Hard News by Russell Brown

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Hard News: Weekend Warriors

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  • Leopold,

    "Gang-rape" is the new "Criticism"?

    Since Jan 2007 • 153 posts Report Reply

  • Craig Ranapia,

    In her Herald on Sunday column, Deborah Coddington essentially apologises for the hurt her notorious Asian Angst story caused

    I'm not even willing to give her that much credit. Essentially, even without the "gang rape" fuckwittery, it was the same old passive-agressive voice "I'm so sorry you're offended" drivel that's become a staple of PR spin.

    She appears to be exactly the kind of person the world doesn't need in the White House: a religious zealot prone to abuse of executive power, and in the pocket of extraction industries. We should dread to think how that "doctrine" might read.

    Well, the point is you don't really know what the hell Palin thinks about any substantive policy area -- and I'm pretty sure that's exactly how the McCain campaign wants it:

    Rick Davis, campaign manager for John McCain's presidential bid, insisted that the presidential race will be decided more over personalities than issues during an interview with Post editors this morning.

    "This election is not about issues," said Davis. "This election is about a composite view of what people take away from these candidates."

    That's the real Palin Doctrine. And I find it amusing that the same O'Sullivan who blasted John Key as "Helen Clark in drag" a few weeks ago is holding up this empty pant suit as any kind of role model.

    North Shore, Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 12370 posts Report Reply

  • Tze Ming Mok,

    Oh, I was totally just ready to pop in with a short guest post out of retirement, because I was just so goddam provoked like the weakling I am. I'll just keep my comments here...

    Firstly, politicians and journalists who feel a bit persecuted as a result of their own stupid actions should really just STFU with the "media rape" talk. It insults real survivors of rape and it makes them look deluded.

    You may notice the ironic online sidebar to the Coddington article, actually referring to Winston Peters: 'related nzherald links: John Armstrong: When all else fails, play the victim card.'

    I can't tell from Coddington's 'apology' article which category I fall under - the offended community members to whom she is apologising? Or the sadistic media bandwagon gang-rapists who will never be happy, because you offended them again by calling them gang-rapists? Keith and Charles Mabbett, who were at the panel session Coddington writes of, are in the same boat. We all had a hand in the media responses *and* the actual complaints. Keith is now working for his very own [Redacted Place] so perhaps cannot inform us whether Coddington greeted him at the panel discussion with a cheery "Sorry, ya Chinky rapist." It would be interesting to hear about the context.

    It'd also be nice to be gracious at this point, as Coddington clearly thinks she is being gracious (rather than deluded and self-serving). "I wish I'd never written that article..." she writes plaintively. The reason? "...because I unwittingly pressed a button which unleashed the toxic nature of this country." Okay then. Good.

    Wait a minute.

    New Zealanders prefer to abuse, either anonymously on selected blogsites, talkback radio or via email those they may never have met, but harbour a visceral hatred of. It is, indeed, their right and I have to take it on the chin...

    Oh. I see. She's sorry that she unleashed an orgy of hatred... directed against her! Not against Asians! No wonder she's sorry. She should have just said: "I wish I'd never written that article...Because I didn't get away with it."

    It's hard to get all the way through a Coddington column, but the last line is worth quoting:

    "...do haters have no soul?"

    Dude, emo.

    Coddington's plaintive, rained-on-kitten call for media sanity and kumbayahs all round is part of a broader murmur I'm hearing from abroad - that this election is shaping up 'dirty'. Secret taping, leaks, media 'pack-rapes', sabotage of billboard grammar... You know what? This is fine by me.

    Last election was dirty because politicians were targeting vulnerable sections of the population. Maori. Immigrants. Solo mothers. Somehow, amazingly, it didn't work. So this time around, they're beating up each other instead. Well and good; just leave the people be.

    SarfBank, Lunnin' • Since Nov 2006 • 154 posts Report Reply

  • dc_red,

    Leopold, indeed ...


    Richard Boock
    points out in another very thoughtful contribution article a 'deep irony' in the fact that many of those who whinge loudest about alleged political correctness are also the most likely to take exaggerated offence to criticism, even when it is reasonably polite and professionally-argued.

    [aside]fucking cry-babies[/aside]

    [Fran] offers an idiom previously unknown to the english language

    A lovely mixed metaphor? I presume she was searching for "high-tailing it back" but got distracted by "tail wagging the dog" (tired cliche to be used in next week's froth against MMP, no doubt).

    Oil Patch, Alberta • Since Nov 2006 • 706 posts Report Reply

  • giovanni tiso,

    Last election was dirty because politicians were targeting vulnerable sections of the population. Maori. Immigrants. Solo mothers. Somehow, amazingly, it didn't work.

