Hard News by Russell Brown

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Hard News: The perils of political confidence

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  • BenWilson, in reply to Sacha,

    Nothing new here.

    Yes, but it didn't really work out for Brash, did it? Bad advice.

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 10657 posts Report

  • Ian Dalziel, in reply to Steve Barnes,

    kick 'em in the tests...

    I can’t think of a policy more likely to cause an instant spike in crime than to put people who not only haven’t got a job, but now are even more unlikely to get one, and who have a drug habit to support, to have no means to support themselves.

    It does tally with National's vigorous attempts to grow the Private Prison Industry - along with Mr Key's promise to make our streets and communities safer purely by creating more police - no thought of addressing the causes of criminal behaviour...
    Can private police on the street be far away?
    Bluewater Social Solutions has a nice ring to it...

    Christchurch • Since Dec 2006 • 7953 posts Report

  • BenWilson, in reply to Russell Brown,

    And me -- with the proviso that it's not really new policy because people who fail to get to job interviews because they're off their faces are already marked down as failing to attend interviews.

    There's an enormous difference between being off your face and failing a drug test.

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 10657 posts Report

  • 3410,

    Duncan Garner says that 3News has so far decided not to release the teapot tape "but it's fair to say, we're reviewing that position throughout the day".

    Auckland • Since Jan 2007 • 2618 posts Report

  • James Butler, in reply to Steve Barnes,

    It’s clever because, had Norman not been so over the top in his apology, it would have made the Greens look principled open and honest, without affecting their grass roots support

    On the contrary, I think the whole thing makes the Greens look less than principled to the kind of voter we're trying to attract more of - voters who haven't voted Green before.

    Auckland • Since Jan 2009 • 856 posts Report

  • Tom Semmens,

    What is wrong with Key? Refusing to answer questions and storming off??? That is prime time 101 gold, just ask Dennis Conner. Is this how he is going to behave every time the media doesn't play by his rules?

    Sevilla, Espana • Since Nov 2006 • 2217 posts Report

  • Sacha, in reply to BenWilson,

    it didn't really work out for Brash, did it?

    May well have done, if it wasn't for Hager and his sources revealing more damning evidence than seems likely to reside on this 'teapot tape'.

    The film version of Hollow Men shows Brash using this tactic with media in an attempt to deflect attention until after the election. It's even worse when you know he's faking.

    Ak • Since May 2008 • 19745 posts Report

  • Sacha, in reply to BenWilson,

    switched to talking about the economy (on which any number of harsh questions could be asked since he's presided over an absolutely disastrous economy)

    you'd think their opponents would be pressing hard on that - especially after the Nats pinned so much of this campaign on being a safe pair of hands.

    Ak • Since May 2008 • 19745 posts Report

  • Rob Stowell,

    If we’re speculating :) I suspect Bryan Gould was right, on morning report this am: the problem for Key is not so much any specific comment, but the possible erosion of his genial nice-guy image.
    Anyone who’s considered the nature of politics for more than a minute can be fairly sure there’s something steely inside ‘the smiling assassin’. It’s not just that he’d never have got where he is today- it’s rather a good thing for a PM to have steel in the spine; to have the guts to stick up for what s/he says s/he believes in.
    But in public, Key has kept the hard-man very well hidden- and he’s widely liked, even adored. Hence he's vulnerable to indications he is, in private, in any way contemptuous of the adoring public.
    In the same spot, Jim Tully was on the mark about the legal farce we’re now going through, and the silliness of Key playing the victim. (Victim of your own PR stunt= wally innit?) Far closer to Gordon Brown than NOTW.
    The interview with Gould and Tully is here

    Whakaraupo • Since Nov 2006 • 2120 posts Report

  • merc, in reply to Rob Stowell,

    You're right Rob, by storming off he's jammed his message, now it's...I'm just another Tory on the make, I was laughing at you fools all along.
    Retires next year to Hawaii, the island of the spurned, founds merchant bank with Fay and Wespac, is ambitious for world recovery.
    Oh dear just saw the video of the...only interested in the economy...glitch twitch, this is now officially, for me anyway, a huge game changer.
    The only reason that you would vote for the National Key party (their line) is if you are only interested in the economy, yeah right, that might not work out too well if you look at their economic performance, is this the Govt. that has borrowed the most money in our history? And in the words of Finance Minister Bill English, they borrowed more than they needed to because, you know, you never know when you might need some more?
    So the billboard masher was right.

    Since Dec 2006 • 2471 posts Report

  • Paul Williams, in reply to Steve Barnes,

    The average voter is pretty simple and rather gullible.

    Steve, when I worked for the Labour Research Unit years back I learned that MPs give real weighting to what they hear at kindy visits, in bowling clubs and retirement villages. Maybe it's the wisdom of the crowds, I'm not sure, but these interactions provide rich data that is every bit as valid as the more removed and abstract policy musings of professionals and elites.

    Sydney • Since Nov 2006 • 2273 posts Report

  • PaulC,

    Can you believe it, the radio gig, the throat slit, misleading parliament, the slow response to the ship grounding, and now this, the pm is losing it, if indeed satin john ever had it

    Auckland • Since Nov 2011 • 19 posts Report

  • Carol Stewart, in reply to Sacha,

    you'd think their opponents would be pressing hard on that

    Yes, I can't quite work out why Goff seems to be concurring with the PM's line that it's all the rotten media's fault and everyone should just move on.
    Update - he is now condemning the Key flounce manouevre.

