Hard News by Russell Brown

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Hard News: Go Us

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  • Tom Beard,

    no local gay programming on mainstream channels

    One could argue that most local programming on mainstream channels is gay, but that's according to the more recent definition.</flippant>

    If the McCain camp doesn't suffer a sudden drop in the polls post-Palin, my faith in the American public will fall to even lower levels than I thought possible. That's one scary-sounding fundy.

    Wellington • Since Nov 2006 • 1040 posts Report

  • Russell Brown,

    __Alaska House Speaker John Harris (R): “She’s old enough. She’s a U.S. citizen.”__

    Ha, glowing.

    Yes. Alaska Republicans don't seem to be feeling it quite the same way as the faithful in the lower 49 are.

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 22850 posts Report

  • Craig Ranapia,

    "I'm a bit like Obama": says John Key.

    I think he's quite right on one sense - not so long ago, the convention wisdom was both men had the proverbial snowball's chance of reaching the top of their respective food chains. Other ways, not so much.

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

  • JohnAmiria,

    The current set of rumours about her possible fake pregnancy are a hoot too

    Respectfully disagree there -- "weird and frankly distasteful" is the phrase I'd use, and I wish Obama would actually tell his supporters to chill the fuck out and stick to the issues. There's something a wee bit creepy about this.

    Call me low-brow but I think it is the pregnancy issue that will sink her. Having made a meal of John Edwards 'love child' surely fair and balanced FOX News will dig out the truth on this one too?

    hither and yon • Since Aug 2008 • 215 posts Report

  • andrew llewellyn,

    My favourite pic of Palin so farso far

    Do all Alaskans have dead bears in their houses?

    Since Nov 2006 • 2075 posts Report

  • Tom Beard,

    Do all Alaskans have dead bears in their houses?

    Only the lucky ones: the unlucky ones have live bears.

    Wellington • Since Nov 2006 • 1040 posts Report

  • chris mcnair,

    Call me low-brow but I think it is the pregnancy issue that will sink her. Having made a meal of John Edwards 'love child' surely fair and balanced FOX News will dig out the truth on this one too?

    Hahaha... Oh that is a good one!

    auckland • Since Jul 2008 • 39 posts Report

  • Don Christie,

    Nats decided to field Stephen Franks against him and Wellingtonians are unlikely to be moved by his slash-and-burn approach to centralised government.

    Ha, given we elected Richard Prebble I hardly think that is a likely reason for Franks' rejection - if indeed it happens.

    Wellingtonians are, on the whole, a pretty tolerant bunch, regardless of political alignment. Franks is simply not a reflection of that attitude.

    Wellington • Since Nov 2006 • 1645 posts Report

  • Steve Barnes,

    Following last week’s High Court decision, upholding the decision of the Electoral Commission to register the Labour Party’s largest union backer, the Engineering, Printing and Manufacturing Union (EPMU), as a third party under the Electoral Finance Act the Herald offers us this "Strikes on the cards as tough times bite" . Nationals campaign continues, a campaign of destruction, the destruction of our democratically elected government through untruths and downright lies. As if that load of cobblers was not enough the Herald continues to spew FUD with this little scare story, "Scheme will hit everyone's pocket" about the ETS legislation that, thankfully, will be passed this week. As I have noted before this is national campaign, they have no real policy so if they are elected they can choose their own mandate, and that, my friends, is scary.

    Peria • Since Dec 2006 • 5521 posts Report

  • giovanni tiso,

    Call me low-brow but I think it is the pregnancy issue that will sink her

    I don't understand what Obama could do to tell his supporters to chill down, but other than that, on the basis of the evidence the story is ludicrous, I feel like a jerk even rebutting it: I know plenty of women who didn't show much at five or six months; I know plenty of teenage girls with a bulge like Palin's daughter. Flying when you're eight months pregnant is something an airline might not want you to do to cover their own asses, but it's not a risk per se; and wanting to go home to be in the care of your own doctor or midwife is important to many pregnant women. That's not even touching on the extremely creepy tone of the 'article'. Let it go.

    Wellington • Since Jun 2007 • 7473 posts Report

  • Craig Ranapia,

    Call me low-brow but I think it is the pregnancy issue that will sink her.

    Whether it "sinks" Palin or not, it might also blowback on Obama and win McCain sympathy and cover he doesn't in the least deserve. Just as, im my opinion, the outright lunatic smears against Bill and Hillary Clinton were used to bat aside temperate and substantive criticisms of the Clinton Administration from both the left and right.

    Look, as I said on another thread, that Kos diary was simply creepy. If true, I feel slimy enough. If not, then Daily Kos looks like it rick-rolls readers to a preggy-pron fetish site.

    Being asked to examine the "professional tightness" of Palin's clothes for baby-bumpiness; and then asked to do the same to a photo of her daughter? Hey, not every pregnant woman turns into the Hindenberg. And if you want to turn teenage girls into bullemics, splash their photos all over the internet and suggest they're pregnant sluts whose parents are hypocrites of Gothic proportions. Way to go...

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

  • Craig Ranapia,

    I know plenty of teenage girls with a bulge like Palin's daughter.

    That's what a steady diet of moose stew and whatever else Mum slaughtered during her lunch hour will do. Are you going to refuse seconds when the cook has a life membership in the NRA? :)

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

  • Tim Michie,

    As the Vice Presidental selection has minimal effect on the US election, except (marginally and hardly game changing) in their own state the real test of Palin will be in the contrast with Biden in the VP debate when more viewers will have tuned into the contest.

    So long as Biden doesn't appear to be attacking her but whatever policy position she's taking then I think he's likely to win that.