    You meant to write that it did work, but wasn't enough to put National over the top, didn't you? Because I can't quite think of a more successful and game-changing piece of bashing as Orewa the first.

    Wellington • Since Jun 2007 • 7473 posts Report Reply

  • Tze Ming Mok,

    it did work, but wasn't enough to put National over the top

    Indeed. It did work, but didn't work enough. And so, the game has changed back - I hope. I guess we'll see...

    SarfBank, Lunnin' • Since Nov 2006 • 154 posts Report Reply

  • Craig Ranapia,

    You meant to write that it did work, but wasn't enough to put National over the top, didn't you? Because I can't quite think of a more successful and game-changing piece of bashing as Orewa the first.

    Meh... I don't really want to relitigate the '05 election, but let's not pretend Labour was exactly a bullshit-free zone. After Shane Jones' performance on Agenda this week, it sure looks like the 'wreckers and haters" cudgel never got put away.

    North Shore, Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 12370 posts Report Reply

  • Lyndon Hood,

    I understood the press council complaint was about breaches of professional standards.

    Rather than, like, being offended.

    Wellington • Since Nov 2006 • 1115 posts Report Reply

  • Jeremy Eade,

    "New Zealanders prefer to abuse, either anonymously on selected blogsites, talkback radio or via email those they may never have met.."
    whilst i prefer the to do it from the comforts of my paid columns

    Does Deborah ever read her own work.?An incredible plea for victim status from someone who quite honestly just shouldn't be encouraged to write.


    ..as for Fran she is obviously privy to some interesting high level business dialogue and when she reflects on this she is quite readable
    but Sarah Palin is an appalling choice for vp and anyone who can't do the basic vetting of her and realise the 'karl roveist' placing of her in this us election just shouldn't be writing about politics.

    auckland • Since Mar 2008 • 1112 posts Report Reply

  • giovanni tiso,

    Meh... I don't really want to relitigate the '05 election, but let's not pretend Labour was exactly a bullshit-free zone.

    I didn't mean to suggest otherwise, to the contrary, Orewa led (and it should be no excuse) to Labour doing some spectacular bashing of its own. Bipartisan whack-a-maori, it was truly something to behold there for a while. I thought I might seize some land myself, it was so popular.

    Wellington • Since Jun 2007 • 7473 posts Report Reply

  • Russell Brown,

    ..as for Fran she is obviously privy to some interesting high level business dialogue and when she reflects on this she is quite readable

    She can be great when she's doing that -- she gets the inside word.

    But this week's effort was so far off.

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 22850 posts Report Reply

  • Jake Pollock,

    I though Walsh's metaphor had a touch of the 'tail between its legs' to it myself. Not to mention some consonance with 'to dove tail'. A neat little eggcorn, if ever there was one.

    Raumati South • Since Nov 2006 • 489 posts Report Reply

  • dc_red,

    Given the title of this post, RB, a brief nod in the direction of the Warriors, and their achievement this last weekend, might have been in order!? ;-)

    Oil Patch, Alberta • Since Nov 2006 • 706 posts Report Reply

  • Craig Ranapia,

    but Sarah Palin is an appalling choice for vp and anyone who can't do the basic vetting of her and realise the 'karl roveist' placing of her in this us election just shouldn't be writing about politics.

    Indeed, and if McCain really wanted (to be crude about it) a twat to trump the nigger on the other side, Palin was the best he could do? Apart from being insufficiently ideologically rigid on on abortion (and even there more in form than substance), Senator Kay Bailey Hutchinston -- who was reported on the longlist for a while -- ticks all the conservative boxes. I don't expect her politics to be applauded around these parts, but she's at least got some form.

    North Shore, Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 12370 posts Report Reply

  • Mark Harris,

    but if the public service is going to stage a talking shop about journalists' work, it should bloody well invite some journalists along.

    I wasn't there, but Simon Pound was, and he'll be preparing a report for Media7.

    Is that tacit acknowledgement that Simon isn't really a journalist ? :^)

    Waikanae • Since Jul 2008 • 1343 posts Report Reply

  • LegBreak,

    Given the title of this post, RB, a brief nod in the direction of the Warriors, and their achievement this last weekend, might have been in order!? ;-)

    Lol; so that would be finishing bang middle of a 15-team competition then?

    And staring at a thrashing next week…

    Wellington • Since Nov 2006 • 1162 posts Report Reply

  • Russell Brown,

    Is that tacit acknowledgement that Simon isn't really a journalist ? :^)

    Snark! No, it means he's reporting on the encounter between the journalists and the public servants.

