I have decided that what I was going…

Is this 'friend of an acquaintance', by chance, the same kind of person who thinks Christmas will be abolished, and says "some of my best friends are what-have-you, but..."?

Friend of an acquaintance on FB said, quote, "typical [political left], all noise and hype and misinformation ... [opposing forces don't understand the law]" after I talked about the potential for GCSB to spy on the…

Scare tactics. Be very afraid!!
Some of the speeches in opposition to the bill were great I thought .My eleventh hour attempt email to turn Dunne got a response in minutes with the patronising " I should in no…

Well, yes... that was part of the point I was trying to make with more concision than usual. :) But the other half was one thing I like about PAS is that we tend — or at least try really hard — to internalize…

The problem there is that democracy is a bit…

Or, you know, you can ask yourself who's running the NSA these days, and whether American liberals who voted for…

As the bill passed the House with every available conservative vote, I don't believe…

Indeed, a fluent, easy-mannered flounce that Norton didn't stop going viral – http://tvnz.co.nz/national-news/john-key-s-press-conference-walkout-goes-viral-5537416

Indeed.

Is the Herald going to strip him of the interview heavyweight crown now?

I just don't understand what the GCHQ thought they were achieving.

Made more epic by being personnel from GCHQ.

UK destroys Guardian drives over Snowden

And you don't have to, but perhaps you can we conservatives who think the GCSB Bill and its ilk expands the state beyond…

As Sacha was pretty obviously talking about New Zealand, none of the cherries you have picked have any relevance. Thanks for playing.

I can't say that I agree with your suggestion that David Cameron, Chief Justice John Roberts and Governor Rick Perry (or indeed John Key) aren't "genuine conservatives".

Indeed Mark.

For anyone with something to share here’s the CSV list of the GCSB voters for emailing convenience:

, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,…

Only, it's not what they're doing. It's not what the GCSB does at anytime.

Also, I'd love to be able to hear the reporter's questions at that conference.

http://thejackalman.blogspot.com/2013/08/contact-mps-voting-for-gcsb-and-tics.html

Sounds even stupider with Bruce Lee spouting it HAH!

I’d love to know what input was coming from the producer down the wire.
None of our business

I doubt genuine conservatives are enjoying the lack of restraint on the radical right. Some must be mighty offended – and the Law Commission et al are hardly…

It becomes the teapot...

Sadly they don't seem to even worry about that nowadays. If they can avoid looking bad in the last six months before the election they feel thay can do whatever they like for the…

I guess for me this is the bit that defines if someone is a good or bad manager. I don't expect…

Oh fucking bullshit you've been reading too much eastern literature of late by the sounds of it. Campbell's problem, if there is one, is he is too earnest. Politicians need to be treated with a degree of disdain. They…

No one is forcing him to be there.
Heat, kitchens, tolerance, etc….

I think John Campbell’s “bang” was his undoing, Key was water. As Steviant said:

"I think people can more easily be coached to handle an aggressive interviewer than they can to simply talk at length…

I think conservatives are enjoying a period in which rights and constitutional norms don't have quite the restraining effect they once did. Maybe it's due to events like 9/11…

Definitely, but a proportion of politicians will still endeavor get away with whatever they can, always, and if the media is really The Fourth estate it claims to be; i.e. a societal or political force,…

No better and no worse, I'd suggest, than the Prime Minister and Parliament that was…

(Maybe we could have a thread for the Australian election…

I've never seen it, and I've seen lots of bumbling. He's not bad in questions in Parliament, but that is with backup vocals, so it's…

Yes... 'though the worry is not that David Shearer did or didn't perform well in a debate that he wasn't in. It's that Key turned on a stunning performance, and we've…

Campbell seemed to have made a decision to focus on the New Zealand position and to avoid the NSA disclosures. That allowed Key to outline…

John Key was able to establish inside five minutes that there that the underlying legislation had been introduced by the last Labour government, that it has (apparently) been invoked…

Me too, I'm no fan. But I'll admit it's a hard ask for him to perform well in a debate he wasn't even in.

Step 1: Make a list of journalists, politicians and other public figures who openly support cyber-snooping on the rest of us.
Step 2: Register a black van, tint the windows, install a radar dish on top and a hidden video camera on…

Now I am fully aware it is not considered a current…

Thanks Craig, that's exactly the kind of thing I want to know. From recollection Key pulled out that Norton Antivirus quip quite early on and that alone could…

Running out the clock? It's a classic,…

A politician's job is to campaign for support on stated issues. A journalist's job is to ask questions that elucidate or expose the answers politicians give, not to answer them. Unfortunately too many NZ journalists think that it is their job…

That would make interesting research, random groups rating various politically aligned farts.

*sigh* First, perhaps if John Campbell or anyone on the production side of __Campbell…

This video is a good reminder of who is in control, and puts a spotlight on the revolving door between…

I don't know who is right, but it concerns me that Key dismissed the feedback of the…

This. The main surprise seems to be that JC didn't tear him to pieces. I've never seen JC tear anyone to pieces, that doesn't…

What bemuses me about this is that Key could irrefutably say that Governments receive reams (or would that be Terrabytes?) of advice and opinions every day of…

What I think their headspace for it may well be. “So, you think we cant do what we want. You cant tell us we cant, we’ll just change the law so we can. So we won…

ME!
I absolutely agree with you there Tom. Why, just today my good friend said, (after her review at the ADHB) “Why is it the nice peeps always come last?” Because…

http://www.3news.co.nz/The-beginners-guide-to-the-God-Terminal/tabid/817/articleID/309181/Default.aspx

Quite.

