Tuesday, October 21, 2008

"Dirty"

New Zealand has made the Huffington Post's list of "dirty elections":

But as far as campaigns, we don't know dirty.

Picking recent and ongoing campaigns in Nigeria, Russia, Austria, New Zealand, Taiwan and Zimbabwe, they remind that we're watching a Stepford Wives Tupperware gathering by comparison, with all the venom of virtually any congressional hearing ("I thank the gentle lady from Florida....").

DPF is (naturally) thrilled, but perhaps he should check first what they consider "dirty". The list is based off this article in Foreign Policy. It lists the "dirt" in the NZ election as Winston Peters calling John Key a "greedy merchant banker" (which apart from the missing "ex-", seems entirely accurate), and... the Googlebombing of John Key. It then puts this alongside elections featuring rampant Islamophobia, accusations of incest, and a politician pushing his debate opponent offstage before ordering his bodyguard to take him outside and shoot him.

Methinks someone lacks a little perspective there...