Chris Hipkins and the delete button

Last night Chris Hipkins took a dig at the PM’s comments about Glenn Greenwald:

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Which he also followed up with a tweet:

Chris_Hipkins_on_Twitter___Bit_difficult_for_these__truth_talkers__to_claim_the_moral_high_ground_when_they_resort_to_the_same_name-calling_they_criticize_Key_for__

Which are both good comments to make, and pretty even handed. But what I want to talk about is something that happened on the Facebook status. I got a tip off that there was a pretty nasty comment on the status. Unfortunately I was on the phone and didn’t get there before it was removed. But according to the tip off I got, the comment was by a Roddy Llamagas and was about doing an ISIS on shylocks and chopping off John Key’s head…and disposing of his issue. Someone on the status called him on it:

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And Chris responded by deleting the comment. I am not sure how long it was up there for. But I want to congratulate Chris on not only deleting the comment, but also owning the fact he did and using it as a chance to make a point. What is said on a politicians Facebook page shouldn’t be counted as reflecting on them. But what should reflect on them is how they handle the comments made. Chris has handled these comments well and has gone on the record to point out his disagreement.

matthew