Right tastelessly tries to deify Parker

Written By: Marty G - Date published: - 71 comments
Categories: scoundrels - Tags: , , , ,

There’s no tragedy so bad that some scumbag won’t try to exploit it. No, I’m not talking about mythical ‘looters’ that had the media in hysterics. It’s the stomach-churning way that some on the Right have decided to try to use the earthquake for political advantage by deifying Bob Parker.

The Herald doesn’t try for subtly with a headline screaming: “Mayor compared to Giuliani post 9/11”. Quite who has compared Parker to Giuliani isn’t explained.

David Farrar’s two substantive posts on the earthquake have both been on the implications for the mayoral campaign. One looking at Parker’s rising ipredict stock. The other darkly musing that if Jim Anderton was mayor everything would be going to hell in a handbasket because he might not have been in Christchurch (not sure where Farrar thinks Anderton spends most Friday nights).

Excuse me while I gag. Honestly, do they have no sense of decorum? What is wrong with people whose first thought after a major disaster is the implications for local politics?

Indeed, Parker himself looked almost physically ill when Paul Henry (who had just spent five minutes trying to convince a business leader that Christchurch was about to experience an economic boom) asked him about the Giuliani comparison on Breakfast this morning. Parker replied that he found that talk tasteless ‘I’m just doing the job I’m paid for and anyone else in this position would do the same. It’s not about me. There are 400,000 heroes in this city’. To which Henry replied ‘that sounds very like Giuliani’.

Some have asked what Anderton is up to. He, like Parker, is acting responsibly: “I haven’t been into the central city because the last thing the authorities there want is politicians hanging around hoping to get noticed.”

As far as I can see, everyone is behaving as they should given their roles and responsibilities as a city copes with a huge disaster. Trying to score political points off that is sick.

Update: Farrar, Whaleoil, Henry, and Matthew Hooton are trying to spread a lie that Anderton said only an earthquake could stop him winning the election. Danyl has the truth.

They really are terrified they’ll lose Auckland and Christchurch eh?

70 comments on “Right tastelessly tries to deify Parker”

Comment numbers have changed to permanent references. Older quoted numbers may no longer identify the same comment.

  1. 1

    “There’s no tragedy so bad that some scumbag won’t try to exploit it.”

    And of course, one of your other posts where you state, “I ask why he (John Key) was there at all. It’s not like he can make more informed decisions as a result. It was just a sight-seeing tour/photo-op that tied up emergency resources.” doesn’t fall into this category at all.

    If he hadn’t gone, people on this website would be screaming, “John Key doesn’t care!!! He should have dropped what he was doing immediately and rushed there!!! He DOESN’T CARE!!!”

    Oh wait, they already have – on the post “Broken principles and broken windows”

    Captcha “turning” – as in I\’m turning away from this website. I have never seen such a negative website in my life. This entire website is just one gigantic whinge session and bitch fest. Who needs it? Not me. Don’t bother banning me, I\’m going to ban myself.

    1. 1.1

      graham…nice try, but if you had the wit to read what both the mayor and anderton said, then you’d realise that key did exactly what they wouldn’t do, which was to make political capital out of a disaster. we all know how much you love him for reflecting your own jaundiced and childish worldview, but this is the real world happening now.

      1. 1.1.1

        There’s no tragedy so bad that some scumbag won’t try to exploit it.

        No, I’m not talking about mythical ‘looters’ that had the media in hysterics.

        It’s the stomach-churning way that some on the Far Left have decided to try to use the earthquake for political advantage by demonising John Key for doing his job and fronting up to the residents of Christchurch.

        1. 1.1.1.1

          Pray tell me Joe, who are the Far Left you mention? Cant say I have met any here for 30 years or more, since their reputation became almost as tarnished as anybody on the right. I think you may be having delusions again, keep taking the pills in the interest of public safety..

    2. 1.2

      and, by the way. i hope you enjoy wallowing in the irrelevant and obsequious praising of any and all inane utterances coming out of the national party’s pr machine nowadays. kiwiblog sounds like your natural home. they’r thinking of renaming it “the crawl space”.

    4. 1.4

      just be serious for a moment – you’ve got Zet saying that it’s unjust for the government to help SCf investors and not people who lost stuf in the erathquake on one hand. On the other you’ve got people trying to increase parker’s support by comapring him to Giuliani.

