The strategy of deceit

And while I'm on Don Brash, I have to mention his strategy of deceit. His initial response when asked "did you say that" was "I don't remember", and "it's not the sort of language I'd normally use" - with the clear implication that he hadn't said anything of the sort. And now the evidence is out, it's "I don't remember", with the tone implying that, well, he may have said something like that, but he doesn't remember the exact words.

I thought Brash was supposed to be a man who stood by his principles, not a weasel. The above sounds like Bill Clinton's infamous "I did not have sex with that woman", rather than the words of a "man of conviction".

But I guess Brash knows better than anyone that if the public understood his convictions - on nuclear policy, on taxation, on government services, on wage-levels - they'd run a mile.