Browse content similar to 21/09/2012. Check below for episodes and series from the same categories and more!
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Tonight: Can a millionaire ex- public school boy stay in the | :00:11. | :00:13. | |
Cabinet, after allegedly swearing at a police officer and calling him | :00:14. | :00:20. | |
a pleb? If people swear at the police, then they must expect to be | :00:20. | :00:23. | |
arrested. Unless you're in the Cabinet apparently. We'll be asking | :00:23. | :00:26. | |
what the political fallout might be for Andrew Mitchell and the | :00:26. | :00:29. | |
Government, with a Conservative MP and the chairman of the | :00:29. | :00:33. | |
Metropolitan Police Federation. Our political panel are here to examine | :00:33. | :00:36. | |
the damage to a Government long criticised for being out of touch | :00:36. | :00:41. | |
with ordinary people. They'll also look ahead to Nick Clegg's big week | :00:41. | :00:48. | |
in Brighton. Whether they vote for Obama or Romney - can any president | :00:48. | :00:50. | |
really govern America's split nation where political cooperation | :00:50. | :00:57. | |
is often a dirty word? Justin Webb has a special report from Florida. | :00:57. | :01:03. | |
This country has become essentially ungovernable. Its politics are | :01:03. | :01:11. | |
poisonous. Good evening. When British people | :01:11. | :01:14. | |
are asked who they trust, police officers tend to come near the top | :01:14. | :01:21. | |
of the list and politicians near the bottom. So the police | :01:21. | :01:24. | |
diplomatic protection officer who claims that the Tory Chief Whip, | :01:24. | :01:27. | |
Andrew Mitchell, swore at him and called him a pleb, is likely to be | :01:27. | :01:30. | |
believed, despite Mr Mitchell's protestations about the exact words | :01:30. | :01:33. | |
he used. The big question however is whether this is one grumpy | :01:33. | :01:35. | |
politician, who had a momentary flash of anger, or something which | :01:35. | :01:38. | |
plays into the damaging criticism of the Government - a Cabinet of | :01:38. | :01:42. | |
millionaires, arrogant posh boys - as one Tory MP put it - out of | :01:42. | :01:51. | |
touch with a country in economic difficulty. Here's Peter Marshall. | :01:51. | :01:55. | |
Tourists were flocking to the scene of the offence today, some of them | :01:56. | :02:00. | |
still unaware the portals to Downing Street would forever more | :02:00. | :02:06. | |
be known as Mitchell gate, this is where the Sun termed the cycling | :02:06. | :02:11. | |
Tory's outburst, actually burst out. Foul mouthed Chief Whip Andrew | :02:11. | :02:15. | |
Mitchell yelled four-letter abuse at cops because they wouldn't let | :02:15. | :02:20. | |
him pedal out of Downing Street. The PC reported to his superiors | :02:20. | :02:27. | |
Mitchell told him, "Best you learn your (BLEEP)ing place. Best you | :02:27. | :02:32. | |
don't run this (BLEEP)ing Government. I'm the Chief Whip, I'm | :02:32. | :02:37. | |
telling you and I'm coming through these gates." This is excruciating | :02:37. | :02:40. | |
for the Government, playing on the arrogant, posh boys image they're | :02:40. | :02:44. | |
December froit shed. Still worse it happens only the night after two | :02:44. | :02:47. | |
policewomen were shot dead in Manchester. The Police Federation | :02:47. | :02:50. | |
already at odds with the Government they feel are out to get them, are | :02:50. | :02:54. | |
furious. Police officers are angry about what happened particularly | :02:54. | :02:58. | |
during this week. It showed a degree of uncertainty. I'm not so | :02:58. | :03:04. | |
concerned about the fact that he showed a pit of pique and anger | :03:04. | :03:09. | |
towards a colleague, who's clearly upset about what has happened. He's | :03:09. | :03:12. | |
in a subordinate position to the Chief Whip. It's the mind set | :03:12. | :03:16. | |
that's revealed. The veil is lifted slightly and you get a glimpse of | :03:16. | :03:20. | |
perhaps the way some of those in Government are thinking. | :03:20. | :03:24. | |
