Guardian's Corbyn survey
by Seamus Padraig
Here we go again!
Ever since Jeremy Corbyn won the leadership of Labour last September in a record-breaking landslide victory, the Blairites have tried every desperate ruse and tactic imaginable to oust or undermine him. First, there were the baseless accusations of misogyny; then came even more baseless accusations of ‘anti-semtism’; and then, after the Brexit referendum, Corbyn was absurdly blamed for the defeat of Remain, prompting his own shadow cabinet to resign en masse and try, unsuccessfully, to oust him. It seems about the only thing the Blairites haven’t tried yet to get rid of Corbyn is a car-bomb! (On second thought, we probably shouldn’t say that out loud; it might give them ideas.)
And all the while, The Guardian (with a few honourable exceptions, such as Gary Younge) has consistently operated as the house organ of the Blairites, eager to spread the latest slander and calumny against Corbyn. Their latest hit-piece on him, like so many others, desperately tries to convince us that night is day and day is night. Bearing the authoritative sounding title, ‘Labour supporters have cooled on Corbyn, Guardian survey finds’, the article spends a considerable amount of time implying that Labour Party members are now turning against him: “Enthusiasm for Jeremy Corbyn has waned since the start of the year among Labour supporters, according to a survey of more than 100 constituencies across the country.” The article later lists a veritable catalogue of calamities—present and future—for which Corbyn, presumably, should be held responsible:
The survey also reveals:
- A reluctance to acknowledge that the party might split, though some expressed fear that this is an inevitable outcome of the current divisions.
- Fears that Ukip could exploit the chaos, especially in seats where they are the second largest party after Labour.
- Complaints that many of the new members were not turning up at constituency party meetings or helping with leafleting.
- Reports of intimidation and bullying – widespread across the country.
- Little support so far for deselection of MPs.
As usual, there are plenty of catty-sounding quotes from party officials who’d probably never supported him to start with, such as:
Samantha Atkinson, chair of the CLP (constituency Labour party) in Clacton, which is held by Ukip, expressed pessimism about Labour’s chances at the next general election if Corbyn remains in charge. “If Jeremy Corbyn is re-elected, then I think we’ll fail. In a way, I hope that there’s a snap election and we fail. That way we have a chance to build again.”
But after twenty-two paragraphs of trying to convince us that Corbyn is responsible for just about every misfortune on earth—with possible exception of the Ebola virus—we finally come to this little gem:
James Schneider, a Momentum spokesman, said of the survey: “There does appear to be a disparity between the CLP secretaries and executive officers and the membership as a whole. If you look at the YouGov poll, support for Jeremy Corbyn is up.”
That’s right! This Guardian’s survey is only a survey of Labour’s elites—who, we already know, detest Corbyn: “The Guardian interviewed Labour chairs, secretaries and other office-holders, past and present, as well as councillors from 101 of the 632 constituencies in England, Scotland and Wales on Thursday, Friday and Monday.”
The ordinary rank-and-file members love him as much as ever, while new members are still flocking to the party (and Momentum) just to support him. And readers’ comments—not censored for once!—largely reflect this fact:
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I responded to a comment recently, that had the usual tropes about Mr Corbyn
To paraphrase the hater’s comment: ” Corbyn charismatic? ha ha ha ha!”
My response was that he does indeed fill out rallies and stadiums and is a very good speaker to boot!
I also added a link to one of his many nationwide rallies
The Guardian then DELETED my post and left the original trolling comment alone!!
What is the matter with Guardian mods and staff??!
They’ve become very very partisan and are quite blatant about it!
Ok you can all stop knocking Corbyn now. He can’t win – first it’s “he’s too far left” then it’s “he’s too prepared to compromise”.
The fact remains: at least he’s honest and not a former corporate lobbyist (like the Blair clone Owen Smith). Too many are falling victim to Goebbels’ theory, that if you repeat a lie often enough people will believe it. The media’s lie in this case being “oh, he’s not a proper leader blah blah BS”. Why not? Because he won’t toe the corporations’ line? The Tories and New Labour both hate him as they are the Establishment – it doesn’t even matter which one of those two parties is in power, the status quo is safe and happy.
Until we have proportional representation, Corbyn’s the only option.
[insert more arguments here etc etc etc etc]
Redistribution of wealth? Hello? WAKE UP!
Oh look. Now the observer/guardian is saying that among labour supporters 54% support corbyn, and 22% support smith. Make your mind up.
Reblogged this on Worldtruth.
Reblogged this on TheFlippinTruth.
Surely this idea that Corbyn can’t get votes from the general populace should be thrown into the long grass by now as the demographic of the referendum vote for leave are just the disenfranchised people he will pick up. The same voters that NEW Labour will throw back to the wolves (in the long grass).
What I don’t understand is why people, like this author, continue to read the Guardian? I completely agree with his, and most other folks on this blog that the Guardian is a neo-liberal, Blairite rag and is beneath contempt. That said, why keep reading it? Why continue to argue with its editors, its writers, etc? Just stop reading it and move on. Problem solved. There are other websites for news, are there not? Or am I missing something? Pssssst: I have a confession to make: I stopped reading the Guardian a year ago and I’m doing fine, reading other news sites, blogs, etc. Believe it or not: there is life after Guardian, it can be done!