    Wellington • Since Jul 2008 • 830 posts Report

  • Craig Ranapia, in reply to Russell Brown,

    Also: fuck knows what Hosking’s on. But I don’t want any.

    But it does wonders for the roses. :) And, yeah, I don't think the hit job on Ambrose I linked to should be considered one of Stuff's finest moments.

    That was my reading of the Rudman article linked to upthread.

    I know I'm going to get trashed for saying this, but while Rudman's calling Key a privacy hypocrite (with some justice, IMO) the Herald's own editorial board and columnists' record on civil liberties is *cough* rather patchy. (At least where the Herald's own interests aren't directly concerned. When that happens, The Herald becomes a staunchly civil libertarian organ.) #potkettleblack, indeed.

    North Shore, Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 12370 posts Report

  • merc, in reply to PaulC,

    Key yesterday said he could not remember if he suggested NZ First supporters were "dying out".
    http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/5972674/Key-storms-out-of-media-conference
    They are not going to let this go, something about a wounded leader and the media pack previously held in check by said leader. If the right survive this I will be very surprised, or if they do, their vengeance will be noteworthy.

    Since Dec 2006 • 2471 posts Report

  • Stephen Judd,

    Key's popularity has partly been based on his appearance of being above politics, an affable, likeable chap, not a politician really. Nothing could be more fatal to that image than a tape of him talking hard politics to a politician. That's why it doesn't matter what the details of the tape are. What matters is that it will show he's a politician like all the rest.

    Wellington • Since Nov 2006 • 3122 posts Report

  • Craig Ranapia,

    The average voter is pretty simple and rather gullible.

    Shall we amend that to The average voter who doesn't vote as I think they should is pretty simple and rather gullible, as well as probably being evil alien lizards. So endearing.

    North Shore, Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 12370 posts Report

  • Sacha, in reply to Craig Ranapia,

    rather patchy

    Rudman's argument is not predicated on him or his employer being above reproach.

    Ak • Since May 2008 • 19745 posts Report

  • Rob Stowell, in reply to merc,

    Yeah, and Key's getting bad advice, if that's what he's following. You can't avoid this issue, and follow the ole- "give the answer to the question you wish had been asked."
    People are curious about the recording now in a way that can only be satiated by hearing it - or a good deal of time. The media won't be distracted from that until they get a better story- and even then, it'll linger.
    What a strange farcical circus. Is this where 'personality politics' inevitably ends up: talking about Clinton's sex-life or GW Bush's youthful escapades while vultures circle and across the world, nameless people suffer terribly?

    Whakaraupo • Since Nov 2006 • 2120 posts Report

  • Craig Ranapia, in reply to Sacha,

    As I said, I think Rudman was entirely accurate and fair in pointing out Key’s collars and cuffs don’t match, so to speak, when it comes to privacy. (I'd be a hypocrite to do so, since I've said the same myself elsewhere.) But I also think it’s fair to point out that speaking with a forked tongue is no more edifying, and equally deserving of notice, from our media moralists than it is from our political ones.

    ETA: Also, no I don't think Rudman bears blood guilt for every syllable of idiocy that's ever appeared in The Herald. But when he's speaking from that organ's bully pulpit, it's not just the authority and market dominance he's standing on.

    North Shore, Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 12370 posts Report

  • Paul Williams, in reply to Stephen Judd,

    I completely agree and while it mightn't do major damage in the short-term, Key's accumulating the unavoidable political biddi-bids that every PM does and which eventually turn voters off. It might be too soon to say, or I might be too partisan, either way I think Brand Key is significantly tarnished.

    Sydney • Since Nov 2006 • 2273 posts Report

  • merc, in reply to Rob Stowell,

    Heraclitus says "cold things warm, warm things cool, wet things dry and parched things get wet."
    Tomorrow will be another day, but today the circus was fine. ;-)

    Since Dec 2006 • 2471 posts Report

  • Stewart, in reply to Craig Ranapia,

    As long as it's only words you're pushing into other people's mouths, Craig.

    Steve may have been a little harsh with his call on 'average voters' but there's no need to make out he was raving like a David Icke.

    Te Ika A Maui - Whakatane… • Since Oct 2008 • 577 posts Report

  • Paul Williams, in reply to Stewart,

    Steve may have been a little harsh with his call on 'average voters' but there's no need to make out he was raving like a David Icke.

    That wasn't my intent and I apologise to Steve if that's how it seemed. Coincidentally, I've spent many hours talking with family members in Epsom about why they shouldn't vote for Banks simply to avoid a personal tax increase.

    Sydney • Since Nov 2006 • 2273 posts Report

  • Hilary Stace,

    There also seems to be a bit of frustration around the country about National Party candidates not turning up to, or pulling out of election meetings. For example, there was a really good, packed, well-organised, cross-party meeting on social policy issues in Wellington last week organised by various NGOs, but no Act or National MPs attended. The National candidate in Wellington Central, who did turn up a a couple of hours later for Backbenches, was scheduled to attend but apparently pulled out. It was a pity and seemed disrespectful to those who had organised it and those who came along, as the discussions were wide-ranging and there was even some common ground established between those who did attend. It didn't even have to be a local person, as the Maori Party representative who came is based in Hamilton.

    Wgtn • Since Jun 2008 • 3229 posts Report

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