Well… he’s done it! Iain Dale has finally blogged about “Dipper” Conway… and, he’s got nothing to say! Because, you see, like the Hamilton’s and Edwina Curry… Dekka is a mate, so he can be let off the hook!
I don’t suppose you could imagine the faux outrage Iain would be throwing around if Gordon Brown told the media that he wasn’t going to do anything about a Minister who had been “on the take”… because they were mates!!!
But that is not even the worst thing about this posting. Dale throws a complete hissy fit at the end about anonymous commenters saying rude things about him and his ‘mate’. It is so staggering in its hypocrisy I will reproduce it here:
If you want to post a comment calling me a hypocrite or worse, then at least have the courtesy of putting a name to your comment. Because if you don’t, it won’t get posted. I don’t mind people calling me whatever they like, but have the guts to do it publicly rather than hide behind the coward’s shield of anonymity.
For years Iain Dale has been allowing (even deliberately using, some say) anonymous commenters to slag off anyone who dares to post something contrary to the Dale line, sometimes in the most abusive and derogatory way. John Hirst and Tim Ireland in particular have come in for this treatment, with references been allowed through alleging or implying axe murdering, pedophilia, benefit fraud and much, much more. When John Hirst tried to respond by calling Dale a liar and a hypocrite (remember that bit about I don’t mind people calling me whatever they like)… he found himself banned from the comments box altogether. Tim Ireland even embarked on a crusade, pleading with Iain to ‘clean up his act’ and not allow these anonymous sock puppets. Fat lot of good it did him (he got banned too)… until now.
So… if ‘Dipper’ has done one good thing that he can reflect on during his lengthy Parliamentary holiday ban, he can look back on his work to help clean up one of the most unpleasant features of blogging. If Iain Dale’s principles last as long as Conway’s ban, that is. I wouldn’t bet on it though.
Well he should lose the whip
The hypocrisy of Dale takes the breath away. He has traded on innuendo and teamed up with staines to produce “books” on sleaze and then goes oh so quiet when the sleaze pops up close to his front door.
This little episode shows why blogs, even financially viable ones like dale’s, are a poor substitute for proper journalism.
Call Iain Dale a hypocrite and he squeals like a pig impaled upon a very sharp stick. His normal defence, trotted out again this time, is that his detractors are “cowards” for posting anonymously.
That they can post anonymously because his blog allows anonymous comments is just one measure of the man’s stupidity.
A measure of his hypocrisy is that he never accuses anonymous posters of cowardice if they are attacking one of his opponents.
Another is that he attacks Labour and the Lib Dems with obvious glee for the most minor of errors, whilst remaining silent for as long as possible when it is the Tories who are at fault.
He fails to see that you must at least acknowledge when your side gets it wrong, or risk being exposed as a hypocrite.
That such a mediocrity should be accepted by the MSM as Britain’s Leading Blogger has long been a mystery to me when it is obvious he is little more than a gaudy Tory Pom Pom boy.
All I feel the need to add to that is that I wasn’t on the receiving end of that sort of treatment until I complained that others were being subjected to it. Before then, Iain was as sweet as pie to me, and constantly chasing me for link-love.
Oh, and you may want to see what Iain has to say (if anything) about this comment:
http://preview.tinyurl.com/3bpzjv