‘Explosive’ is one of those words that gets kicked around in politics and political reporting to the point where it’s almost lost its meaning.
But it’s not an exaggeration to describe right wing spin doctor and self-declared National Party loyalist Matthew Hooton‘s performance on RadioLIVE this morning as incendiary. He effectively called Prime Minister John Key ‘dishonest’, said the PM’s office and chief of staff Wayne Eagleson is implicated in the Dirty Tricks scandal (viz. the SIS-Goff-OIA affair) and more, described Jason Ede’s black-ops brigade as ‘acting under orders’.
And in a fiery exchange, he described former National Party President (and present-day apologist) Michelle Boag as ‘a hack’ with ‘no political views’ who is ‘all about is defending a government that has behaved in ways that [are] literally indefensible and you know it’ …
Listen for yourself.
UPDATE: The ‘fiery exchange’ has now been highlighted as a RadioLIVE editor’s audio pick here.
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Available on demand at RadioLIVE.co.nz dial up Sunday 10am.*
Click to listen at Radio LIVE (archived below)
* I’ve archived it here too (audio player below) because RadioLIVE only keeps 7 days audio available and I’ve noticed sometimes Mediaworks launders its talkback station’s audio feed when things get … contentious.
Mark Sainsbury hosts ‘Sunday morning’ at RadioLIVE with guests Michelle Boag, Mike Williams, Matthew Hooton & Duncan Garner 31 Aug 2014
MP3 file
– P
Wow, that was compulsive listening… When Hooton cuts loose, he certainly cuts loose! And he really seems to have no fear of being sued for defamation…
Yes, apparently no love lost between those two! I chuckled at Duncan Garner’s comment that he was interested in letting the discussion run.
Also, observe the very clear pledge of allegiance to the National Party from Matthew Hooton (when he’d cooled down) … quite the partisan, isn’t he?
– P
Gotta admit, I rather enjoy Hooton and Williams’ attempts to spin everything for the right or left when they appear with Katherine Ryan each Monday morning. Nothing like a few old partisans trying to hold the party line!
[…] Matthew Hooton’s assertions re the Prime Minister’s Office – The Paepae […]
Penny Bright has been saying the unregulated, ‘does what it wants’ and not what it’s meant to’ Office of the Prime Minister has been terminally compromised for some considerable time. Actually as long as I can remember as far as OIA’s are concerned.. As for Boag and Hooten, a little like Farrar is trying distance-wise with Slater, when dirt from a ‘select’ group has been flicked as far as it has and flies, the evidence of that sticks no matter how many times people try to retrospectively whitewash their reputations. i-predict Too little too late..Ninja link should be looking to her licence too.
I listened to the audio. Some of it I had to listen to twice, to try and understand what is happening. My summary of it is:
Mr Hooton begins by being incredibly abusive towards Ms Boag. He explains that this conduct is justified because she allegedly supports Mr Eagleson. Mr Hooton does not like Mr Eagleson, because Mr Eagleson allegedly wanted to fire Mr Hooton from his earthquake job.
At the end Mr Hooton then says it isn’t Ms Boag’s fault after all. He will still vote for National, but he remains angry at Mr Eagleson.
Have I understood the highlights of this conversation, or have I missed something?
Rgds,
*p*
If that’s your summary of it you missed most of it.
Yes. Feel free to elaborate. – P
[…] fashion with Michelle Boag on RadioLive (a copy of the audio has been helpfully archived here by Peter Aranyi at The Paepae). Hooton described Boag as “a hack” with “no […]