[aberdeenwriter]

http://cnn.netscape.cnn.com/news/sto...tm&sc=1103

LONDON (AP) - A British newspaper apologized Monday for a weekend article in which a writer appeared to call for the assassination of President Bush.
In a regular column in The Guardian newspaper's Saturday TV listings magazine, Charlie Brooker described Bush in scathing terms, and concluded: ``John Wilkes Booth, Lee Harvey Oswald, John Hinckley Jr., where are you now that we need you?''

Booth assassinated President Lincoln, Oswald killed President Kennedy and Hinckley wounded President Reagan.

The Guardian's apology described Brooker's comments as ``flippant and tasteless'' but said they were ``intended as an ironic joke, not as a call to action - an intention he believed regular readers of his humorous column would understand.''

It was the second time this month the newspaper was embroiled in a trans-Atlantic political controversy. Previously, it invited readers to write letters to unaffiliated voters in Clark County, Ohio, a swing state, about the importance of the Nov. 2 election. Clark County contains the city of Springfield.

The newspaper's Web site said letter-writers were free to support either Bush or Sen. John Kerry but noted that a Guardian poll showed 47 percent of Britons backed Kerry and 16 percent supported Bush.

After being overwhelmed by responses, most of them hostile, the newspaper ended the campaign after their Web site was broken into by hackers.


10/25/04 14:01

[djohnson]

whoa... a little far there, you think? Calling for the assassination of a President.

[BlueSky]

[aberdeenwriter]

Originally posted by djohnson:
whoa... a little far there, you think? Calling for the assassination of a President.

The Brits are usually characterized as being cool but they can be quite passionate, I see. His anti-Bush feelings probably just got the best of him and it slipped out.

He was probably regretting it the moment he hit, "RETURN."

[aberdeenwriter]

Originally posted by Bluesky:

THAT IS SIMPLY THE BEST PHOTO!!!

I love it!

Thanks for posting it. Very, very clever!

[Scientist]

Originally posted by djohnson:
whoa... a little far there, you think? Calling for the assassination of a President.

Maybe if politicians were made more accountable they would make more responsible decisions...

[aberdeenwriter]

Originally posted by Scientist:
Maybe if politicians were made more accountable they would make more responsible decisions...

They face re-election at the end of every term of office. Is that not enough?

Look at the last 30 some odd years. We could look at almost every administration and make that same claim, couldn't we?
But the Guardian guy really went overboard, don't you think?

[nath]

Originally posted by aberdeenwriter:
They face re-election at the end of every term of office. Is that not enough?

Look at the last 30 some odd years. We could look at almost every administration and make that same claim, couldn't we?
But the Guardian guy really went overboard, don't you think?

charlie brooker's best know for 'tvgohome.com', a satirical tv magazine which was both very funny and utterly tasteless, but unfortunately it hasn't been updated for years. i didn't know he writes for the guardian.

http://www.tvgohome.com/0911-2001.html

given recent events, if i made a comment like that about bush i think i'd be listening carefully for the sound of black helicopters!

[aberdeenwriter]

Originally posted by nath:
charlie brooker's best know for 'tvgohome.com', a satirical tv magazine which was both very funny and utterly tasteless, but unfortunately it hasn't been updated for years. i didn't know he writes for the guardian.

http://www.tvgohome.com/0911-2001.html

given recent events, if i made a comment like that about bush i think i'd be listening carefully for the sound of black helicopters!

They say you never hear em til it's too late.

Thanks for the background on Brooker.

[moodymonster]

Originally posted by Bluesky:

cool photo

I think the Gruinidad have lost the plot - intentional misspelling - they have a tradition of typos