At the end of a fairly lengthy analysis of the Libs’ incoherent ETS position, the Poison Dwarf drops this gem:
Which brings us to other sensitivities.
In my alternate role as political editor for News Ltd’s Sunday newspapers I was warned on Saturday by one of the most senior – and I mean one of the most senior elected office holders in the land – that if I reported claims in a new book that Julia Gillard had been Kevin Rudd’s preferred choice as treasurer I would not be dealt with again by the Government. And to his credit, the person making those threats wasn’t Wayne Swan. At least whatever punishment is dealt out to it Brendan Nelson, even by his own side, he doesn’t behave like that.
On that count I’m happy to consult the admirable script writers of The Hollowmen.
Now, this is champagne Milne. There may well be a legitimate story here, but it’s so sketchy that it is hard to tell. “… if I reported claims” – we have no idea of the source for Glenn’s “claims”, and given the dodgy speculation he commonly engages in, I wouldn’t rule out the possibility that he was threatening to print a half-baked rumour. In the classic muckraking Milne tradition, he doesn’t name the person who apparently threatened him – the more speculation about identity, the broader the negative impact can spread among the Labor ranks (note the discussion on Bolt’s blog, where various commenters attribute the comment to, at the very least, Rudd, Gillard, and Tanner, based purely on their readings of the chicken entrails). Note also the way Milne diminishes all of his discussion of Nelson’s woes by implying that a single comment by a single Rudd Minister overrides all of the posturing of the Liberal factions.
But at the core of this story-within-a-story is the central theme of Glenn Milne’s work – “look at me, look at me!” Milne doesn’t just want to write the story; he wants to be the story. He wants people to know, or at least to think, that he is a Very Important Person. He has the inside knowledge, and despite all the obstacles he is going to reveal it – one of these days.
You can be a player or you can be a commentator, but you can’t be both, Glenn.
