Way to Go, George!

Nope, not Dubya, but George Galloway yesterday, in his appearance before US senators to dismiss allegations he profited from oil dealings with Saddam Hussein.

The BBC has a recording of the complete hearing. And the Daily Kos has the transcript of his opening statement.

A masterful performance. Staring straight at Senator Coleman, and without notes, Galloway absolutely skewers the committee with his opening statement. The resulting cross-examination never really recovers from this opening blast (how could it – the allegations are, as Galloway says, "utterly preposterous"). I wish that there had been some video of senator Coleman’s face – I bet it would have been rather like a rabbit caught in car headlights.

While I don’t necessarily agree with Galloway’s politics, he is not the bogeyman that the media would like him to be. And on the strength of this performance, the knockabout politics of the Mother of Parliaments is more than a match for the milquetoast mewlings of the US system.