Tuesday, October 02, 2007
PHIL PHUMES
Continuing his recent meltdown, Phillip Adams tries to weasel out of it following a gentle nudge from Media Watch:
My offence? A senior moment on a recent Late Night Live. We were discussing the longish history of local literary frauds and hoaxes ... I then made a passing mention of another spurious writer, Helen Demidenko. And had that senior moment that seized Media Watch’s attention.
That “senior moment” - by the way, is perpetual Media Watch target Alan Jones allowed to use that excuse? He’s only a couple of years younger than Phil - involved this comment: “One of my most chilling experiences on this programme ever was a long interview I did with Helen Demidenko, which made my blood freeze.” Not exactly a passing comment; more a direct claim.
Adams wastes the next 277 words criticising Chilling Helen. There’s no point to this; the issue here is whether Adams interviewed her, not whether she’s the worst person ever to worsen the streets of Worseville. Eventually, Adams continues:
Whereupon Demidenko-Darville-Dale and her supporters ... protested that I’d never interviewed her. And on checking the program logs and my memory, it seemed she was probably right. I’d confused my encounter with Demidenko. It had happened while we were both waiting to be interviewed on someone else’s program. Was it TripleJ? Metro? Classic FM? After more than a decade I don’t know. But the impression that Demidenko made on me remains fresh and urgent.
So fresh and urgent he can’t remember where or when it happened.
I feel for [Media Watch host Monica] Attard. Constantly under attack by conservatives and the ultra-Right for political bias she needs, from time to time, to find a blood sacrifice from the Left.
A “blood sacrifice”? Please. Adams made something up and got (ever so gently) called on it. Still, it’s interesting that he has such a clear understanding of Media Watch’s role - pursuing conservatives.
This is not the first time I’ve been tut-tutted on a program for which I maintain a historic affection.
And no wonder; Phil’s latest tut-tutting quickly morphed into an attack on conservative ABC board member Ron Brunton. A previous tut-tutting became an attack on conservative columnist Janet Albrechtsen.
In recent times, however, [Media Watch] has been engaged in trivial pursuits ... Perhaps my memories of a golden age are symptoms of what Media Watch has now so boldly established. That once in a while I have memory lapses.
Weird sort of memory lapse. In fact, Phil seems to be suffering a memory surplus; he’s remembered something that never happened. Next week, let’s see if Media Watch has the juice to nail Phil over his election errors.
UPDATE. Further fun from Gerard Henderson, who notes complaints by Julian Burnside and Phillip Adams that the Howard government “put kids into prison camps”:
There may be an argument about the language usage involved but the facts are correct. Until a couple of years ago, children were detained in detention centres. But it is also true that in 1994, the midpoint of the Keating Labor government, there were 350 children in detention. What did Burnside and Adams say about this? Nothing.
C’mon, Gerard. Adams was too busy interviewing the Archduke Ferdinand and Josephine Baker.
UPDATE II. Senior moment alert! Phil thinks NSW’s grand Big Banana is in Queensland. Then again, he also believes General Motors is headquartered in Manhattan.
(Via CB)
UPDATE III. Geography really isn’t his strong point.