[mediawatch] Followup: Curmudgeons

Me, November 27:

I’m childishly excited by the possibility that Bassett will get slapped down, hard.

Letter to Michael Bassett from Tim Pankhurst, editor of the Dom-Post:

…we no longer wish to continue your column… It has also been suggested by several readers that you are compromised -one suggested your column should be renamed fifth- in view of your undeclared advice to Don Brash on his pivotal Orewa speech. I note that you do not dispute this and that you have also given advice to other political leaders. In that case, I believe this should have been declared and both you and The Dominion Post are exposed to duplicity.

*dances*
And while I’m at it, Russell Brown expresses things nicely:

Like, seemingly, everyone who claims to be rebutting Nicky Hager’s The Hollow Men, Bassett basically ignores the substance of the book. Bassett simply contrives to be more odious and abusive than everyone else. He basically calls the editors of the Dom Post idiots and implies that TV3 has been dishonest in its presentation of the facts. He slings off at the “hacks” so “easily beguiled” by Hager, who he compares not only to David Irving but to – get this – Stalin. He pretends his own conflict of interest – that he posed as an independent commentator on matters in which he was directly involved – doesn’t exist… Really, what a dreadful man Bassett is.

On Christmas day I’m going to raise a glass to the downfall of the dreadful Mr Michael Bassett. Heck, why wait? I must have some whisky around here somewhere.
Justifiable schadenfreude, I love it so. (See also: Dick Cheney’s daughter is pregnant.)
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On the flip side is the genuinely sad news that chief curmudgeon Frank Haden has prostate cancer and has stopped writing. Damn.