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 22850 posts Report Reply

  • Graeme Edgeler,

    That passage labours under a syntax that would stop the heart of a horse, it offers an idiom previously unknown to the english language

    It's interesting that you reference is now the sole one before the:

    In order to show you the most relevant results, we have omitted some entries very similar to the 1 already displayed.
    If you like, you can repeat the search with the omitted results included.

    message.

    this empty pant suit

    Mostly, I thought she'd been wearing skirts - though I haven't been giving it my absolute attention...

    Wellington, New Zealand • Since Nov 2006 • 3215 posts Report Reply

  • dc_red,

    That'd be 16 teams, Leggie ... unless you're deliberated omitting the Bulldogs?

    Oil Patch, Alberta • Since Nov 2006 • 706 posts Report Reply

  • Emma Hart,

    describing herself as having been subject to "the media equivalent of gang rape" by "sadists"

    It's morning, so I'm not very articulate, but Emma Angry!

    I was going to be all sarcastically supportive, but she doesn't even rank that. This is like assaulting someone and then complaining that your trial and conviction was horribly traumatic.

    Does she wake up screaming in the night reliving her gang rape? Is she scared to go out in case she meets her victimisers? Does she get sweaty palms every time she walks past a shrubbery in case a regulatory body leaps out and attacks her? Perhaps she should pop down to her nearest Women's Refuge and tell everybody about the terrible trauma she's suffered.

    Meanwhile I'm ordering her a Get Some Fucking Perspective sandwich.

    Christchurch • Since Nov 2006 • 4651 posts Report Reply

  • Craig Ranapia,

    Meanwhile I'm ordering her a Get Some Fucking Perspective sandwich.

    And may I recommend for Madame, a tall frothy fuckupachino to accompany her entree, with a steaming hot helping of crow and humble pie to round out the dining experience? :)

    Meanwhile, I'd love to see Fran O'Sullivan's views on the Palin Doctrine of Economic Management:

    The biggest project that Sarah Palin undertook as mayor of this small town was an indoor sports complex, where locals played hockey, soccer, and basketball, especially during the long, dark Alaskan winters.

    The only catch was that the city began building roads and installing utilities for the project before it had unchallenged title to the land. The misstep led to years of litigation and at least $1.3 million in extra costs for a small municipality with a small budget. What was to be Ms. Palin's legacy has turned into a financial mess that continues to plague Wasilla.

    "It's too bad that the city of Wasilla didn't do their homework and secure the land before they began construction," said Kathy Wells, a longtime activist here. "She was not your ceremonial mayor; she was in charge of running the city. So it was her job to make sure things were done correctly."

    And Palin's credibility as a fiscal conservative is zero.

    Now what the fuck does John Key have to learn from Sarah Palin again, Fran?

    North Shore, Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 12370 posts Report Reply

  • Kyle Matthews,

    In Palin, the Republicans have their own smiling assassin who adds authenticity to the view that, as a result of the surge, US troops in Iraq have now brought victory in sight.

    I read this three times. How does choosing Palin as a VP candidate add authenticity to the view that victory is in sight in Iraq? Shouldn't you look at, y'know, Iraq to figure that out, not US domestic politics?

    This telling family story underlines, in a way that Obama cannot, that Palin is a heartland American, one of the many small-town parents who have farewelled loved ones to fight our wars, following in the tracks of her running mate John McCain in Vietnam.

    Wait, we're picking on Obama now for his kids being too young to serve in anything other than a school play? Kay...

    Since Nov 2006 • 6243 posts Report Reply

  • Russell Brown,

    How does choosing Palin as a VP candidate add authenticity to the view that victory is in sight in Iraq?

    It doesn't.

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 22850 posts Report Reply

  • Robyn Gallagher,

    Coddington seems genuinely surprised that her article was read by real people who had real reactions to it. Surely she's not so naive as to still be operating in a time where the only feedback an article got were the carefully vetted letters to the editor?

    Since Nov 2006 • 1946 posts Report Reply

  • Russell Brown,

    And Palin's credibility as a fiscal conservative is zero.

    Oh cool. I heard the Alaska Dems' vetting documents on Palin were good, but I hadn't had time to go through them.

    He has a killer last line:

    In so many ways, Palin is a contemporary Republican: no abortions ever but mounds and mounds and mounds of debt for the next generation.

    But it does no good for we Sullivan-reading types to know this. The Obama campaign has to make this an issue in a very blunt way.

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 22850 posts Report Reply

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