04 Nov 2004 Ed Haislmaier: Simple Elections

Ed Haislmaier comments on my silly international coverage post:

Here’s another silly international coverage example for you:

China’s communist rulers are not particularly fond of elections — the results are just so unpredictable.

In their opinion, international relations would be much simpler if we did not have to choose a new leader every few years. In China, of course, it is much more simple.

– Rupert Wingfield Hayes, BBC Beijing correspondent, How World Sees Bush Victory

Well, I do give him points for honesty. I also appreciate the British flair for understatement deployed in the phrase, “not particularly fond of elections” (I’m envisioning that famous picture of the pro-democracy protestor confronting the tank in Tiananmen Square). However, given the left-wing tilt of “the Beeb” I wonder if he was just trying to tweak his editors.