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Well …Robert Spencer IS part of the panel in ABC’s town hall debate on Islam aired on Sunday -- and moderated by Christiane Amanpour. No, ABC News didn't try to keep him out of the debate, as EH had thought!!!

See this firey town hall debate here:

http://abcnews.go.com/thisweek

So, how did Guru Bob do in the debate?

Will watch later - looking forward to it.

Cheers,
Shafique

shafique wrote:So, how did Guru Bob do in the debate?

Will watch later - looking forward to it.

Cheers,
Shafique

I haven't see the whole debate. I have it recorded and will watch it later when I have the time. Seen only the first few minutes of it. The participants appear to be heavy weights... and it looks like it's going to be an "entertaining hour!"

Looking forward to seeing it.

Cheers Shaf,

Tom

Transcript is here:
http://abcnews.go.com/ThisWeek/week-tra ... d=11786745

I've watched the intro and first 10 mins or so, then read through the transcript. Nothing too enlightening on either side, if you ask me. My feeling is that each side will think they did well in it - but I think the moderates scored more points (but I'm biased, obviously).

Reza Aslan does get into it a little bit with Spencer, and says he's famous.. , but it is a peripheral bit right near the end.

Cheers,
Shafique

I watched the whole thing and as expected nothing really ground breaking but the most sensible thing said in the whole debate for me and which applies or should atleast be applied universally and of all faiths is when O'Connor said

"I believe that in this nation we hold people accountable for crimes after they commit and never, never before."

And as for Eh\s Guru he was rightly put into his place and really could not help himself look the fool with his rethoric. The Rev no matter how misinformed atleast put up some what of a resonable discussion.

Maybe ol spence and pam should look and learn that every TV oppurtunity they get is not to splurt out as much of and as quickly as possible of their blog articles and imaginary statistics, most of the time actually ignoring or disregarding what is being asked or questioned. a trend I've noticed with both.

^Pam does like to say 'Hamas linked CAIR' as many times in a minute as she can. The irony is that the tenous argument is so flimsy, that I feel like pointing out Israel's involvment in the creation of Hamas - when they supported Islamic groups as a foil to the secular PLO - but the irony would be lost on Pam.

I do have a sneaky admiration for their spin though - 'Islamist supremacist mosque at Ground Zero' is a great turn of phrase.

Back to the programme - I also liked the quip about Graham and Choudhary going for a cup of coffee! Kudos to ABC for showing a Muslim nutjob for completeness.

Cheers,
Shafique

Yeah that guy was something wasn't he. I heard a thud when he came on, later I reaslised it was the sound of my jaw dropping to the floor !

Oh but what was even funnier was the looks of joy on the panel to right when he came on, like a sigh of relief. Probally think aw right now we got this puppy. And instantly every one went see see this is what weve been talking about !

In a way, I'm glad these guys get some airing - so that they can be tackled head on.

His credentials are as impressive as Spencer's:

...
Is Choudary an Islamic scholar whose views merit attention or consideration? No. Has he studied under leading Islamic scholars? Nope. Does he have any Islamic qualifications or credentials? None whatsoever. So what gives him the right to pontificate on Islam, British Muslims or "the hellfire"? Or proclaim himself a "sharia judge"? Will he even manage to round up enough misfits to carry the 500 coffins with him? I doubt it – Choudary and co couldn't even persuade enough people to join a "march for sharia" that they had proudly planned to hold in central London in late October, and, at the very last minute, had to humiliatingly withdraw from their own rally. Pathetic, eh?

The fact is that Choudary is as unrepresentative of British Muslim opinion, as he is of British anti-war opinion
..

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree ... on-bassett