I love England. The country that gave us Shakespeare and Coleridge, bangers and mash, Kajagoogoo and Wham! has a special place in my heart. Even today, England's contributions to American pop culture are immense; Gordon Ramsay has graced us his culinary skills and warned us of the perils of creating 'fucking dogshit' in the kitchen. Jo Frost, the Supernanny, has taught us how to raise our children without beating or drugging them, and Simon Cowell has given us William Hung and a few others that I cannot at this time recall.
However, perhaps the greatest lesson learned from our brothers and sisters across the pond is how the Labour Party, embarrassed by the antics of one of their own, expelled George Galloway from the House of Commons. Lord Galloway, much like Congressman Joe Wilson, made disparaging comments from the floor, called out his rivals by making outrageous accusations and astonishing statements.
Galloway's public smackdowns of Presidents and Prime Ministers makes Joe Wilson look like a boy scout. In 1994 while debating Alex Salmond, leader of the Scottish National Party, he casually responded to a question with "I don't give a fuck what Tony Blair thinks." During the Iraq War he quipped "the best thing British troops can do is to refuse to obey illegal orders." He had the nerve to testify to Congress that he'd met Saddam Hussein
"exactly the same number of times as U.S. Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld met him. The difference is Donald Rumsfeld met him to sell him guns... I met him to try to bring about an end to sanctions, suffering and war."
I have fond memories of the day I stood in Hyde Park and watched him refer to Blair and Bush as "two cheeks of the same arse."
Gorgeous George is a man whom, like Congressman Wilson, can admit when he has misspoken. After making the statement,
"No wolf would commit the sort of crimes against humanity that George Bush committed against the people of Iraq,"
George too issued a statement of apology. On June 20, 2003, a sincere Galloway said that his words "defamed wolves."
October 23, 2003 is a day that will forever live in infamy. It was on this day that the National Constitutional Committee found Lord Galloway guilty of bringing the Labour party into disrepute. Galloway was expelled, but not before he called the proceedings "a kangaroo court".
I love England and I love George Galloway. I am also partial to Barack Obama, and if the Labour party found it in their hearts to evict George Galloway, surely the GOP can find it in that place where their hearts should be to evict Joe Wilson from Congress.