Andrew L. Urban.
I despair. I despair for the commentariat class who seem to have replaced analysis with kneejerk. I’m talking about the ridiculous reaction to One Nation candidate Mark Nicholson’s exclamation that ‘if he had his way’ Daniel Andrews and Jacinta Allen would be in jail by Christmas. (Cue enthusiastic One Nation Victorian launch crowd approval.) That’s like me yelling ‘if I had my way there’d be free beer’ at my favourite pub.
As if on their election in Victoria, One Nation could sidestep all the laws and all the checks and balances and just jail these two miscreants. “Oh no!” shriek the commentariat, we can’t have politicians ignore the separation of powers! Oh puhlease …
I despair because even the otherwise most astute commentators were caught in the ridiculous outrage trap. I saw them beclown themselves on my TV.
We don’t deal with our political opponents that way, runs the whinge. How stupid is that ? For starters, Allen and Andrews are not political opponents of One Nation. They are has-been political detritus no longer on the ballot. For seconds, taking such exclamations literally is at best silly, at worst infantile.
And thirdly, Allen and Andrews may well deserve a stretch …