Posts by BenWilson
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Hard News: Calling the race before it's over, in reply to Rich of Observationz,
Well, why would one? Given that the Greens don't do any of this crap. If one's a righty...
One might be between the Green and Nat positions. Actually one in three is, currently.
I'm still pretty happy about what's happened in this conference, at the end of the day. I'm not voting for them, but they're more palatable as a coalition partner. They're putting pressure on National to respond to the housing policy, which is important. For the first time in quite a while, they may have set the political agenda.
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Looks like it's business as usual. Now, about that policy...
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Hard News: Calling the race before it's over, in reply to Rob Stowell,
It's the leader and whips' job to make sure this sort of underhand whisper campaign gets knocked on the head.
Confused. Who is Mallard whispering against?
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Hard News: Calling the race before it's over, in reply to Paul Williams,
Not quite, upthread I thought I read from Stephen at least (possibly Felix too) that Carmel Sepuloni and Andrew Little acknowledged the obvious.
Yes, but openly, during the conference, as part of the debate. They're not pumping secret messages to Claire Trevett, so far as I know.
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Hard News: Calling the race before it's over, in reply to Chris Waugh,
Relevance?
Sorry, should have quoted more of what Sacha said. He was suggesting that it was the old guard that were pumping the rumour mill. Calling a 34 year old part of the old guard is stretching it.
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Hard News: Calling the race before it's over, in reply to Sacha,
Did you really notice any of that in the stories over the weekend?
That's my point. I don't give much credence to the rumours. The story I was interested in, for which there is multiple corroborations, were the discussions and vote on a matter of important policy. That could have been reported on far better, and hypothetical leadership challenge, denied by everyone except the rumour mill, is something that we're mostly speculating idly about.
Shaping comms is broader than that.
It is, but this was a conference. It's not a marketing pitch. It can't be controlled in the tight way it seems you're suggesting, nor should it be. In fact, the way that it has been in the past is exactly what many were fighting.
Discussions were had, if there was any point in the conference at all. Opinions differed, if the Labour party isn't a fascism. Factions exist, both at leadership and right down to people who stuff envelopes for free for the party. A whole lot happened there, other than David Cunliffe refusing to commit to how he will vote in a secret ballot next February, and the whip not liking him.
again, who do you think has been talking to media?
Chris Hipkins, the only person who we actually know is saying Cunliffe is dicking the party around, is 34 years old. Who do you think has been talking to the media, and if you think that, how do you know?
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Hard News: Calling the race before it's over, in reply to Sacha,
Where do you think the media get their story ideas from?
It's not really where they get their ideas from that goes to the facticity of their reporting. It's where they get their evidence from.
Constant leaking and bitchy whispering is another feature of an undisciplined caucus focused more on their own prospects than of the people they are supposedly there to serve.
I don't know about that. Undisciplined? Or democratic? It's a matter of perspective. We wanted a different Labour party, not run by a strong clique of old hacks. This is what it looks like.
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Hard News: Calling the race before it's over, in reply to Barnard,
I guess the question you're raising, Barnard, is to what extent should the Labour party allow the media to dictate their actions? Because you're suggesting that unless Cunliffe behaves exactly how they want, then he's mounting a powerful challenge and Shearer's got to do something now.
I think that's wrong on every level. Firstly, because doing that, in itself, can appear really weak to the public, because it IS really weak. Secondly, because this kind of control that people like Gower want to assert, is bottomless. They could behave exactly as dictated by the opinions columnists of the Herald, and still get slagged off. It actually doesn't work. When a child nags and nags you for something, and then in the end you relent, you very strongly encourage that kind of behaviour in the child again. If you want the media to act like a poorly behaved child, then act like a foolish parent, caving in to every demand. You won't be loved for it, you'll be disrespected as weak, and they'll never stop trying it on, and the demands will get bigger and bigger.
If, on the other hand, you come across as principled, the punishment can very well work in the opposite direction, with people turning on the media itself, telling it to grow up. It's not actually Cunliffe who needs to go into the naughty corner. Shearer and he do not need to punch on for a nagging brat of a media's entertainment.
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Hard News: Calling the race before it's over, in reply to Barnard,
Except there's nothing about how all this is going to appear to the general public.
In two weeks, few will remember.
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Hard News: Calling the race before it's over, in reply to Andre Alessi,
I realise now I've probably moved in to some transitional phase of leftihood with no way back
Yup, you're screwed.
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