39

The greatest of praise

by Whaleoil on November 30, 2011

You know you are effective when the arch-leftist mouthpiece and apologist blames you for the election disaster of the leftwing. Nicky Hager has attacked me and David Farrar:

Another element of the election worth mentioning is the careless use by the news media of the National party-linked bloggers David Farrar and Cameron Slater (‘Whale Oil’). Both bloggers affect independence (and, in Farrar’s case, this probably used to be partly true), but nowadays both act as tools of the National Party: spinning, smearing and releasing information in which the party does not want to be directly involved.

Farrar is the National Party’s main pollster and so is intimately tied into party business. Therefore it is surprising (no, thoughtless and stupid) of media organisations to use Slater as a regular source of news and Farrar as a commentator. Fairfax allowed Farrar to be one of its main election bloggers on the Stuff website leading up to the election and other media used him regularly to give comment. He was part of TVNZ’s election-night coverage. Using former politicians and party officers can be informative and useful for readers and viewers, but giving the status of commentator roles to current party officers and activists who are actively campaigning and spinning, especially at election time, is irresponsible and needs to stop.

I think Nicky Hager is just jealous that his book sank without a trace and it was me that was making the play with Labour’s website balls-up, the SIS briefing lies of Phil Goff and numerous other stories that I broke through out the year.

I will take the attack by Nicky Hager as a feather in my cap that he considers my blogging to be so effective a tool against the left wing that he is calling for me to be boycotted by mainstream media. I think my net-worth as a commentator just jumped through the roof.

David and I often joke about Nicky Hager bugging our phones and hope he never publishes the transcripts of our evil plots. I must run along and get my office swept for listening devices now.

Tagged: • • • • •

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  • kevin

    Sweep the office to make sure the devices stay put?

  • Anonymous

    I didn’t think you pretended to be “independent”. WO? 
    Surely Hager has got it wrong? 

    • Super Guest

       There’s “independent” as in, he has no political leaning, and “independent” as in he’s not in the National Party’s back pocket. The left sure are a fan of the conspiracy theory at the moment, I mean, how else could brilliant policies like WFF for dole bludgers and GST of apples not win them the election?

      • Anonymous

        Agreed. FFS… I mean, you run a blog as a supporter of the National Party, and then you get accused of being “a tool” of the party! 
        I’m sure they’re just jealous. Jealous that we on the right can get our ideas across very clearly, while those on the left have trouble spelling.

  • Elaycee

    “…but giving the status of commentator roles to current party officers and activists who are actively campaigning and spinning, especially at election time, is irresponsible and needs to stop”

    Same for Jon Johanssen? And Mike Williams? Matt McCarten? TV3? The NZ Herald?  Haha…

    I’d suggest you wear Hager’s bleating as a badge of honour, Cameron.   

    • Gazzaw

      Totally agree especially about the Pravda. At least DPF puts a disclaimer at the end of his column.  Herald doesnt appear to do the same for Brian Rudman & Bernard Hickey. I wonder whose barrow the Pravda will be pushing in the labour leadership
      battle.

    • Peter Wilson

      Whenever there was a panel of commentators on TV, I’d “explain” to my wife the different biases, and I was able to predict just about every “comment.”

      Mike Williams – 90% favouring left
      Jon Johanson – 65% left
      Matt McCarten – 100% left
      Therese Arsenau – 50% straight down the middle
      Cameron Slater – 55%? favouring right lol
      (The other right wingers we know about)

      Be interesting if we had opinion polls on the commentators and interviewers.

  • Jaffa

    What part of “Right Wing Blogger” doesn’t he understand?

  • Kosh103

    To be fair, WO is nothing more than a National mouth piece.

    • Guest

      To be fair, Kosh103 is nothing more than a left-wing troll.

      • Ben Ross

        I call for a motion on that Guest

        The motion being Kosh103 being a Left Wing Troll (as you said)Seconder? 

      • hagerforlabour

        Second that, motion carried.

      • Kosh103

        The truth hurt does it?

