National has released the notes it has of the meeting between Lockwood Smith and Don Brash and a US congressional delegation - and they confirm the government's allegations: Lockwood Smith asked a foreign power to fund and conduct a covert propaganda campaign against the New Zealand public in order to advance its (and National's) interests. And yet, in their press release, National are still trying to deny it. Do they think we're illiterate, or simply utterly credulous?
Brash has gone on record to say that such a request would have been inappropriate. Now that Smith has admitted it, the ball is in Brash's court as to how such inappropriate behaviour will be punished.
4 comments:
Don't the notes show that Smith's inappropriate behaviour occurred in front of Brash and, by inference, with Brash's approval?
I imagine that makes it much harder for Brash to punish Smith. Any punishment will make Brash look like a complete hypocrite:
I'll cheer you on in private, but if we get caught, you're on your own!
Posted by Anita : 8/04/2005 09:50:00 AM
Well, arguably the conservative think tanks are one of the real powers in America. They frame the issues for the media, the media frames the issues for the public, and the public completely fails to vote in it's own interest, giving the appearance that they're incredibly stupid, when in fact they're just misled.
The Nats, noticing that the US Think Tanks have a proven ability to get the public to vote against their own interest, wanted to see if the nice senators would lend them a think tank to do some of the same dirty work over here. The nice senators didn't think NZ was really worth the effort, and may have actually realised that it could backfire - perhaps they were particularly bright ones.
Posted by Anonymous : 8/04/2005 01:04:00 PM
> Well, arguably the conservative think tanks are one of the real powers in America.
Liberals also make good use of intelectuals considering and promoting ideas. Good on them for doing so.
> proven ability to get the public to vote against their own interest
I take it you oppose democracy then? Or support uninformed voting? It seems difficult to imagine how one can oppose think tanks unless one genuinely thinks ones interests are opposed to those of smart people or convincing people.
of course I guess everyone opposes the opposition but if you just want to oppose conservative thought at least be honest about what you are doing.
Posted by Genius : 8/04/2005 08:24:00 PM
Who's writing National's foreign policy these days, anyway? The ghost of Leo Strauss?
Craig Y
Posted by Anonymous : 8/05/2005 08:32:00 AM
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