Posts by Paul Williams
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News, at least to me, of the odds on Palin withdrawing from the VEEP slot at 18 per cent and rising.
She doesn't seem to me to be the kind of person who'd withdraw but would McCain replace her? I can't see it, it'd be fatal surely?
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Get youth into training, not into trouble
I can't view this link but if it's true, it's galling. The lies just don't stop!
Transitions and pathways into training and employment from school have been hugely improved by Labour compared with National. A series of initiatives were spectacularly successful, not least of all Modern Apprenticeships which surprised officials, providers and Industry Training Organisations alike with it's success and exceeded all the targets (and was almost entirely the idea of the Minister, Maharey). Similarly, funding and support for industry training has ballooned (quadrupled funding if not more) under Labour having stagnated under National.
I understand why, but National erred by letting English go from Education, he understood it well and was looking like he'd have a suite of alternative policies to offer.
Ansell might have gone from National's team, but his preference for sloganeering in preference to policy remains.
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That's two full-stops; two separate sentences that may not actually be related.
And they're not.
I accept that the current levels of emmigration are worth worrying about but I'm just not convinced that they're entirely a factor of a single issue; personal tax rates. I'm having a discussion (of sorts) about this point at kiwiblog, including with Ansell, and frankly it's ridiculous that Key would promise to reduce emmigration simply by reducing personal taxes. It's almost enough to make me want him to be PM so that we can hold him to the promise!
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That said, I think Rebecca Traister walks the line beautifully in this piece. On the one hand, yes, it's vile and icky that we're suddenly zooming in on reproduction, rather than all the other concrete things that make this person a non-viable candidate; reducing the only woman in the race to the sum of her (and her daughter's) private parts.
Thanks for the link Jolisa. It's exceptionally well written and I agree, it gets the balance right. I don't pretend any great insight into US politics, and particularly not the right/theo-cons, but I can't help but think McCain's serious misjudged this one. By any metric, she just doesn't stack up as a credible candidate and in a straight comparison with Bidden, it's no contest...
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I'm also beginning to wonder whether McCain did want Romney or Huckabee after all, and they told him to get lost.
Let's get all binary for a moment. Either he wanted her, and I simply don't get that on any level, or he wanted someone else. If it's the latter and Rove et al talked him down, then he's not quite the maverick he claims (and if she's their candidate, well...). But I'm inclined to the view that better candidates declined having assessed his chances and this left Palin as the best alternative or at least the only one silly enough to want the honour.
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Wait... you mean they missed the chance to coin Palin__drones__?!
Well played.
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Well, perhaps I am, and perhaps I wouldn't do so had the moral dimensions of Palin's pregnancy not been such an integral part of the sales pitch.
And I guess that's my only interest in this element of her candidacy. We don't tend to assess what kind of parent a politician is, if in fact they are a parent, but when their apparent ability is presented as a key part of their candidacy it does justify some scrutiny.
If this story is proven false, it'll be rightly decried as tacky scandal mongering however, if it turns out to be true, then it really does matter and does go to her character.
Yeeeess... and I have to admit that it's my reaction too, but I know that I wouldn't have had the same reaction to a daddy heading back to work after three days. Those "this is what a mother ought to do" ideas are embedded very deeply.
Agreed. Her performance as a mother might be subject to a standard far higher than any father.
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One popular theory is that McCain wanted Lieberman and Rove wanted Romney, and McCain chose Palin to piss Rove off ...
And suddenly I like McCain more. Though spiting Rove by selecting someone entirely unprepared to be President might be taking matters too far. I watched the Civil Forum thing on the weekend; worse-case scenario, McCain should be an improvement on Bush but you have to worry about how many Justices he might appoint (and countries he might invade).
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McCain just ain't got the longevity going for him, and that means she has to be evaluated as a serious presidential candidate.
Which is why I genuinely think that the more serious candidates are waiting to have a go in 2012. I know why Guiliani wasn't an option but Huckabee was as were others. All the haste in the selection of Palin suggests, to me at least, that she was last minute and I wonder how many others politely declined.
I think ProjRun is arguably a better show, because watching Top Chef you can't taste anything they make! But fashion is all about the look. It's the perfect TV-competition medium.
There's an Australia version that's still in its first season too - complete with a competitor who sounds like a kiwi but may not be.
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Never apologise, never explain. :)
This works for you? Actually, I trade tragic addictions; my wife's big on Project Runway.