      • Anonymous

        No Kosh103, the truth doesn’t hurt at all. We just know you are a cluster fuck and not worth reading your brown steamy stuff

  • EX Navy Greg

    Wouldn’t it be nice if someone dug up some shit on Hager. Nobody is squeaky clean.
    That’ll fuck em.

    • Georgeisles

      You know Micky hager is a trustafarian? Whose income is derived from assets held in trust for him and his brethren and therefore avoids paying full income tax? He doesn’t have to work a day and has a rather large pool of cash from which he can purchase information from without worrying to much about the day to day bills?

  • MANINBLACK

    How can a left wing twit like Hager expect to be taken seriously if he goes round calling MSM organisations and commentators so called non partisan.
    Any person of any organisation has an axe to grind- eg whaleoil, bomber, john campbell, garner

  • diabolos

    You are effective Cam and you are noticeably being utilised as a commentator with increasing frequency.

    Where that will all lead is anyones guess and i lack the knowledge etc to make further comment on that.  What i can offer as an uninformed opinion  - is that its up to all media and commentators to try to achieve some degree of impartiality and independance of some sort or another.

    For 3 years – not one media form has probed the National Government or held it to account.  Cam has masterfully done very well at maximising his opportunities and jolly good on him.  He’s also very honestly and openly declared himself as partisan.  I respect that sort of upfrontness.

    At this point in time – not one media form is probing the National Government or holding it to account.  On election night the media were behaving like dizzy schoolgirls and doing all but offering National and ACT fellatio as a consolation prize for winning.  I mostly watch 3 news – and Gower and Barry were quite sort of merry about their coverage.    I felt like reaching through the tv screen and grabbing them by their expensive decolletage and saying “respect for the viewing audience for whom this is not a win …”  but that woud be undemocratic.  Those two particular folk got a nice ‘whack’ from the tax cuts so its voting yourself an (increased) income i guess.

    I note that the major loser Labour – is however being extensively probed and held to account (whether the matters being called into account are real or imaginary) – and probably will continue to be so.

    The next 3 years are another story.  I hope.

    • http://twitter.com/Jazr0d Jazr0d

      love the way you address Cam personally/directly!

      is that part of the conversion process you have embarked upon recently…

      just what sort of shop are you setting up here..?

      and if you watch 3 news that is your problem

    • Mully

      Where were Labour holding National to account for the last three years? Nary a squeak from them unless it was a smear.
      I’d dare to suggest for the (minimum) of $100K/year we’ve paid those clowns for the last three years, they have an obligation to be a thorn in National’s side.

    • Dion

      > On election night the media were behaving like dizzy schoolgirls 

      You seem to forget that the media fawned over Clark for most of the nine years she was in office – except during the scandals – of which there were many.

      We have an opposition whose job it is to hold the government to account.  The fact that they’re not doing this effectively is not the fault of the media – it’s the fault of whomever decided to place waste-of-space unionists (ie. Fenton et al) at the top of the party list.

  • Dublej

    It would be nice if the Greens were held to account for the content of their loony policies…..if people really new what these fruit bats advocated they would run in horror.

  • Hager the Horrible

    Look at the last line of Hager’s nonsense posing as insight.

    “Meanwhile we may be watching the last stage of millionaire John Key’s go at being a prime minister.”

    More envy ridden hate dribble from the trust fund baby Nicky Hager.

  • Mirtnan

    Is that the guy who is so crooked ,that when he dies they wont bury him, they will screw him into the ground.

  • Ben Ross

    DPF and Cam 1, Hager0?

  • Mirtnan

    Isnt Nicky a womans name,was when i went to school .The way he sneaks around he gives women a bad name.Me thinks he is at home with his roots amongst a gaggle of gays.
     

  • Bcwhitehead

    I would consider any negative comment from the likes of Nicky Hagar as a compliment,
    Wear it with Pride!!

  • monique

    I’d rather act as a tool for the National Party than be a Tool! Half sucked Throatie anyone?

  • TCrwdb

    Gold, solid gold… oh, and Hagar, get f*cked you stupid c*nt… we know you’re lurking here, it’s what you like to do you voyeuristic freak.