      Criticising government policy is a hell of a lot different than trying to use a disaster to give someone’s mayoral campaign a boost.

      and the other post was actually supportive of Key not going as early as the media wanted him there.

    5. 1.5

      “This entire website is just one gigantic whinge session and bitch fest.”
      Shame on you Graham for expecting anything better, you should know by now that’s all your going to get from the left

      1. 1.5.1

        yeah, that brighter future key has brought us through cycleways and magic bean investment is much better than sobre analysis.

      2. 1.5.2

        Murray and Graham, yes it is a giant bitch fest, your beloved twerp government makes anything less highly unlikely. For the record I had very little good to say about the recently deceased Labour admin either, its just that Jonkey and his intellectually challenged crew have made what was bad into a farce. That takes some doing, cant say they failed to fail, which might be their only positive.

      3. 1.5.3

        Those that believe that tis site is nothing but a bitch fest can vote Labour at the next election. Just watch the change.
        Go on do ya bit or stop bitching about the very thing you are bitching about.

  2. 2

    Graham, does have a point here.
    Can I offer some constructive criticsm in that while I enjoy the informed opinions on here, too often this blog’s humorlessness, joylessness and negativity are a major turnoff.

    I often feel the posters here that sometimes they argue for arguements sake rather than actually offering credible, viable alternatives to whatever the topic of discussion is.

    3. 2.3

      Sorry, what world are you in? Because presently there’s a ton of crap and bullshit going around, and ignoring it in favour of the “up-beat” seems some what pointless to me, especially when the bullshit isn’t being exposed in the media. As for humour, you’re more then welcome to inject some, but please be aware that writing good humour is not as easy as it seems.

      I often feel the posters here that sometimes they argue for arguements sake rather than actually offering credible, viable alternatives to whatever the topic of discussion is.

      For fuck’s sake, there is nothing fallacious with pointing out the flaws in claims without providing alternatives, particularly when one may not have the motivation, time and/or background to offer a “credible” one.

    4. 2.4

      too often this blog’s humorlessness, joylessness and negativity are a major turnoff

      The left can be a tad dour at times, gp, but did you not find yourself LOLing at this bit in this very post?:

      Parker himself looked almost physically ill when Paul Henry … asked him about the Giuliani comparison on Breakfast this morning. Parker replied that he found that talk tasteless ‘I’m just doing the job I’m paid for and anyone else in this position would do the same. It’s not about me. There are 400,000 heroes in this city’. To which Henry replied ‘that sounds very like Giuliani’.

      Poor Paul. If only a few thousand people had had the decency to damn well die, he might have made it onto the wires and become famous outside of his own breakfast time. I love the smell of relevance deprivation in the morning.

      I mean just think. If Parker = Giuliani then Henry =… ummm… Rosie O’Donnell, maybe?

  3. 3

    Watching TV with Parker performing like a trained seal was bad enough, then there was Jonkey sitting in a 4WD going past the fire fighters looking out the window. Fat lot of good that did, some other leaders of recent memory would need to have been restrained from attempting to give hands on help to the men on the ground.

    1. 3.1

      Come on Bored, credit where it’s due.

      Key did react with the gravitas appropriate to a moment of national tragedy.

      And I’m sure the rumours that it took 500ml of botox and a half dozen cable ties to stop him smiling and waving, respectively, as he drove by the devastation are entirely untrue.

      1. 3.1.1

        Gravitas Rex, how does that put out fires (he asked slightly cynically)? A little bit of soot and rolled up sleeves might have been far better for the photo op, you know, the “action man peoples hero” type.

    2. 3.2

      “then there was Jonkey sitting in a 4WD going past the fire fighters looking out the window. ”
      Er, I am sure I am not the first to ask, “what for?”
      Deb

      1. 3.2.1

        Deb, I could not help but note the detached bemused look on John boys face….I had just been watching that old rogue Churchill on docco TV and got this mental image of him in boiler suite, bowler hat and cigar from side of mouth demanding to be given the hose..”we will never let it burn down”….Jonkey brings out the worst in me, but hey I can laugh.

  4. 4

    Last thing Christchurch needs is political rubberneckers, but big ups to the decision to earthquake proof the historic buildings 10 years back.

  5. 5

    For those politically inclined people who are not directly affected by the disaster, or preoccupied in some other way, it is not surprising at all that the mind may well have drifted towards thoughts of the implications for the local body elections.

    In fact, Guliani was the point of reference I came up with as well, as the incumbent, to compare with Bob Parker.

