Britannia Radio

SPENDING REVIEW

>> THURSDAY, OCTOBER 28, 2010

If you're getting your information about the US midterms only from the BBC you are no doubt aware that Republicans are outspending the Democrats by millions of dollars. Yesterday's report by Katty Kay on campaign funding focused almost entirely on Republican spending (there's a very brief mention about union support for Democrats, but the thrust of the piece is clear - Republicans and their supporters are trying to buy the election. See short version here, longer version here). When Matt Frei blogged about the subject he name-checked only Republican candidates.

Hang on though, what's this? Politico, 26 October:

To hear top Democrats tell it, the party is being wildly outgunned this year in the fight for campaign cash as Republicans rely on outside groups to funnel money to GOP contenders.

But the numbers tell a different story.

It’s true that conservative third-party groups are outspending their Democratic rivals. But the Democrats still have a sizable cash advantage in their party committees – making this year’s elections a lot more of a fair fight than Vice President Joe Biden and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi let on.

And this? New York Times, 26 October:

Lost in all of the attention paid to the heavy spending by Republican-oriented independent groups in this year’s midterm elections is that Democratic candidates have generally wielded a significant head-to-head financial advantage over their Republican opponents in individual competitive races.

The Times article also points out that Democrat-supporting third party groups have now begun splashing the cash around big-time:

Last week, for example, [America’s Families First Action Fund] spent $362,000 on a television ad attacking Steve Southerland, the Republican challenger to Representative Allen Boyd, Democrat of Florida.

None of this fits the BBC's narrative, therefore it is ignored. They're not going to let the facts get in the way of their relentless anti-Republican propaganda.

ECONOMIC SUICIDE...

>> WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 27, 2010

North Sea oil and gas transformed the economic fortunes of the UK from the grim days of the 1970s and underpinned our re-emergence as a world power. The boom ensured that we had abundant energy and could keep warm cheaply. This is a fundamental reason why our living standards are so relatively high today. Now the Cleggeron government is severely limiting further exploration (and has needlessly restricted the number of exploration licences)because - no doubt partly as a result largely of a deluge of greenie PR by the BBC - Greenpeace and others now dictate energy policy. This means that more emphasis is now placed on marine wildlife than human welfare, and that the days of cheap energy are well and truly over. The BBC, of course, report the whole disgraceful charade with the emphasis on the Greenpeace perspective; the picture of their pathetic publicity stunt has been carefully chosen so that the greenie concerns are foremost. And note how they give credence to the idea that the economy can be "de-carbonised". Which planet do they live on?