I can’t speak for the author, but here are my reasons for continuing to pay attention to what the Guardian and other MSM are telling the public:
As Chomsky points out, the establishment press isn’t able to lie all the time and must itself continue to carry a significant amount of truthful reporting because business and the economy cannot be run entirely on lies. Since it also has the immense resources of the corporate world which subtends it, it is able to cover far more than any alternate press could.
The lies and obfuscations of the corporate press can be countered only is we’re aware of them. For those of us who’re involved in the alternate media, ignoring the MSM would be counterproductive.
Yes. Also the MSM may have various news stories documented without joining up the dots – so alt news can draw on such sources while providing more contextual information. http://wanttoknow.info/ offers some of this.
But do you really believe that there is ” significant amount of truthful reporting ” in the Graun, Vaska?
Or indeed, any?
It seems to me that the Graun only runs stories at all, if it can get some neocon mileage out of them. If it cannot, then it doesn’t even cover the story. It follows that all stories in the Graun have been pre-spun before even getting to the subs desk.
Personally I feel that denying the Guardian even one unique page-view is a step towards cutting the legs from under its flailing advertising revenues.
Don’t worry. As long as you have an ad-blocker, and as long as you don’t give them any money, they aren’t making anything of your page views.
I recommend ublock origin
Thanks for explaining your position. I’m glad you’re keeping an eye on the Guardian, as I couldn’t manage such a mentally arduous burden. That’s why I visit this blog, to keep a safe distance 🙂
I find for myself personally it is much too irritating to read the Guardian in particular, so I keep away. I tried HuffPo for awhile but also became fed up. So now I just use ‘google news’ aggregator and browse the MSM offerings there, this seems to work better for me. I think what makes the Guardian so strongly repugnant and insufferable is that it positions itself as left of center, or liberal (in the HW Bush meaning of the term, i.e. “the L word” if you remember) in a deceitful, arrogant way. Even though I don’t read the Guardian any longer, I think by using ‘Google news’ aggregator I will be able to keep an eye on the corporate status quo perspectives on world events.
The issue is that politicians, industry leaders and other people in significant roles in industry, the economy and culture still follow The Guardian and similar news media, and base their decision-making and policies on the stories and narratives spun by the MSM. So it is worthwhile to know something of what governments believe in and want the public to believe in, and that’s why Seamus Padraig, Off-Guardian, Moon of Alabama and similar news blogs have to track what they say, to find out what they do not say or omit to say.
To take an example, it helps to know that The Guardian and others of its ilk spun the narrative about the recent botched coup in Turkey as a false flag initiated by President Erdogan in order to carry out his purges. Once you know that, and you know what kind of trash rag it is, you can ask: why is The Guardian doing this, who are they doing this for and who benefits? What kind of narrative is being established about the coup and about Erdogan, and how will this influence future Western policies in the Middle East, given that governments and other significant elites believe in the lies they spin?
Why read the Guardian (which I personally loathe)? Quite simple. Know your enemy. Given them stick. Expose their lies and crude propaganda. There is an information war going on, do you want to give them a free ride?
I now read The Guardian for the same reason that Kremlinologists once read Pravda: in order to know what the régime is thinking, and in order to know what the régime wants the public to think. As Bonaparte once said, ‘Know thine enemy.’
Besides, they have a good combox set-up, which occasionally comes in handy when I feel like doing a little culture-jamming, or when I want to try and gauge the public’s reaction to their propaganda.
The cry has been going round the media echo chamber, “Corbyn just is not a leader”.
Without advancing any kind of contrary opinion let it be said that NEITHER WAS ATTLEE AND HE GAVE US THE NHS.
It’s the age old conundrum for radical politicians: getting elected by their core base is very different to getting elected by the country.
Do you see how Donald Trump has ‘balanced the ticket’ by the appointment of his VP after being a radical scallywag during the Primary Campaign? I bet you his choice was a pragmatic thought of ‘how many non-registered votes can I get by hiring him?’
With Corbyn, the question is more associated with timing. If the UK actually DOES leave the EU, many things which are currently illegal might become legal again, like nationalising the railways. Many of Mr Corbyn’s traditionally held views have become irrelevant due to EU law. Maybe many of his core supporters aren’t aware of that. I don’t know.
My view on Mr Corbyn is that he polarises opinions, so he will have a hard core support which won’t be enough to win a majority and the question is what he is prepared to compromise on to join a big tent?
So far, it’s been ‘everything’. The former CND organiser has already caved in on ‘limited’ nuclear weapons. If he is for sale on the big issues like that, where will he baulk?
I would like to be able to naysay you but I’m afraid you are right. He’s also caved on the EU after a visit from a Prince of Darkness Varoufakis and worst of all to the Israel lobby.
Still I wish all of you good luck.
Because his position in the party is still rather tenuous, I am willing–at least for now–to extend Corbyn the benefit of the doubt. But you and reiner have a fair complaint: so far, he’s been more bark than bite. At some point, Corbyn is simply going to have to stop fretting over ‘party unity’ and learn to stand his ground on key issues. Otherwise, he’ll end up sheep-dogging, just like Bernie Sanders in the US.
Reblogged this on The Greater Fool.