Hard News: All John's Friends
100 Responses
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Rik,
Yep, batshit-crazy all right, but so long as it keeps Labour from forming a government it will all be worth it.
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OoOoOoOOOH first response: troll.
Flame war: commence.
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I've got a great mental image of Winston standing on Whananaki South Beach, staring out at the Poor Knights, cell phone in one hand, durry in his other, slightly hungover from a session with the whanau last night, talking to breakfast tv with a huge grin on his face. He'll be awful and spectacular to watch this year. He'll cream in with 7%.
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Rik, in reply to
Thank you for that - I didn't realise my opinion made me a "troll". Happy 2014!
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Russell Brown, in reply to
Flame war: commence.
Oh god.
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Hebe,
More of note than what JK is saying is the way he's framing it: Green as radical left, Labour as Left, National as centre. That line clearly shows the results of their recent polling and the strategy this year.
The key predicted driver of the economy for this year - the much announced rampant "rebuild" of Christchurch -- is stuttering. It's still a house repair process rather than a CBD rebuild. News that the owner has walked on plans to rebuild the key Triangle Centre block (Colombo, Cashel and High) because the numbers don't add up will worry the hell out of CCDU and the government. The $35 billion of insurance money may just walk out the door to invest elsewhere for at least a few years. -
Pretty easy for Labour to paint Key as an irresponsibly desperate man willing to do deals with any chem trail crank (the so-called Conservative party), Potemkin party (Peter Dunne’s joke United Future) re-tread or front for crazies and criminals (the ACT party) who offers him hope of a chance to cling to power. Such naked desperation from a multi-millionaire who we are constantly told doesn't need the job and is doing it as favour to us all.
Compared to Key’s preferred partners, the Greens look like pillars of Western Capitalism, and Kim Dotcom towers over Colin Craig and John Banks as a sane man unjustly accused.
If Winston Peters does end up the King maker I hope he goes with Labour, because that would mean he recognises that he should count himself very, very lucky that he can leave parliament gracefully in 2017 after three years as minister of overseas travel.
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Hard not to see both ACT and the Maori Party as dead ducks. The Maori Party has made such compromises in order to be in government that it's alienated many supporters. John Banks is standing down regardless of the outcome of his court case; it remains to be seen if ACT can find an electable replacement.
No wonder Key's making overtures to Peters and Dunne.
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JacksonP, in reply to
Flame war: commence.
Oh god.
You're saying Oh god? I'm not sure your message mentioned you'd be lobbing a hand grenade, and then swanning off! :-)
Anyway, I like multi-tasking, so this, the cricket and work should max out the entertainment for the afternoon. Anyone got popcorn?
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Ian Dalziel, in reply to
Win King as good as a nod...
If Winston Peters does end up the King maker I hope he goes with Labour, because that would mean he recognises that he should count himself very, very lucky that he can leave parliament gracefully...
... and it's always a good legacy to be seen in hindsight/history as having been part of the solution, rather than part of the problem...
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Ian Dalziel, in reply to
Burning books?
Flame war: commence.
Oh god.Which reminds me... - segue... I just finished a fun novel on a 'flame war of the gods' of sorts set in Wellington - The Wind City by Summer Wigmore (Steam Press books).
Confidently wrought by a fast talking young author, the city comes alive, you are there, now... this could be parlayed into a whole franchise (maybe Weta / Jackson could snap it up as a series for their trainee digital acolytes to cut their teeth on - keep it local).
She comes from Hamilton so there may be tales from the River City to come, and there's definitely something stirring beneath the plains of Otautahi she might want to investigate through her world of inner-city Fae, tricksters, taniwha and the full Aotearoan pantheon...
Well done Steam Press books keeping it kiwi and taking it to the world -
Speaking of politicians and stuff, is it just me, or has David Cunliffe come over all sort of meek and mild ever since his ascension? As an orator, he was always kind of from the Jim Anderton school: "Point 1, point 2, point 3 and THAT'S a FACT!" kind of guy. Nowadays he seems all sort of polite and considered.