officer Mr Mitchell offended is from the Diplomatic Protection | :03:24. | :03:28. | |
Group SO6. Mr Mitchell apologised to him this morning, saying he said | :03:28. | :03:33. | |
sorry to his sergeant last night. In a public statement, Mr Mitchell | :03:33. | :03:36. | |
explained. "I attempted to leave Downing Street via the main gate, | :03:36. | :03:39. | |
something I have been allowed to do many times br. I was told that I | :03:39. | :03:44. | |
was not allowed to leave that way. While I do not accept that I used | :03:44. | :03:48. | |
the words have been reported I accept I did not treat the police | :03:48. | :03:52. | |
with the respect they deserve." In the past when the Sun's quoted | :03:52. | :03:56. | |
anonymous policemen they've run into big trouble. But the paper's | :03:56. | :04:00. | |
political editor is clear about their position on this. We don't | :04:00. | :04:04. | |
know what words were used. All we're reporting is that the | :04:04. | :04:10. | |
policeman is in the firm police that those damaging words were used. | :04:10. | :04:14. | |
The policeman made a verbatim note at the time. Then he filed the | :04:14. | :04:19. | |
report to his superiors that evening. He's written that down? | :04:19. | :04:23. | |
He's written those words down. As far as the police are concerned, | :04:23. | :04:28. | |
there is no debate. The Police Federation too insist the words | :04:28. | :04:33. | |
quoted by the Sun are the words the officer reported. What's curious is | :04:33. | :04:36. | |
Andrew Mitchell is a stickler for discipline. Ewas known as thrasher | :04:37. | :04:41. | |
at public school and was thrilled by his recent appointment as the | :04:41. | :04:45. | |
Government's own discipline Aaron, the Chief Whip. Here he was at | :04:45. | :04:51. | |
Mitchell-gate loseing his own cool so badly. He also sets great store | :04:51. | :04:54. | |
on decorum. Newsnight understand when's he was appointed development | :04:54. | :04:57. | |
secretary, Andrew Mitchell insisted officials always addressed him as | :04:57. | :05:01. | |
Secretary of State. He also wanted the men to wear ties at all times. | :05:01. | :05:06. | |
When it was pointed out that wouldn't necessarily fly in the | :05:06. | :05:09. | |
modern Civil Service, Mr Mitchell compromised. They only had to wear | :05:09. | :05:14. | |
tie when's they were in the presence of the Secretary of State. | :05:14. | :05:19. | |
That was Andrew Mitchell. Mr Mitchell a former investment banker | :05:19. | :05:23. | |
has homes in hills Midlands constituency and a French ski | :05:23. | :05:26. | |
resort but he lives in North London. His own MP is Labour. I think it | :05:26. | :05:30. | |
shows how completely out of touch this Government is. This is ai | :05:30. | :05:35. | |
senior politician who's just been promoted. In the end, deep down, | :05:35. | :05:41. | |
this is how he behaves. He's denied saying "pleb". And exactly how does | :05:41. | :05:45. | |
the rest of what he's supposed to have said show that he has a | :05:45. | :05:49. | |
different attitude than saying they are plebs? You don't talk to | :05:49. | :05:52. | |
anybody like. That are you not better than anyone else. You treat | :05:52. | :05:56. | |
people with respect. For David Cameron, in Manchester, paying his | :05:56. | :06:00. | |
respects to the murdered officers, this has been an uncomfortable day. | :06:00. | :06:04. | |
What Andrew Mitchell said and what he did was not appropriate. It was | :06:04. | :06:07. | |
wrong. It's right that he's apologised. He's obviously | :06:07. | :06:11. | |
apologised to me, but much more importantly, he's apologised to the | :06:11. | :06:15. | |
police. That needs to be done. The police do an outstanding job across | :06:15. | :06:19. | |
our country. They do a very important job protecting places | :06:19. | :06:22. | |
like Number Ten Downing Street. I'm very conscious of the protection | :06:22. | :06:26. | |
they give to me and my family and the work that they do for everyone | :06:26. | :06:29. | |
in public life. I'm eternally grateful for that. The police | :06:29. | :06:34. | |
