Galloway admits he sold his soul

Calm and methodical in his questioning, Committee Chair of the Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations Senator Norm Coleman (left) has the upper hand as studiedly hysterical anti-Bush Brit George Galloway tries to change the subject with groundless accusations against his accusers during Oil-for-Food hearings this morning and afternoon.

"I gave my heart and soul to try to save the Iraqis who were dying because of the sanctions," keens an unspeakably rude and puerile and pompous British MP George Galloway in a classic Marcusian "fiction is truth" inversion offense during Norm Coleman's Oil-for-Food Committee hearing. Rough live transcription:

I gave my heart and soul to stop you committing the disaster that you did commit in invading iraq, and I told the world that your argument for invading iraq was a big pack of lies. I turned out to be right, and you turned out to be wrong. If the world had listened to Kofi Annan . . .  to Jacques Chirac . . . to me and the anti-war movement, none of this would have happened.  This is the mother of all smokescreens.  You are trying to divert attention from the crimes that you have committed. Have a look at Halliburton . . . the oil that you didn't even meter, that you were shipping out of the country and went who knows where . . . The real sanctions were your own corporations backed by your government.

Unfortunately, little of the hearing is available to us live, as the cables -- even FOXNews -- go live only when things "heat up," giving the advantage to the Brit's hot-headed performance. His rabidly anti-Bush soundbites will be manna for the gaping media maw in the coming news cycles. Presumably that's Galloway's strategy, but we have a gut feeling the truth will out. We won the Revolutionary War fergossake.  This shouldn't be so hard. Coleman gives the impression of a skilled fisherman letting a barracuda on the line wear itself out thrashing before the fisherman effortlessly reels him in.  Galloway will make a lovely trophy on the wall behind Norm Coleman's desk.

Here's a little background on the dynamics of this historic encounter from the Telegram:

Room 106 of the Senate's Dirksen Building provides the setting today for a clash of two very different political cultures: the grand and slightly ponderous tradition of Capitol Hill and the more demotic, quickfire approach of the new MP for Bethnal Green and Bow.

Advisers to Senator Norm Coleman, the Republican chairing today's hearing, confidently predicted that Mr Galloway was in for a surprise.

"He will be grilled as never before," said one aide. "He won't be able to turn it into some sort of circus. This is deadly serious and he will be called to account."

'Can't wait to sit back and savor it all uninterrupted later on during C-Span re-runs.

Update:  This guy is smooth.  In an on-the-spot post-hearing interview with CNN's Richard Roth, Galloway preps his interviewer with the proper spin :

I think the British parliamentary system won . . . I think I embarrassed Senator Norm Coleman, [but beyond that], I hope I reached a broader public with my broader case.

Roth, a bedfellow who covers the UN for CNN, is lapping it up.

Update II:  Happiness is a warm InstaLanche.

Update III:  Lucianne, the mother of all lanches.

Comments

[anonymous]

Your commentary was so cockeyed I could not bare the thought of your waiting for C-Span’s coverage :-) Therefore, here is the BBC’s coverage instead:

realplayer
http://news.bbc.co.uk/media/avdb/news_web/video/9012da68000cfe0/bb/09012da68000d153_bb_16x9.ram
windows media player
http://news.bbc.co.uk/media/avdb/news_web/video/9012da68000cfe0/bb/09012da68000d153_bb_16x9.asx

[Sissy Willis]

Bare your soul if you must, anonymous, but when it comes to thought, you must bear or not bear.

[jacob]

I just watched a video and Galloway came off as credible, passionate and truth telling. He handed Coleman his ass on a platter.

He essentially called Coleman out as a liar, someone cavalier with truth and wrong about everything having to do with Iraq.

I'd say Galloway won and Coleman far from being calm and methodical was overmatched.

jacob

[goomp]

Liberal Morons choose not to reveal their identity. Who can blame them?

[Brian Carnell]

Your entire post is largely FUD, and the headline outrageous. I can't stand Galloway, but where is the evidence that he profited from Oil-for-Food. You label him "smooth", etc., but don't given any actual evidence that Galloway is wrong in his claim that he didn't take oil-for-food money. Reads like something I'd see on Daily Kos.

[papertiger]

The beeb? Have the Americans reached Baghdad Airport yet?

[dougf]

Hey, I despise George Galloway.I frankly would cheer should he fall under a bus,but he put on a fine show today and did indeed hand Coleman his a**,many times over.
Coleman was pathetic as were the rest of the fearless committee members,and Galloway obliterated them.Utterly.

It was a truly asinine idea to invite this worthless demagogue to spout his pro-Saddam propaganda for all to hear.Had Coleman bothered to read this monster's history,he would have avoided him like the plague.This is Coleman's fault.Period.

Galloway probably NEVER took money from the Baathist tyrants.They did not need to pay him off;he works for free in the service of his unholy idols.
What a SAD performance by the US Senate.

[Sissy Willis]

Sounds like you bought the spin, dougf. I saw the small bit so far broadcast and went with my gut.

[Syl]

Galloway claimed he never bought a barrel of oil, never sold a barrel of oil, and nobody bought or sold any barrels of oil for him.

Cute. It was oil options, not barrels of oil, that Galloway made profits on. He must think American capitalists are stupid. LOL

[Josh]

Galloway is getting high off his own ego. There's only one direction to go from there.

[Tim Shell]

Glib; outwardly charming; bloated sense of self-worth; a refusal to acknowledge even the possibility that you did something wrong; responding to any accusation with a counter-accusation: Aren't these the characteristics of psychopath?

