The Ghost of Andrew Gilligan

Jed Babbin has a great bit up on the latest BBC debacle:

No, our Little Buddy is, at last reports, still in good health. But the other Gilligan -- Andrew, formerly of the BBC, the taxpayer-funded Brit network -- is being honored in practice if not in name. His bias and fabulism have been the foundation upon which the lads and ladies of the Beeb have built their newest and most direct participation in politics.

You remember Andrew. It was he who broadcast Baghdad Bob's line that American troops hadn't been able to capture "Saddam International" whilst the airport bar was being inventoried enthusiastically by our guys. Gilligan later made up the charge that Tony Blair "sexed up" the intel on Iraq, and was eventually allowed to resign. Now, campaigning against Tory Leader Michael Howard, the Gilligan-minded Beeb has managed to outdo CBS.

Gunga Dan and his crew of miscreants used forged documents to campaign against Dubya, but didn't go so far as to plant hecklers at campaign stops. That they left to Michael Moore. About a week ago, concerned that the campaign wasn't going badly enough for the Conservatives, the BBC crew covering a Tory event gave wireless microphones to hecklers in the audience who obliged by shouting, "Michael Howard is a liar," "You can't trust the Tories," and such while the Beeb crew recorded it all for later broadcast. Everyone in the UK who owns a television pays the BBC tax. CBS and the New York Times are horrifically biased, but at least we aren't forced to pay for their upkeep.

Freedom cannot be said to exist where people are forced to pay to support media that are engaged in partisan politics. (You can make the same case against NPR, but not to the degree of clarity that now pertains to the BBC.) If the BBC isn't forced to fire the reporters and producers involved in this episode, their conduct will encourage more political activism at the Beeb, and widen the cracks in British democracy. Why the Tories don't put an end to the BBC tax on their agenda is quite a mystery. Our democracy is in better shape, but not by much. Just ask John Bolton.

Leftism rests on four main pillars: labor unions, trial lawyers, judicial activists, and the mainstream media. To topple the Lefties and the Democratic Party which is their vehicle, one must erode these pillars. The work is not done until the MSM, once the tallest pillar, is the weakest, as this is the propaganda organ of the Left. Baghdad Bob will convince many Americans that the U.S. Army is not in control of the airport so long as it stands unchallenged.

In Britain, the BBC is on the verge of an unprecedented implosion. Watch as the death throes of the Beeb batter its American media counterparts and further shakes their confidence.