Search Results » farrar
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Who blew the Budget?
As part of the Nats’ pre-Budget framing, English’s mate Farrar is running graphs meant to show a blow-out in spending under Labour. Problem is, he hasn’t adjusted for GDP growth, or even inflation. How dumb does he think we are?
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Nats need better excuses on billion dollar tax cut borrowing
As the Nats try to spin us into accepting another zero budget, focus is turning to 2 big holes that their policy decisions have created. First, the $1b+ a year spend on the low to negative value Roads of National (Party) Significance. Second, the $1b+ annual cost of the 2010 tax changes. That’s $2b+ that could be spent elsewhere, avoiding spending cuts without more borrowing.
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Nat Civil War: Crushed’s last day
Key says Defamation Act requires a plaintiff to sue within five working days. That makes today Crushed Collins’ last day to sue. What will she do? Drop it and look like a blustering fool unfit to be Justice Minister let alone PM or pursue it, open up all her secrets during discovery, lose, and pay costs? Oh yes, Key suckerpunched her good.
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Resignation-watch: Suit cash a confidence vote on Collins
Cabinet today will decide whether the Crown will pick up the tab for Judith Collins’ defamation suits. The suit against RNZ, whose offence was to do live interviews, is particularly egregious and calculated to chill media comment. It will be unprecedented for the public to pay for a minister to take defamation suits. But we will. Anything less will be a vote of no confidence in Collins by her colleagues.
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Beached as bro
Within minutes of Simon Lusk’s name being linked to the leaking of the Boag email, a message came through on the tip line – Slater is going feral over Lusk’s name being mentioned. And well he might, Lusk is Cameron Slater’s meal ticket. After a stunned silence on Whaleoil for a few hours – Slater/Lusk were back with all the dirt they could sling.
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Come back, we were just measuring GDP wrong!
100 jobs a day were lost in January and 1000 people a week left New Zealand for Australia last year but it turns out it was all a mistake! David Farrar has discovered that we measure GDP slightly differently from Australia and if we use their measure then the purchasing power parity-adjusted difference in GDP per capita is close to zero. Hooray!
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Leaky McCully gives Mfat (another) headache
National’s getting a reputation for not being able to keep its secrets secret. When its National’s political plans, it’s a public good when this info gets out. When it’s free and frank, and classified, communications with a minister about our diplomatic relations, that’s a risk to NZ. As we see a taste of the McCully emails, we wonder when Key’s going to hold his minister to account for his disregard for security. Updated.
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Fran O’Sullivan will be distressed over Crafar decision.
Now there is a surprise (not). The Crafar farms sale doesn’t conform to the economic benefits required under the Overseas Investment Act. Fran O’Sullivan is going to be distressed. The decision by the OIO and government was not in conformance with the the Overseas Investment Act. Fran waffled about everything except what was required by the Act – as our “anonymous” authors pointed out and were abused for doing so by Fran.
Journalists – pah!
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Shut it down
The same day as we learn that Labour won’t be allowing press gallery journos free access to their wing of Parliament as previously (apparently a desperate attempt at message control by keeping off message MPs and journos apart: someone better tell Fran Mold what a cellphone is), Labour’s bizarre cult of David Farrar has performed its first human sacrifice.
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Nats preparing to impose Chch dictatorship
David Farrar is calling for the Christchurch City Council to be sacked on the bizarre pretext that some of them have objected to the council CEO’s obscene pay rise. Apparently it’s a crime not to express confidence in your CEO if you’re an elected representative (Farrar seems to have missed the Collins-Matthews affair). But this is all a softening up exercise.
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Show me the money!
Farrar, Slater and their POAL masters are getting all antsy about how much port workers get paid.
Maybe it’s time they came clean about their own rorting, eh?
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1951 it ain’t, for now
Some have compared the Port of Auckland dispute to the 1890 waterfront dispute, 1913 general strike, and 1951 lockout. They want Labour and the Greens to get involved. Actually, this is no 1951 redux. The POA fight is just about one company trying to undercut another. The net effect on New Zealand is zero. The last thing the workers need is Labour creating an excuse for National to attack them.
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POAL, DPF, and the politics of envy
DPF has joined the chorus of overpaid righties calling for working people to have their pay cut.
That’s despite him being on a pretty good wicket himself.
What is it with the right and the politics of envy?
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ImperatorFish: Phil and Carmel’s Greatest Hits
Scott at Imperator Fish has kindly given us permission to syndicate posts from his blog – the original of this post is here
Holding the blogosphere to account: how did dpf, Trotter and WhaleOil do on their predictions for Phil Twyford and Carmel Sepuloni after Carmel won the Waitakere nomination…
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Nats throwing the kitchen sink at Cunliffe
Nat masterminds Farrar and Slater are throwing it all into the anti-Cunliffe push. Farrar has a quote dredged up by the Nat research unit of Cunliffe in 2007 saying he doesn’t want to be PM because “it’s bastard of a job and I have a young family. I don’t think the two would go together.” “They must be older now” smirks Farrar. Yes, dumbarse. 7 years older by 2014.
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ImperatorFish: Not Irony #2
Scott at Imperator Fish has kindly given us permission to syndicate posts from his blog – the original of this post is here
David Farrar is running National’s line that anything the teachers don’t want must be good for the education of our children…
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ImperatorFish: Not Irony #1
Scott at Imperator Fish has kindly given us permission to syndicate posts from his blog – the original of this post is here
David Farrar applies some wonky logic in order to blame everything bad the Nats do on the left. If any group of voters is to blame for the National/ACT deal, it’s those voters who gave National their party vote and/or John Banks their electorate vote.
