False Equivalence
Chris Hipkins is harangued by Tova O’Brien.
I know I dreamed you a sin and a lie
I have my freedom, but I don't have much time
Faith has been broken, tears must be cried
Let's do some living after we die
Song: Mick Jagger and Keith Richards.
“The man who would be Prime Minister” is how the Breakfast hosts introduced Chippy before his appearance, which I thought was a little impertinent, given that he has already held that role.
Tova began by covering what has been reported as a Labour training exercise in which they were asked whether they would prefer to fight 100 duck-sized horses or 1 horse-sized duck, and to answer in a way that deflected, as a politician would.
So far, so good. That isn’t so different from the “who would win in a fight” questions my kids have asked over the years, like “who would win a fight, 100 men or 1 gorilla?”
The problem is that, somehow, a recording of the event found its way to the media, curiously just as the news was breaking that Christopher Luxon’s office hadn’t even been recording its meetings with lobbyists. Such convenient timing. Kind of like the emergence of a year-old scandal involving Maiki Sherman, just when they wanted to get rid of her.
Tova gleefully played the tape while I thought of John Key sending the authorities over the teapot tapes, which were recorded in a public cafe.
First, we heard Ginny Andersen say, “One horse-sized duck, because Christopher Luxon is a sitting duck, and we are coming for you.” I’m not sure whether we were supposed to be outraged, but it had the opposite effect on me, and I thought, “Go, Ginny!”
