Talkin' Bull
Good evening, folks, this is your host, Bob Hopeless, and I'm here to conduct another episode of... Talkin' Bull!On tonight's programme, we'll be "talkin' bull" about Supreme Court nominee Samuel Alito, and his confession this week that he "didn't really mean all that stuff about abortion" back in 1985.
Alito, Bush's replacement for Harriet ("Give me a Dubbya!") Miers, was chosen largely on the strength of his staunch right wing views.
And yet, these views appear to be at best flexible. Now that the Democrats have expressed outrage at his statements 20 years ago, Alito has sought to downplay his original comments.
Questioned by Senator Dianne Franken... I mean, Feinstein, Alito replied: "Things were different back then. I was an advocate seeking a job. It was a political job, and that was 1985. I'm now a judge... it's very different. "
Which brings us to the discussion point for tonight: Can someone say whatever he likes just to get a job, and then say the complete opposite the moment he wants another one? With us to discuss this issue is leading political analyst, Dr Paul Emickle.
"Thanks, Bob. If you ask me, it's perfectly natural for a man to change his mind every now and again. After all, it happens all the time..."
OK, but here we're talking about a position which carries intense political implications. Surely on matters of principle, a man in public office must be consistent...?
"What's so 'sure' about that? Just look at Silvio Berlusconi's whole backpedal about war in Iraq last week. Two years ago, he was 'just a businessman-cum-politician trying to get in on a piece of the action'. Now that it's all gone horribly pear-shaped, and elections are less than a year away, he's suddenly 'just another I-tried-to-warn-you wiseguy after the event.' I don't know why you're making such a fuss about it. It's called politics..."
Yes, Paul, but aren't the implications of Alito's U-turn that people can't really be believed when they make public statements in their official capacity?
"Yeah... so what?"
So what? So... like... OK, what about Iranian prime minister Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's comment about Israel last month?
"What about it? What's the big deal? One week he talks to a bunch of fundamentalist students and says that Israel should be 'wiped off the map'. Next, he turns to representatives of the EU and tells them: 'That? Oh, I was just trying to impress a couple of hardcore fanatical militants with some tough talk about Israel. Don't tell me you were taking me seriously...'' I mean, that's perfectly reasonable behaviour, isn't it?"
Is it? But by the same reasoning, couldn't someone like, say, Osama Bin Laden just turn around one day and... hang on: speak of the Devil, there's a live broadcast coming in just this minute from Al-Jazeera:
(Voice of Bin Laden on TV): "My friends in the United States of Amrika: Remember that whole World Trade Centre misunderstanding, way back in September 2001? Well, things were different back then. I was just a young, wannabe terrorist, desperately trying to grab some attention. But now that the whole global geo-political dimension has changed, I have realised it is no longer in my interest to be so radically anti-Amrikan. It's very different now. I want to start over with my relations with the West. So what say you we let bygones be bygones, and just forget all about the whole thing, eh...?"