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“Blog king” no more
Well we have just moved out of the election month, and we’re now getting the gradual fall back of readership and posts. About the only growth around NZ at present is in political blogging.
I’m happy to say that we now appear to consistently be either level pegging with Kiwiblog or exceeding their totals for a number of months. Since we have been ‘advised’ many times that this would never happen, I’m finding that it is rather more satisfying than I expected.
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Parker withdrawing
David Parker has withdrawn from the leadership race of the Labour party according to Stuff. Predictably Kiwiblog, Stuff, and probably the other right-wing […]
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Victim tales of the right
Nationals yapping poodles here were doing it during the election by calling Labour “nasty” in violation of any level of common sense. John Key and teabags. In the US similar supporters are calling Obama nasty for pointing out a lying political ad by Mitt Romney.
Don’t ya know the right are always the poor victims… I just tend to find them to be whining dickheads. But I am actually trying to be nasty.
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Fearing Winston
National is getting increasingly hysterical as its internal polling shows its majority slipping away and New Zealand First above 5%. National is lashing out, saying Winston could trigger a snap election because he wouldn’t sacrifice his principles like the Maori Party and ACT. Invent your own anti-NZF scare line for National:
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Ambrose to sue Key for defamation
accountability, act, election 2011, john banks, john key, national, national/act government, newspapers, tvBradley Ambrose, the cameraman widely maligned by John Key and his pudgey lapdogs David Farrar and Cameron Slater for daring to hold the PM to some basic standards of accountability, is demanding an apology from John Key or he’ll take the PM to court for defamation.
UPDATE: The final week of the campaign will kick off with a police raid on the Herald Monday morning.
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How bad are National’s internals?
Some say the tea tapes haven’t hurt Brand Key. In fact, National is down 2% last week and those polls were largely taken before the tea tapes hit overdrive. It also takes time for impressions and media narratives to bed in. The 26th will be the first poll to really tell us how much the tea tapes have hurt. But the internals could give us a clue.
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Key’s MMP Switcheroo – as predicted
Key has now officially The National Party Preservation Society to try to kill off MMP. As I predicted in June, Farrar has now come out in support, attacking political scientist John Johansson for saying Key’s decision to speak out against MMP smells of partisan greed and hubris. It does; it was the tactic all along.
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DPF putting his readers in harm’s way
David Farrar is encouraging his readers to put themselves in harm’s way by authorising and distributing a misleading election advertisement he’s created.
Of course he won’t take the risk himself – instead he’s hiding behind “personal opinion”.
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Penguin: Key lies to help us
Yes, that’s an actual quote [sans ‘serfs’] from David Farrar lying about his master John Key’s lies about not raising GST.
hattip: frank macskasy
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Debate highlights
Here are my top moments from the first Leaders’ Debate. When you write them down, it’s pretty clear that Goff won all the major exchanges.
What were the top moments for you, what else did you want to see?
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Heart and balls
Labour’s opening address shows that the Party has rediscovered its heart. It’s policies show that its rediscovered its balls as well! Win or lose, right now Labour is a party to be proud of.
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Labour’s savings & retirement policy
Well, they said they were going to run this campaign on policy and make the bold moves, and Labour proved that with their savings policy. National is been left floundering. Brand Key is unraveling while Labour starts to dictate the play for the first time since Orewa. But the substance of the savings policy wants a closer look, it has both good and bad aspects.
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Ashcroft – the photo-op Key didn’t want
Paddy Gower at TV3 reveals Lord Ashcroft, billionaire Tory donor and International Democratic Union treasurer, has come to talk to Key again. Just discussed politics generally, said Key. Politics yes, generally no. Ashcroft’s interests are now devoted to polling and blog communication, and he is very interested in our election. Having seen Cameron miss out on a majority, he’ll want to help Key to one here.
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Why are the Right acting like losers?
It was meant to be so easy. With high polling and several possible support partners, National would breeze into a second term thanks to Brand Key. The man himself would carried around the country by crowds of adoring locals. It would be more coronation than campaign. So, why are National weather-vanes, Farrar and Slater, hitting the panic-button?
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Undesirables for Banks
Pamphlets are circling highlighting past comments made by Mr Banks, including anti-homosexuality and racist ideas. Right-wing bloggers say it’s all part of nasty campaign tactics by Labour. “waa, waa, waa” said Farrar and Slater “it’s mean to quote a man’s words when he’s trying to keep his true views secret from the voters”.
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National’s Little smears and the big issue of market greed
A good interview from Andrew Little on the Nat’s failed attempt to smear him over facebook comments. Nice comments about David Farrar and strong support for the occupy movement. Good to see.
By the way, is it just me or is National’s obsession with opposition social media starting to look less like straight research and more like creepy stalking?
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Nats’ Rena spin all at sea
The Nats are clearly at panic stations. They’re trying to minimise the Rena disaster by comparing the number of dead animals to those killed by other means. As one emailer put it: “it’s like saying the Christchurch earthquake was no big deal because more people die of cancer”. Meanwhile, Key visits oiled birds and says they’re the price of economic ‘progress’.
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The Rena timeline: capacity and execution
The Herald has produced an extremely useful and detailed timeline of the Rena disaster. It raises several questions that you can divide into two categories: first, did the government have the plans and equipment it needed to deal with a spill and, second, was its response carried out effectively? The Nats know the lack of good answers hurts them.
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Key broke law on radio show
Prime Minister Moonbeam clearly broke the law on Friday on the radio show he chose to run instead of dealing with the downgrade crisis. The law is clear: Key wasn’t allowed to make political statements. He did. He made a promise on broadcasting policy and gave the Nats’ first cut spin-line on the downgrade.
