Thursday, December 23, 2004
'Don Brashologist' - bollocks
Alister Barry is a self proclaimed 'Don Brashologist', which is apparently the title for someone that simply does not like the man and has access to a publisher with a similar mind set to provide him with a soapbox for sharing his views.
Kevin List (from Stoop) caught up with Alister and asked him to scare the be-jesus out of Joe Public with what he thought would happen if Don Brash was elected as Prime Minister. Kevin and Alister then proceeded to put the boot in wherever possible - it is just as well that left boots don't hurt much. But one question and answer did rankle My Right:
Scoop: National seem to be doing their best to portray Don Brash as a man of the people – although he doesn’t really seem to fit the mould of past leaders such as Jim Bolger and even Jenny Shipley?To point blank declare that Don Brash does not like people is Philistine. There is also the fact that Alister does not seem to incorporate 'financiers' and the 'upper strata' as 'ordinary people' at all (profession and wealth itself does not characterise a man).Alister Barry: No he doesn’t actually like ordinary people – I think he’s probably scared of ordinary people – most of our successful Prime Ministers have been concerned about ordinary people and felt for them. When Don Brash was Governor of the Reserve Bank it was very interesting because he knew his own people – that is financiers and those in the upper strata of society, and gave lots of speeches around the country explaining Reserve Bank policy to them.
He virtually never spoke to women or Maori who were of course the people who suffered from Reserve Bank policy. Neither did he ever speak to any group of workers – for example a trade union meeting or an FOL meeting - despite the fact that he spent most of the day sitting up there in the Reserve Bank building deciding how he was going to f**k with their brains. He was trying to create a level of fear, how was he going to control their behaviour. How was he going to stop them demanding wage increases – that is what he spent his day doing and yet he was never brave enough to meet with them.
I have meet Don Brash, engaging and pleasant man. I have seen Don Brash on the streets working a crowd of working class New Zealanders, enjoyed himself and was well received. I have seen Don Brash deliver a speech to a group of toffs, comfortable in that setting and very impressive.
News flash Alister - people spend a lot of time talking to their peers - usually whether they like it or not. Why as Reserve Bank Governer was he obliged to press flesh? Does your Bank Manager whip around the community to ask Joe Pub what effects his mortgage rates are having?
