Comments on: When Things Go Wrong

By: Brendon

Brendon — Thu, 27 Apr 2006 22:46:00 +0000

THe PR angle of it all, which is what I'm looking at, is an excellent example of how spin works.

I'll be interested to see how the non-apology works.

Brendon

By: Dave Starr

Dave Starr — Thu, 27 Apr 2006 20:08:00 +0000

Sadly, it’s as if the news gods read my comment over on the Tailoredpodcasting site yesterday and contrived to come up wiht a real world example.

Politics aside … and I see, sdaly, that Australia is no better than the US in protecting the reputation of a bumbling Defence/Defense structure that cares little or nothing for the troops involved (Rumsfeld telling the troops go find their own armor plate) and everything for their own political reputations … but the point of this sad story isn’t politics or who’s right, it’s about the dis-arming effect a simple ‘sorry’ can bring to an otherwise very hard to cope with situation. Just say sorry _first_ and then figure out the legalities and the blame. It’s such a simple word and it’s so easy to say … if you give a care in the first place.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Thu, 27 Apr 2006 17:17:00 +0000

You should not be looking for an apology. You should be looking for him to correct the mistakes and get your soldier home where he belongs. Don’t use this as a political slam, I hate it when a fellow brother in arms gets pulled into a political game. There is no place for it.

By: Stuart

Stuart — Thu, 27 Apr 2006 01:23:00 +0000

And just a little addition to my previous comment – don’t forget Howard is the guy who turned a normal humanitarian rescue at sea into an election win when he manipulated the Tampa crisis.

By: Stuart

Stuart — Thu, 27 Apr 2006 01:21:00 +0000

I don't know that Nelson will come out of that debacle in all that bad a shape.

Name one other defence minister that has ever gone in person to the grieving relatives?

Name one other Prime Minister who has personally taken a phone call from a distressed relative when a digger has been killed overseas?

Don't get me wrong - I have little time for Howard or his cronies but they're handling this situation a lot better than you might think.