Hard News: The March for Democracy
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But at any rate, it looks fairly sophisticated. They had clear strategies. I'm now thinking that perhaps it was that people didn't care enough about their message.
They share that in common with the Tea Party folks. Enough money and enthusiasm to create these platforms, but not enough sophistication to realise how their campaign sounds outside their echo-chamber. There's a real lack of self-awareness there, sufficient that claims of dictatorship are made with ease.
I know this because you are reading these words and that means that you care. Please, please, please never give up caring. Never stop being a responsible citizen, never stop voting, never stop raising your voice and being heard.
I almost feel sorry for these people who feel so completely marginalised. But then I realise that they're not marginalised at all, they've had their time in the spotlight and dominated the national conversation on a number of issues, far beyond their small numbers. They're just so convinced of the righteousness of their issues that for them to have lost a political battle must have been the work of those who ignore the population and act like an elected dictatorship.
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On the upside, there are going to be groups of people who feel betrayed by Key, whom they seem to have placed genuine faith in to address their pet issues.
His approach of smiling and saying he'll consider the issue is dangerous if it gives people false hopes.
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. . . false hopes.
Such as?
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But at any rate, it looks fairly sophisticated. They had clear strategies.
Soo how much for a marketing campaign these days?Hell what do Crosby Textor charge?
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False hopes such as a return to the mythical "Kiwi" way.
Whatever you want that to be?
.... but obviously under what was heralded as a turn to the right politically in 2008 means that most of their desires fall into various right wing utopias.
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But calling them "fascists"? Oh, please...
To be fair, Craig, he called them "facists." Entirely different.
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Pete,
DeepRed - those individuals you mentioned were exercising their rights to an open - carry law in their state
The opposite of concealed-carry if that doesn't sound too dumb an explanation.
While it may be legal in that state it is counterproductive to attend a speech by the US president with an AR-15 slung over one shoulder just because one can.It's the S/ Service I feel sorry for what with so many nutcases about.
As for calling Key "Fuhrer" - epic fail of Godwin proportions
The reason Ctizen Initiated referenda are non-binding is, unfortunately, a great deal of our citizens exhibit epsilon-level behaviour, bless their cotton socks.
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Russell - their website might look OK - I've certainly seen worse - but functionality-wise it's horrible. I'm viewing it in FF on my Mac and there are tons of oopsies.
For example, the dropdown menus off the main nav are falling out of their orange container divs which means I can only click on the first dropdown in the list - the others are inaccessible because as I go to click on them they disappear. The drop-downs are also written in code that's so old-fashioned I haven't seen an example like it in years. And there's about a mile of JavaScript at the top of each page to control everything.
For some reason the news articles are all scrunched up on the far left of the page, with each line consisting of only two words before it wraps, whereas the content in the Make a Footprint page is too big for the space available and spreads out beyond the edges of the page - and the "footprints" disappear when you hover over them.
Ugh.
I know FF on a Mac is not exactly the most common browser/OS combo, but really - if you're paying someone to build you a brand new website these days, the least you should expect is that it works flawlessly in standards-compliant browsers...
Oh - and good on you for not accepting their advertising money, Russell. I'm quite amazed that they would even think that advertising on PA could in any way be worth it. Do they not have any clue of the general political mindset on PA? Or perhaps they have bought into their own 87.4% of voters spin, and they really do believe that the vast majority of Kiwis agree with their POV.
I agree with George, I think they're a classic example of:
Enough money and enthusiasm to create these platforms, but not enough sophistication to realise how their campaign sounds outside their echo-chamber.
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Ugh.
Yep.
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Reading this from a distance, it seems very odd. Not only that somone might hope that 50,000 people would take to the streets for the right to hit their kids, but I am trying to make sense of the money involved.
Looking at the Herald, they were talking about a budget of close to $450,000 -- but this is a decent fraction (a third, maybe) of what you would expect to spend running a general election campaign for a decent sized third party -- is there any evidence that the actual spend came close to the $450k they talked about?? You can buy an awful lot of buses and placards for that sort of scratch -- or were they buying TV time as well?
And, for that matter, was this chap doing it all by fronting his own money (since that is a rather large chunk of change to dropping on quixotic quest -- and for all that this guy is a "property manager" he does not seem to have either the wealth or previous appetite for public notoriety of a Bob Jones), or was he more of a front for someone else's money?
