McKenna Gets Mauled
13/03/07 23:08 Filed in: Politics
Whenever
I'm in the car during "The Drivetime Slot" I tend
to listen to The Last Word on Today FM more than
most. A day rarely passes when The Last Word
doesn't get someone from the Green Party on to
offer us their predictable "Down With That Sort of
Thing" analysis of any given subject, media whores
that they are.
Today was no different, and Patricia McKenna was on to offer the party's line on the fluoridation of drinking water (predictably, this is a Very Bad Thing And Needs To Be Stopped.) I find the Greens pretty annoying and self-righteous at the best of times, but McKenna is particularly shrill. She came on and said her piece, explaining that fluoridation was the cause of several maladies and saying that parents were putting babies at risk by bottle-feeding them with formula made up with fluoridated water. Then Matt Cooper introduced another guest (who's name escapes me [Added 12 April: His name is Keith Redmond]), a dentist who also happens to be a PD election candidate.
This guest demolished McKenna's argument and left her floundering, and also accused her of advising parents not to have their children vaccinated or immunised. Cooper picked up on this, even though it was off-topic, and invited McKenna to respond to the accusation. What followed was pure gold. McKenna trotted out the old line about the alleged link between the MMR vaccine and autism. Cooper himself (who would normally play a disinterested devil's advocate role in a debate like this) was on her like a ton of bricks and vehemently pointed out that this theory was bogus and had been utterly discredited. More flapping from McKenna, as she desperately tried to validate her points, but by then it was hopeless.
Trevor Sargeant, if he was listening, must have been banging his head off a table at this point.
Hopefully Today FM will put it up as a podcast, and if they do I'll link to it.
Update, 12 April: Justin Mason has links to the audio file, and a transcript of the relevant part of the interview here
Today was no different, and Patricia McKenna was on to offer the party's line on the fluoridation of drinking water (predictably, this is a Very Bad Thing And Needs To Be Stopped.) I find the Greens pretty annoying and self-righteous at the best of times, but McKenna is particularly shrill. She came on and said her piece, explaining that fluoridation was the cause of several maladies and saying that parents were putting babies at risk by bottle-feeding them with formula made up with fluoridated water. Then Matt Cooper introduced another guest (who's name escapes me [Added 12 April: His name is Keith Redmond]), a dentist who also happens to be a PD election candidate.
This guest demolished McKenna's argument and left her floundering, and also accused her of advising parents not to have their children vaccinated or immunised. Cooper picked up on this, even though it was off-topic, and invited McKenna to respond to the accusation. What followed was pure gold. McKenna trotted out the old line about the alleged link between the MMR vaccine and autism. Cooper himself (who would normally play a disinterested devil's advocate role in a debate like this) was on her like a ton of bricks and vehemently pointed out that this theory was bogus and had been utterly discredited. More flapping from McKenna, as she desperately tried to validate her points, but by then it was hopeless.
Trevor Sargeant, if he was listening, must have been banging his head off a table at this point.
Hopefully Today FM will put it up as a podcast, and if they do I'll link to it.
Update, 12 April: Justin Mason has links to the audio file, and a transcript of the relevant part of the interview here