First off, let me declare two things: 1) The family and I have arrived safely back home in the USA. 2) I don't quite understand how British politics works.
Last night the three party leaders in Great Britain were having a second debate on live TV. During the course of the debate Nick Clegg (leader of a 3rd political party know as the Liberal Democrats) accused one of his opponents (David Cameron, Conservative Party) of aligning himself with "nutters, anti-Semites, people who deny climate change exists and homophobes."
Right after Clegg uttered these words, Beth and I turned to each other (we were obviously watching the debate) mouths agape. It sounded to us that Nick Clegg had just accused the European Union of being nutters.
In actuality, it seems, he was only accusing certain parties within the European Parliament of being nutters. For instance, the late Polish President, Lech Kaczynski's, political party. Kaczynski had (in his term as Mayor of Warsaw) banned gay pride marches.
The interesting thing to Beth and I is that there was very little outrage about the comment that Clegg made. Had Clegg made that comment regarding an American politician, he likely would have been sued for slander (or libel - I forget which is written and which is spoken).
I'm still acclimating to European politics. Any other thoughts on how an American politician would respond to such an accusation?
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