Monday, October 11, 2004
If Bank's concession speech was forced
then this article in the Herald was even more so;
Banks gracious, humbled in defeatAfter cheer leading for pretty much anyone but him all the way through the campaign, could the Herald not a least acknowledge his professional and polite handing over of the reigns without being snide? Why not humble rather than humbled in the headline for instance? It goes on with little digs and barbs all the way through:
It was a gracious, controlled concession speech: "I have spoken with Mr Hubbard and given him my congratulations." The people had spoken and he respected that, etcetera.The etcetera at the end of the first paragraph just sounded picayune. Not quite the hatchet job the NBR did on Hubbard (insert your own reference to a spectacular back fire here...) - but a bit of balance and respect is clearly out of Julie Middleton's range.
Banks nearly lost his public composure only twice. Thanking supporters, his voice wobbled as it alighted on wife Amanda's name. A minute later, another wobble arrived and threatened to stay.
"All my adult life," he said, "I have had an overwhelming commitment to civic duty," his voice slowed and faltered, "and ... in a small way," he struggled to get the words out ,"to balance the family ledger."
It was a fleeting moment of vulnerability from a man not given to emotional revelation. The "family ledger" is the legacy of Banks' parents Archibald and Kitty, back-street abortionists who were both jailed when he was 18.
