Posts by HenryB
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The major weakness of many in the New Zealand left is that they personalize their politics
I understand he is passing through the grieving process which I guess includes a ‘foaming at the mouth’ stage.
Let it not be said that one can't preach one thing and do something completely different within the space of a few paragraphs. Or is it the case that this is one of those weaknesses that some on the right share with the "the New Zealand left"?
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I'm quite happy to know people who actually think due process, the presumption of innocence, some curbs on police powers and all that wet liberal crap is a bloody good thing
You mean the kind of thing that informed HC's actions in relation to WP?
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John Ansell in his rantings on the Poneke blog accuses HC of being a "liar and thief", adding that "She stole the last election and tried to steal this one".
He, himself, on his own website confesses: "In 2005 I created the billboards and TV ads that helped the NZ National Party nearly steal what most experts said was an unwinnable election. "
Are the current rantings a case of sour grapes because nobody enlisted his help to steal this one?
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Me too - but do you have a better theory about that particular festering anomaly in promoting talent?
Two theories required. One theory relates to Helen Clark's hanging on to Tizard, a clearly incompetent minister. The other would relate to why Tim Barnett didn't get a Ministerial position. Given Chris Carter's prominence, I think some other theory is required than the one proposed.
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I can't point at anything about the Greens campaign and say "WTF were these numpties thinking".
Agreed ... and their campaign had the simple, though beautifully executed, message "PARTY vote Green". All I am saying is that in Ohariu their supporters could have used their other vote to try and vote out someone who had no time for the Greens at all. The only other electorates where they remotely had this kind of opportunity were Tauranga and Rimutaka.
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Andrew E:
But as Deborah and a few others found, it was difficult to vote for Labour if you felt like they'd abandoned principle. So, as much as I support tactical voting, I'm not going to diss people who couldn't stomach voting for Labour.
The point here is that tactical voting allows you to use your electorate vote to vote against something as much to use your Party vote to vote for something. Ohariu was an opportunity to vote against someone who had said that, under no circumstances, could he work with a government which had the Greens on board. It was the very best opportunity for the Greens to make an impact.
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I doubt that anyone in Ohariu expected the contest to be that close. It hasn't been in my memory and I lived there for the previous 3 elections.
Perhaps not but I would still say that Green voters seem to be very reluctant to vote tactically. It is also the case that there is a puzzling discrepancy between those who voted Labour (11,182) and those who voted for the Charles Chauvel (10,080). Or was there a lingering hope amongst some Labour voters that Dunne would be willing to work with Labour should it have got close enough to forming a government? That said, it is still the Green electorate vote that puzzles me.
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how were people supposed to know how close things were and that voting tactically could have rid them of Dunne?
Well, I'd have thought any vote for the Labour candidate by a Green voter would have been a tactical vote. Why would they have had to rely on a poll?
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Bureaucrats will be replaced by consultants including a number, as suggested by someone earlier, who will shift over from the media as communications advisers to a whole new bunch of Ministers.
I wonder how big JKs cabinet is going to be?
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sagenz
You will see him being re established in public mind over the next few years.
You do get some things right, even if accidentally. Roger Douglas has not lost a second to re-establish himself in the public mind. Many will have forgotten and for many it will be new but his utterly graceless, humourless remarks last night will be a useful reminder to the one, and an eye opener to the other.
And as for the:
Any betting that [Helen] does not have the grace to concede?
I'd hope you had the grace to regret those words an hour later after Helen Clark's concession.
I was puzzled by the drop off in the Green vote as predicted by the polls and surprised that NZF got as high as 4%. Was there some tactical voting here? Thank god it was not successful: I am grateful that NZF did not make it past the 5% cut off. It will be good not to have the "immigrant hordes" card played again.
I am also puzzled by Green voting. For a party that only survives because of MMP the approach of its supporters to the electorate vote is truly surprising. In Ohariu, for example, Dunne's majority was 1170 but the Green candidate got 2229 votes. They really had a chance to get rid of the very person who kept the Greens out of power last time!! Go figure.