The hard facts of politics

It seems that Don Brash is now learning some of the hard facts of politics. Having run an election campaign based around divisive race-baiting in which he advocated that Maori children "learn English first" rather than Te Reo, and called for the elimination of the wero in favour of "a handshake or an honour guard or something", he is now complaining that he is seen as a monocultural assimilationist:

Asked if he would do anything differently if campaigning on the [race] issue again, he said: "I might have tried harder to make it clear that I wasn't advocating a monocultural society. I mean, I could hardly advocate a monocultural society, my wife's not European.

"I don't retreat at all from the positions we announced at Orewa but certainly don't want that interpreted as Don Brash favouring an all-European cultural environment, because I don't."

If people had the impression he did not acknowledge a distinct Maori identity: "Then I failed to explain what I was meaning, because clearly I have complete respect for other cultures.

Clearly. That's why he's willing to use them as an election-year football in order to grub votes from rednecks.

One of the joys of being a politician is having perceptions of your personal views set by the public positions you take. If Brash doesn't like how he is now perceived, maybe he should have thought of that before listening to Murray McCully.