Anita has posted a thread entitled "Whispering campaigns" It's ostensibly an attack on John Key and National, and contains this gem (our emphasis included)
For the last six years the National and their allies honed their skills at whispering campaigns; the question now is whether Labour will stoop to their level.
We all heard the whispers; the stories of sex, money and corruption. Largely personal they also targeted the partners and children of politicians.
Of all the things National and its allies have done it the last few years the whispering campaigns sickened me most.
The dishonesty. John Key never actually called Helen Clark a “heartless childless lesbian bitch”, instead he arranged for enough other people to say it so that he only needed to nod slightly and the attack was made but his hands remained clean.
That last allegation that Anita makes is astonishing, and quite frankly defamatory. We have tried a number of times today to log in to the thread to ask Anita what proof she has to back her claim up, but the thread won't open - does anyone else have this problem with Kiwipolitico.? And so, in the interests of honesty and transparency, Keeping Stock is laying down a challenge to Anita - put up or shut up.
17 comments:
Proof? Why let proof get in the way of an outrageous claim?
She is better than this - I think it has to do with raising the profile of the blog - and like moths to a flame the 'Key-hate' brigade will surely converge...
Lee - I thought she was better than that too - but it seems as though all that time Anita has spent at the VDS has left its mark on her.
I'm not sure what the problem you're having commenting is :( We've had a couple of comments caught as spam today (and let back out) but I'm not aware of a wider problem.
Have another try and/or email me and I'll see if someone can fix it.
As it happens I don't think it's an outrageous claim, so feel free to argue it out :)
I was never impressed with her blog anyway, even the name is copycat.
You don't think it's "outrageous" do you Anita? Well, for a start, I haven't heard ANYONE call Helen Clark a "heartless childless lesbian bitch”, nor do I believe that John Key "arranged" for such a campaign to take place. Now, if you'd said that Trevor Mallard had arranged a whispering campaign against Don Brash, you'd have far more credibility! As I said in the substantive post, if you have the evidence to back your claims, put up, otherwise shut up. As it stands, the allegation is like one that one of your Standard friends would dog-whistle.
It seems to me that the only person who has used the term Heartless childless lesbian bitch is Anita
It seems to me that the only person who has used the term Heartless childless lesbian bitch is Anita
For starters, right wingers seldom whisper. Most of us squawk out loud (as opposed to the shrill squealing that often eminates from the left) when there's something we don't like or don't agree with or if it's someone we hold in contempt.
Most of us also tell the truth: why lie when the left gives us all the fodder we could possible want?
So, out of "heartless" "childless" "lesbian" "bitch" only one is demonstrably provable: she is childless. The rest is just the stuff of opinion. So Move On, Anita, you're lowering the bar of debate.
I do not think that Anita was trying to drive up blog numbers with that post but I do find it interesting that her more controversial NZ-focused posts (such a the recent one about rape) get the most comments. Conversely, my posts on international affairs tend to receive less comment (although the quality of the commentary tends to be quite good). So perhaps her posting style is simply meeting a need. As for the claim itself, I suggest that the offensive phrase has been used, in one form or another, on several right-oriented blogs as well as on some Young Nat forums.
Welcome pablo - thanks for visiting and commenting. I haven;t seen all the words that Anita quoted used together to describe helen Clark, although it's fair to say that a number of the decsriptions have been used around the blogosphere. But you could also argue that there have been plenty of similar sentiments expressed against Key - and Clark, Cullen et al were quick to call him "slippery", implying dishonesty.
However my objection, and the reason for this post was that Anita has tried to link this back DIRECTLY to John Key by saying that he "arranged" it. Unless Anita can produce evidence that John Key personally arranged a whispering campaign, she is out of line, and should have the grace to, as they do in the House, "withdraw and apologise". My challenge to Anita remains: put up or shut up.
Inventory--your point on the (not so) implied linkage is well taken. It is going to be hard one for anita to prove.
Appreciate your candour pablo! Bottom line: if Anita could prove what she's alleged, she would have done so by now. I'm looking forward to the retraction and apology!!
There is a tiny kernel of truth in what Anita says, in that HC has been the subject of personal attacks and innuendo about her private life.
What Anita misses is that all politicians that rise to power are subject to exactly the same sort of rumours. An opposition party doesn't need to run a campaign to encourage them - human nature makes this entirely unnecessary.
To turn the tables on Anita - will she admit that Saint Helen initiated rumour campaigns alleging Bolger was an inbred Irish bog-dweller who could hardly tie his own shoes. This was the view expressed by pretty much the entire NZ left, and a fair bit of the professional media during the 1990s. His post-PM career seems to suggest the description might not be entirely accurate.
There were some very unsavoury rumours about Shipley (and, sadly, her husband too) during her brief tenure on the 9th floor too,
Also Helen's doing, Anita?
I agree to a point bobux - and don't forget the rumours that were pedalled about Brash, together with Clark's demonisation of the EB.
But at the risk of being accused of beating a drum, Anita has accused John Key of "arranging" the campaign against Clark. She's been challenged to provide evidence to support her allegation, but she can't, because there isn't any. I guess that, if nothing else, this thread will remind Anita that it's easy to dish dirt, but you cop a face-full of it when you can't back up your claims. I hope she follows that maxim, because Kiwipolitico has the makings of a half-decent blog, as long as it doesn't go down the same road as that other one!
Lee
You are right, sorry if my post wasn't clear.
I agree with Anita that HC has been the subject of unpleasant rumours, and suspect anyone on a political blogs who denies this is being disingenuous.
I agree with you that neither Key, nor the National Party, nor any other organised group has been behind these rumours.
My point is that there allegations appear out of the woodwork without any organised group needing to manufacture them. Partisanship, envy and spite seem to be integral parts of the human character, irrespective of political affiliation.
In suggesting otherwise, Anita is either being disingenuous herself, or has an awful lot to learn about human nature.
Point well made bobux. I think Anita has used a bit of hyperbole in trying to link Key in to unpleasant smears - but she's ended up painting herself into a corner by making an unsubstantiated allegation, which, if Key wanted to make a point, is defamatory.
Of course, the door is ALWAYS open for her to post a retraction and apology here, and I'm sure that we would all think much better of her for it.
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