should always have our respect and our help and support. That's very, | :06:34. | :06:36. | |
very important. Thank you. REPORTER: Is it appropriate for him | :06:36. | :06:40. | |
to keep his job. No answer on that. What's worse the king over the | :06:40. | :06:45. | |
water, Boris, had somehow put his foot in it in advance last year, | :06:45. | :06:49. | |
condemning disrespect for officers of the law. Nch I reckon we need to | :06:49. | :06:54. | |
get back to where we were before some law of 1988 and make it clear | :06:54. | :06:57. | |
that if people square at the police, then they must expect to be | :06:57. | :07:01. | |
arrested. Andrew Mitchell won't go to jail, | :07:01. | :07:07. | |
but he may not survive as Chief Whip. One Tory back benker, no fan | :07:07. | :07:11. | |
and off record, suggested he would be gone by Monday. Either way, | :07:11. | :07:17. | |
Andrew Mitchell discipline airian faces a difficult weekend. John | :07:17. | :07:19. | |
Tully is chairman of the Metropolitan Police Federation and | :07:19. | :07:23. | |
Peter Bone is a Conservative MP and colleague of Andrew Mitchell. First, | :07:23. | :07:27. | |
the police officer as we said is from the Diplomatic Protection | :07:27. | :07:31. | |
Group. Do you and other police officers believe his account? | :07:31. | :07:35. | |
Absolutely. I've not spoken to the officer personally. But I have | :07:35. | :07:38. | |
spoken to his local federation representative. It's clear from | :07:38. | :07:43. | |
your report that the Sun are adamant that what was reported was | :07:43. | :07:49. | |
correct. I've got no reason to doubt the veracity of the comments. | :07:49. | :07:53. | |
I absolutely confirm the integrity of the officer. Did anybody else | :07:53. | :07:56. | |
hear this? My understanding is that there was more than one police | :07:56. | :07:59. | |
officer present at the time and that there may have been members of | :07:59. | :08:03. | |
the public at the other side of the gate in Whitehall. So this other | :08:03. | :08:08. | |
police officer, did he hear the words "pleb" or the swearing? | :08:08. | :08:11. | |
understanding is that both police officers have made a snot of the | :08:11. | :08:17. | |
incident and have recorded what was -- have made a not of the incident | :08:17. | :08:21. | |
and have recorded what was said. two police officers maed a note of | :08:21. | :08:25. | |
something which could be considered also to be an offence? Absolutely, | :08:25. | :08:29. | |
an offence under section five of the Public Order Act. If Mr | :08:29. | :08:34. | |
Mitchell had continued with the behaviour, he was liable to be | :08:34. | :08:38. | |
arrested. It's not looking very good for Mr Mitchell. If what | :08:39. | :08:42. | |
happened, alleged happened, it's totally unacceptable. Nobody, I | :08:42. | :08:46. | |
would never consider swearing at a police officer under any | :08:46. | :08:49. | |
circumstances. The guy that's protect us in Downing Street put | :08:49. | :08:53. | |
their lives at risk to protect the Prime Minister and Cabinet members | :08:53. | :08:55. | |
and members of the public. They've always been very civil and helpful | :08:55. | :09:01. | |
to members of Parliament. I think it's, if what is alleged to have | :09:01. | :09:05. | |
been said, it is very difficult. Indeed. We have two police officers | :09:05. | :09:09. | |
apparently who appear to say broadly the same thing. So, Mr | :09:09. | :09:15. | |
Mitchell's position would either be that they're both wrong or that he | :09:15. | :09:19. | |
actually is telling a lie. Well, I think the serious questions to be | :09:19. | :09:24. | |
answered on that point. I believe there might be CCTV and maybe even | :09:24. | :09:28. | |
if there isn't audio, there may be lip-reading that can prove one way | :09:28. | :09:34. | |
or the other. I'm not hear to defend the indefensible. But the | :09:35. | :09:38. | |
one thing the Chief Whip has been right to do is come out straight | :09:38. | :09:41. | |
away and apologise. That's something politicians don't often | :09:41. | :09:47. | |
