David's Fan Club

Tim Blair takes a look at Aussie journalists who have a "thing" for David Hicks.

Which brings me, obviously, to the matter of David Hicks. Like Osama bin Laden - Dave's "lovely brother" - Hicks has been accessorised, Pimp My Ride-style, by various leftist commentators who've added fashionable ideological upgrades to these mundane entities.

CHILDLIKE 61-year-old nose illustrator Michael Leunig: "How may a man explain his innocence to a culture hell-bent on war and conquest? How does a broken heart stand against the vindictive and merciless onslaught of a militarised state tangled in its blinding web of anger, hypocrisy and paranoia? . . . how does an exhausted little David in chains defend himself against such a ferocious Goliath?" You won't find a bigger fan outside of a Formula 1 windtunnel.

FAIRFAX writers Marian Wilkinson, Annabel Crabb and Penelope Debelle, in a 2003 news piece, described David Hicks as "the human face of the fight for individual justice in this murky era of terrorism." But Hicks didn't fight for individual justice; he fought for Islamic extremism. Only true fans are able to look past such complexities.

 HOPELESS lefty Age columnist (is there any other kind?) Tracee Hutchison: "He was certainly not the only Australian who considered the warmongering activities of George (W.) Bush - and his allies - to be abhorrent and worthy of opposing. And he has paid the price of his convictions." Tracee's such a fan that she's added the aforementioned fashionable ideological upgrade.

Hicks commenced warmongering long before Bush commenced his, yet in Tracee's world Hicks - following his "convictions", the dear little Jew-hating idealist - acted in response. Buy the girl a calendar.