大象传媒

Is that smooth as in airbrushed?
Looks nice in the magazines but is a distorted reality?

Nick
I don't know about what John can teach david, but I think you need to consult a Dimbleby or two about impartiality. If you compare this blog entry where Cameron is "The Smooth Talking Express" to the Quite Surreal blog entry with "the stylish way" blair dealt with cherie's comments. It looks suspiciously like you are in the New Labour camp, I and I am sure many others lost an awful lot of respect for media commentators for falling for Blair's schmultz, the true test of Politics is his record and that is awful in so many areas and has made life harder for many people.
You have a responsibility to appear impartial as you can have an effect on who is the next prime minister, but you appear to be judging Cameron by a much higher standard than Blair.

Hi Nick,

Just a quick question - why has the 大象传媒's on-line news editor included quotes from a senior Labour figure in his assessment of the Cameron speech?

I could remember no such comments from Lib Dem or Tory spokespersons during the 大象传媒's on-line analysis of Blair's speech [Indeed, I checked - there was none - at least not in the main article!]

So why does New Labour get the chance of an instant reply, whereas others dont?

I think McCain will do well when the ships ae down.

Maybe John can teach David what it feels like to vote in favour of allowing the President to define torture and suspending habeas corpus:

This is also a very important conference for one Nick Robinson. With his Tory background he has to prove to viewers that he is even-handed given his complete obsession thus far with getting rid of Tony Blair. Has he ever asked Cameron a challenging question or doubted his changes of mind and direction. We will be watching

John McCain has the potential to be the greatest President of the US in modern times. He is incredibly genial, charismatic and likeable. He's a true conservative (in the traditional sense of the word) and I think he can be appealing to the American people and also the international community. I think he would be much more popular in Europe, and would definately be able to mend bridges that Bush has burned here over Iraq.

Hopefully Cameron will be able to learn from McCain's experience and dignity. Also maybe the Republican and Conservative parties will stop sniping at their respective golden gooses and realise the possibility that the British PM and American President will have a better relationship politically that will favour both countries (as long as the electorate wants to, of course!)

I like Cameron, and hopefully we will see McCain in the White House, a situation that would benefit everyone.

I think the conference will be David Cameron's undoing. It reminds me of the one Labour had years ago when Neil Kinnock was leader, and the top brass of the party were introduced as the "next cabinet".

The big problem Cameron has is lack of effective attacks on Labour, who are critically weak at present. The silence has been deafening.

And as for his logo....no one cares about logos - they want action. He should be telling the Tories at their conference to get out on the streets and start campaigning now. Be proactive instead of reactive.

I think you'll find Hillary Clinton is the favourite to be the next US president, though it's not really an easy prediction to make until the parties have made their nominations.

And that's McCain's problem. He has to convince the Republican Party to nominate him and, as noted in the article, he's tried and failed before. Davide Cameron is already leader of the Conservative Party, so I'd argue that he's closer to running a country than McCain.

Both McCain and Cameron have one major issue. While they may be darlings of the liberal media, they are distrusted by the base of their parties. When George W Bush told an audience of plutocrats that he called them "his base", he wasn't just kidding around. Cameron, ultimately, has to motivate the elderly Tory party (whose members have an average age closer to 60 than his age); a reactionary, literally conservative force, to come through for him. And while his initiatives might generate the steady flow of news that the journos like to see ("new initiative": weblogging - no-one's ever done it before?!), they hardly motivate the crotchety old dears in Bucks and Somerset. Similarly, McCain, who has flip-flopped on everything that matters to the neocon and plutocratic base (including Iraq and the legality of torture), has hardly garnered the trust of his party.

They both have a long way to go, no matter how much it might suit the media to portray Cameron as a true heavyweight contender for political victory.

And thus, with a soft analysis of the situation, we have this commentator's endorsement of David Cameron.

How can you claim that either McCain or the US would be considered the "leader of the free world"?

America ain't the leader of me despite how much Blair would sell (or rather he has sold us out) us out to America and I would point out that the NAM is 118 countries, a majority over America of 117.

You may like 'em but many of us Briton's do not like 'em or their policies or their presumption of lording it over the planet, Blair does not speak for Britain anymore because he is not acting democratically and the sooner we sever the cord from over there the better.

Indeed was it not a poll conducted by the 大象传媒 that said the majority of the planet's population disagrees with US policy, now that somewhat ridicules the term "leader of the free world", more like the leader of the oppressed and massacred Muslims.

Hi Nick, mostly love your stuff, but recently you slipped over the mark repeating the US line that the US President is the leader of the free world. He certainly is not based on the views I have picked up on my travels around the world. I've even been asked by an Australian cab driver: when are you lot going to get behind Europe and stand up to the Americans and knock some sense into them?
I can understand why the US would like us to accept that their leader is our leader, and Blair has fallen into line, but th epeople of the free world? They are having none of it.