PS The website looks crap on Mac/Safari as well. Maybe only windows users want to be beat their kids?
PPS What is up with the footprint thing -- the right to give your kids a good kicking?? Maybe they need a ribbon: pink, red, black are all taken, but maybe some tasteful combination of black and blue??
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Something else about that website: Am I the only person who's made a little web-sick by liberal over-use of Electoral Commission orange? (Though, to be fair, most of the colours that don't make me mentally throw up when used in bulk have party political associations, which I guess they were trying to avoid. Still...)
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You can buy an awful lot of buses and placards for that sort of scratch -- or were they buying TV time as well?
Yes -- they had two different TV spots.
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Yes -- they had two different TV spots.
Both exhibiting the kind of manipulative, content-free fatuity I hope never to see again outside an election campaign.
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Yes -- they had two different TV spots.
And what gems they were.
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Meanwhile, can I rename this whole sad power walk The March for Outsourcing Our Legislature To Badly-Designed Opinion Polls? Doesn't trip off the tongue, I grant you, but at least it's honest.
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And what gems they were.
Good heavens -- I can see from the production values that these would not come cheap :-)
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What these people and many CIR fans want is not more democracy but more mob rule.
That's effectively all CIRs are.
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Woah. The "naughty children" TV spot creeps me out:
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Woah. The "naughty children" TV spot creeps me out
"My Mum doesn't listen to me."
"My Dad doesn't listen to me."
"My teachers don't listen to me."
Too fraking right -- you're children, and I'm not opening whether you eat all your cauliflower cheese to a child-initiated referendum.
As for Mum and Dad, John Key is not treating you like a naughty child. You're acting like one -- and my parents developed a zero tolerance approach to my tantrums when I didn't get my own way about the same time I got the hang of voluntary bowel and bladder control.
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Gawd, those TV spots read like spoofs. But not very funny ones.
Plus, the naughty children ad has no logic whatsoever. It looks like it's leading up to "So why doesn't John Key give us six of the best, then?" but then veers off in a totally different direction.
PPS What is up with the footprint thing -- the right to give your kids a good kicking??
Those are definitely bovver boots. And the way they're positioned is weird. They're not actually marching anywhere, just sort of standing there.. as if taking a leak, actually.
Albeit not with a wide stance.
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Woah -- that is complete'ly back-asswards. This looks like it was designed to appeal to adults who can remember how powerless children can feel. And they are also hoping to appeal to adults who want to hit children.
Clearly the focus group these used for this one just showed up for the free coffee and a warm place to spend an afternoon. Oh, wait, they didn't have a focus group?
Still not sure what they DID spend their $450k on...
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Richard I agree with your cynicism. Has any reporter ever questioned the "half a million" budget? (sorry, I don't get the Herald in the Wairarapa, and not all stories are on line). It seems to have just been accepted. That is an enormous income for a property manager. Has anyone done an in-depth story on this guy? What are his companies? Has a search been done of the companies office? To my mind, this is in the public interest - he and his followers want to have an enormous influence on all our lives, we should know where they are coming from.
This morning, because of my column yesterday (which I thought by my standards was a very mild column) in which I pointed out - yet again - that we DO NOT HAVE AN ANTI-SMACKING LAW- my emails are all full of bile and hatred. It is no use even engaging with these people. Sigh! Why am I not surprised. And yet I am - to many of you people who post on these very pages - a right wing nutcase. So there you go. (If I knew how to do a smiley face, I'd do one now.) -
It is amazing how powerfully deaf parents and teachers can be to children (and vice versa).
Mind you, it's the sudden, prolonged silence you really have to keep your ear out for. That, or any sentence involving bodily functions, or the words "I can't turn the tap off."
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(If I knew how to do a smiley face, I'd do one now.)
We do them old-school style here: :-)
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And yet I am - to many of you people who post on these very pages - a right wing nutcase. So there you go. (If I knew how to do a smiley face, I'd do one now.)
Well, one might point out that one thing both the loony left and the rabid right have is common is what I call psychosis of convenience. You know, when reality turns out to be inconvenient, just close your eyes, jam your fingers in your ears and start chanting "lalalalalala! I'm not listening!" :) Which earns any alleged adult a two-week, all expenses paid holiday on the naughty step.
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