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Richard_Berry

Listed below are comments made by Richard_Berry between Wednesday, 21st May 2008 and Wednesday, 24th June 2009.

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Big week for healthcare 10:11pm on 24 Jun 2009 #27 NoRashDecisions. Not only should you have read Justin's post properly, but you should also have read your own username.

Justin does NOT say the Democrats are formulating their adverts against this governor, whoever he is. It simply says we can imagine the Democrats' adverts if he stands. Not adverts for, not adverts against.

I know Americans treasure their negative adverts, but surely your parties also do occasionally run adverts favourable to their own candidates?

But thank you - there really is nothing sweeter than being told you've made a mistake when the accuser is themselves completely unaware. Especially when done with your gloriously inappropriate condescending tone.

Justin - please, can't you see this? This reader knows the story and thinks the facts are so obvious that he's reading things that aren't even written.
Big week for healthcare 10:21am on 24 Jun 2009 Justin,

Again you've posted something that assumes readers have been following US political news closely.

You are supposed to BE the main source of US political news for the British audience!

Can't really appreciate your humourous comment about whoever has been walking in the woods because don't know what you're talking about.

Managed to piece it together from following the link, but would have been easier if you'd written one sentence in introduction.

Even with the link you've left ambiguities in the story. Neither you nor the link have stated which party this governor comes from. Surely that's quite important? I assume he's a republican from various clues in your posting and the article.
Local control and plain English 1:47pm on 11 Jun 2009 Justin, you often write about events in the US in your blog without explaining what has actually happened. "The Virginia primary" is an example of this. I watch Channel 4 News and Newsnight, listen to the Today programme and read the BBC News website and the Guardian every day, but have absolutely no idea what you're referring to. Please remember your primary audience is a British one. Since the end of the presidential election, events in US politics are no longer covered in Britain to the same extent.
Wrong about Daschle 11:43am on 09 Feb 2009 Justin,

If you stare at something long enough you can see whatever you want in it.

Individuals matter, but there are many factors beyond them. Nye Bevan had a significant impact on the formation of the NHS, but do you believe that it wouldn't have happened if he wasn't in government? Of course there were reforms that had his personal stamp on them, but do you believe our healthcare system would be very different today without him? The difference would be slight, if anything.

If one individual matters above all others, it is Obama. His ideas and his political capital are the fundamentals here.

While the Daschle effect would be significant (otherwise he wouldn't have been offered the job), many other things are significant too. Why not move on and talk about these too - of the media continues to obsess over Daschle rather than the issue, your assertion may become a self-fulfilling prophecy.
Clinton's convention 3:43pm on 15 Aug 2008 The vast majority of voters will see and hear only one thing from the convention - Obama's speech. He just needs to get that right and little else matters.

For the rest of it, he might as well let Clinton dominate the entire programme to placate those of her supporters who still believe she had a divine right to the nomination.
Has alcohol sapped the British spirit? 5:21pm on 31 Jul 2008 I'm sure your paid by the British taxpayer to tell us about what's happening in the US, not to share your at-a-distance thoughts about life back in Britain. Sorry to be so blunt but for a while this blog was required reading - now it just seems like an after-thought.

If there's nothing much happening in the Presidential campaign, tell us about something else. Go to Baltimore and tell us whether politics there is just like The Wire, go to California and assess Scharzenegger's record on the environment, go to Massachussets and see if Mitt Romney's health reforms are working.
The Brits defending America 4:46pm on 30 Jul 2008 The subject matter of these blog postings is starting to become a little repetitive. I almost feel like I don't need to buy Justin's new book now I've probably read most of it online.

Many people are pro-American, many people are anti-American. Many more people couldn't care less. Personally I think the whole topic is pointless (sorry Justin). Anyone who even offers a generalised opinion on the worthiness or otherwise of an entire nation of people is not worth listening to.
It's the Bill, stupid 11:39am on 05 Jun 2008 I strongly believe presidential candidates should choose running mates that reinforce their perceived strengths. Picking someone to fill a weakness only draws attention to that weakness. It makes the candidate seem less confident of his/her own appeal.

Clinton might have been worthwhile. The simple fact of her being a woman - and therefore embodying change by her very presence on the ballot - reinforces the the appeal Obama has. She also has a proud record of pushing for change in Washington, for instance on healthcare, even against firm opposition.

But Hilary hasn't played the game that way. She's tried to differentiate herself from Obama at every opportunity. She told the world repeatedly that he had serious 'flaws' - his inexperience, his relationship with radical elements, his race - that she did not have. And that she had the strengths and appeal he did not have.

The Clinton supporters had every right to push the campaign all the way. But the fact she went so far gave the whole country to consider her case against Obama, and it was (albeit narrowly) rejected. That's the end of it.
Parroting the message 09:26am on 23 May 2008 The parrot sounds like Tony Blair.

chf-cooper, I think you need to do some travelling.

And please nobody point out the irrelevant fact that Blair's actually from the north...
End in sight? 1:36pm on 21 May 2008 I wonder what Justin thinks the legacy of the various failed primary campaigns will be?

'Doing a Giuliani' - going from favoutire to also-ran overnight by purusing an utterly disastrous campaign strategy?

'Doing a Huckabee' - a deliberate attempt from the outset to win the vice presidential nomination by offering a narrow vision that fills a perceived gap in the appeal of your main competitors?

'Doing a Romney' - performing an absolute u-turn in policy terms, making yourself even less electable than you would have been if you had stuck to your original positions?

'Doing a Clinton' (1) - invoking your own racial origins as a means of convincing members of your race to vote for you?

'Doing a Clinton' (2) - deliberately damaging your own party in the hope that you'll be the one in place to pick up the shattered remains.

'Doing a Clintion' (3) (may also be known as 'doing a Brown') - failing to accept that the job you have devoted your life to obtaining all your life is simply beyond your abilities.

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