Intellectual dishonesty is pure poison – A Crikey weblog

Category Archives: Malcolm Farr

Nobody said “NewStart” should be “comfortable”, Malcolm – but it should be sufficient to survive

April 17, 2012 – 10:54 am

The classic form of intellectual dishonesty: reframing your target’s argument to something she never argued, ignoring her point completely. Greens senator Rachel Siewert is presently highlighting the inadequacy of the NewStart payment by attempting to live on it for a week: “My first task this weekend was to sit down and map out the week” [...]

By Jeremy Sear | Also posted in Posted | Comments (15)

Elsewhere – Farr on the selective memory required to believe Abbott’s revisionism about the Howard years

February 6, 2012 – 10:00 am

Here’s News Ltd’s Malcolm Farr, actually assessing Tony Abbott’s revisionism critically – employing his brain to consider the actual content of what a politician has said, and taking the time to dig up the figures himself. It takes selective memory to call Howard era a golden age” …Such an economic Eden, as long as you [...]

By Jeremy Sear | Also posted in Elsewhere | Comments (5)

“Leadership showdown” for Tony Abbott, apparently

February 5, 2012 – 10:30 pm

One thing about decrying embarrassing faux journalism by the ABC – News Ltd can always outdo them. And on this “leadership speculation” beat-up they’ve just produced my favourite piece of head-smackingly moronic “journalism” of the year: Tony Abbott is preparing for a “leadership showdown”? Is someone challenging him for leadership of the Liberal Party? Or [...]

By Jeremy Sear | Also posted in News Ltd., Posted | Comments (13)

News Ltd carbon price scare can’t even pick which contradictory line it’s running

February 2, 2012 – 10:45 pm

And the News Ltd “do you think we’re selling it too hard? It’s okay? We can keep going with this? You don’t think they’re starting to see through it? Okay, if you sure…” Anti-Carbon Price Smear Campaign And Fearmongering gets another run this afternoon, with the woefully beaten-up news that Qantas is adding another one [...]

By Jeremy Sear | Also posted in News Ltd., Posted | Comments (7)

News columnist admits: it’s not a “carbon tax” at all

September 14, 2011 – 9:28 am

It is indeed “late in the show”, and only on a News Ltd blog, not an actual newspaper, but Malcolm Farr this morning finally makes a point that should’ve been heard long, long before now: “This is NOT a bloody carbon tax”. As Farr points out: I know what taxes are. I see them every [...]

By Jeremy Sear | Also posted in Posted | Comments (38)

“Senior figures” at News Ltd can’t back up their quotes

September 17, 2010 – 10:44 am

Obviously it’s no longer a surprise that News Ltd is going in hard after the independents, Rob Oakeshott in particular (do they think Windsor is still salvageable for the Coalition, and Oakeshott can be a useful case study for him?) – but I thought its effort today was worth noting, technique-wise. This is the link [...]

By Jeremy Sear | Also posted in News Ltd. | Comments (33)

Life is hard in the pack

August 9, 2010 – 9:47 am

Tobias has already had a look at the ongoing saga of the pathetic punditocracy plaintively pleading perspective, but I thought it’d be worth having a big of a discussion of Sally Jackson’s front-of-news.com.au report on defending the media pack this morning: “Press pack under fire for not asking tough questions”. For their media shadows it’s [...]

By Jeremy Sear | Also posted in Ari Sharp, Sally Jackson | Tagged | Comments (19)

Gold star, Malcolm Farr

October 21, 2009 – 2:53 pm

Someone writing for a major newspaper gets it: At the moment we are heading for a peak, just as we were around 2001 when the previous government mounted the Pacific Solution as a bulwark against undocumented boat arrivals. The number of those arrivals immediately fell after the introduction of the measures. But the numbers also [...]

By Tobias Ziegler | Also posted in Politicians | Tagged | Comments (8)

You don’t have to be charismatic to work here but it helps

March 4, 2009 – 9:44 pm

Malcolm Farr’s latest column, about the upcoming first meeting between Kevin Rudd and Barack Obama, stretches the contrast between the US and Australian leaders a bit far. Farr’s reasoning goes along these lines: Barack Obama is stylish; ergo, you have to be stylish to become the US President. On the other hand, Kevin Rudd is [...]

By Tobias Ziegler | Tagged , , | Comments (11)