do so that's a big plus. Is this a resignation issue? The resignations | :09:47. | :09:50. | |
are for the Prime Minister and the for the minister involved, but | :09:50. | :09:54. | |
obviously, if it was proved what the Chief Whip is saying isn't | :09:54. | :09:58. | |
what's happened, then that would be very serious. I have to say to you, | :09:58. | :10:04. | |
we all say stupid things when we get cross and we get grumpy and use | :10:04. | :10:08. | |
language we wouldn't wish to use. Can you not accept the apology and | :10:08. | :10:13. | |
move on? Clearly the officer has been spoken to by Mr Mitchell and | :10:13. | :10:18. | |
he has accepted the apology. don't. The wider policing community | :10:19. | :10:26. | |
is concerned that over time the Government has sustained quite a | :10:26. | :10:29. | |
vitriolic attack on police pay and conditions and pensions for | :10:29. | :10:34. | |
instance. We've had this tragic event in Manchester with the Prime | :10:34. | :10:38. | |
Minister being there today and making some comments, which I have | :10:38. | :10:44. | |
to be honest, many of my colleagues feel are hollow words. Your | :10:44. | :10:46. | |
colleagues feel that the Prime Minister's words about the | :10:46. | :10:50. | |
shootings are hollow? Absolutely. Why are you saying that? That's the | :10:50. | :10:55. | |
feed back I'm getting from my membership. He paid a very strong | :10:55. | :10:58. | |
tribute to the police who protect him and the rest of society. | :10:58. | :11:08. | |
:11:08. | :11:08. | ||
Apology for the loss of subtitles for 160 seconds | :11:08. | :13:49. | |
The problem is that plays into the political narrative that they are | :13:49. | :13:52. | |
political narrative that they are posh Boy is who are out-of-touch. | :13:52. | :13:58. | |
Also, actually, most politicians do not want to pick a fight with the | :13:58. | :14:02. | |
police on any level. I think that particular word is important, | :14:02. | :14:07. | |
actually. You're right, all of us lose our temper, but unfortunately, | :14:07. | :14:10. | |
the things that come out when you lose your temper are things you | :14:10. | :14:15. | |
would rather conceal. I think there is a problem, if you feel that a | :14:15. | :14:20. | |
group of people, in this case, the Conservative ministers, | :14:20. | :14:23. | |
occasionally, I think one of the police in your report said, the | :14:24. | :14:27. | |
veil has been lifted, it is the idea that the mask slips, who are | :14:27. | :14:32. | |
these people, what attitudes do they have? That is a real problem. | :14:32. | :14:37. | |
And I think the use of the word pleb is fundamental to that, if | :14:37. | :14:43. | |
indeed he did use it. There's two bits to this, what he did or did | :14:43. | :14:47. | |
not say, and then there is the bigger picture, which is damaging | :14:47. | :14:51. | |
for the party. First of all, there are lots of things in politics | :14:51. | :14:55. | |
which fall between, it is not a very good thing to have done and | :14:55. | :15:01. | |
resignation, and this is one of them. I think we will have to see | :15:01. | :15:06. | |
what he said. Personally, I have known him for quite some time, so I | :15:06. | :15:10. | |
find it quite hard to see him saying that. But if there are | :15:10. | :15:14. | |
police notes, that might change things. It might, we will have to | :15:14. | :15:18. | |
see. But when people get into disputes, they have different | :15:18. | :15:24. | |
accounts. So there is that side of it. It is a bad thing, for which he | :15:24. | :15:29. | |
was white to apologise. It will not enhance his reputation or that of | :15:29. | :15:32. | |
the Conservative Party. But personally I think it falls short, | :15:32. | :15:36. | |
my judgment is that it will prove to fall short of resignation. And | :15:36. | :15:40. | |
then the big picture, of the Conservative Party, this will add | :15:40. | :15:43. | |
to the problems that the party has got, not only on the issue of | :15:43. | :15:47. | |
whether or not it is in touch with people, but also specifically with | :15:47. | :15:54. | |
