Hard News by Russell Brown

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Hard News: Go Us

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  • Danielle,

    Let's be honest here: if they ever made a film about you, they would have to entitle it "The Man Who Calls Bullshit".

    Are we envisioning this film all lush black and white, Coen Brothers-style, Craig as a tormented Billy Bob Thornton, not knowing whether to call bullshit or not? Or is Craig starring with a 'Que Sera, Sera'-trilling Doris Day in a Hitchockian production, in which he shouts the bullshit-calling odds in a crowded Albert Hall? What about a John Ford western starring a Jimmy Stewart-esque Craig with John Wayne, which ends with a climactic bullshit-calling in a dusty main street (Gene Pitney could sing the theme tune)?

    (Huh. There are a *lot* of movies called 'The Man Who [something]', when you start thinking about it.)

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

  • Heather W.,

    Would take more than the space-time continuum as Trig Palin is the son of Sarah not the daughter.

    North Shore • Since Nov 2008 • 189 posts Report Reply

  • giovanni tiso,

    Danielle: I was thinking of a cardigan-clad David Bowie falling on earth and spreading an interstellar message of bullshit-calling.

    Heather: I've been getting that wrong since day one, so at least you've got to admire my consistency. But I'm sure somebody will allege a baby sex change before long.

    Wellington • Since Jun 2007 • 7473 posts Report Reply

  • Heather W.,

    For those of you not old enough to remember David Bowie there is the fansite www.bowiewonderworld.com.

    (Haven't done link as having trouble getting the URL links to work - seems can see video or have URL link but not both)

    North Shore • Since Nov 2008 • 189 posts Report Reply

  • Simon Grigg,

    David Bowie falling on earth

    If ever there was a movie that has not aged well....

    Just another klong... • Since Nov 2006 • 3284 posts Report Reply

  • Joe Wylie,

    If ever there was a movie that has not aged well....

    Pity it wasn't Peter O'Toole, Roeg's first choice for the part of Mr. Newton. Despite its sometimes heavy-handed satire The Ruling Class still holds up.

    flat earth • Since Jan 2007 • 4593 posts Report Reply

  • Craig Ranapia,

    Going after the family is just inexcusable, and there's no amount of eye for an eye that justifies it.

    Holding Palin to account for her own statements -- and her own use of her disabled infant as a campaign prop -- is not going "after the family". Before you accuse me of drawing fatuous moral equivalences, you should brush up on the Freudian concept of projection.

    This point was raised by others earlier in the thread, and I really don't get it. Why respond? Why dignify?

    Or to put that question another way: Why should politicians who present themselves as paragons of "family values" actually be expected to live up to them? What about people who love to present themselves as "straight talkers", but are actually so paranoid that the press aren't even allowed to talk to supporters at campaign events?

    As that "tool" Sullivan has pointed out, Sarah Palin is on the record as an enthusiast for "going after" gay and lesbians families until they have no legal status or protections left. And before anyone asks, I give her no credit for (reluctantly) upholding the constitution as Governor of Alaska and not denying benefits to the same-sex partners of state employees -- that's her job.

    You practice what you preach, or I'm rather short of sympathy when you're exposed as a hypocrite.

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

  • Kumara Republic,

    You practice what you preach, or I'm rather short of sympathy when you're exposed as a hypocrite.

    http://nz.youtube.com/watch?v=RTrYE4a1BmE

    The southernmost capital … • Since Nov 2006 • 5446 posts Report Reply

  • giovanni tiso,

    You practice what you preach, or I'm rather short of sympathy when you're exposed as a hypocrite.

    Being a hypocrite how? If somebody alleged (preferably with evidence) that she was gay, or had terminated a pregnancy, I'd say it'd be legitimate because she's anti-gay and anti-abortion, and uses both position to make political hay. That's exposing hipocrisy. But what's being alleged here (with evidence to the contrary) is actually a crime, and a pretty awful one at that.

    Even if the equivalence you seek was valid, and it so isn't, this remains a smear campaign based on falsehood. It taints the people who actually wage it, so on top of everything else it is counterproductive and stupid.

    Wellington • Since Jun 2007 • 7473 posts Report Reply

  • Russell Brown,

    This point was raised by others earlier in the thread, and I really don't get it. Why respond? Why dignify?

    Well, the Obama campaign did, in response to the wingnut theory that he wasn't really born in Hawaii: they released his birth certificate. It didn't convince the conspiracists (this theory has much, much greater currency than the Palin baby-mama one did) but it nailed it for any sensible observer who wanted to know that Obama's late mother was not an immigration fraudster.

    It is odd that Trig Palin's birth was not recorded at the local hospital where he was born. Such birth records are public data in the US, and it would be a reasonable question to ask the hospital why.

    You cannot disprove these things.

    Well, a DNA test would do that, but this this HuffPo column does the job for me. I think Sullivan's wrong and obsessive over this.

    But in the context of a campaign where all kinds of crazy ideas took flight, I can't really muster the outrage. McCain/Palin milked the new baby in some weird ways -- it was consciously used to politically position Palin.

    For example, I found McCain's repeated claims that by virtue of having a five-month old Down's baby Palin knew more about autism than "almost any American that I know," and that by the same means she was "uniquely qualified" to discover the cause of autism, offensive and opportunist. Especially when the Obama campaign had made such a significant commitment to disability policy.

    And, I further confess my sympathy for Palin is limited by the fact that she repeatedly declares her desire to overturn Roe v Wade, a decision founded on womens' privacy. It doesn't make the conspriracising any better, but it sure does curb my sympathy.

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 22850 posts Report Reply

  • giovanni tiso,

    And, I further confess my sympathy for Palin is limited by the fact that she repeatedly declares her desire to overturn Roe v Wade, a decision founded on womens' privacy.

    My sympathy for Palin is very close to zilch, exept insofar as she is a woman and the Trig theory had some really disturbing mysognistic crap clinging to it. But I dove have quite a bit of sympathy for Bristol and Trig. That nobody seems to be able to muster any outrage on their behalf is disheartening. This is going to hang around their necks for a long time.

    Wellington • Since Jun 2007 • 7473 posts Report Reply

  • Joe Wylie,

    For example, I found McCain's repeated claims that by virtue of having a five-month old Down's baby Palin knew more about autism than "almost any American that I know," and that by the same means she was "uniquely qualified" to discover the cause of autism, offensive and opportunist.

    Down syndrome people have a history of being exploited by those who wish to be seen as doing far more than they really are in the disability area. Because they present a generally endearing aspect, and are largely gentle and predictable in their behaviour, there's a temptation to use them as poster people for a wider range of disabilities than those they represent. The kindest thing that can be said about McCain's outrageous claims is that they were made in profound ignorance.

    flat earth • Since Jan 2007 • 4593 posts Report Reply

  • giovanni tiso,

    The kindest thing that can be said about McCain's outrageous claims is that they were made in profound ignorance.

    It also has to be seen in the context of the general craziness of the choice, which had to be rationalised post-hoc for the non-rabid-christian portions of the electorate, leading to other entirely spurious claims. McCain also said for instance that Palin knew more about energy than anybody else in the country.

    Wellington • Since Jun 2007 • 7473 posts Report Reply

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