Archive for the ‘Politics’ Category
Richard Nixon’s dirty dirty tricks alive and well in 2011
I’m still reading Nixonland by Rick Perlstein, initially prompted by the mention of Fox News’s Roger Ailes‘s early work as a Nixon operative. Ailes is credited with teaching Nixon how to succeed in the world of television — by bending reality, faking news events and running highly staged ‘impromptu’ candidate meetings with ‘off the cuff’ […]
Harawira: Fortune favours the brave
What do we take from ‘rebel’ MP Hone Harawira winning his by-election? … Even with a ‘slashed’ majority — from 6,000 to 867. Wait and see. Let the punditry begin. It must certainly be a victory sweetened by the decision by the Electoral Commission to register his new party, meaning he will be a ‘leader’ […]
Howick’s latest NIMBY hysteria
[NIMBY = Not in my back yard.] You may recall my post about the forces of [small-c] conservatism seeking to block an expression of Maori culture in the heart of Howick (where I live) despite support for it and an enlightened, respectful approach being taken by local Maori, their supporters and the local authority. The […]
Noted in passing
So Rep. Anthony Weiner resigned. As Jon Stewart soul jammed: “Look, Congressman, if you’re sending pictures of your penis as bait to young women who follow you on Twitter, then you’ve got to go.” Yep. Bad judgement is bad. A cover up worse. Jeff Jarvis (@jeffjarvis): Twitter didn’t do in Weiner. Sex didn’t. The coverup […]
Let me not into temptation
This book on LBJ’s succession to John F Kennedy after the assassination was an eye-opener. I’m reading Nixonland by Rick Perlstein at the same time, and I can perceive the seeds of LBJ’s and the Democrats’ destruction in the character traits and deep suspicion and disunity Steven Gillon highlights in his book. Certainly, the book […]
‘Frivolous’ Palin won’t be meeting Margaret Thatcher
Litmus test/IQ test Little Miss Polarising Sarah Palin faced a wee knock-back in her [alleged] efforts to ride The Iron Lady’s coat-tails … Margaret Thatcher to Sarah Palin: don’t bother dropping by — The Guardian, Wintour and Watt blog: It would appear that the reasons go deeper than Thatcher’s frail health. Her allies believe that […]
There’s no denying Sarah Palin is a talking point
I’ve resisted referring to Sarah Palin’s latest, umm, riff on American history, wherein she inserted words, actions, motivations and personnel into Paul Revere’s midnight ride … errr, he warned the British that ‘the British are coming’? PALIN: He who warned, uh, the British that they weren’t going to be taking away our arms uh by […]
Self-inflicted wounds
Hey. Remember my post Lying, my dear boy, just compounds the crime …? This whole ‘Congressman tweets picture of private parts’ hullaballoo proves the truth of it, huh? Oh boy. A journalist I follow on Twitter, Glenn Greenwald, asked the question: What % of those pushing the view that “any online sexual activity is newsworthy” […]
Dick Quax heir apparent no more
Final result THE full result of the Howick ward by-election for Auckland Council is: • Dick Quax (C&R): 11,600 • Maggie Burrill (Ind): 7023 • David Collings (Ind): 5393 • Penny Bright (Ind): 1491 • Wayne Young (Ind): 1349 • Ram Parkash: 1116 A total of 28,072 votes were cast, or 30.9 per cent of […]
Another unflattering profile of propagandist Roger Ailes
The next issue (June 2011) of Rolling Stone features an extensive profile of Fox News supremo Roger Ailes. The guy fascinates me — well, better said, his tactics do — it’s really good to read some hard-out comments about the lack of veracity but enormous influence of Fox News and their propaganda machine. It’s like […]
They’re playing our song (or whistle-blowing it?)
I don’t know if you’ve heard about Frank Bailey — he’s a former Sarah Palin aide who has written a ‘tell-all’ memoir of his time working for the high-profile former Governor and vice presidential candidate. Frank Bailey says he’s not bitter or being vindictive. He says writing the book Blind Allegiance to Sarah Palin: A […]
Things that aren’t supposed to be said
Following up on my post the other day about deciphering political codes, highlighting how political campaigns sometimes try to imply the unsayable (like ‘Keep Howick White’) … here’s a fantastic article by Gabriel Sherman in New York Magazine about Fox News supremo Roger Ailes dealing with unstable wunderkind Glenn Beck … which relates to the […]
Political code words: signals to the faithful
I don’t know Dick Quax personally but my daughter met him out campaigning and said “He was lovely”. The former Olympic runner is heir-apparent to FYT (fine young Tory) Jami-Lee Ross‘s super-city Auckland Council seat now that Jami-Lee has begun his sentence term as National Member of Parliament for Botany following Pansy Wong’s resignation under […]
Don Brash’s ACT will cannibalise National
I like (agree with) John Armstong’s analysis of the nothing-if-not-brazen Don Brash takeover of ACT. And I agree with his take on whose political problem his ascendancy is… “With Labour down to its core support, the only source where Brash can realistically pick up votes is from National”. Yup. Ruthless Brash now National’s problem … […]
Richard Griffin: charisma and connections
Congratulations to my old boss ‘Silver fox’ Richard Griffin on his appointment as chair of Radio NZ’s board. A bunch of critical people are acting as if they can already read his mind. We’ll see. And then there’s this from John Drinnan’s piece: Griffin is well known in political and media circles with close friends including […]
