Ryan Bridge: What has Chris Hipkins got to hide over over Covid?

Yesterday they wheeled out three excuses for not fronting up and answering questions about why they went so hard on lockdowns and mandates which they then papered over with $66-billion in spending - second in the world only to the US - thereby helping fuel the inflation we're all now paying the price for taming. 

1. First we heard they wouldn't attend the public hearing and give public evidence because they were worried about how the public might react - that some might use their videos to spread misinformation. 

The Inquiry itself basically said this was nonsense because the public interest in them appearing outweighed the risk of some nutter altering their testimony video and sharing it on Facebook. 

2. Then Hipkins fronted for a stand-up with another reason - I already answer these questions on a daily basis. 

Which, again, makes no sense. If you were worried about videos being doctored of misinformation being spread, would it not apply as much to those comments in the media - which are - of course videoed and published - as you would be about video livestreamed from a public inquiry? 

3. Then there's the excuses provided to inquiry itself. They were worried about blowback from the public online - that it might turn into some sort of which hunt. 

This is, perhaps, the most egregious and insulting one. 

During the Covid years, they were more than happy to troll members of the public from the podium of truth. 

They were more than happy to engage in a little witch-hunting of their own. Be it Charlotte Bellis. The border crossers. The river of filth. 

They used the media to hammer their opponents as conspiracy theorists,  anointed many public enemy number ones while they were in control of the narrative. 

And that's really what this is about. 

Controlling the narrative. The wall-to-wall coverage and 1pm podium sermons cynically helped secure them an historic majority in 2020. 

As the old saying goes, you can fool some of the people all of the time and all of the people some of the time, but you can't fool all of the people all of the time.

These guys know they've been found out - most recently by that embarrassing Treasury report.

And now that they can't control the narrative, it looks like they're running for the hills. 

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
What has Hipkins and co. Got to hide over COVID?
Yesterday they wheeled out three excuses, not one, not two,
but three for not fronting up and answering questions about
why they went so hard on lockdowns and mandates, which
they then papered over with sixty six billion dollars in
spending second in the world only to the US, thereby

(00:21):
helping fuel the inflation that we're now paying the price
for taming. First excuse, we heard they wouldn't attend the
public hearing because they were worried about how the public
might react, that some might use their videos to spread misinformation.
The inquiry itself basically said that was nonsense. The public
interest in them appearing outweighed the risk of some nutter

(00:44):
altering their video and sharing it on Facebook. Number two,
we then had Hipkins front for a stand up with
another reason. I already answered these questions on a daily basis,
he said, which again makes no sense. If you were
worried about videos being doctored for misinformation and misinformation being spread,
would it not apply as much to those comments in

(01:06):
the media, which are of course videoed and published as
they would be to the video live stream from a
public inquiry. Three. Then there's the excuses provided to the
inquiry itself. They were worried about blowback from the public online,
that it might turn into some sort of witch hunt.
This is perhaps the most egregious and insulting excuse of

(01:28):
them all. During the COVID years, they were more than
happy to troll us members of the public from the
podium of truth. They were more than happy to engage
in a little witch hunting of their own. Bit Charlotte
Ballast the border crosses the River of filth. They used
the media to hammer their opponents as conspiracy theoris see
anyone who disagreed with them. They anointed many a public

(01:51):
enemy number one while they were in control of the narrative,
and that's really what this is about. Controlling the narrative,
the wall to wall coverage, the one PM podium sermons
cynically help secure them a historic majority in twenty twenty.
As the old saying goes, you can fall some of
the people all of the time, all of the people

(02:14):
some of the time, but you can't fool all of
the people all of the time. These guys know they've
been found out, most recently by that embarrassing Treasury report
and now that they can't control the narrative, it looks
like they're running for the hills. For more from Early
Edition with Ryan Bridge. Listen live to news Talks it'd
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