Hard News by Russell Brown

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Hard News: Punk'd?

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  • Russell Brown,

    Labour had been hyping up Brethren-gate Redux for months, and it didn't deliver. Entirely self-inflicted credibility damage at the worse possible moment.

    Yes. I had somehow formed the impression that the bomb would be Bill English being outed as a Hollow Men malcontent, or similar.

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 22850 posts Report Reply

  • Craig Ranapia,

    Genuine undecideds are more likely to have been put off by the unseemly scrabbling for dirt. Own goal.

    It's not only that, but I suspect even how if you say 'H-Fee' to most people, they're going to reply "I'm not really into hip-hop". You're trying to launch a dirty nuke in the last week of a campaign, pick something that is only explicable with the help of a crack team of forensic auditors with whiteboards and lots of different coloured markers.

    Yes. I had somehow formed the impression that the bomb would be Bill English being outed as a Hollow Men malcontent, or similar.

    And you wouldn't have had to fly to Melbourne -- and get a court order to access the records, if Duncan Garner is right, which I wouldn't assume -- to do it. And that's what really smacked my gob: Clark saying Mike Williams had paid for his jaunt out of his own pocket, then being forced to (to coin a phrase) flip-flop with indecent haste.

    And then, to add insult to injury, she did have to arse up in front of a camera crew on a day that was too good a visual punch line not to use. Even my hard heart thought that was a wee bit mean.

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

  • Steve Barnes,

    there's one or two people around who don't really care. Or don't have the expected Pavolvian reflux at the very mention of the name of the Demoness Ruth Richardson.

    Yes, all that meringue comin' back atcha along side the acid bile from the Kiwi fruit.
    Ruth bloody Richardson. I still recoil at the total lack of indignation, on the part of the NZ public, when she bailed out the BNZ with the $650 million she had just snatched from Beneficiaries. Yes, Reflux, it's all coming back now.

    Peria • Since Dec 2006 • 5521 posts Report Reply

  • Sacha,

    To be fair, Steve, there might have been a lot more indignation if the Nats had just let BNZ collapse.

    However, that's no excuse for cold-heartedly ignoring the advice of officials and slashing benefit levels in the name of ideology. Or of not restoring them in the last nine years. The lack of indignation at those decisions offends me far more.

    Ak • Since May 2008 • 19745 posts Report Reply

  • Steve Barnes,

    To be fair, Steve, there might have been a lot more indignation if the Nats had just let BNZ collapse.

    Hmm and left that poor odd couple Fay and Richwhite to fend for themselves?
    The ignomony, the inhumanity. Those poor wretched souls left out in the cold hard winds of the unregulated marketplace. Good on the dole bludgers for giving what little they had for the benefit of so few.

    Peria • Since Dec 2006 • 5521 posts Report Reply

  • Sacha,

    Steven, I believe you are right that voters deciding on the basis of perceived trustworthiness might now go towards the Greens, United Future and maybe even the Maori Party despite the overhang.

    The campaigning sure seems to have reduced any gap on that front between Nats and Labr, despite any differences in what we think they would actually do in government. And anyone voting for Winston First or Act is obviously driven by other considerations altogether.

    Uncloaking a little more today about their sympathies are Herald journalists John Roughan:

    It is going to be frustrating and infuriating but if it means Maori start to become proud and prosperous on self-determination and shared nationhood, it will be the making of us.
    That is why my vote next Saturday will go to National, if the final polls suggest it needs it, or Act if it looks like a complacent conservative Government will need a spur in its flank.

    ..and relatively restrained strawperson floater Fran O'Sullivan:

    Unless of course Clark - the ultimate pragmatist - tells Labour supporters in Tauranga to give their electorate vote to Peters and scraps together enough post-election allies to get her over the line. Your choice.

    Ak • Since May 2008 • 19745 posts Report Reply

  • Sacha,

    Hmm and left that poor odd couple Fay and Richwhite to fend for themselves?

    More a matter of mucking up our smaller, more fragile banking system at the time. Don't get me wrong, RichFay were total arseholes who deserved jail rather than knighthoods. Though media cheerleaders at the time would never have told the public that, and so all they would have noticed was the disruption in their personal finances.

    Ak • Since May 2008 • 19745 posts Report Reply

  • Kumara Republic,

    More a matter of mucking up our smaller, more fragile banking system at the time. Don't get me wrong, RichFay were total arseholes who deserved jail rather than knighthoods. Though media cheerleaders at the time would never have told the public that, and so all they would have noticed was the disruption in their personal finances.

    If the British are able to freeze Icelandic bank assets to protect British investments, maybe NZ could do the same with FayRich? About the only other way to recover the missing millions is a class-action lawsuit by wronged shareholders.

