Hard News by Russell Brown

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Hard News: Some Lines for Labour

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  • Hilary Stace,

    I think the Stop Asset Sales signs are quite a clever, simple, below the radar campaign linking policy and emotiion. They pop up all over the place such as in that Clyde Dam story on TV3 and I've just seen some in downtown office windows.

    Wgtn • Since Jun 2008 • 3229 posts Report Reply

  • bmk,

    Today driving through town I saw something I had never seen before. Men standing on roundabouts holding up signs saying 'Looking for work'. These are the type of images Labour should be using, along with all the vacant buildings covered in For Lease signs throughout the city centre of my town. I imagine other towns are no different.

    Since Jun 2010 • 327 posts Report Reply

  • Jean Hughes,

    well if Labour and the Greens were serious about being in Govt and trying to show what a shallow show pony Mr Key is, they should be making the BBC Hardtalk interview available everywhere and referring to it constantly. Not only did he look and sound pompous and ignorant it also shows what happens when he doesn't select his usual fawning media. That interview is frankly embarrassing and just as Lange's nuclear speech defines him, so should this define Kay as he is at this time.

    Mangere • Since Nov 2006 • 89 posts Report Reply

  • ScottY,

    I'd link to his post but Blogger is having a sulk

    F**king Friday the 13th!

    As you were.

    West • Since Feb 2009 • 794 posts Report Reply

  • Grant McDougall,

    I tweeted thus in my frustration:

    Dear Labour. Say this: "The deficit is way over projections because National has buggered the economy." Not the "rich prick" trivia. 'Kay?

    Listen to Russell at this point. Labour needs to focus on the hip pocket issues and put it across that the Nats have had three years to fix the snafu, but have managed nothing.
    They really need to hammer home that aspect, not the BMW stuff.

    Dunedin • Since Dec 2006 • 760 posts Report Reply

  • ScottY,

    Trevor Mallard's Red Alert posts have become increasingly bizarre. On the positive side, he was earlier this week giving away free copies of the documentary The Hollow Men on DVD. I managed to bag one.

    West • Since Feb 2009 • 794 posts Report Reply

  • Russell Brown, in reply to ScottY,

    F**king Friday the 13th!

    As you were.

    I've added the link now.

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 22850 posts Report Reply

  • Sacha,

    IMO, Labour doesn't really need policy as such but to consistently convey in general terms what their party actually stands for between now and the election. Cunliffe has shown glimpses of that but it needs to come from all of them to look like a credible government in waiting. If they can't best the current pack of bozos then they really don't deserve to win.

    I agree that leading with the same tired "John Key is a bad man" crap that lost them the 2008 election crowds out other angles and is plain stupid. Waiting until the last three months or reacting to other parties' timelines is also just poor strategy. Frankly they need to dump anyone who has supposedly been advising them on that or communications for the last few years.

    The Opposition is broader than Labour too. Mana and others are likely to be rather messy but will get lots of attention, especailly as their positioning with the Maori Party is teased out. Likewise Winston knows how to play the media.

    The Greens seem more coherent this term but with similar packaging/messaging problems to Labour. If only some of the folk like those who worked on the Auckland mayoral campaign could do their magic all round..

    Ak • Since May 2008 • 19745 posts Report Reply

  • Craig Ranapia, in reply to Russell Brown,

    Whatever charisma Goff had – and it wasn’t a lot – seems to drain away daily.

    Clark wasn't charismatic at all -- but my God, her ability to stay on message with the tenacity of a Terrier with a well-chewed slipper, recognise her strengths (and work them like a supermodel) and surround herself with people who understood the way the media she didn't like or trust was awe-inspiring. Compare and contrast at will.

    Phil Goff being a charm-free zone isn't really the issue. His apparent inability to say the same thing clearly, simply and twice in a row is.

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

  • 3410,

    [Phil Goff's] apparent inability to say the same thing clearly, simply and twice in a row is [the issue.]

    Word. I shudder at the thought of upcoming leaders' debates.

    Auckland • Since Jan 2007 • 2618 posts Report Reply

  • Sacha, in reply to Grant McDougall,

    Labour needs to focus on the hip pocket issues and put it across that the Nats have had three years to fix the snafu, but have managed nothing.
    They really need to hammer home that aspect, not the BMW stuff.

    True. Any student of Karl Rove knows that attacking strengths means in this case the (unearned) reputation for sound economic management that Key and English might claim. They're actually piss-weak on that front and history won't be kind to them.

    But (surprise) no one is coherently conveying the alternatives. The Greens had a fully worked out economic policy package soon after the election. Stuart Nash and Cunliffe have done some good posts on Red Alert teasing out some fiscal policy issues for Labour, so it's not like they're short of that in the background.

    Starting to see intermittent signs of the opposition connecting that up with the day-to-day reality for New Zealanders - but then, so are the government. And their back office still seems stronger.

    Ak • Since May 2008 • 19745 posts Report Reply

  • Craig Ranapia, in reply to Sacha,

    I agree that leading with the same tired “John Key is a bad man” crap that lost them the 2008 election crowds out other angles and is plain stupid.

    No - just as most folks outside the Kiwibog-WhaleOily echo chamber may have disagreed with Helen Clark on a lot of things, but didn't believe for a moment she was some malignant neo-Marxist lesbian whose every breath was part of some Machiavellian "secret agenda".