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And meanwhile ...
Labour has finally dumped two flagship tax policies of former leader Phil Goff that would have taken GST off fresh fruit and vegetables and set a tax-free band on income below $5000.
Leader David Cunliffe said the changes, signalled as likely by David Shearer when he was leader, would free up about $1.5 billion a year.
Cunliffe said his keynote speech in Auckland on Monday would outline better ways to help struggling families. He would not say if their cost would be the same.
Good move. They'd already said they'd do this, and doing it now gets them in on the news cycle.
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Craig Ranapia, in reply to
Yep, batshit-crazy all right, but so long as it keeps Labour from forming a government it will all be worth it.
And I doubt my dear friend Tom is the only Labour type who’d flip that and make me equally want to take a long holiday in the Slough of Despond. Have Labour and National learned nothing from their previous marriages of convenience with that toxic bigot and his merry band of blithering ninny-hammers? Apparently not…
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Matthew Poole, in reply to
I could almost see you preferring Labour/Green over National/Winston/whoever-else-cobbles-together-a-majority.
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And I doubt my dear friend Tom…
Dude, it is election year.
Imagine all our politicians as being in a political St. Patricks day parade, with a particularly drunk crowd of Orangemen and Irish Catholics watching from either side of the street.
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Bryce Edwards has a useful round-up of relevant stories and links.
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More of note than what JK is saying is the way he's framing it: Green as radical left, Labour as Left, National as centre.
It may not be a popular view here, but a lot of people in NZ share this perception, and to a huge number of the business community, the proposed Kiwi Power policy was proof.
Thats a perception that Labour and Greens genuinely need to be aware of.
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I'm hoping that the social conservative vote is split between Coalition and NZF, wasting all 10% of their vote. They do need to go head to head since they directly compete demographically. I'd be surprised if ACT don't get Epsom again, though. They could put a bald dancing monkey in there and Epsom would vote for it.
Mana could do better this time, too, since Harawira has shown he can win his electorate.
@James Littlewood: Yes, he's started really quietly. I doubt it will continue, though.
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Craig Ranapia, in reply to
I could almost see you preferring Labour/Green over National/Winston/whoever-else-cobbles-together-a-majority
It wouldn't require much squinting. To paraphrase Winston Churchill, if Winston Peters stood to become the MP for Hell I would at least make a complimentary reference to Satan here. Anyone who would put that man's feet back under the Cabinet table, where he can do real and lasting damage, is unfit to govern.
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I'd be surprised if ACT don't get Epsom again, though. They could put a bald dancing monkey in there and Epsom would vote for it.
Will be an interesting aspect of the election, I'm not so sure, I'm aware of a lot of Auckland based conservative voters who hate the tactical voting aspect of Epsom, and dont like voting for a party other than the one they support.
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BenWilson, in reply to
I’m aware of a lot of Auckland based conservative voters who hate the tactical voting aspect of Epsom
That only matters if they're in Epsom.
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Andre Alessi, in reply to
Have Labour and National learned nothing from their previous marriages of convenience with that toxic bigot and his merry band of blithering ninny-hammers? Apparently not…
They absolutely have "learned", they just don't care. Winston in government, even in coalition, is a moderately competent, quiet minister with few overt demands on government policy and a deft hand at keeping his caucus equally quiet. Winston on the election trail, on the other hand, is a disgusting demagogue and a racist troll of the highest order.
The question is whether a coalition partner is willing to suffer through the latter to end up with the former. Your answer (which is the same as mine, FTR) isn't going to be the same as someone who wants to form a government, unfortunately.
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Anyone who would put that man’s feet back under the Cabinet table, where he can do real and lasting damage, is unfit to govern.
For a moment there, he was the only person capable of stopping asset sales. So much for that. But what manner of hell does "the merry band of ninny-hammers" have in store for T3?
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That only matters if they're in Epsom.
True dat, how many are from Epsom is the question.
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