    The southernmost capital … • Since Nov 2006 • 5446 posts Report Reply

  • Sacha,

    Long gone stashed in offshore banks, methinks.

    Ak • Since May 2008 • 19745 posts Report Reply

  • linger,

    Craig wrote:

    You're just asking to be told in great detail [...] exactly what I do wank off over

    Really, no need, you've already told us on another thread:

    Yup, a complete sentence expressing a grown-up idea gives me a woody every damn time

    Tokyo • Since Apr 2007 • 1944 posts Report Reply

  • JohnAmiria,

    Sarah Palin Got Punked

    hither and yon • Since Aug 2008 • 215 posts Report Reply

  • Bob Munro,

    ...and The Kos has a transcript.

    Christchurch • Since Aug 2007 • 418 posts Report Reply

  • Sacha,

    Alternately, the impression of being shafted by the money mans slight of hand, might count in united future's favor.

    Do you think Dunne accepting money from the Velas might tarnish his party's attractiveness on that front, or is it an over-rated story?

    Ak • Since May 2008 • 19745 posts Report Reply

  • Craig Ranapia,

    Do you think Dunne accepting money from the Velas might tarnish his party's attractiveness on that front, or is it an over-rated story?

    The latter. Someone correct me if I'm wrong, but if the Vela Family were buying Dunne's vote (with or without Moront acting as consigliere) didn't Dunne end up voting for the very legislation Meurant had been lobbying against?

    Don't get me wrong: Meurant is a scumbag, Dunne is a sanctimonious prig, and I wouldn't weep a single crocodile tear if they were both wiped up by a chunk of blue ice that fell out of an airplane toilet. But I wouldn't put Dunne and Peters in the same toxic waste dump quite yet.

    Still, it does reminds me of a wonderful line from The West Wing's Arnold Vinnick on his way to a fundraiser loaded with corporate lobbyists: "If you can't drink their booze, take their money and then vote against them, then you're in the wrong business." :)

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

  • Sacha,

    "Moront" - love it. :)

    Ak • Since May 2008 • 19745 posts Report Reply

  • andrew llewellyn,

    while the Springbok Tour was their Les Mis moment

    I read that as "their Les Mills moment" and was briefly very confused.

    Since Nov 2006 • 2075 posts Report Reply

  • Craig Ranapia,

    wiped up by a chunk of blue ice that fell out of an airplane toilet.

    Eww... my Freudian slip is showing. Wiped out!

    "Moront" - love it. :)

    If you're going to be a bum-bag influence peddler, at least be a competent bum-bag influence peddler and get what your client paid for. :)

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

  • Kyle Matthews,

    The latter.

    I suspect you're right Craig.

    But still, I am glad to see these stories seeing the light of day. It is reassuring that Winston/Glenn & Winston/Vela & Dunne/Vela might be the worst of the political corruption in NZ. You don't have to look long at American politics to see a scary alternative.

    Since Nov 2006 • 6243 posts Report Reply

  • Craig Ranapia,

    I read that as "their Les Mills moment" and was briefly very confused.

    Les Mills and Les Miserables have been confusing me for years. More vile expenditures of time, money and human effort exist, I'm sure, but I don't want to leave my happy place.

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

  • giovanni tiso,

    Turns out, "[t]he complaint to the Electoral Commission about Mr Hide's canary-yellow jacket was made by an Act supporter." Says Granny

    Wellington • Since Jun 2007 • 7473 posts Report Reply

  • Craig Ranapia,

    And bare-faced fucking cheek of the day goes to Trevor Mallard:

    Labour wants National to publish the bills it says it will introduce to Parliament before Christmas if it wins the election.

    National's leader, John Key, yesterday set out a challenging legislative timetable for a National-led government.

    His "first 100 days in government" include passing tax cuts which will come into force in April 2009 and taking through Parliament a transitional relief package to help people worst hit by redundancy as a result of the economic slowdown.

    He also intends introducing at least seven big bills dealing with violent offenders, criminal gangs and youth crime, DNA testing for every person arrested for an imprisonable offence and increased police powers to protect domestic violence victims.

    There will also be legislation to streamline the Resource Management Act, one of National's most important promises.

    "We want to hit the ground running," he told reporters.

    Labour's environment spokesman, Trevor Mallard, said if National had the bills ready for introduction it should publish them now so the public could see exactly what it intended doing.

    "If it has nothing to hide, it should show voters its bills," Mr Mallard said.

    And where are details of Labour's promised December mini-Budget, Trev?

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

  • Craig Ranapia,

    Sorry, the correct link for the above is here.

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

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