  • TCrwdb

    Ha, and he can’t even come up with an original title for the vomit he spewed…internalising a complicated situation… I suppose he’s trying to be down with the bro’s or something…what a twat. 

  • TCrwdb

    Ha, and he can’t even come up with an original title for the vomit he spewed…internalising a complicated situation… I suppose he’s trying to be down with the bro’s or something…what a twat. 

  • niggly

    The trouble with Nicky Hager’s writing (and it is quite clear to see in his article … yet again) is that Hager “spins” the issues to suit his particular brand of politics and thus misleads the reader.

    He is not an independant journalist or reseacher as he claims, but of course a peace activist and anti-West/US/NZ’s historical involvement with the “Five Eyes” Country’s. Hager of course, wants NZ to be some sort of non-aligned Utopia (but like the Greens are not honest with mainstream NZ’ers on what this would entail in terms of a degraded standard of living, mass unemployment and so on).

    (As an aside I see the people that have commentated, including “leftie” Tim Watkin, have called out Hager’s spins and bullshit).

    Got to laugh at his pathetic attempts to discredit the Maori Party etc.I could go on but I’m mostly preaching to the converted here, but no doubt Hager will make National’s term 2011-2014 “interesting” as he pulls out the “dirt” and spin to convince the populance and give strength to the Left that National are, well, dodgy (hey never mind Labour’s dodgyness etc)!

    As a final aside I’ve read parts of his latest book, can see thru the spin, and can pick holes in his attempts to manipulate the public about the NZDF. Again Hager’s narrative is to persuade people to go against the system that has kept NZ insulated from world conflict, by somehow becoming an irrelevant outpost so far away, the trouble is he ignores the economic realities of NZ bowing out to become a third world nation.

  • http://keepingstock.blogspot.com/ Inventory2

    I knew Hager at high school. He was as boring as batshit then, and nothing’s changed. The biggest surprise, given his penchant for conspiracy theories, is that he hasn’t defected to Winston First.

    • niggly

      I have an old leftie friend (as in known him a long time), real salt of the earth wouldn’t hurt a fly, but sees conspiracies too (everything is done due to CIA plots etc, you get the drift!) … so I was very suprised one day when he mentioned Hager was an arrogant, up himself ass-hole!

  • Alex (not the Leftist twat)

    I find the Left’s anti-democratic sentiment alarming. 

    If the General election results in a National party victory, then that is due to any or all of the following (1) the voters are uneducated and didn’t get the sophisticated Left wing message; (2) the media have been “soft” on National; (3) the election was due to money preventing effective communication of the Left’s message; and (4) lies and smears spread by right wing bloggers.  The solution: (1) further campaigns of character assassinations of Key; (2) claim National doesn’t have a mandate; and (3) suggest legislative changes to suppress opinions that undermine Left wing parties. 

    Can the Left just grow up please, develop some humility and impress us with inspiring policies.  Until that happens, the Left will stay on the opposition benches, not offer any effective opposition to the government and increase the numbers who don’t bother to vote.

    • Anonymous

      It is still sitting at around 98% that the Left will NOT grow up and “develop some humility and impress us with inspiring policies”

      It will be a miracle if they do… FFS this country needs a strong opposition 

  • Edwin Wigmore

    Hagar has a cheek.  He acted as a Labour party activist to bring down Don Brash and prevent his election.  Talk about the pot calling the kettle black.

  • middleagedwhiteguy

    Isn’t it funny that the best way to highlight the deficiencies in Hagars reasoning is to quote it verbatim?

  • Accipere

    One of the most obnoxious features of lefties (aside from their religious refusal to appreciate that “from the crooked timber of humanity no straight  thing was ever made”) is the assumption that anyone who disagrees with them is incapable of original thought. While accusing Whale of  Labour’s misfortunes might be an  unintended compliment, it also slanders those of us who think similarly as blind and brainless fuckwits who have been infectedby a nasty, seditious conspiracy. God  . . . how I utterly despise these vermin.