Posts Tagged ‘debate’
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 […]
Just the sort of endorsement a political journalist doesn’t need
Cameron Slater already knows I think he’s a blinkered, partisan, irrationally aggressive National Party mouthpiece/toady/apologist/rottweiler. He knows because I told him. I guess it’s possible he may also have a bad side?* But it intrigued me this morning to see Cameron’s (cough) selective re-tweets of a couple of political journos’ “reviews” of the Goff/Key press.co.nz […]
Peter Shirtcliffe’s campaign against MMP (MkII)
I watched Sandra Grey of the Keep MMP group pretty much wipe the floor with Dr Who’s faithful assistant Jordan Williams (right) in a brief discussion panel/debate about the MMP referendum compèred by Sean Plunket on TV3’s The Nation on the weekend. (video here) Poor Jordan ducked and dived, bobbed and weaved. He didn’t want […]
Playing whack-a-mole with ‘da media’
‘Da media’ cops a lot of flak. I heard someone complaining on the radio today about the saturation coverage of the Rugby World Cup … every possible angle explored and elaborated upon. Those who work in news and its many-fangled tributaries make a big fat juicy target. Generic criticism rains down on them. It’s instructive […]
Confronted with information indicating we are wrong, we get ‘cranky’
I listened to a brilliant lecture with Q&A on iTunes U last night by Eli Pariser, the author of The Filter Bubble. He was talking about the ideas in his book as part of a London School of Econmics Summer 2011 Public Lectures and Events. (Here’s the iTunes U URL [1 hr 20 min]. He’s […]
Drunken yobos spit in MP’s face, then skite to their mates like idiot schoolboys
Just yesterday I said “As I see it, [Trevor] Mallard cops flak from haters and nutters simply for being part of Labour’s online presence…” Here’s a case in point, from last night — via Cameron Slater and Twitter. How it looks to me: A pair of adolescent drunken yobos (Clint Heine and anonymous ‘inventory2‘) hassling a […]
Bradbury: Martyr or moderated troll?
There’s been a reflexive kerfuffle about hard-left attack dog Martyn Bradbury being told his services will no longer be required as a ‘political commentator’ by NZ public radio after he read a billious scripted rant on a recent ‘discussion panel’. Let me be clear about my own opinion of Martyn: I think he is a […]
Getting to know your ‘targets’
Via Andrew Sullivan, via Cameron Slater over the weekend, this interesting New York Times essay by Stanley Fish on how public ‘enmity’ can be a precious thing, and ‘meeting your opponents’ puts you at a terrible risk of ending up liking those you criticize. Good writing. But how could Habermas ever be taken away from […]