the police, which is a very specific problem. This was being | :15:54. | :15:59. | |
used by the police to make a broad point. But also the question of | :15:59. | :16:02. | |
speaking in good faith. Personally I thought that was a rather odd | :16:02. | :16:07. | |
thing to say. We were talking then about pay and conditions, for a for | :16:07. | :16:14. | |
goodness sake. So, I think it will be bad, but I also happen to think, | :16:14. | :16:18. | |
the idea that it is going to go on for months, I think this will prove | :16:18. | :16:22. | |
to be quite a short-lived story. Moving on to Nick Clegg, with his | :16:22. | :16:26. | |
apology, is he saying that he is having a new start, before the | :16:26. | :16:31. | |
weekend? It is interesting. I think it will definitely help get through | :16:31. | :16:39. | |
this week, because clearly, he has been going around the country meet | :16:39. | :16:43. | |
King -- meeting local parties over the summer. I am sure it is true | :16:43. | :16:46. | |
that he has had terrible feedback about the level of anger against | :16:46. | :16:51. | |
the Liberal Democrats, and he needed to do something, he felt. | :16:51. | :16:56. | |
You either really like this statement, which was bowled, which | :16:56. | :17:02. | |
is usually aware of condemning it, but... Either you thought it was | :17:02. | :17:07. | |
refreshing, honest, that any attempt to reconnect with your | :17:07. | :17:12. | |
support a base, or, as one person said to me today, it was mawkish, | :17:12. | :17:17. | |
self-serving, all the rest of it. thought it was absolutely ghastly. | :17:17. | :17:22. | |
I did not mind it. I thought it was ghastly, and I thought it was so | :17:22. | :17:28. | |
crude, to do it now, the week before the conference, and to have | :17:28. | :17:31. | |
had a focus group to decide whether or not to go ahead with the apology. | :17:31. | :17:37. | |
Please, for me, that took any sincerity out of it. Is it not | :17:37. | :17:40. | |
refreshing to have people apologising? I think we get it | :17:40. | :17:46. | |
quite a lot now. I think Andrew Mitchell is absolutely right to | :17:46. | :17:50. | |
have apologised. Nick Clegg, is he apologising for the fact that it | :17:50. | :17:53. | |
should not have been in the manifesto, is it the fact that they | :17:53. | :17:58. | |
knew they really could not fund it, or is it the fact that they chose | :17:58. | :18:05. | |
to not vote for it? The reason it will not work is that Nick Clegg, | :18:05. | :18:10. | |
who I admire a lot, but I think he hopes to regain the innocence of | :18:10. | :18:16. | |
the Liberal Democrats, and that is not possible. A big party strategy | :18:16. | :18:22. | |
has to move on, from accepting that they made a very big decision, | :18:22. | :18:29. | |
which at the time I thought was brave and right, the decision to | :18:30. | :18:34. | |
join the coalition, but it is also irreversible. You cannot pretend | :18:34. | :18:38. | |
you did not do it, and they cannot pretend they did not introduce | :18:38. | :18:43. | |
tuition fees. He is right to say you cannot have some kind of | :18:43. | :18:49. | |
humiliation which leads to redemption. You cannot go back to | :18:49. | :18:52. | |
an idealised a Lib Dem world, unsullied by the realities of | :18:52. | :18:56. | |
politics. But as I said before, I think it is important that you have | :18:56. | :19:00. | |
to find a way of reconnecting with your support a base. If you can do | :19:00. | :19:10. | |
that, you might be on the way to something not too terrible. But are | :19:10. | :19:13. | |
we at the point where what is happening is that at the top of the | :19:13. | :19:17. | |
coalition, they get on well, and the further down you go, in both | :19:17. | :19:24. | |
and more sniping? I notice The Guardian has got an argument | :19:24. | :19:32. | |
between Danny Alexander and George Osborne over the environment. | :19:32. | :19:36. | |
think that has always been said. There are a very strong dividing | :19:36. | :19:41. | |
lines between these parties, they are not natural allies. But from | :19:41. | :19:45. | |
