Gordon Brown Victim of Open-Mic Syndrome

Gordon Brown's "gaffe" - calling an nice old lady "a sort of bigoted woman" - is too funny. It underlines the knee-jerk reaction of all liberals that anyone who expresses concerns about changing demographics can be dismissed as a bigot. U.S. Republican politicians ought to be emphasizing this themselves on the campaign stump preemptively - fat chance!

I particularly enjoy Brown's comeuppance as I witnessed Brown in all his glory a few years back. I was in Glasgow on a short trip and, having some time to kill, went on a stroll through the city. I saw some hubbub on one of the cobblestone pedestrian walking fares so went to have a look. There was a bus with a big "Hope Not Hate" banner on it, and a man was being introduced named Gordon Brown. He was Finance Minister at the time, I believe, and Blair's anointed successor, but the complete lack of security had me second guessing his identity, but when I got back home I verified it was he. (I blogged about it at the time here.)

He went on to deliver a fiery condemnation of "Hate" to a mildly appreciative crowd (there was smattering of forced woo-hoos). I soon moved on, puzzled by the need for such a full-frontal assault on bigotry in a town nearly all white and where the few non-whites seemed to so effortlessly flow in and among the towns British residents. But apparently this is a bit of an obsession of ol' Gord's. It has come back to bite him.