Posts Tagged ‘debate’
Hollaback girl Fran O’Sullivan
I generally like business writer Fran O’Sullivan’s work, which can be wide-ranging and interesting and often evinces a robust, seen-it-all-before, how-stupid-do-they-think-we-are? tone. Fran doesn’t often mince words (except for when she does) and she gets points in my book for taking a position, and saying what she thinks — or how the landscape looks from [...]
Justifying the dodgy
Mitt Romney seems to be indulging in the “I hit him first but it wuz self defence because I could see he was gunna hit me” justification I expect of a six year old. After reportedly outspending Gingrich five-to-one with ads that were overwhelmingly negative, and explaining his philosophy as “when you’re attacked you’ve got [...]
Matthew Hooton and the exquisite agony of being a paid shill
I’ve referred to spin doctor Matthew Hooton before — I positively delight in the shabby transparency of his gums-for-hire faux agitprop and the way he marshals an argument. He’s almost always accessible, usually very much in control of himself, except when overtaken by passion or appetite of some sort, and well, I find him just [...]
Media neutrality vs being truthful
We’ve talked before about my distinction (not just mine!) between being ‘impartial‘ (or big O objective) versus being FAIR — which I (naively?) primarily define as telling the truth. Some partisans (who shall remain charitably nameless lest we upset their finely-balanced narcotic calm) seem to me to frequently stoop to spinning half-truths or outright lies [...]
Whacking ‘da media’ media is a simple formula
Following the upset win in South Carolina, TIME magazine on Newt Gingrinch’s strategy: For Gingrich, this was not just a victory but also a validation. When his staff ditched him last summer amid an imbroglio over the campaign’s direction, Gingrich committed to running a lean, nimble operation that relied heavily on free media (he had [...]
Hitchens on Clinton
He’ll say anything. He’ll try anything. He’s a complete solipsist and completely without scruple. Christopher Hitchens RIP
Wishful thinking about MMP. From both sides of the debate.
Predictable comments after the MMP referendum result, I guess. What caught my eye about this piece from Radio New Zealand is that it’s basically a platform for Jordan Williams to kvetch about how unfair it all was. His point, shared by his rabbit shooting buddies, appears to be that the anti-MMP debate was ‘lost’ because [...]
Grumpies’ solution for the economy
This was emailed to me. Here it is, without endorsement or criticism, warts and all (although I think it’s a cut-and-paste. What ‘motor industry’?): ==START QUOTE== Dear John Key and Bill English, Please find below our suggestion for fixing New Zealand’s economy. Instead of giving billions of dollars to the banks, Iwi’s and others to [...]
Thin-skinned media critic Cameron Slater spits dummy
Oops, I did it again. I briefly engaged in a Twitter conversation with ‘Whale Oil’ right wing attack blogger Cameron Slater, provoked by his stream of increasingly hysterical and accusatory rants against the Herald on Sunday about the bugged cup of tea … Starting about 9.40 this morning the National Party’s [avowedly] unguided missile, lap [...]