[Cosmo]

Someone at today's hearings (apparently, Coleman wasn't up to it) needed to remind Galloway that the subject of the hearing was not his delusional verdict on the war in Iraq, but the largest financial scandal in human history, run under the watch of people he claims we should have heeded before going into Iraq -- people who were by and large bribed to disagree with us.

His use of the phrase "mother of all smokescreens" was telling. Now, from whom did we first hear this figure of speech?

[Heartless]

Reads like something I'd see on Daily Kos.
And I thought Michelle Malkin had vile things said about her.

[Mr.Kurtz]

Today's Lord Haw Haw?

Sissy; bear of the day (permalink) up at: http://mrkurtzsneighborhood.typepad.com/mr_kurtzs_neighborhood/2005/05/does_a_bear.html

[dougf]

Sounds like you bought the spin, dougf. I saw the small bit so far broadcast and went with my gut.--SW

Would that I be proved wrong,but it is telling that FOX dropped coverage of this fiasco very soon after its inception and never really went back,whereas CNN had Galloway up the proverbial wazoo.Just saying.
And he might well be a psycopath as someone has mentioned but so what.His political career indicates that he is a tenacious,vicious,determined, and successful psycopath.
Inviting this red-fascist to show off his verbal gymnastics was a foolish thing to do if you were not willing to get down and dirty from the opening bell.There was not one Senator who was more than a decoration on the wall while Galloway ranted on.
With all respect,I suggest that your gut got the better of you on this occasion.
That Galloway 'ruled' today was sickening.My real annoyance is that Coleman was such a dweeb in the face of this propaganda effort.He should have slapped him upside the head,and got down in the trenches.

[aodhan]

I watched the whole thing from a CSPAN web feed. Galloway came across pretty well, in that Coleman couldn't prove that Galloway had /personally/ profited by selling oil.

However, Galloway ranted through the whole thing rather than acting with a clear conscience. Levin nailed him twice, no three times:

- Galloway said that he knew nothing of the business dealings of one of his closest associates, the man he put in charge of his life's work ( the charity he started ). Like we're supposed to believe that.

- Galloway admitted that he saw nothing wrong with this same associate making profit off of a sanctions program that Galloway himself saw as immoral.

- Galloway also admitted there was nothing wrong with his close associate defying international law, and the international community in order to make a personal profit. Then where does this ass come across telling /us/ what's right and wrong?

Two other points. Galloway's dossier was a meaningless prop that he said proved that Saddam had no worse enemy than Galloway. Almost immediately after making that statement, Galloway excoriated the US for removing Saddam. How exactly does Galloway intend to hold credibility with /that/ position? Either he is Saddam's worst enemy and is happy Saddam is gone, or he is a Saddam supporter and hates the fact that he was removed.

Finally, in the end, it was clear that Galloway received money from illicit oil deals from his close associate to his campaigns and his charity.

I give Galloway credit for blowing smoke over the whole investigation and rattling Coleman. However, he may regret coming and speaking under oath without counsel.

[Tim O.]

Wow, still nothing on your blog about the Downing Street Memo! Have you even heard about it. I know George wants to ignore it but why aren't you trolls disavowing it with every fiber of your being?

[jacob]

Glib; outwardly charming; bloated sense of self-worth; a refusal to acknowledge even the possibility that you did something wrong; responding to any accusation with a counter-accusation: Aren't these the characteristics of psychopath?

A prefect description of George Bush (aside from being glib of course).

jacob

[andophiroxia]

So jacob defends his position by deflecting the main point back on George Bush.

[jacob]

No, I have no position other than in my opinion Galloway was impressive. As far as deflecting to George, I thought the description was appropriate in describing the president.

jacob

[Tim Shell]

"A prefect description of George Bush (aside from being glib of course).

jacob"

Pretty delusional there, Jacob. Bush has never cultivated a glib, charming persona. He is a recovering alcoholic, which requires admitting you were on the wrong path and changing your ways; so he can admit he did something wrong. It also requires accepting that you are vulnerable, which requires modesty; this modesty along with Bush's ability to laugh at himself and times, shows he does not have a bloated sense of self-worth. And when has he ever responded to an accusation by accusing the accuser?

[jacob]

Tim, delusional you say. Are we speaking about the same GW.

Most alcoholics are liars in some way. I can't see GW has moved to far from that. He said it himself in debates he wouldn't change a thing - he didn't see where anything he did was wrong or needed changing.

We all would have been better off if he were still hitting the sauce.

jacob

[DALE TRYON]

It sounds mas if old jacob has been hitting the sauce regularly. I never heard such blather since Dan Rather was effectively removed fron public view

[CAROLINE]

Thanks Dale - most intelligent post here. I have to add to Dan Rather if i may... Jason Eason of CNN with his false report of military targeting journalists story,(he's gone now) Mary Mapes the fraudulent producer who worked for FIVE years on the Bush National Guard story and took bloggers 3hours to crush (she's gone now) Ward Churchill the PROFESSOR who claims 9/11 victims deserved what they got, L Stewart LAWYER found guilty of passing information to terrorists (will be jailed)and now historically Isikoff from WEAKNEWS has gone to new lengths and people are dead.
These are facts - unlike Predident Bush being a recovering alcholic.

[jacob]

I'd have to be drinking a lot more than I do to swallow what this administration is selling.

As for all that stuff Carolin mentions - Rather's story was never challenged on facts - everybody knows bush's father jumped him over the list to get him into the Guard and then he didn't fulfill his duty.

So there you have it a a recovering alcoholic who has never met an oil man he didn't like (holds hands with them he does) has for the first time caused this country to be an aggressor and on lies and false pretenses and thinks G-d talks to him.

Great thanks for making this jackass our president.