Twelve mistakes National made in Northland
There are many specific reasons why National lost Northland, but arrogance is the thread running through all of them.
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john key
Winston takes Northland
Is anyone else experiencing a bit of political shellshock?
The Northland Buy Election
A post to allow for the discussion of the Northland Buy Election result.
The Key magic
“John Key heckled in Northland” – ouch.
John Key’s Lies Since The 2014 Election
The most egregious feature remains the sheer banality. Its like John Key can’t help himself. Because most National Ltd™ voters really don’t care and because the MSM just accepts the deceit as “one of those things,” he’s been able to get away with it scot-free for more than six years.
Peters for Northland
Vote Winston (did I say that?) Update: Former Labour Cabinet Minister Colin Moyle thinks the same.
A tale of two no surprises disclosures
Anne Tolley was told about the prosecution of Beverley Sepuloni under the no surprises policy nearly a month before the news became public. Release of this information makes you wonder why we cannot be told the date that the Government was told about Mike Sabin’s difficulties.
On the flag – lets not have one
I guess that John Key wanted to raise the idea of a flag change to divert attention from his misdeeds and lack of anything positive from his terms in office. I can’t think of any other particular reason for bringing it up. But the referendum appears to lack the option of dumping the flag. Why have it at all?
Northland by election – National gets desperate
National is obviously deeply afraid of losing the Northland By Election as is clearly shown by the liberal application of pork barrel politics, the misuse of statistics, the use of Ministerial resources to help campaigning and now the bullying of a local group seeking to have a local road improved.
Key admits he’s using our troops as vote-bait
Yesterday the mask slipped and John Key admitted the real reason our deployment to Iraq is only for two years: so he can win an election.
NRT: Who is lying here?
GST wasn’t Key’s only bungle yesterday. I/S at No Right Turn reports…
PM can’t calculate GST
Gotcha politics is all good sport when the opposition makes a mistake. How about Key’s self-inflicted blunder?
Chutzpah in Northland
Winston Peters has challenged John Key to a debate in Northland.
Catching up with Key
You can only bungle and lie for so long before people get sick of it. Seems like it’s all starting to catch up with Key at last.
Key crosses a bridge too far
I kid you not but John Key thinks that Dotcom and Hager prevented him from announcing the Northland bridge decaboondoggle. And Sabin is having no effect on the by election campaign.
John Key’s weird “gotcha” moment on ACC
John Key and his MPs were acting like they’d scored a real hit on Andrew Little in Question Time. The reality is … not so impressive.
Key: I Apologise for Not Being a Man
It’s hammer time! Prime Minister John Key apologises for not being a man …
Key withdraws promise to resign
National has to win Northland (plus Armstrong’s amazing U-turn)
In which John Key denies the bleeding obvious, and John Armstrong risks whiplash with the speed of his U-turn.
Key’s credibility and the Snowden leaks
The Sunday Star Times has reported on the set up and reach of the Waihopai Spy Base. Key’s statement that the GCSB does not have the physical capability to conduct mass surveillance appears to be not true.
Nudge Nudge in Northland
Two interesting changes in the Northland by-election overnight.
National Ltd™ Battling Truth On Two Fronts
The lies and media pap being distributed for public consumption by the boys down at “The Club” are old and worn out now. Politicians, public commentators, and media heads who really think they can get away with this flimsy “rinse and repeat” justification of the indefensible are treated us with contempt.
Is mass surveillance of Kiwis occurring?
The latest Snowden revelations that New Zealand has been collecting bulk data from various Pacific Islands and handing it to the NSA suggests that mass surveillance of New Zealanders is happening, despite promises to the contrary.
Key fails the leadership test
Fine work form David Fisher at The Herald. Does Key get to lie and deny his way through yet another crisis?
NZ spies on its Pacific neighbours
Nicky Hager and the Herald have reported that the GCSB has been collecting data en masse from New Zealand’s pacific neighbours and handed it over to the Americans for inclusion in xkeystore.
Why are we going to war?
National’s justification for going to war against ISIS suffers from two fundamental problems, it is supporting an Iraqi regime that is corrupt and working against the best interests of all of its people, and there is no plan to convert Iraq into a sustainable state.
Political donations and conflicts of interest
Whether it’s about election donations or portfolios, some people do seem to think MPs should always get the benefit of the doubt.
Politician salary rises and the minimum wage increase
John Key has yet again asked the Remuneration Authority to limit the increase in MPs pay. And yet again they have said that the law required them to make the decision they did. So MPs get a hefty raise at the same time that the minimum wage is raised slightly. And the media report Key’s comments sympathetically. He is the Prime Minister. If anyone can change the law he is the person best placed.
Public support for the Iraq deployment (In which the insightful and knowledgable Mike Hosking springs to the defence of the embattled PM!)
Despite the best efforts of Mike Hosking, the poll numbers tell us that Kiwis have lost their historical appetite for this kind of misadventure.
John Key channels Clarke and Dawe
David Parker recaps Key’s bluster on his Donghua Liu dinner, and it’s pure comedy.
NRT: John Key on MP’s pay rises
John Key has said today that he has urged the Remuneration Authority not to give MPs a salary increase. Get that feeling of deja vu? Idiot Savant at No Right Turn explains why.
Andrew Little; leadership, loyalty and lasting the distance.
Its 100 days since the NZ Labour Party elected Andrew Little as its leader. What an inspired decision that has turned out to be! Little has galvanised the party, united the caucus and looks set to be the next PM. How has he turned Labour around?
Get some guts
After the formal speeches on the Iraq deployment John Key set off on an extraordinary spittle-flecked rant against Labour. His “get some guts line” is going to haunt him for the next 3 years.
The Continuing Fight for Justice at Pike River
Yesterday the families lost only a small bit of the battle for justice at Pike in an application to get some of the documentation on the Peter Whittall decision. It is clear from the decision that the process of filing itself caused MBIE to agree to release a number of the key documents.
National’s electoral returns and the Donghua Liu donation
The Electoral Commission has now released individual returns of donations and electoral expenses. And the Donghua Liu donation appears in Jamie-Lee Ross’s return. But the vast majority of electorate campaigns recorded head office donations and the overwhelming impression is that cabinet club donations are collected centrally and then distributed. So what happened with the Liu donation?
Three speeches on going to war
The first three speeches from yesterdays session in Parliament on sending troops to Iraq – John Key, Andrew Little, Russel Norman. Little’s speech is cogent, Norman’s is brilliant.