Nigel Farage is Britain's Newt Gingrich Minus The Grinch
Pseudodionysius ·
November 29, 2012 at 8:52pm
Watch Nigel's performance on the BBC in an open panel town hall and tell me that he doesn't do Newt better than Newt. Its possible to challenge the premises of the question without setting the voters teeth on edge. I'm beginning to think a constitutional amendment to allow Nigel and Mark Steyn to run for office might be just what the United States needs for what ails it.
- Comment (33)
- · Quote
- · UnfollowFollow (3)
- Pages:
- 1
- 2
Comments:
Sep '10
Re: Nigel Farage is Britain's Newt Gingrich Minus The Grinch
Pseudodionysius
James Of England: Thank you, Pseudo. I feel better about myself for the rare opportunity to write a pro-Newt comment.
I should also note that trade is a relatively small part of what the US federal legislature does and a relatively large part of what the EU federal legislature does. · 2 minutes ago
Former investment banker Farage's calling in life appears to be to get the UK out of the EU. · 0 minutes ago
And to get the rest of the EU out of the EU.
Dec '10
Re: Nigel Farage is Britain's Newt Gingrich Minus The Grinch
Yes, yes, we must include Daniel Hannan. And while we're inviting foreigners to run our government, in what position should we put Bibi Netanyahu?
Re: Nigel Farage is Britain's Newt Gingrich Minus The Grinch
Pseud,
Refreshingly forthright! Notable that twenty-somethings in the audience smile and nod enthusiastically. I wonder how American twenty somethings would respond to someone who simply spills it out, without talking points.
What can you tell us about the UK Independence Party? Is it gaining traction?
Edited on November 29, 2012 at 6:46pmNov '10
Re: Nigel Farage is Britain's Newt Gingrich Minus The Grinch
I like listening to him school these soft eggs. But he's not Newt. And the video was edited annoyingly so it was not clear whether critical parts were being left out. On social issues and issues beyond the Eurosphere he looked soft to me. He also is talking off the cuff a lot here, whereas with Newt it's "I addressed this five years ago in a fully-referenced 60 page paper you can get off my web site, and what I said there is still completely current except in the following three respects" and "Go read my book on lost opportunities in space exploration". Social issues, economic, foreign policy ... Newt is there, has framed cutting-edge policy, thoroughly researched, and can articulate it all dynamically in a more hostile environment than Nigel is facing here.
Edited on November 29, 2012 at 10:08pmSep '12
Re: Nigel Farage is Britain's Newt Gingrich Minus The Grinch
Misthiocracy: I know it's the BBC, but I am really impressed that they would put together such an in depth, town hall discussion of a measly by-election, including actual voters from the actual constituency.
We just had three by-elections up here in the Great White North. You'd barely know it from the news. · 7 hours ago
Actually that show goes on week in week out - a regular fixture. Sadly the benefit is blunted by the BBC allowing it to be packed out with audiences of trade unionists and radicals.
Apr '11
Re: Nigel Farage is Britain's Newt Gingrich Minus The Grinch
UKIP look set to have a big electoral success tonight in the Rotherham by-election (special election). They're unlikely to win the seat, but they've never done very well in Westminster elections, so a strong showing would be big news for them (they tend to do much better in European parliament elections).
The election is due to the resignation of the Labour incumbent after an expenses scandal, but UKIP have seen a surge in support after this disgraceful episode in which a couple had their foster children taken from them for being members of the party (see Nigel comment on it here). The incident got a lot of media attention which has helped UKIP.
Fingers crossed for tonight! Results should be in a couple of hours or so.
ps. The video in the opening post was on the night of another recent by-election in Corby in which they came third, ahead of the Liberal Democrats (currently in coalition government with the Conservatives).
Edited on November 29, 2012 at 11:14pmMar '12
Re: Nigel Farage is Britain's Newt Gingrich Minus The Grinch
I have been enjoying the Farage videos very much. As someone who voted for Newt, I hold him in higher esteem than Pseudo.
Sep '10
Re: Nigel Farage is Britain's Newt Gingrich Minus The Grinch
I'll respond in detail a little later, but want to let everyone have their wack at the pinata first.
Feb '11
Re: Nigel Farage is Britain's Newt Gingrich Minus The Grinch
The other night while cooking dinner I was listening to Nigel Farage on youtube, since I subscribe to the UKIP channel. Papa Toad walked in and stood there, so I assumed he wanted to talk to me about something. So I turned off the youtube. And he looked at me like I was crazy. "Um, I heard you from my office and came in so I could listen to Nigel better -- can you please put that back on?" "Oh. Sorry." Hit play. Return to making dinner.... and enjoying the entertainment that is Nigel Farage...
Apr '11
Re: Nigel Farage is Britain's Newt Gingrich Minus The Grinch
Pseudodionysius
Pseudodionysius
James Of England: Thank you, Pseudo. I feel better about myself for the opportunity to write a pro-Newt comment.
I should also note that trade is a relatively small part of what the US federal legislature does and a relatively large part of what the EU fedral legislature does.
Former investment banker Farage's calling in life appears to be to get the UK out of the EU. ·
And to get the rest of the EU out of the EU. ·
I fully agree that this is his aim, and perhaps continual relatively content free insults along with the occasional gimmick is the way forward, but I know no one who has been converted by him on any issue. It is true that the Conservative party and the country have returned lately to euroscepticism, but I suspect that this owes more to Europeans than Farage.
If Newt Gingrich ran against him for UKIP leadership, though, I would back Gingrich. I'd also back Cain, but it occurs to me that Herman is the better analog; he's fun to listen to, and he hangs out with policy wonks from the right, but more an entertainer than a persuader.
Aug '10
Re: Nigel Farage is Britain's Newt Gingrich Minus The Grinch
He's also a frequent guest over at King World News, kind of a contrarian gold bug site. (Farage worked in commodities and at the London Commodity Exchange before politics.)
You can listen to his latest interview here. He's about as pessimistic as I am (which is why I like the guy), and cuts through the spin coming from European bureaucrats quite well.
He doesn't always go into details like Newt does, but then again Newt is a policy wonk; that's not a role for all times. It certainly isn't the default role for an idea popularizer--you'll notice it is not Newt, but Farage, who has videos getting millions of hits through viral Internet popularity.
Edited on November 30, 2012 at 4:04amSep '10
Re: Nigel Farage is Britain's Newt Gingrich Minus The Grinch
Very perceptive. I spent many years in finance and have dealt with quants as well.
Apr '11
Re: Nigel Farage is Britain's Newt Gingrich Minus The Grinch
BlueAnt:
He doesn't always go into details like Newt does, but then again Newt is a policy wonk; that's not a role for all times. It certainly isn't the default role for an idea popularizer--you'll notice it is not Newt, but Farage, who has videos getting millions of hits through viral Internet popularity. ·
Bill O'Reilly gets a lot of views, too, and unlike Farage he's interested enough in policies to get some passed. With growth, Farage might become an O'Reilly figure. I fear Red Eye is out of his league, though.
Unlike O'Reilly, getting page hits is not his job. His job is to craft policy and lead the party. The latter is not an easy job (UKIP has a very high enthusiastic crank membership, from which category I do not entirely exclude myself), but the former is one at which he fails magnificently. If not Newt, can you name a party leader or similar role who has not contributed something substantive to the legal makeup of America? Even the major third parties (Perot, Roosevelt, Thurmond, Nader) contributed something, albeit mostly bad, distinguishable from a distance.