    But to so publically muse about electibility following the quake does smack of indifference. The more the right try to help Parker, the worse they will make it for him. Even he knows that.

    As for the discussion in point, yes, Bob may get an initial fillip from undecideds by demonstrating compassion. But in some ways, this disaster is worse than the 9/11 attacks, because the damage is much more widespread, and directly affects more people. The damage will also take longer to clean up, and the repair and cost bill may even be higher (this is obviously not including the human life cost of the NY disaster).

    However, such voters are fickle and if the council is not perceived as acting within a timely fashion to restore some normalcy in the worst areas then they may decide to reject incumbents.

  6. 6

    Lucky we’ve got well organised Regional Government in Canterbury to take charge. Pity they are not accountable to any voters though.

  7. 7

    What is wrong with people whose first thought after a major disaster is the implications for local politics?

    They’re psychopathic. They really only ever see the main chance – the chance to appropriate more power and wealth to themselves.

    1. 8.1

      Yeah right!

      A lefty never removes his nose from the trough voluntarily.

      [lprent: I think the expression you are after is “the self-righteous and self-appointed blowhard trolls of the right never bother to use their brains”. Far more accurate – especially for you. ]

      1. 8.1.1

        When in comes to snouts in the trough, I think the names you’re looking for are:

        Rodney Hide (taxpayer funded trips to Disneyland for his girlfriend) and

        Roger Douglas (massive taxpayer funded first class travel for him and his wife’s regular personal holidays)

        1. 8.1.1.1

          Don’t forget the book that the Douglasaurus wrote and got the taxpayer to publish because no real publisher thought it would make them any money.

        3. 8.1.1.3

          Don’t forget Roger Douglas. Massive transfer of tax payers assets to his mates.

          Rodney Hide. Massive attempt to do the same thing in Auckland.

          J Key and co strip mining NZ and its people.

  9. 9

    Right…

    So you guys are happy to attack the “right” (I love the way you include Farrar in the “right”, he is centre left at best) yet you once again overlook the disgusting way that Andrew Campbell used the disaster to attack the government on National radio this morning.

    2. 9.2

      http://www.kiwiblog.co.nz/disclosure_statement

      Political Views

      I self identify as a classical liberal, which the Institute for Liberal Values of New Zealand succinctly summarises as a belief in individual rights, limited government, private property, free markets, tolerance, and reason.

      On the political compass test I score +10 (right) on economic issues and -6.15 (libertarian) on authoritarian/libertarian issues.

      So, that would probably put him in the hard right/anarchist basket which is normally called libertarian which is different from the hard left/anarchist which tends to be called liberal (I think, I get confused with where the terms are used as they seem to get conflated).

      Actually, I’m amazed that he’s in the National Party which tends to the hard right/authoritarian clique otherwise known as dictators and/or fascists.

      1. 9.2.1

        let’s see, most people tend to describe themselves as “centre”, “centre left” or “centre right”.

        Fot thinks Farrar is “Centre left”. Assuming that he is following the classic line that Farrar is centre left so fot can judge himself centre right, by most people’s estimate (including Farrar, who thinks himself right wing) fot must be slightly to the right of Genghiz Khan. Without too much exagerration.

    3. 9.3

      I love the way you include Farrar in the “right”, he is centre left at best

      Yeah right … I see him all the time as chardonnay sipping, hand wringing nanny state fermenting gatherings of progressives and socialists all the time.

      And he is a member of the National Party which is dedicated at taxing the wealthy and distributing the state’s ill gotten goods amongst the poor.

      Are you being serious?

    4. 9.4

      fot… it was shocking….. SHOCKING!!!!!!…. there should be a law against that sort of thing!!!

      don’t worry brother, there will be soon..

  10. 10

    Update: Farrar, Whaleoil, Henry, and Matthew Hooton are trying to spread a lie that Anderton said only an earthquake could stop him winning the election. Danyl has the truth.

    I hope Anderton is in contact with his lawyers because that is outright defamation.

  11. 11

    fot – farrar put his political compass results up a few years ago. He was the most far right of NZ’s 30 or so most well-read blog Authors. You’re an absolute Muppet.

  13. 13

    People are not that stupid and can see through a media whore taking advantage of the circumstances, so politicians: beware!

  14. 14

    When I first read the Guiliani fantasy talk, I almost threw up in my mouth. To be fair to Parker he has not really played up to it and just got on with the job, like any half decent Mayor or Politician should. I’m confident Anderton would have done the same.