Danny Alexander's point of view, it could be quite a good thing to do, | :19:45. | :19:55. | |
:19:55. | :19:55. | ||
They have to be political parties for the next two weeks. We'll get | :19:55. | :20:02. | |
more of. That The coalition can't go back to the innocent days either. | :20:02. | :20:05. | |
They cannot pretend they haven't got a relationship with the | :20:05. | :20:09. | |
Conservative Party. For some people, that's just a really unacceptable | :20:09. | :20:13. | |
thing to do. I don't see it that way. They can't pretend it didn't | :20:13. | :20:16. | |
happen or think that the voters on the left are going to forget that | :20:16. | :20:21. | |
it happened. They've got to carve a strategy that doesn't depend on | :20:21. | :20:24. | |
either going back to their old innocence and getting those voters | :20:24. | :20:27. | |
or appealing to the left. They are now, they made a decision to be a | :20:27. | :20:30. | |
centre party of Government. They've got to make the most of both of | :20:30. | :20:36. | |
those things. My criticism of Nick's, Nick Clegg's broadcast was | :20:36. | :20:41. | |
that it was doing neither. It wasn't really a ministerial, I'm a | :20:41. | :20:45. | |
sort of person to take tough decisions and live the consequences | :20:45. | :20:51. | |
of those. It wasn't accepting the reality of his position he had | :20:51. | :20:56. | |
taken either. I notice the telegraph as well, agree to mansion | :20:56. | :21:01. | |
tax block Clegg says. How does that actually plai out when you're in | :21:01. | :21:05. | |
Government together? I think the Spending Review really is the | :21:05. | :21:09. | |
problem for the Government. Because these dividing lines between the | :21:09. | :21:12. | |
two parties will have to be on show as they negotiate in public over | :21:12. | :21:18. | |
what's in the Spending Review. That creates a constant fault line which | :21:18. | :21:23. | |
we'll see all the time over issues like. This if you -- if you look | :21:23. | :21:28. | |
back at the budget, the cut to the top rate, Lib Dems didn't want it | :21:28. | :21:31. | |
to happen. It proves unpopular. They want to re-emphasise the idea | :21:32. | :21:35. | |
that, for them, that was a mistake and you have to go back all the | :21:35. | :21:38. | |
time to make sure if the poor are going to suffer, the rich suffer as | :21:38. | :21:46. | |
well. You will get these arguments. The deficit cutting is the Lib Dem | :21:46. | :21:52. | |
Democrat policy or the coalition are in the -- or the Liberal | :21:52. | :21:57. | |
Democrats are in the coalition for nothing. We leave it there. Thank | :21:57. | :22:02. | |
you. Now, even to some Republican supporters Mitt Romney is giving a | :22:02. | :22:05. | |
good impression of someone born with a silver foot in his mouth. | :22:06. | :22:11. | |
Tonight he tried to end one long running row by publishing his tax | :22:11. | :22:20. | |
returns for last year. He pays tax at around 14% of his $13 million | :22:20. | :22:25. | |
annual earnings. There say hidden story behind the headlines. America | :22:25. | :22:28. | |
remains a 50/50 nation, split between Republicans and Democrats | :22:28. | :22:32. | |
and the political atmosphere in recent years has become so | :22:32. | :22:36. | |
poisonous that the kind of bipartisan politics necessary to | :22:36. | :22:40. | |
make government function smoothly are often missing. Justin web | :22:40. | :22:48. | |
reports now from Florida. The glitz, glamour, the highs, the | :22:48. | :22:54. | |
lows, the ever changing landscape of the Miami skyline, to many | :22:54. | :22:59. | |
small-town Americans, Miami, the state of Florida, can look alien, | :22:59. | :23:03. | |
too transient, too bold, too gleaming, but in 2012 as in | :23:03. | :23:07. | |
previous elections all eyes are on this state. Florida matters, that's | :23:07. | :23:10. | |
what we're going to be told over and over again in the weeks to come. | :23:10. | :23:15. | |
29 electoral college votes, it's a big state. It could make all the | :23:15. | :23:20. | |
difference between Obama and Romney. All of that is true. But who cares? | :23:20. | :23:25. | |