Nick, I disagree with your assertion that the challenge for Cameron is to prove himself to be a man of substance and not just style. The challenge for him is to hope that the rank and file don't show him up in interviews with passing reporters.

Cameron's performance (Blair-lite) aside, it was the footage of the delegates that interested me. Most looked perplexed during his speech - many were probably thinking "he's only pretending isn't he? Please tell me he's going to cut taxes, etc when we get elected?"

And this is the problem - Europe, taxes, etc, are just a symptom of the Tory's underlying problem over the last few elections: themselves! Focus groups express preference for Tory policies before changing their minds when they find out that they belong to the Tories.

Yes, Cameron is all about image. But that is only because he is smart enough to realise that his policies aren't the deciding factor for the electorate, it is actually the perception of the Tory mindset (1950s white, lower middle class, provincial, culturally insular, nimbyist, selfish, nasty). And already, for me, coverage of the conference has confirmed to me that the party remains unchanged, regardless of what Cameron says at the podium and regardless of whether they have a juice bar (!).

I agree with Mr. Farmer,
The free world takes excellent care of itself and would do better without those meddling bullies in America that do nothing but try to force their will on every country in the world. With the UK imbedded within the EU and with a good slap to put the US back in it's place, the E-UK can make a good, collective showing on the world stage. I long for the day when the phone rings in Washington and the operator answers with: "Thank you for calling the United States; if this is an international problem, please contact the E-UK" ...click followed by bzzzzzz.

Joe Black
Maintown USA

Cameron鈥檚 challenge this week is to prove that his campaign bus isn鈥檛 just 鈥淭he Smooth Talking Express鈥�. He plans to show his strength...

Come off it Nick, your Bias towards Cameron is getting more and more open by the day isn't it ?
He plans to show his strength ?
Strength in what ? Policies they DON'T currently have ?
Its nothing more than 'Tory Eye Candy' at the moment - maybe when he can string a policy or two together he may have some strength but at the moment along with the other leaders they have gone through he is WEAK. Whats the average age of the Tory at the conference ? 65 ? Thats not strong, it shows just how out of touch they are as a party.

Nick, if this was the Labour conference your story would be about 'the cash for peerages row' threatening to de-rail the conference messages. Instead we get a sort of 'Cameron is the the next PM by association' message. Your Tory bias is not even thinly veiled. The point of the tax-cut rejection 'debate' is that it is being engineering to be Cameron's 'clause 4 moment'. Just like Blair with New Labour Cameron will 'win' this debate as proof the Tories have changed. They haven't, they have changed leader, but the assembled blue rinses in the hall haven't changed, they're simply grasping for power so will go along with whatever 'pin-up' Dave says.

It makes me smile that within the comments on one piece of Nick's commentary he is accused of being biased on both the Labour and Conservative sides. Much as Nick is employed as a commentator, his work is an opinion, his opinion and clearly our opinions of his work vary as much as our political views do.

Give him a little slack, this is an internet blog not the official 大象传媒 news.

Perhaps I am missing something, but how can anyone promise to cut taxes without seeing the true state of the economy? Certainly I would not vote for "cloud cuckoo" promises.

I wonder if David Cameron really likes this comparison.

For the record, while McCain called the religious right "agents of intolerance" back then, more recently he has spoken to students at Falwell's liberty university, and has been much less critical of the religious right, and seems quite uncomfortable when he's asked about it (witness his performance on The Daily Show when asked about just this).

Because he has to flip-flop on that, too, to get elected.

He seems like a nice guy, and he was a brave and principled man in his military service, but more recently it seems just about any of his principles is up for grabs if changing his mind can win him the money primary.

Really, he's much more like Tony Blair than David Cameron.

Surely the Tories have more in common with The Democrats than the Republican's. I don't understand why Tories should feel a connection with the Republicans just because they are a right-wing party. From a British perpective The Democrats are fairly right-wing. Or am I wrong and David Cameron is about to join John McCain in opposing abortion, gun-control and supporting a return of the death penalty?

I would encourage people to read all of the comments on this blog entry, in particular to note that Nick has been accused of both New Labour bias and Tory bias in the same thread, which basically proves it is not him that has political bias but the correspondents.

David Cameron said he invited John McCain to address the Tory Conference because he will be "the next President" of America.

Somehow I don't think so. McCain is 70 already. If elected in 2008, he would at 72 be the oldest President ever elected. (Reagan was a mere 69 when he landed the top job.) If McCain, like Reagan, served two terms, he would be 80 when his Presidency ended.

And Reagan at least was a passable actor, and had some charisma. McCain has none. Did you listen to his speech, Nick ? He was dull and uninspiring.

As for Cameron, if he really wants to put some distance between himself and America, then I hope he will soon cease using that awful Americanism "leader of the free world".

