made clear by Susana's final comments, which have to be transcribed in full to be believed: "I spoke to the party about how many people have actually left. They told me that a hundred or so have actually left the party." How many times does that need repeating? Well, maybe plenty of times because this, astonishingly, is what she had to say next: "But around 400 people have actually joined the party since that coalition was formed last week." Get that: 100 people have left the party, providing the BBC with its story, but 400 people have joined the party since the coalition was formed - a fact to be mentioned, just in passing, at the very end of a very biased report!
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So, surely then the story isn't that Lib Dems are leaving the party because of the leadership's decision to team up with the wicked Tories but that the Lib Dems have had a net gain of 300 members as a result of that decision!!! That extremely fleeting concession to honest reporting having been given, what did biased Susana say next? Steel yourselves for some real BBC gall here: "So clearly keeping a positive gloss on it Jon." As opposed to the BBC, which was glossing it as negatively as it could, burying the facts in the process.
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The BBC are beyond incorrigible and this report was beyond a joke.
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CODA: Sopel called this travesty of a report "very interesting" and started his interview with Danny Alexander with the question "Well, we've just seen another membership card ripped up. What have you got to say to disaffected members?"
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Incorrigible.
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Sopel's interview with Mr Alexander was an absolute disgrace, which pursued all the angles the BBC have been pursuing in recent days with little subtlely and a little dishonesty. Sopel is not happy about this new government. For example, when Mr Alexander tried to state why the alternative options were not feasible Sopel stopped him dead and then overplayed his hand when he said that "all your former leaders seem to be holding their noses over the agreement". At one stage Mr Alexander accused him of "playing games". Sopel denied it of course, but it was the truth nonetheless.