    And I've said this a lot, but it bears repeating: But too many folks in Labour really need to acknowledge that 1) disagreeable media coverage isn't always the fault of the VRWC, 2) people who ddn't vote for you last time aren't ipso facto stupid and/or evil, and, 3) you've got to earn the Treasury benches, not wait for the stupid plebs to come to their senses.

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

  • Rich of Observationz,

    ... the Greens could shake their looney-left image

    So basically, the Greens should stop opposing NACT and adopt centre-left policies, with a big dash of concern for lesser-spotted tree frog habitats and a big hole where "social justice" used to be.

    That would make them just like...Labour.

    Basically, NACT own the media. They are never going to portray any party to the left of John Key as other than crazy or incompetent. It's time to realize this and work around them.

    Back in Wellington • Since Nov 2006 • 5550 posts Report Reply

  • Che Tibby, in reply to Rich of Observationz,

    So basically, the Greens should stop opposing NACT and adopt centre-left policies

    not at all. there needs to be:
    a) a movement away from naturopathy
    b) a reimagining of policy.

    what exactly “reimagining” means will cost you.

    the back of an envelope • Since Nov 2006 • 2042 posts Report Reply

  • Grant McDougall,

    Stuart Nash and Cunliffe have done some good posts on Red Alert teasing out some fiscal policy issues for Labour, so it's not like they're short of that in the background.

    And therein lies the problem. People that read Red Alert are likely to be Labour voters anyway, so they're wasting their time preaching to the converted.

    They need to present their message to a broader audience, somehow.

    Dunedin • Since Dec 2006 • 760 posts Report Reply

  • Sacha, in reply to Che Tibby,

    what exactly “reimagining” means will cost you

    spoken like a consultant :)

    Ak • Since May 2008 • 19745 posts Report Reply

  • Sacha, in reply to Grant McDougall,

    They need to present their message

    yes

    Ak • Since May 2008 • 19745 posts Report Reply

  • Che Tibby, in reply to Sacha,

    spoken like a consultant :)

    i think you just called me a bullshit artist...

    i'm diagnosing three drops of disbelief in a glass of water. three weeks from now you'll lap up everything you hear in the NZH.

    the back of an envelope • Since Nov 2006 • 2042 posts Report Reply

  • Danyl Mclauchlan,

    Basically, NACT own the media. They are never going to portray any party to the left of John Key as other than crazy or incompetent. It's time to realize this and work around them.

    Yeah, that's what Labour thinks. It's bullshit. Total bullshit. The media runs every anti-Key smear story Labour gives them, it's just that the public doesn't respond to them.

    As Rob Salmond pointed out a few days ago - when Labour talks about policy the media COVERS IT and they go up in the polls. When they smear Key the media ALSO COVERS IT but they go down in the polls, because the public likes Key and Labour's 'scandals' are almost always trivial bullshit. Premier House is getting repainted? Give me a break.

    Wellington • Since Nov 2006 • 927 posts Report Reply

  • Che Tibby, in reply to Bart Janssen,

    My personal guess is that by making elections popularity contests

    i just can't let this one go...

    bart, nothing personal, but you're familiar with how voting works, aren't you. ;)

    the back of an envelope • Since Nov 2006 • 2042 posts Report Reply

  • Rob Stowell,

    *

    Whakaraupo • Since Nov 2006 • 2120 posts Report Reply

  • Danielle, in reply to Danyl Mclauchlan,

    the public likes Key

    I am so bamboozled by this obvious fact that I have no suggestions for Labour. He is clearly appealing to hundreds of thousands of people, but I cannot work out *how* he is appealing, because every time I look at him or hear him speak I shudder. I need someone to deconstruct his likeability for me, because I. Don’t. Get. It.

    (This is like the “he’d be great to have a beer with” thing when W. was running for president the first go-round. I could never conceive of hanging out with that guy. To me, it was obvious he was an utter douche. And yet…)

    Charo World. Cuchi-cuchi!… • Since Nov 2006 • 3828 posts Report Reply

  • Che Tibby, in reply to Rob Stowell,

    That about right?

    you forgot the bit where the singer's support staff sell everything in your house while you sleep.

    the back of an envelope • Since Nov 2006 • 2042 posts Report Reply

  • Craig Ranapia, in reply to Danyl Mclauchlan,

    Yeah, that’s what Labour thinks. It’s bullshit. Total bullshit. The media runs every anti-Key smear story Labour gives them, it’s just that the public doesn’t respond to them.

    Thank you, Danyl. Reminds me of the rather epic denial that went down about why 2002 marked National's lowest share of the popular vote in its history. If the media really were lining up to tongue Helen Clark's arse, then Corngate would have been nothing. Much as I hate to say it, Bill English was a nice enough chap but he was fronting a bad campaign, an incoherent platform and nobody was going to vote for a party whose in-fighting was getting more press than random shots at the Government that weren't even causing flesh wounds.

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

  • Sacha, in reply to Russell Brown,

    Don Brash's open letter to John key

    At least you are left in no doubt what he claims to stand for.

    Ak • Since May 2008 • 19745 posts Report Reply

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