“Alas” reader Maureen sent me the link to this story in the Guardian, about an election in New Zealand:
Don Brash, the aptly named leader of the centre-right National party, faced Ms Clark in a televised debate last week, and came off second best. When asked why he had done so badly, Mr Brash suggested he had deliberately gone easy on Ms Clark. “I think it’s not entirely appropriate for a man to aggressively attack a woman and I restrained myself for that reason,” Mr Brash explained. “Had the other combatant been a man, my style might have been rather different.” Ms Clark herself offered a more plausible alternative explanation: “Sounds like an excuse for losing to me.”
Unhappily for Mr Brash, opinion polls show that a majority of voters regard Ms Clark as a stronger leader than him by a margin of two to one. But if we assume Mr Brash wasn’t merely trying to distract the electorate from his poor performance with a sexist remark, losing the election will surely come as a relief to him. Imagine the embarrassing situations being prime minster would involve. How could he, for example, argue forcefully with US secretary of state Condoleezza Rice? Or stare down Chinese vice-premier Wu Yi? Would he have to graciously give way to any demands made by Yulia Tymoshenko, Ukraine’s prime minister?
Luckily Mr Brash’s sense of chivalry is unlikely to endure such humiliations – his party lags Ms Clark’s by more than 9% in the latest polls.
Sweeeeet.
I love Helen :)
Hell, I remember when she was first running and a bunch of us lesbians got “We Love Helen” buttons printed.
It’s not a wonder Helen handed him his arse, after all, this is a woman that mountain-climbs on her days off, is an open agnostic, and when rumours of her being a lesbian (despite being married to the same guy for virtually forever) started getting airplay countered with “What if I were? Would that effect the way I do my job? I have a number of lesbian friends but the thing is, I’m not”; totally killed the story.
She also was one of the international leaders that openly said “No” to Bush to supporting the war in Iraq.
I’m going home for my sister’s wedding in a little over 2 weeks, and the actual election is on the day of the ceremony … luckily all of us (except my parents) are raving commies by american standards :)
There’s actuallya follow up to this story:
When the media asked him what he meant, he backtracked saying pro-woman’s rights and just didn’t think men could be feminist. I suspect that he’s a pro-women’s rights in the cities, and ‘definately not a feminist’ in the heartland.
I’m no fan of Helen Clark (and she’s not a particularly good feminist herself – her government recently increased the penalty to a solo mother’s benefit if she did not name the father – presumably because people who don’t name the father need less money for food) – but I am glad that Don Brash is not about to be Prime Minister (although there’s still three weeks to go and the polls are incredibly volatile – he had a five point lead less than a month ago).
The election is being held on September the 17th – which is cool in its own way – it’s the closest Saturday to September 19 – which is the day women won the vote in NZ 112 years ago. I only wish I could vote for the most left-wing party with any conviction.
I knew I should have refreshed to see if any other kiwis were around – I was really happy to see that you were going to get to your sister’s wedding Sarah.
While I was very happy about NZ troops not being part of the invading orce, we did end up sending troops to Iraq. They were sold as rebuilding Iraq, but they were under American command, and the military grouping they joined had been ‘rebuilding’ holding pens and military roads (which may or may not have existed before the invasion).
The margin between them is probably bigger than Kerry & Bush, but it’s not big enough (and don’t even get me started on the 4th Labour government – I can speak ill of Lange even though he’s dead).
reddecca –
Thanks, yeah I am happy to be getting back too :)
Yeah, I heard that about the rebuilding troops sent … I too was really not keen about them being sent, but I figured we did kinda have to do something like that at least from an international political perspective unfortunately.
lol, yeah, not too keen on Lange either, I mean, I loved how ballsy he was for New Zealand on the international stage … but I was in my early teens through most of his reign so I don’t remember as much as those that were adults … though I do remember the oxford nuclear-free debate :)
I too, when I was living in NZ, really wished Labour would move more left, as while I couldn’t stand Alliance (they have split now and are mainly the ‘Progressives’ right?), I did feel that they were catering to the right too much, but now having lived in the states my perspective has seriously changed. After having seen what a truely compromised ‘left-wing’ party is in the Democrats, my assessment of Labour has really been tempered by the political orientation here, and I am perhaps more charitable now.
Hell, most of my left-wing friends here dream of a political environment as ‘centrist’ as NZ’s :)
But yeah, I am keeping my fingers crossed too for the 17th *crosses toes too*
Amp,
Thanks for posting a little light at the end of the tunnel. So often it seems that there is little progress being made, it is good to see that people when presented with the genuine article are able to come to a reasonable conclusion. (I still don’t get why a lot of Americans do not see the futility of war and the need for healthcare….)
The sad thing is that many do not get that suppositions about gender prejudice are part of their programming. Surly Brash was aware of how ridiculous his statement was, I believe he said it because he understood it would resonate with others who possibly do not. I am a product of the modern culture. I have come to realize that comes with baggage. I have found that engaging others, like on this site enables me to see I was unaware where the programming is hidden. Then given the knowledge that there is a system operating without my consciousness, I am given power to change if I so choose. It is sad when someone like Brash seems to see the differences and uses them in spite of his awareness that he is doing so. One of the classic models was George Wallace who started life not being a segregationist but found a road to power through it. Thankfully he sought forgiveness before he died. Tragically for all those that suffered as a result, his apology can not change their suffering. One hopes that Brash and others would learn from folks like Wallace, that spouting such nonsense could cause genuine suffering in others; the hope this might temper their actions is of little comfort when we see the hate speech coming from so many regarding other peoples ability to live the life of their choosing. Blessings.
Maybe it’s the word “Ass” in the title, but I keep seeing this headline as “Sexy Politician Has His Ass Handled”.
Cold shower time, perhaps.
Robert,
It’s comments like that… That keep me reading your posts.
Thanks for the chuckle. Blessings.
Another Kiwi here :-)
Brash is just so embarrassing. He really does nothing to make his party look good, with his constant screw ups and bumbling. Clark, on the other hand, is a seasoned politician and I’m not worried that NZ will wind up in some massive PR disaster with her at the helm. Not that that’s any reason to elect a party, but policy-wise Labour has the edge in the polls too (and here’s hoping that gets them the majority in the election).
I saw Brash on TV last night defending the feminist comments and I was glad to see our media doesn’t let politicians weasel their way around things. He added all that stuff about, “Well yes, I suppose I am a feminist IF THE MEANING IS THAT MEN AND WOMEN ARE COMPLETELY EQUAL” (he clearly doesn’t want to be considered a feminist without qualifying it to hell). He was challenged by the interviewer, as there are only 2 (I think) women in his caucus and he’s had massive public run-ins with each and kicked them off the party list. At one point he made the comment: “I was hiring women before it was fashionable to do so.” Blech.
“I too, when I was living in NZ, really wished Labour would move more left, as while I couldn’t stand Alliance (they have split now and are mainly the ‘Progressives’ right?), I did feel that they were catering to the right too much, but now having lived in the states my perspective has seriously changed. After having seen what a truely compromised ‘left-wing’ party is in the Democrats, my assessment of Labour has really been tempered by the political orientation here, and I am perhaps more charitable now. ”
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My sister was saying something like this when she was visiting the States from Christchurch. She got some flak from my mom, who still believes there’s hope for the Demos.