    Oh, and also, wise call of the Repulicans curtailing much of their convention and (currently) removing the need to have a Bush or Cheney moment. Dems also for diverting their fund raising for relief.

    Auckward • Since Nov 2006 • 614 posts Report

  • Paul Williams,

    Ha, given we elected Richard Prebble I hardly think that is a likely reason for Franks' rejection - if indeed it happens.

    Wellingtonians are, on the whole, a pretty tolerant bunch, regardless of political alignment. Franks is simply not a reflection of that attitude.

    I agree with both parts of this statement Don though National Party members were told who they should vote for in 1996, a point Craig made earlier on this or a related thread. Robertson is a very strong candidate but Franks name recognition may prove significant.

    I'd've thought that as a ring-in, Franks might try to curb his intolerance and tendency to lecture but it seems that's not the case. No wonder his own party seems a little ambivalent about him!

    Sydney • Since Nov 2006 • 2273 posts Report

  • George Darroch,

    Go us indeed. And this is what scares me about the prospect of Key and Mapp taking over the foreign policy reigns.

    Would they stand staunchly in favour of strong conditions, as the Government is doing?

    What does the following mean in terms of direction?

    ...meet[ing] with the US Administration, and consult informally with
    our friends in Congress, to see how we might move forward
    on defence cooperation, intelligence arrangements, climate
    change, effective counter-terrorism strategies, and a wide
    range of other issues where there are common interests.

    While there is a lot that makes sense in the National Party's defence discussion document (pdf), at least from an small power-realist perspective, however the direction isn't entirely clear, apart from to say that New Zealand should focus more on security and trade. The imprint of the authors, Groser, Mapp and Hayes is obvious - I guess we just have to expect that foreign policy will follow their tendencies.

    National's foreign affairs policy is still unreleased, weeks out from the election.

    One of the worrying signals is that the United Nations is only mentioned once in the entire 19 page document, and then only in terms of international poverty reduction - which is then dismissed as lesser to security aid, "Africa" is described as an intractable problem, and the island Pacific is painted as an 'arc of instability'. There is no mention of how New Zealand might work with international organisations for international security, and many other things that need discussion in a defence and security context are conspicuously absent.

    Hmmm. Surely these issues are as important as when Winston Peters took money from businessmen?

    WLG • Since Nov 2006 • 2264 posts Report

  • chris mcnair,

    It is conceivable that some people will think John McCain picked Sarah Palin to be his running mate because she is a woman. I know you find this shocking, but I swear I have heard it mentioned.

    Ha.

    auckland • Since Jul 2008 • 39 posts Report

  • Russell Brown,

    Flying when you're eight months pregnant is something an airline might not want you to do to cover their own asses, but it's not a risk per se

    It was apparently a little more urgent than that. It does seem a tad reckless to board an eight-hour flight when your waters have broken and you're actually in labour.

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 22850 posts Report

  • giovanni tiso,

    It does seem a tad reckless to board an eight-hour flight when your waters have broken and you're actually in labour.

    What's your source? I see no such info in the article linked to by the Kos diarist, in which Palin claims to have felt contractions before the speech and to have been told by her doctor over the phone to put her feet up.

    The hours of leaking of amniotic fluid seems to have been plucked out of the diarist's ass to me.

    Wellington • Since Jun 2007 • 7473 posts Report

  • Craig Ranapia,

    Ha.

    Indeed, and what I found particularly laughable about Palin's acceptance statement was this:

    “It was rightly noted in Denver that Hillary made 18 million cracks in the highest, hardest glass ceiling in America,” Palin said. “It turns out the women of America aren’t finished yet, and we can shatter that glass ceiling once and for all.”

    And what are Senators Olympia Snowe (who is the only person on Capitol Hill to have served in both houses of both her state and federal legislature during her 35 years of elected public service), Margaret Chase Smith (the first woman elected to a party leadership role in the Senate, as Republican Conference chairwoman from 1969-1973), Kay Granger (current Conference chair) and Kay Bailey Hutchinson (chairwomen of the Conference Policy Committee). Chopped moose liver, Governor Palin?

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

  • Craig Ranapia,

    The hours of leaking of amniotic fluid seems to have been plucked out of the diarist's ass to me.

    Ewwww....

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

  • Steve Barnes,

    Is it just me or are there others who think that, just maybe, our General Election might be a little more important than the circus that passes for democracy in the US ?
    illic es nullus sic caecus ut illud ut mos non animadverto.

    Peria • Since Dec 2006 • 5521 posts Report

  • giovanni tiso,

    Ewwww....

    Sorry, I probably should have considered that sentence a bit more carefully. I'm getting genuinely quite worked up about this.

    Wellington • Since Jun 2007 • 7473 posts Report

  • Che Tibby,

    from the article chris links to.

    He was looking for someone who was well prepared to fight against international Islamic extremism, the transcendent issue of our time. And in the end he decided that in good conscience, he was not going to settle for anyone who had not been commander of a state national guard for at least a year and a half. He put down his foot!

    The obvious choice was Palin, the governor of Alaska, whose guard stands as our last best defense against possible attack by the resurgent Russian menace across the Bering Strait.

    chortle.

    the back of an envelope • Since Nov 2006 • 2042 posts Report

  • Danielle,

    It's just you. ;)

    (We can talk about both, you know. It's not a zero-sum game.)

    Charo World. Cuchi-cuchi!… • Since Nov 2006 • 3828 posts Report

  • chris mcnair,

    “It was rightly noted in Denver that Hillary made 18 million cracks in the highest, hardest glass ceiling in America,” Palin said. “It turns out the women of America aren’t finished yet, and we can shatter that glass ceiling once and for all.”

    Yes... The glass floor more like it.

    auckland • Since Jul 2008 • 39 posts Report

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