Sunday, March 7, 2010

Key words

By virtue of a kind of political naivety, coupled with
a little difficulty in finding the right words at times,
John Key can say some remarkably revealing things.
Here's one, from a feature in yesterday's Weekend
Herald
about the idea of mining on conservation
land
—an excellent feature, by the reliable Geoff
Cumming, who quotes Key's assertion earlier in the
week that the Government could achieve a balance
between protecting 'our clean, green image' and
extracting valuable minerals from the conservation
estate. Said Key: 'We are reflecting on what we think
is right and what is achievable. I think we've got that
balance about right.'

The balance between what is right and what is
achievable
? I invite readers in their turn to reflect on
the meaning of that statement. Personally, I just about
fell off my chair.

4 comments:

Giovanni Tiso said...

A marvellous ideological summation.

ak said...

"The balance between what is right and what is achievable" is the sop that has been delivered relentlessly to right-wing audiences for at least three years.
Letting it slip out into the mainstream is a sign of mounting pressure: that the numbers continue to slide and that internal polling says the "grinny-do-nothing" meme is taking root.

I'd get a more comfortable chair: the balancing act is about to resemble a toddler taking on the Niagra Falls - with the MP programmed to leap off the bar mid-stream.

Cnr Joe said...

could he mean 'what my advisors tell me is the right thing to do and what my backers tell me has to happen?'

Sanctuary said...

A sort of on topic question - Has anyone else noticed how Stephen Joyce is always interviewed in super close-up? What is that all about? Does he insist he is filmed that way? If so, isn't that kinda creepy, and what does it tell us about the nature of this government media management?