Coordinated disinformation
Tony Blair doesn't think that you're stupid... he just hopes that you are.
Check out this desperate last-minute gambit where he seeks tolaunch a debate silence his critics on civil liberties just over a week before local elections:
Henry Porter: (source): In Parliament Square we now see people parading with blank placards to make the point that they are not allowed to demonstrate within one kilometre of the Square under the new Serious Organised Crime and Police Act (SOCPA).
Tony Blair: (source): You say people can only have blank placards outside Parliament and can't protest. Go and look at the placards of those camped outside Parliament - they are most certainly not blank and usually contain words not entirely favourable to your correspondent. Outside Downing Street, virtually every day there are protests of one sort or another.
Henry Porter: (source): The only reason you see placards in Parliament Square today is because the anti-war protester Brian Haw's demonstration preceded the introduction of the act, which is not retrospective. His presence in the square is still being challenged by government lawyers.
Tony Blair not only misrepresented Henry Porter's claim in his answer, he sought to use a man who was unsuccessfully targeted by this illiberal legislation as an example of how liberal the legislation is!
He also assures us that; "Outside Downing Street, virtually every day there are protests of one sort or another"... but does not make clear how many of those are of the authorised variety.
You can see Charles Clarke using the same blatantly dishonest trick on exactly the same issue here.
This is not an honest response to an unfair charge... it is coordinated disinformation.
If Blair has no valid defence to offer, then I think one can say in all fairness that sections 132 to 137 of the Serious Organised Crime and Police Act are - by definition - indefensible.
Check out this desperate last-minute gambit where he seeks to
Henry Porter: (source): In Parliament Square we now see people parading with blank placards to make the point that they are not allowed to demonstrate within one kilometre of the Square under the new Serious Organised Crime and Police Act (SOCPA).
Tony Blair: (source): You say people can only have blank placards outside Parliament and can't protest. Go and look at the placards of those camped outside Parliament - they are most certainly not blank and usually contain words not entirely favourable to your correspondent. Outside Downing Street, virtually every day there are protests of one sort or another.
Henry Porter: (source): The only reason you see placards in Parliament Square today is because the anti-war protester Brian Haw's demonstration preceded the introduction of the act, which is not retrospective. His presence in the square is still being challenged by government lawyers.
Tony Blair not only misrepresented Henry Porter's claim in his answer, he sought to use a man who was unsuccessfully targeted by this illiberal legislation as an example of how liberal the legislation is!
He also assures us that; "Outside Downing Street, virtually every day there are protests of one sort or another"... but does not make clear how many of those are of the authorised variety.
You can see Charles Clarke using the same blatantly dishonest trick on exactly the same issue here.
This is not an honest response to an unfair charge... it is coordinated disinformation.
If Blair has no valid defence to offer, then I think one can say in all fairness that sections 132 to 137 of the Serious Organised Crime and Police Act are - by definition - indefensible.
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