I feel the need to say something about Phil Goff's supposed 'gaffe' in his interview with Oliver Driver last night on Alt TV, segments of which were leaked yesterday to Ben Thomas of NBR.
An interview with Driver being more monologue than dialogue, perhaps Goff should be admired for being able to say anything at all: since Driver's ego almost overshadows the whole interview, I'd suggest it's hard to take too much from it at all.
But even given the words Driver was trying to put in Goff's mouth -- and this is much more obvious from listening to the actual interview than it is from reading the leaked transcripts -- to concoct the overheated hyperbole that so many commentators have on the basis of comments so innocuous is frankly farcical.
The over-excitement says more about the commentariat than it does about Phil Goff (pictured right with a terrorist), or Helen Clark.
And who can say they don't feel somewhat refreshed for once that there's a politician who refuses to deny the obvious?
- You can see the relevant clip of the interview here:
UPDATE: Newstalk ZB's Leighton Smith has an interesting take. This is no gaffe, he says, (about which I agree, Goff is too experienced for that) but the use by an experienced politician of a two-bit TV station to promote himself as a politician committed to honesty and openness, in the same way that Barack Obama has successfully pulled off the same scam in the US.
2 comments:
He comes across as frank and candid while at the same time pointing out that there is both a prospect of defeat and no defeatist approach on his part.
At least if he were PM, we wouldn't need to spend so much taxpayer money on spin doctors and style coaches for the Emperor.
BTW, has anyone considered whether the salary and other remunerative benefits of Brian What's-his-name [the Emperor's style coach] should be considered political spending?
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