Joe Cambria
BrookesNews.Com
Monday 28 July 2003

Reading Andrew Bolt's criticism of the ABC's bigotry (High price of bias, Herald Sun, 24/7) reminded me of the Quadrant Dinner to be held at the American Club on 30 July. Tim Blair will be guest speaker and his subject will be What's wrong with the ABC? Why bother? We already know what's wrong with the Australian Brainwashing Corporation, so why bother asking Blair for an opinion?

Because Blair is now a member of what the left sneeringly call the "WMC Club". What this means is that only those with the right connections are considered to have opinions that merit consideration. No one reading Blair's blog could reasonably accuse him of taking a thoughtful and detailed approach to media criticism. Not unless one thinks smart-aleck commentary laced with profanities is the equivalent of a solidly reasoned argument. No wonder the socialist Professor Quiggin dismissed him as having "no substance". (Perhaps that's what makes him an ideal recruit for our increasingly intellectually decrepit rightwing 'vanguard').

Moreover, though Blair can dish it out, in his own crude way, he is apparently unable to take it. When a contributor to Crikey accurately called Blair's commentary shallow, Blair responded by throwing a tantrum and removing Crikey's link.

We now find that Stephen Mayne, founder and owner of Crikey, has been barred from the Quadrant dinner. Behaving true to form, therefore, our rightwing leadership did what it always seems to do when tackled by outsiders: it throws a tantrum, covers its ears and blacklists the culprit. (Welcome to the club, Mr Mayne)

That Mayne has been barred is ironic for two reasons: 1) He used to be one of the boys until he revealed a critical spirit. 2) It is he and not Blair that should be addressing the Quadrant dinner.

Mayne did what no one else among the establishment right was able or willing to do. He took a risk and set up a commercial online news site. By doing so he demonstrated the kind of entrepreneurial risk-taking attitude that is completely alien to our rightwing dinner set. (If this lot ever formed a political organisation it would have to be called the Dinner Gong Party).

The subject of Mayne's talk could have been: How to use the net to fight the left — and still make a buck. Instead, they invited Blair and so demonstrated a total lack of imagination. They also demonstrated that they are not really serious about the confronting the left, particularly the ABC. On reflection, I can only think of two serious Australian media critics, one of whom was Tony McAdams, a man who now appears to be out of favour with the right, and one whose intellectual shadow Blair is not fit to stand in.

Padraic McGuinness, editor of Quadrant (a conservative magazine with as much life in it as the Dead Sea Scrolls) and a friend of Mr Blair's, is, in my opinion, typical of what is wrong with the Australian right. I can never forget that when I. F. Stone died in 1989 McGuinness wrote a glowing tribute to the man. What he did not say is that Stone was an unrepentant apologist for the Soviet Union, a supporter of Stalin, Ho Chi Minh and Kim Ill-sung. The creep even wrote a book claiming that in 1950 it was South Korea that started the war by invading the North.

As I recall, McGuinness completely overlooked Stone's sickening leftwing record. Perhaps he would like to tell us why? Coincidentally, Sydney Hook a genuine enemy of totalitarianism died in the same year, yet I don't recall McGuinness writing anything about Hook's courageous record in defence of liberty.

When Reagan nominated Bork for the Supreme Court the left launched a vicious campaign of character assassination against him. His real crime in their eyes was his insistence that the Constitution actually means what it says and that is how he would interpret it.

So whom did McGuinness root for? Why the left, of course. You see, Bork is opposed to abortion and that was enough for the highly principled McGuinness. That the question was not one of abortion but of constitutionality did not apparently faze him. It was at this point that I lost any respect I had for the man.

But it's just not just McGuinness, there is also Frank Devine, whose daughter, by pure chance of course, sits on Quadrant's advisory editorial board (Our right's incestuous behaviour is only helping the left). During the Clinton impeachment hearings Mr Devine wrote that it was only about sex. That it was really about perjury, obstruction of justice and witness tampering, etc., seems to have completely passed him by.

I'm not suggesting that Devine, who is a friend of both McGuinness and Blair (see what I mean about social connections), is a closet Clintonista, only that like Mr Blair he just can't be bothered to do his homework.

To be absolutely blunt, it's inconceivable to me that Blair would have been invited to address any serious organisation if it were not for his connections. This belief is based entirely on reading his blog. If Blair had been a lone wolf Quadrant, the H. R. Nicholls Society and Melbourne's Adam Smith Club would not even have given him the proverbial steam from their you-know-what.

In my last article on the Australia right I wrote: "During my long stay in the US I came to admire the enthusiasm, diligence and generosity of spirit that characterised the country's free market activists, at least I knew. But it was their generosity and inclusiveness that truly impressed me. And that is the principal reason why I gave them financial support" (Our right's incestuous behaviour is only helping the left).

Quadrant's invitation to Blair has obviously only served to reinforce my low opinion of Australia's self-appointed rightwing elite. And mine is not a lone voice. Since my return from America I have met with a number of city people and other businessmen and professionals, nearly all of whom were conservative leaning.

What struck me was their overwhelmingly negative opinion of our so-called rightwing. The main complaint, and one I fully support, is that the right doesn't do a damn thing, apart from organising dinners. How right they are.

Disclaimer: I do not know Mr Mayne nor have I ever had dealings of any kind whatsoever with him.

joecambria@optusnet.com.au

Joe Cambria was a Wall Street trader for 15 years