Americans learned a great deal from Great Britain, but now it appears as if Great Britain has learned a lot about politics from America.
First, Great Britain had its first highly touted televised national election debates that pitted Prime Minister Gordon Brown against Conservative Leader David Cameron and the Liberal Democrats’ Nick Clegg.
Next came what is now being called “Bigotgate” where Brown may have — no joke — sunk his election chances by calling a voter he had just talked to a “bigot” when he thought his microphone was off. Here’s the video that has launched a thousand newspaper articles, broadcasts and worldwide blog posts:
So in one short period of time Great Britain has held a big debate (almost) American style, and seen a candidate almost sandbag his own campaign due to a gaffe…almost American style.
Why the almost? Because the gaffe wasn’t actually raised in the debate. Apparently the other candidates felt it was unseemly. The Globe and Mail:
Instant polls generally showed Mr. Cameron the winner, and it was an important victory. His new, more moderate Tories had been at their weakest on macroeconomic questions, and he managed to mount a strong attack on Mr. Brown for “13 years of financial mismanagement.” He had a focus and seriousness he had lacked before, and it could be enough to push the Tories into a narrow majority next week.
But it was a good night for Mr. Brown in a different sense, even though he came in last in most polls. For the previous 24 hours, the British media had been exclusively focused on an embarrassing gaffe in which Mr. Brown was caught describing as a “bigoted woman” a senior citizen voter whom he’d sparred with over immigration.
It seemed to be one of those passing errors of judgment that come to characterize a candidate – in this case, to draw attention sharply to the awkward and unsociable nature of Mr. Brown’s personality – and can destroy a party’s standing overnight.
While it is not at all clear that “bigot-gate” is over, the debate seems to have changed the channel: Not once did either of his opponents jibe Mr. Brown over his misstep.
Mr. Brown referred to the controversy obliquely, prefacing one answer by saying, “It’s a very tough job I’ve got, and sometimes I get it wrong.”
It largely seemed as if the candidates had silently agreed that matters were far too grave for personal attacks or ad hominem arguments; Mr. Brown, to the relief of many viewers, avoided the dismal attempts at jokes that had marred the previous debates.
But some think the gaffe may have done Mr. Brown in. For instance, news coverage heading into the debate was dominated by Brown’s comments and Brown himself went to apologize to the woman whom he had insulted.
Here’s CBS’s report on the gaffe:
It sparked a firestorm online and off in various communication venues:
Brown went on talk radio to apologize:
AP wrapped it all together well, including a comment by the insulted woman that she was going to vote for Labor but they can’t count on her vote now:
So now Great Britain has emulated the American style televised debate…and the American style firestorm over a foot-in-mouth gaffe.
What next? Political tea parties?
(Opps! Been there/Done that: They might not go over too well in England…)
Joe Gandelman is a former fulltime journalist who freelanced in India, Spain, Bangladesh and Cypress writing for publications such as the Christian Science Monitor and Newsweek. He also did radio reports from Madrid for NPR’s All Things Considered. He has worked on two U.S. newspapers and quit the news biz in 1990 to go into entertainment. He also has written for The Week and several online publications, did a column for Cagle Cartoons Syndicate and has appeared on CNN.