"Guys! C'mon ... it's me!" is not a substitute for…

All that is subordinate legislation. The NZ government could do any of that if it felt the need – look at the CERA Act with its Henry VIII powers to change almost any law. That would be…

David Lange was one of them. His acidic sense of humour – as showcased in the 1985 Oxford Union debate on nukes – came out of the need to defend himself…

National's media approach is simplicity in itself. They do what is all-pervasive in Kiwi life and they do it with such ease because it is what comes naturally to aggressive and arrogant males like Key, Joyce, Brownlee, and English. They are bullies, and the…

The article also says, "In the course of the interview he said incorrectly that under the bill, the GCSB would not be allowed to look at the content of communications when conducting their cyber-security functions."

Key says, "Trust me".…

Wasn't that to stop them blowing themselves up with shody workplace safety?

And this makes me so angry. How does the NZHerald call Key the winner when he comes out and calls these people liars. Surely it is…

Ha! Yeah, we only got Planet Key restructuring the Aluminium Smelter. ;)

Well yes, to prepare for the PM's office all questions to be put to him. As I saw it Key wouldnt let him speak at all. JC managed…

*NB: the above link…

Yeah, Brian Edwards is quoting the 4pm time as well and he's blocked my comment questioning it on his blog.

CampbellLive tweeted at around 2pm that Key was…

The leadership of the House intelligence committee is under growing pressure to explain whether it withheld surveillance information from…

Which, I fear, is quite possibly one of the unspoken objectives of this whole exercise.

Unfortunately, JK wasn't there to answer questions. He was there to give illusion of answering questions. There is little that JC could do about that.

What JC could…

It is as if most of the media have little of no interest in the issues – I can't see that the…

like a finance trader..?

He certainly sorted out Telecom after limp Maurice Williamson had a decade of being run rings around.

Oh shit salesmen are our leaders....!
I wont say we're doomed just yet, we've had them for a while now.
But how much longer?

Just been thinking about this,…

As I pointed out over here, it's all well and good that right now it's…

Granny having a bob each way.

But you have to feel for Campbell. How do you argue with the Smiling Man when he counters like this?

Campbell: "Are you saying that Bruce Fergusson, Sir Geoffrey Palmer and the law society and…

I believe it's known as…

We must celebrate our ABs and the glory of our politicians as they avoid giving the public information or answering questions about a matter of our privacy and freedom…

8 to 3! Winner! !

Can’t be a boxing analogy- if a boxer refused interviews…

Absolutely true. Trouble is, slickness sells, and that's what we've been reduced to in this modern world, mere consumers whose sole function is to buy crap we don't need. Key, for all his myriad faults, is doing a better job of the selling.…

Absolutely agree.

But…

It's not often we get to witness the smug, aggressive arrogance lying behind the bland, smile and wave persona.

Yes; It has been difficult to watch such contrived fluffing of his lines recently without wondering why the PM had become such easy meat all of a sudden.

Indeed. I couldn't even watch the whole interview.

It is NOT some game where it doesn't matter if you "win" a debate by successfully defending an amoral position.

Sure all the media types are going "wow wasn't Key amazing", all the politicos are saying how could National…

a. Everything the GCSB is doing is legal.
b. This bill is not changing any protections citizens have under the law.
c. We need to pass this bill under urgency.

Seems to me you can accept any two of…

It wasn't a debate, it was an interview. JC should have been there to ask questions to elicit facts, basic journalistic skill.

For me, the idiotic Norton av point would go with "we all have a choice to uninstall norton".

Or if they do, then they really are illiberal enough to believe that 1984…

The clauses around the definition of communications and metadata have not changed since the 2003 GCSB Act. The Kitteridge Report revealed that the GCSB's interpretation of this Act was that they could collect metadata without a warrant, she recommended that the law be…

There was a thunderous chorus of “case closed” from his supporters on Twitter

Those supporters on Twitter meaning mainly his…

The one for me was not pointing out that the use of urgency was incompatible with Key's insistence that the bill had not been rushed.

Or perhaps we need politicians who are prepared to answer the question...

Yes. New owners will probably care how well he rates, and how much his advertising sells for, not how much good his questions are.

Agreed. I was an equal mix of rage at the arrogance and awe at how he controlled the interview. It was…

You haunt me Graeme.

Timing wise, could it be worse having an off game just as the new ownership starts to take shape?

You're using the irony mark!

You appear to imply that there is a better, albeit non-nuanced, analysis of the interview. Link⸮

But that's the dichotomy of political debate isn't…

Yeah. It’s one thing to feel that he came off as arrogant or disingenuous, but there is no way he didn’t have by far…

Yep. That's exactly how it works.

"ok, let me address those points one by one"

is a genius, it doesn’t allow the interviewer to then interrupt without appearing rude and makes it appear that he has a valid answer to the all the questions, whether he does or not….

I'm beginning to think he has to.

Faced with the tactics of last night it is easy to see why Campbell was somewhat overwhelmed.

The law society concerns remain valid and we are no closer to a…

Kia ora, Russell. This is the single wisest thing I have read about the interview.

John Key is Comic Sans, asshole.

L