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US election thread
Ok, so all the action can be followed on the US sites but I'll set up this post for comments you might like to make and any updates any of the Standardistas want to add. Like this just to hand: 'Key rules out cabinet post…
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Archives · 2008-11-03 to 2008-11-09 · Page 2
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Searching: posts Sorted by: newest Results: 31–57 of 57
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Democracy under attack
From Both Eyes Open: National Party candidate Stephen Franks' campaign team has been systematically tearing down political posters put up by his opponents despite Franks recently describing people defacing his election hoardings as 'political thugs who don't like free speech or opinions different from their own'.…
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The Nats on Iraq
The Nats have had two responses to English's "pull the trigger" comments revealed last night: first the taping itself was branded a "dirty trick" and now we have Key claiming on Sunrise this morning that the comments may have been taken out of context. Well…
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Where are the polls?
I know, they're inaccurate and out of date. And it's only three days until the only poll that counts. But I'm curious! It's now been ten days since the last public poll, which strikes me as a bizarre gap at the high of the electoral…
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Pork barrelling from the Nats
One of the virtues of New Zealand government has long been that we avoid US-style pork barrel politics. The Government sets the direction of policy and priorities but doesn't interfere with specific projects. The principle is that the experts, not the elected officials, should decide…
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Key, still telling lies
Ahead of the final leaders' debate tonight, 08wire has produced a video on John Key's lies in the second debate. What strikes me about these lies is how they are, for the most part, of the 'New Zealand sucks' ilk and that they are quite…
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Guest Post: QoT – Mmm, delicious linear time
I loved this post for QoT so much that I asked to reproduce it in full here. It resonated with me after reading the comment stream today. So, from Ideologically Impure, an observation on the patently ridiculous... Lynn This comment over at The Standard cites…
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English “worried” about Obama
More from 3News tonight on the secret recordings taken at the Naitonal Party conference in August. This time it's Bill English expressing concern over Barack Obama's "moralistic" stance to international relations: I'm a bit worried about this whole Obama and Europe thing, just because there's a…
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Look! Over there!
The latest secret tape has come out and it's a classic example of the face of the National Party that John Key doesn't want you to see. Pro-war and anti-Obama. National's response? The classic "dirty tricks" misdirection. This is all about Labour apparently. Not that…
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Vote smart: Winnie cleared but too late
New Zealand First has now been cleared by the Police or any illegal behaviour. That's three from three but too late. I've never had a lot of love for Peters. Yes, economically NZF is left-wing and they were an important bulwark against the neoliberal revolution.…
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Last days to get active
It's great to see people still downloading materials from the Campaign Hub. With just over three days of campaigning to go, you're running out of time to communicate the issues you care about and make sure people vote Left. So, be sure to take the…
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Another Nat secret agenda tape
The Herald campaign updates reports that Clark has just had a private interview with TV3, appearently getting her response to the latest secret agenda tape. Guess that means it will be on TV3 tonight. According to the Herald, a reporter at the conference asked the…
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Fresh ideas
Part 3 in the CTU's series of election vids. The best yet You can see the other two here
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Economy healthier than expected
The latest government accounts show the economy is in better condition than was expected. Tax take was $500 million higher than expected due to higher-than-expected income tax revenue. That means more money was being earned from wages and salaries than Treasury had forecast; in other…
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More vids from the campaign trail
We've just received these. The first is from Hollowman productions, who brought us the famous Porirua markets video. The second is a video a reader took when he was stopped by a plain-clothes cop after asking a leftwing question to John Key at a campaign…
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Mythbusting: Largest party must govern
Because the polls are showing a Labour, Greens, Progressives, Maori alliance could govern, National is crying that the largest party has some kind of 'moral mandate' to govern. Much as the cricket team which has the highest individual run scorer has the moral mandate to…
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Hypocrite
Watching Key tour Progressive Enterprises today was bad enough but watching him claim to support those workers in the leaders debate was sickening considering his party's stance in 2006 when those same workers were locked out of their employment for daring to ask for a…
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Clark takes round 2
A much better performance from Clark saw her best Key in tonight's debate. As well as being on top of all the issues, as always, she took the fight to Key, calling him up on his lies. After not doing as well as she had…
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Fact checkin’ round 2
It's really good to see Clark taking Key to task on his lies this time: Key: productivity has halved under Labour. Lie. The same lie he made last time Key: interest rates have doubled under Labour. Lie. Which he also said last time, and Clark…
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Text polls
Watching the TV3 debate and it seems they're running another text poll. It's too early yet to tell who's going to win, but what's the bet the text poll favours the party whose voters are wealthy enough to: a) be at home on a weekday…
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Election Quiz
If you haven't seen Pundit's New Zealand election quiz you should head on over and take a look. It's based on the award-winning US version and provides a pretty quick and accurate measure on how your views line up with each parliamentary party. I got…
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Wages still growing strongly
Despite the recession, wages have continued to grow at a record rate and, crucially, faster than inflation. The average hourly rate was up 5.5% over the past year. The percentage of the economy that goes to workers (rather than to the capital owners) continues to…
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Nats will only cut Kiwisaver by 44-49% -cries ASA
The Advertising Standards Authority's decision that Labour's Kiwisaver ad is inaccurate is ridiculous. 08wire's vid shows why. The ASA admits in its decision that is has no power over TV, radio, or Youtube ads so what gives them the right to cast judgment on an…
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Advertising, getting it right and getting it wrong
Labour's new ad is one of the best political ads I've seen. It's just a really well written script: acknowledging the success of the Right's 'time for a change' meme and undercutting it, getting in some positive points on Labour that are forward-looking, and getting…
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How does ACT fit in?
I have my doubts about the veracity of Meurant's statements as he is well known for bigging himself up as a hard man and all of this "politicians in our pockets" stuff certainly fits that description. But the media is treating them as potentially damning…
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Dunne’s deal?
The revelations in today's Dompost that Peter Dunne's United party took a donation from the Vela family shows again what a messy business donations can be. The Vela family opposed New Zealand following a new UN fishing agreement. Ross Meurant, acting for the Velas met…
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PSA tackles the stats
The PSA have put together some interesting numbers on the size of the public service. They appear to tell a different story to the one we've been hearing about from Mr Key who wants a" razor gang of cabinet ministers to trim state sector fat".…