Fresh from his comedy career on Letterman, his rolling over puppy imitation for Warner Brothers, and other such high profile appearances. John Key has now taken to reprising the role of “The Man with No Name”. Milly the kitten is better known..
After today’s platitudes, it’s worth remembering where Key stood on apartheid when it mattered.
One thing John Key always seems to like to do is to appear to be stupid about his own job. Last week the fool said that parliament had to ratify a TPPA treaty. Either through incompetence at his job or by deliberately lying to the public, he is completely wrong. This is something that a few minutes reading of the MFAT website could have told him.
Much has been made of Key’s bizarre performance in the House yesterday. Some are naturally questioning his medical intake after his unhinged laughing at his own weak pre-written jokes in answer to Labour questions. But, for me, it was his response to Russel Norman’s questions that was more telling. His utter contempt for accountability is something every Kiwi should see.
We don’t often take Key’s side here at The Standard, but I think that most of us here would agree that on this occasion John Key has been cheated out of a victory that was rightfully his.
North Korea is playing nuclear brinksmanship at the moment. Its leadership probably doesn’t want war but the constant threat of war is how it get concessions from the West, gains mana, and keeps its people in line. The West is trying to defuse this situation by talking down the prospects of war, while showing its readiness. Into this delicate, high stakes game stumbled John Key.
Why else would he say “that he is particularly concerned by the trend for the complex nature of science to be ignored or misunderstood in societal debates, leading to the argument that you can find a scientist to support any given position. This, he says, totally misinterprets the way that scientific consensus is achieved and can engender serious mistrust in the scientific enterprise.”
John Key’s decision to not attend Hugo Chavez’s funeral is a snub of a major trade partner at a crucial time. Remember, this junket’s justification is that, for some reason, Key’s presence in these countries will improve trade. But, in snubbing Venezuela, he is insulting our largest export destination in South America. Venezuela matters more than all the countries Key is visiting combined.
In the continuing saga of Kim Dotcom against the forces of blind, silly, and technically illiterate conservatism, amongst whom John Key (our Minister of International Embarrassment) fits pretty well. Kim Dotcom has launched a new file storage service. Although that is not strictly correct – rather people associated with him did. It is the “Mega” and is accessible at present only using the https://mega.co.nz. And it is a bit bogged down with mega demand…
Kim DotCom has been twittering about his new website that is under development to the amusement of some observers. But for us in NZ we’re probably less interested in the layout of his file manager than what is actually in the screenshot of the file manager. Promises yet more pain for the government and it’s inept police and security services.
The MSM quickly picked up a press release on the failure of the Southern Cross Cable. Others that are ignored: Bennett has either lied or is incompetent; Nat-linked appointment to TVNZ board; Hone’s ‘feed the kids’ Bill; Joyce’s education agenda; John Key as a “bumbling Marxist”.
Yesterday, Key denied calling David Beckham “thick as batshit”. Specifically, he denied using the word ‘batshit’. While it’s enlightening to see Key remembers quips to schoolgirls better than he does briefings from his spies, couldn’t he just have manned up and told us exactly what insult he did use, and then do the adult thing and apologise?
I just wonder in what world John Key thinks that it’s OK for the PM to go around slagging off and insulting people in public. Planet Key, perhaps. Why does he think it’s OK for him to call a visitor to our country ‘”thick as batshit”? Why does he think that it’s not homophobic to use “gay” as an insult? And does he think it’s not hurtful when he says “gay” is a synonym for “weird”?
On Breakfast just now, Tourism Minister Key tried out his line on the international debacle arising from his insulting a prominent visitor to our country who was forbearing enough to spend time talking to Key’s kid. His plan is to try to stymie the story by saying ‘I’m not going to engage with what some reporter think they heard’. No denial. No owning his behaviour. Just pathetic.