To put it more precisely, are we missing the bigger picture, the | :23:25. | :23:28. | |
wider story both for Florida and the rest of the United States, | :23:28. | :23:34. | |
which is that this country has become essentially ungovernable, | :23:34. | :23:40. | |
its politics are poisonous? Miami Dade College is the biggest | :23:40. | :23:45. | |
in the nation, 175,000 students, many of them from minorities, all | :23:45. | :23:48. | |
of them called out on the streets in this mass voter registration | :23:49. | :23:53. | |
drive, a drive which comes at the end of months of court battles over | :23:53. | :23:57. | |
access. What ID do you need to vote? How far in advance can you do | :23:57. | :24:01. | |
it? It matters because poorer voters are less likely to have | :24:01. | :24:06. | |
photo ID. Less likely to get to the polls on time, but more likely to | :24:06. | :24:12. | |
vote Democrat if votes are counted. Voters think Florida Republicans | :24:12. | :24:16. | |
are fighting dirty taking away their right to have their voices | :24:16. | :24:20. | |
heard. The efforts throughout the state that have done so have come | :24:20. | :24:23. | |
from Republican legislative bodies. In essence, then you have the | :24:23. | :24:31. | |
effect of real live suppressing the vote. That's what you see its real | :24:31. | :24:35. | |
purpose as? Exactly. That's a fundamental issue. If you think | :24:35. | :24:39. | |
that people on the other side are really trying to stop their | :24:39. | :24:42. | |
opponents voting. Extremely so, especially when you see that the | :24:42. | :24:48. | |
people that register to vote with organisations like ours, that we | :24:48. | :24:51. | |
are at the shopping malls, supermarkets are normally | :24:51. | :24:55. | |
minorities. By stopping third party organisations from registering | :24:55. | :25:03. | |
voters you are really stopping minorities from registering. On the | :25:03. | :25:08. | |
other side of the fence they feel equally bitter, perhaps more so, | :25:08. | :25:13. | |
the conservative talk radio station, not far from mieyama, cater for an | :25:13. | :25:16. | |
audience many fee that the Democrats are trying to steel | :25:16. | :25:21. | |
Florida with fake voters and fraud. I hope Floridians understand that | :25:21. | :25:24. | |
this, what happens in Florida can decide who the next President of | :25:24. | :25:26. | |
the United States is. Absolutely. Thank you Sir. I appreciate your | :25:26. | :25:35. | |
time. Senator John McCain. I have no examples of anybody | :25:35. | :25:38. | |
trying to suppress the vote. I think that people should have to | :25:38. | :25:44. | |
prove who they are before they vote. I can't cash a cheque without a | :25:44. | :25:48. | |
driver's license or federal ID, but we're allowing people to vote who | :25:48. | :25:52. | |
never furnish proof of identity. They can walk into a voter | :25:52. | :25:56. | |
registration drive and say their name is Tim Tebow and be given a | :25:56. | :26:02. | |
ballot. You are saying some on the American left are deliberately | :26:02. | :26:05. | |
getting false names onto the register? We know they did it in | :26:05. | :26:09. | |
2008. They did it in 2010. My expectation is they'll probably do | :26:09. | :26:16. | |
it again. Enough already! What interests me | :26:16. | :26:21. | |
is what's caused this mess. Look at these Americans, do they look | :26:21. | :26:28. | |
angry? Are they bumping into each other and not saying "excuse me "? | :26:28. | :26:33. | |
Of course not, suburban America is a placid place. As sunny today as | :26:33. | :26:39. | |
decades ago, or maybe not. Perhaps ordinary Americans are the problem. | :26:39. | :26:44. | |
Many years ago the late senator Daniel Moynihan had a message for | :26:44. | :26:47. | |
his fellow citizens, you are entitled as Americans to your own | :26:47. | :26:52. | |
opinions, but you are not entitled to your own facts. Well, Americans | :26:52. | :26:56. | |
thought carefully about what the senator said and decided to take no | :26:56. | :27:02. | |
