Posts by Danyl Mclauchlan
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We have not seen much of TT since she made this allegation.
Turia doesn't do 'Pakeha' media on the fairly sensible grounds that we don't vote for her. I'm told she's highly visible in the Maori media and she puts in a lot of legwork visiting various Marae.
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I bet Winston forgot, or mis-remembered.
Yeah, maybe he has so many billionaires cutting him $100,000 dollar checks this one just slipped his mind.
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Under MMP?
Trivial point, but if Winston had won his case, wouldn't there have been a by-election in Tauranga rather than Winston being awarded the seat?
Graeme?!
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There is no evidence, from Glenn or anyone else, to support Bill English's claim that Labour helped "jack up" Glenn's donation to Peters' legal fund: indeed, the evidence plainly says it didn't. There was no real incentive for it do do so anyway: the coalition deal was struck; all that was at stake in Tauranga was Winston Peters' pride. You might say that Winston Peters' pride has been a significant factor in this whole, sorry business.
I don't think this is true: if Winston won the Tauranga seat then Labour's nemesis - the Nats - would have lost a seat in Parliament. Given how incredibly tight the numbers in the house were for the last three years, Winston winning his seat through the courts would have been a massive coup for the Labour government.
I have been out of N.Z. for the last two and a half weeks - all I can say is there isn't a lot of news in this country.
Did you know no one has ever actually seen an ostrich stick its head in the sand?
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I'm coming around to the opinion that our political funding system is hopelessly compromised. We've always known that National were as dirty as hell, and in Owen Glenn we have one individual giving gigantic donations to Labour, New Zealand First and (allegedly) attempting to finance the Maori Party if they entered into a Labour coalition. Maybe Glenn gave all that money away because he genuinely believes in what Clark et al are doing but it suddenly looks very easy to buy yourself a government.
I'm starting to think we need state funding of political parties, serious (>10 years in prison) sentences for political corruption (or 'innocent mistakes' as the Prime Minister seems to refer to it) and an independent investigative body to police these laws.
I can't see any of this happening, nor do I anticipate either National or Labour deigning to follow the law very closely this time around when it comes to soliciting and spending other peoples money.
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It's been interesting to see the different reactions from conservative pundits to the Palin nomination: while the religious base is plainly delighted and the majority of right-wing pundits have lined up to support Palin along tribal lines ('One of us! One of us!'), some pretty high calibre GOP stalwarts have been appalled by Senator McCains choice.
First of all The Economist, who were huge John McCain fans before last week - they've dubbed Palin the Woman from Nowhere. I wouldn't be surprised to see The Economist endorse Obama, despite his rhetoric on free trade.
Powerline - the quintessential GOP blog - is also unimpressed. And they quote Charles Krauthammer - a man I never thought I would ever agree with anything over, ever, who is also appalled at the recklessness of McCains appointment and what it might indicate about his decision making process as president.
And finally, former Bush speechwriter David Frum has been venting spleen in his blog at the National Review. Frum is also shocked, outraged ect and appears to feel personally betrayed.
I don't think I've ever seen this kind of disagreement between the GOP faithful about any other issue, ever.
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Hayden, yes that had crossed my mind. Who would like one?
Oh my god yes
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Although I confess, it would have been better to see sometime PA sportsbloggers Grant Robertson and Hamish McDouall a bit higher up.
Robertson will almost certainly win Wellington Central, partly because he's a pretty good candidate and partly because the Nats decided to field Stephen Franks against him and Wellingtonians are unlikely to be moved by his slash-and-burn approach to centralised government.
And I'm not sure our democracy is quite ready to have Hamish as a Member of Parliament but I'll be fascinated to see how he fares against Chester Burrows in Wanganui.
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I still think this could blow up in Nationals face
Priceless.
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I don't think the picture of Peters at the Karaka sales is a winner