Posted: Mar 27, 2015 12:14 am
ED209 wrote:So we aren't getting debates because cameron is a chickenshit pussyole.
But did anyone see the bizarre interview/audience Q&As?
cameron got nailed by the nhs question in his Q&A and put in a mediocre performance, miliband did much better (surprisingly well in fact) in his despite smarmy interruptions from the rank burley, then he got off to a bad start from paxman before turning it around with his response to paxman's parroting the torydem line about him having to bargain with the snp by saying that paxman doesn't get to decide the election and earning a solid round of applause. I missed the paxman interview with cameron - i read it went badly - did they spend most of it talking about whether cameron had any more polished siblings as well?
Paxman gave Cameron a fairly hard time, particularly on zero hours contracts, and did allude slightly to the idea of him being out of touch and not having anything in common with struggling people - but not anywhere near as personally (or irrelevantly) as he went for Miliband. That stuff about his brother and being a "North London geek" was just pathetic. We finally get some measly excuse for a debate-lite, supposedly hosted by this great hard hitting politics interviewer, and that's the best he can come up with?
I though Miliband did well to brush it off and say he doesn't care, but I would have liked to have seen him turn it back on Paxman and ask why he was wasting everybody's time with such pathetic non-questions, when they should be talking about the issues. That's a question I would have liked to have seen answered.
Cameron didn't do brilliantly, but he did better than I expected, TBH. He came across as a nice guy who genuinely believes in what he's doing, if a bit vacuous and out of touch. I was slightly disappointed with Miliband mainly because I didn't think he did quite as well as he did in the Free Speech program a few weeks ago. He sounded a bit more like he was just saying what he'd rehearsed rather than actually answering the questions. OTOH I think he successfully brushed off the image-focus and sold himself as someone who could be thought of as a leader. That could be quite a problem for the tories, since so much of their strategy depends on pushing that button.
An instant Guardian/ICM poll found that David Cameron had narrowly “won” the contest with 54% saying that the PM came out on top once the don’t knows were excluded, compared with just 46% who felt that Miliband had the edge.
The sample of viewers, who were weighted to bring them in line with the broader population, were asked to put aside their party preference and concentrate only on what they heard during the programme, 46% felt that Cameron had the best arguments, as against 44% who said the same of Miliband. Cameron was also judged slightly more convincing – by 48% to 43% – and to have the more appealing personality, by 46% to 42%. He chalked up a clearer win on “actually answering the questions asked”, by 44% to 37%.
There was better news for Miliband when it comes to the crucial question of shifting votes: 56% of the sub-sample who said they might change their mind will now plump for Labour, as against just 30% for the Conservatives.
I don't really buy that. It's too small a poll for a start, and it doesn't take into account the fact that the program was clearly biased against Miliband. Or to put it another way: if Cameron came over so much better, why were more people persuaded to switch their voting intention to Labour than vice versa?
I'd say it was about even, which I find disappointing as Miliband is clearly the better candidate and would knock the nads off Cameron in any kind of fair and direct debate. It's probably a good result for the tories, as their policy of neutering the debates seems to have paid off.
All in all I can see why cameron is too frightened to face miliband directly. This format allowed cameron to keep his nose out of the gutter and avoid the stench of negativity by having other people bang on about david miliband (who I don't even think is UK resident, and zero relevance to the general election) and other distractions from the actual issues for him. Disgustingly partial whatever-you-call-it from burley as well, as expected.
Burley was a fucking disgrace.