As the week has progressed we've learned more about Gordon Brown and his pack of rabid pitbull-rottweiler crosses spin doctors. And really it just gets nastier. The spectacle of the last day or two has been the MSM's lobby journalists managing to overcome their previous shyness and start kicking Brown's pack. As Guido points out, it would have been nice if they'd done this before, but the MSM has never done this. Think of all those hacks who covered up the misdemeanors of middle eastern tyrants in order to continue to receive "access". In fact I think that the last few days have perfectly the weakness of the MSM and the "prisoner's dilemma" they face. Despite the blather MSM journalists don't dare "speak truth to power" when power can exclude them from getting more news later. The only time they gather up the courage is when they are sure that the rest of the herd will do the same thing - usually because the person/government whatever that they are attacking is either out of power or clearly about to lose it. At that point of course they work in typical mob fashion and kick their target while he's down and keep piling on in the hopes that no one notices how quiet they were earlier.
If ever there was a sign that G Brown and ZANU labour are toast it is this. Almost all the westminster journalists are revealing how revolting they are and how many other politicians the G Brown pack has attacked.
Furthermore, despite the attempts by G himself to distance himself from his pack the MSM (and it seems to me the politically aware public) aren't buying it. Depsite all the criticism above, the MSM do help to get the word out and they can turn a phrase, as Mary Riddle does here:
From the outside, the spectacle of HMS Gord distancing itself from its rogue spin doctor didn't seem like the speediest of manoeuvres: unkinder critics might say it resembled a sinking ship leaving a rat.
The "sinking ship leaving the rat" is so perfect it deserves to be spread far and wide.
Onto other fallout. I'd never heard of Nadine Dorries (a.k.a. Mad Nad apparently) before McPoison decided to try and spread stories about her. So I did a quick search via google to see what the fuss was about and found this which helps partly explain what I gather was the planned smear - namely that she had left a sex toy in a hotel room she'd shared with another (male, married) MP. To wit this linked anecdote:
This rather puts me in mind of a story I heard recently about the MP Nadine Dorries, who accidentally left behind in her room her Ladyshave after a Tory MPs’ away-day at the end of June at Latimer Place.
Following the away-day, a member of hotel staff cleaning her room found the Ladyshave, and the hotel passed it on to officials from CCHQ to be returned to Nadine. According to insiders, both the hotel staff and the CCHQ officials mistook the item for an implement of personal massage. The Ladyshave was returned to Nadine in a plastic bag in the Tory whips’ office in the House of Commons.
Naturally the story has gone around Tory circles and Nadine is reported to have told colleagues: “I think I know the difference between a dildo and a Ladyshave”.
Beyond that Ms Dorries, on balance, seems to be a reasonably clue-free Cameroonian who I probably wouldn't vote for. But pretty harmless all things considered and definitely one who is smart enough to note the G Brown slopey shoulders trick.
Although not directly connected there is also the Damien Green affair fallout. Essentially despite arresting the MP and searching (without a warrent) his parliamentary office, no charges are to be filed, In part this would seem to be because, as an investigating Select Committee noted:
civil servants had "exaggerated" the importance of the information passed across in order to prompt an investigation.
In this case, therefore, I have considered whether there is evidence of any additional damage caused by the leaks in question. I have concluded that the information leaked was not secret information or information affecting national security:
It did not relate to military, policing or intelligence matters. It did not expose anyone to a risk of injury or death. Nor, in many respects, was it highly confidential. Much of it was known to others outside the civil service, for example, in the security industry or the Labour Party or Parliament. Moreover, some of the information leaked undoubtedly touched on matters of legitimate public interest, which were reported in the press.
So err in fact Mr Green was in fact doing his job. Unlike the civil servants who insisted the police arrest him.
It seems quite likely to me that the "exaggerations" in this case and the flat out lies in the McPoison case are going to become mixed for many people who believe that the ZANU labour government and its civil servants should all be fired ASAP.
Blog Home : April 2009 : Permalink