Guantanama Bay ? Iraq ? Is freedom what you think of when America is mentioned ? I don't think so.

It just shows how far the right-wing drift has gone in America to see that John McCain is called a moderate. He supports state execution of criminals, banning abortion under virtually all circumstances, opposes gun regulation, etc etc. The only way he is moderate is that he opposes out-and-out torture. He's a man of immense intergrity but he's further right than IDS. Cameron would be wise to invite a Democrat next time.

I'm amused that comments are split between "Nick, you're a Tory" and "Nick, you're New Labour".

Arf Arf.

I have 3 points to make:

Firstly, I could hardly keep my eyes open listening to John McCain's speech. I found it to be incredibly dull. The only way I knew it was good was that Francis Maude pronounced that it was fantastic. I am indebted to him.

Secondly, there is a reason for the "lack of effective attacks" on Labour. After Michael Howard's campaign, it was suggested by some commentators that people disliked its negative tone. I heard it said that the Tories should have done "the vision thing". So I think we are now seeing "the vision thing". I don't expect we'll see much attacking.

Thirdly, the Tories have come up with a new analogy of building a house. You must first prepare the ground, then lay the foundation, etc. But one point that concerns me here is this. You don't buy 20 acres of farmland to build a bedsit, nor do you lay the foundations of a castle.

Certainly one should already know what one is going to build before one chooses or prepares the ground or lays the foundation. However, it does seem to me that David Cameron is refusing to give us any indication of what he plans to build. Having pronounced that the centre ground is the proper place to build, I then look to see why the centre ground is the proper place, but there seems to be no explanation. It's a vacuous pronouncement. The only justification I see is that it's new, something the Tories haven't done before, and new is good.

Okay, so you are changing. Changing into what? Building what? Don't give me all this spin and especially don't rely on slogans like "change is our greatest tradition". I couldn't care less what your tradition is or was. All I want to know is what you think you are changing into. "Oh," but you say, "they are changing into a party that cares about the environment, and the poor and the needy and the underprivileged." Ok, so they are growing a conscience. Well at least we know they won't try to build a monster, but I still don't quite know what they are building, and certainly I don't know how they plan to achieve this act of constructive wonder.

All I see are spinners. Where are the builders? Where are the blueprints? I want to pore over the plans, digest and critique them, etc. Where are they? If appealing to voters is akin to asking for planning permission, which I think is true, how on earth are we supposed to give planning permission without being given plans?

With reference to No13 above Nick I would like to point out that many in the world and in the UK look upon Hugo Chavez as leader of the free world.

I feel more then a little discomfort at so many politicians from the US taken such an active role in our affairs.You would think they run this country,come to think off it they do.Well they tell us what to do and we do it.

Why does everyone seem to think that because the average age of Tory members is over 65 this means they are irrelevant? I say this as a student as well!

I hate the way our society denigrates the elderly. Churchill saved the free world when he was a pensioner, but people here seem to have forgotten that!

Ageism in the workplace was banned on Sunday. Maybe they should make it a blanket ban?

PS - I reckon Nick is more impartial than most commentators.

What can John teach David?.Mc Cain has no memory,Cameron wishes we didn't have a memory.Black Wednesday/
John Major/Norman Lamont/Sleaze/close
~et Homosexuals choking on oranges while preaching morality/Edwina Currie/Neil Hamilton/John Trusty shield British fair play Aitken/G Archer fragrant wife[now she stays away from him at least]Need i write
anymore there is loads.David Mellor/
Sucking Toes/denying it all with the
Tory family there to add to the Hypocrisy.Mark Thatcher. giving public
enterprises away for next to nothing.

Nick you should have a caption competition for some off the pictures you show on your blog.
May I suggest a caption for the picture above...

Take it from me Senator McCain I am so far to the right I couldn`t see the centre ground even looking through that Hubble Telescope.

The notion that John McCain is "the current favorite to be the next Leader of the Free World" bespeaks a clear misreading of American politics. Perhaps Mr. Robinson has been relying a bit too heavily on the mainstream media on this side of the Atlantic. To be elected Leader of the Free World, McCain needs to win the Republican presidential nomination in 2008. This is highly unlikely to occur.

In response to point 28, no one is saying that the old age of the membership should be a factor in how you vote - yes, that would be ageist!

The reason why it is always brought up in coverage is because it indicates that the party is failing to appeal to younger people (i.e. under 35 yrs old). You, as a student, may harbour an affinity for conservatism, but I can say with certainty that the majority of young people do not and never will and the rate that the Tories slash-tax-and-leave-Europe psychosis continues.

Anthony Downing - unfortunately Abraham Lincoln, one of America's most revered Presidents, also suspended habeas corups. Nowadays it is generally looked upon as a necessary means to an end (ie union Victory). Whose to say that in 150 years time Bush wont be praised for his actions? Sad but true, I'm afraid.