notice. This grieves a man who's dabbled in fact and fiction, but | :27:02. | :27:08. | |
still thinks there's a difference between them. Carl Hiaasen, | :27:08. | :27:12. | |
novelist and columnist and Florida institution. Is it also the case | :27:12. | :27:17. | |
that there is so much information out there that people use that | :27:17. | :27:20. | |
information to back up what they already think. There are more | :27:20. | :27:24. | |
sources of information that appear to back up your own case. I think | :27:24. | :27:27. | |
that's absolutely true. We're all guilty of it to some extent. The | :27:27. | :27:30. | |
difference is I'm looking for actual facts. I'm not looking for a | :27:30. | :27:36. | |
talking head or a blog, a guy who's blogging in a closet in Utah. | :27:36. | :27:40. | |
That's not where I'm going for my information. But I have the benefit | :27:40. | :27:43. | |
of a lifetime in journalism. Most people don't. They're in a hurry. | :27:43. | :27:47. | |
They're looking for information. If they're driving down the highway | :27:48. | :27:52. | |
and steamed about something and they want to turn Rush Limbaugh on | :27:52. | :27:55. | |
the radio to rant and rave about the Welfare State in America, and | :27:55. | :27:59. | |
this is what they felt in their heart, that's where they're going | :27:59. | :28:04. | |
to go on the dial. Is he changing anybody's mind? No. He's attracting | :28:04. | :28:11. | |
people who think the way he does. There is another explanation for | :28:11. | :28:15. | |
America's anger, a simpler one, which cries out at you as you drive | :28:15. | :28:19. | |
across Florida. It's the economy. Not just this downturn, this | :28:19. | :28:24. | |
explanation looks back at the last 50 years of American history. The | :28:24. | :28:29. | |
nation has made and spent money, big money. | :28:29. | :28:31. | |
# Wonderful town # Wonderful people # | :28:31. | :28:35. | |
There were good years and bad, but the long-term trend in that time | :28:35. | :28:38. | |
was always up. So a Republican President could always afford to | :28:38. | :28:43. | |
give a little in public spending. Richard Nixon expanded social | :28:43. | :28:47. | |
spending, called himself a Keynesian. A Democrat could reduce | :28:47. | :28:50. | |
taxes as well without breaking the bank and everyone got a car with | :28:50. | :28:56. | |
fins and felt OK. Now that's over. Perhaps for a long time. America's | :28:56. | :29:02. | |
economy is growing again but only slowly. There's $16 trillion of | :29:02. | :29:07. | |
debt to pay off or pay down. The University of Miami is as fine a | :29:07. | :29:11. | |
place at any to contemplate the future of the nation. You need sun | :29:11. | :29:17. | |
tan lotion, a fashionable computer and a strong stomach for gloomy | :29:17. | :29:21. | |
talk. Part of the impasse is due to the fact we don't have enough to go | :29:21. | :29:24. | |
around. We're in a rough period economically. The kind of | :29:24. | :29:29. | |
flexibility and Leeway that was felt, you know, that were felt | :29:29. | :29:32. | |
years ago and in previous decades under Bush and Clinton, you know, | :29:32. | :29:37. | |
we no longer have that Leeway. We don't have the cushion of our own | :29:37. | :29:40. | |
prosperity. The in-fighting or the battling has gotten worse. | :29:41. | :29:50. | |
Absolutely. There'll be some Americans who point out this is | :29:50. | :29:53. | |
still an energetic place, that energy doesn't come from Government. | :29:53. | :29:57. | |
In fact, this might come from the lack of it. Perhaps we don't need | :29:57. | :30:01. | |
the politicians, they'll say. America may be forced to find out | :30:01. | :30:08. | |
in the years ahead if that's true. in the years ahead if that's true. | :30:08. | :30:11. | |
Tomorrow morning's front pages: The Mail has "I'll have your job for | :30:11. | :30:19. | |
this." The Daily Mirror - on yer bike, Tory minister told to quit | :30:19. | :30:24. | |
after vile rant. The telegraph agree to mansion tax | :30:24. | :30:29. | |
or we block cuts, says Clegg. And Chief Whip to get butler to make | :30:29. | :30:33. |