May 08, 2003
THE LATEST directive from John
THE LATEST directive from John Howard's office demands that I mock Wayne Swan's piteous whining:
Not only is the left outgunned financially, it is often too disorganised or self-righteous to make a dent in the right's attempts to destroy the evidence of the growing gap between the rich and the rest.
Too many people on the left who profess a concern about poverty are sitting on the sidelines twiddling their thumbs or engaged in arcane arguments about definitions instead of venturing into the public domain to raise the alarm.
While conservative commentators take their cue directly from John Howard's office and run disciplined campaigns to advance their cause, those on the left are too often busy indulging their own egos.
We at the massively-financed Department for Conservative Propaganda deny Swan's claim.
UPDATE. Andrew Davey writes:
In Wayne Swan's speech on the slackbuttedness of the Left and the Aryan-style discipline of the Right, I noticed that he described conservative journalists as being "prepared to chew up newspaper column inches with ill-informed words that simply eulogise John Howard and his program."
John Howard is dead? When did that happen? And does this therefore mean, Mr Blair, that you are taking your cues from BEYOND THE GRAVE?
Beware, sir! You are meddling with dark forces you cannot hope to understand! Other than the Democrats, I mean.
And Dr Shrink replies:
Posted by Tim Blair at May 8, 2003 04:13 PMTo "eulogise", as Wayne Swan accused, is to "praise formally and eloquently". It doesn't necessarily mean he's dead. It's just a type of speech or writing, noted for its open approval of the figure in question. Swan's use was correct.