    On the other hand did anyone catch a smiling John Key at the netball yesterday afternoon…..talk about lead from the front.

  15. 15

    Apart from Draco the rest of us are missing the point. Excuse me while I shout but …

    SOMEONE HAS CUT AND PASTED A COMMENT BY ANDERTON OUT OF CONTEXT. HE WAS TALKING ABOUT LEAVING THE LABOUR PARTY BECAUSE OF DOUGLAS NOT ABOUT THE CURRENT MAYORAL COMPETITION.

    Farrar, Hooten and Slater have been suckered and are spreading a falsehood. That is of course unless they knew.

    1. 15.1

      Idiot/Savant got suckered by it, and apologised today:

      http://norightturn.blogspot.com/2010/09/anderton-and-earthquakes.html

      On Sunday morning, in the wake of the Christchurch earthquake, the Herlad reported that

      Christchurch mayoral aspirant Jim Anderton told CTV on Friday that it would take an earthquake for him to lose the election race against incumbent mayor Bob Parker.

      Like many people, I spread the news over twitter, amused at the cosmic irony. But it turns out it was a fabrication. According to the actual interview [video, 54s in], Anderton actually said:

      There was a long history with the Labour Party. It would have taken a pretty earthquake, seismic shift to get me to move. And the seismic shift was Rogernomics…

      So, I apologise for spreading the misquote or misleading anyone. Meanwhile, I’m wondering: what sort of person edits together a video like this in an effort to make someone “say” something they clearly didn’t? Its dishonest, not to mention just a bit weird. But that seems to be par for the course down there in the sewer.

      I/S links to the actual comment here:
      http://www.youtube.com/user/CTVinNZ#p/a/u/2/-1GCcljJnsU

    2. 15.2

      The C slug has fessed up:

      “I doc­tored the tape idiot, and I did it crap on purpose…If I wanted to it could have been seamless.”

      ‘Could have been seamless’ Even when he is caught lying bang to rights, he can’t help lying just a little bit more.

      1. 15.3.1

        I almost feel like registering at the sewer to point out the idiotic contradiction in Cameron’s latter claims that he doesn’t give a fuck about what anyone else says when it’s clear that he’s attention seeking.

  16. 16

    A crisis can always move the political support to you, if your a skilled incumbent and have luck.
    Think Thatcher over the Falklands. Or possibly more apt re Christchurchs earthquake- the Handling in about l963 of the Hamburg floods by the chief executive or mayor of Hamburg, Helmut Schmidt. Before his brilliant handling of this natural disaster, Schmidt was a discredited failure. A less than glorious 3 years on the Russian front as an artillery lieutenant. A better forgotten backbench career as one of the most leftwing SPD German MP’s. Afterwards a long tenure as Leader of the FRG.

  17. 17

    ‘Indeed, Parker himself looked almost physically ill when Paul Henry (who had just spent five minutes trying to convince a business leader that Christchurch was about to experience an economic boom) asked him about the Giuliani comparison on Breakfast this morning. Parker replied that he found that talk tasteless ‘I’m just doing the job I’m paid for and anyone else in this position would do the same. It’s not about me. There are 400,000 heroes in this city’. To which Henry replied ‘that sounds very like Giuliani’.”

    No wonder Bob looked ill -wouldn’t the comparison be very much damning with faint praise?

      1. 18.1.1

        Even the appearance of it, I suppose, but I wasn’t really addressing Parker’s sincerity or otherwise. Just noting that Henry looked like a chimp who had just had quantum physics explained to him.

    2. 18.2

      And Parker’s still in one piece?! I’d have blown my head off right after I said “people other than yourself matter, Paul” and been told “Of course they do. Some are there for me to interview and the rest have to watch or I woudn’t be famous”.

        1. 18.3.1.1

          The trouble with the debasement of the English language is that there is no f-word, even in compound form, that completely expresses my visceral loathing for PH. Even in light product placement moments (when he’s not pretending he’s a competent interviewer) he makes my skin crawl. I never watch Breakfast, but now I almost never click on TVNZ streamed video links in case the evil little weasel is in them.

          And I apologise to weasels for the analogy, even the evil ones.

  19. 19

    For those that are bitching about this site as a bitch fest can always vote Labour at the next election. Just watch the site change when Labour get back. Go on do ya bit or stop bitching about the very thing you’re ‘bitching’ about

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