I hate the fact it’s all about the sur­face, but Lind­say Tanner (Oppos­i­tion Com­mu­nic­a­tions Spokes­per­son, used to be a journo) is debat­ing Ross Cameron (Fed­eral Par­lia­ment­ary Sec­ret­ary). I’m not a huge Labour fan, but they’re better than the god­damn Libs. Cameron, though, is so well-spoken, so coher­ent, builds his argu­ments in beau­ti­fully struc­tured par­al­lel con­struc­tions, all the tools of rhet­oric in full flight, that I’m almost con­vinced until he says some­thing about becom­ing a weak coun­try like New Zea­l­and if we don’t do what he says. 

What, a coun­try with a heart, that encour­ages refugees, has a vibrant film cul­ture these days, a woman PM, a treaty with its indi­gen­ous people and a no nukes policy? Nah, would­n’t want that… 

He’s scar­ily slick though. He’ll be dan­ger­ous if he gets fur­ther up the chain…