Return of the living dead

Don Brash has been resuscitated and is complaining about privilege and preferential treatment.  Not of rich old white people like himself but because Maori rights to Taonga may be recognised.

ImperatorFish: A day in the life of Simon Bridges

ImperatorFish generously allows us to repost some of his posts. It was impossible to resist this satire.

“Just asked Hekia what I should do. I told her I feel like I’m the weakest link in the entire Cabinet. I could swear I saw relief on her face as I said it. “Don’t you dare leave,” she told me.“

A wee reminder

MANA’s Epsom Candidate Pat O’Dea, reminds the voters of Epsom who  they are really voting for.

Exit, stage right

It’s a big call, I know, but I’m pretty sure we’re seeing the end of the ACT party happening right before our eyes.

Rights and privilege

Righto. I’ve just watched the debate between Harawira and Brash on Close Up and about five minutes fifty into the second part Brash had the gall to challenge Harawira on whether he believed everyone should have the same rights.

ACT: bought by the Nats for a song

The Left are rubbing our hands with glee at the prospect of taking on BrashKey, but make no mistake, Key wanted this coup too. Think about it: former Nat Leader Don Brash, former Nat Minister John Banks, Nat money man Alan Gibbs, former Nat President Michelle Boag – and it goes down while John Key is far away playing smile and wave in Europe.

Brash new world

So, just as Irish predicted, Calvert was the swinging voter, and Brash has now achieved his hostile takeover of ACT.  Goodbye Rodney, and good riddance. What does this do to the political landscape?  Here are some preliminary thoughts.

Blanket Man to make bid for ACT leadership

Ben ‘Blanket Man’ Hana has thrown his loin cloth into the contest for ACT’s leadership. Despite not having any political experience, Blanket Man says he is the man for the job due to his firm commitment to laissez-faire economics, his excellent face recognition, and the virtue that he is not a tired, old, has-been, racist arsehole.

What next for Rodney?

ACT Leader Rodney Hide will soon be out of a job. I doubt he’ll be in the running for any prime SOE chairs like Jim Bolger, and all the best jobs at the UN are taken by competent people. Jenny Shipley went in to the HR business and Mike Moore became a WTO lapdog.

So what next for Rodney?

It’s all on Calvert

Hide’s gone if Calvert or Boscawen jump ship.  But so is the one that doesn’t jump. I’m picking Calvert will be the key.

Update: As of noon today 3 News reports that Rodney may be about to go…

The Mana Party & the Money Party

Hone Harawira is set to launch his Mana Party next weekend, possibly triggering a by-election in Te Tai Tokerau at the same time. At the other end of the spectrum, Don Brash’s haphazard to take over ACT may actually just be casus belli for him to establish a New Right Party.

Nats try to warn off Brash

Tweedledum and Tweedledee were a bit slow off the mark responding to the news that Don Brash is looking to take over ACT. Took the Nats a while to get their lines together but have decided, on balance, they want ACT dead. And that will be a lot easier to achieve if Brash isn’t in charge.

Brash to roll Hide?

Brash has thrown his hat in the ring for ACT’s leadership.

If the best the far right can do is a failed National MP warmed over then things are looking up.

Back to corned beef & frozen peas for Brash

Turia’s learning the price of loyalty. Her Whanau Ora is getting cuts. Key knows she’ll roll over and vote for any budget to keep her seat in the limo. Hide’s 2025 Taskforce is for the chop too. Key says it’s not worth the money. Never was. 300K down the drain. Brash off the gravy train; back to corned beef and peas. Bet Key’s silly cycleway won’t be cut.

The racist party

3-time election loser Don Brash spoke at the ACT conference on the weekend. It was an attempt to revive the Owera days with an anti-Maori speech. When he made a ‘they don’t know how lucky they are’ reference to how Australians used to “shoot the natives”, a ACT member yelled “bring that back” and the audience laughed.

Don who?

Don Brash has been blurting at Orewa again, in a speech which has been reported as attacking Maori, attacking Key, and opening up divisions within National.  But I don’t think anyone cares, or indeed anyone should care, about anything that this fading clown says…

Brash’s curate’s egg

Don Brash’s latest 2025 Taskforce report will be ignored like the last. Brash tries very hard to scare us into adopting his failed neoliberal agenda but we all know the point of the Taskforce is to make John Key look moderate. That said, Brash’s latest offering is a curate’s egg – nearly all of it foul and rotten but with one partially redeeming section:

Retirement age

Brash’s call for a “flexible pension” is the thin end of the wedge leading to a rise in the age of eligibility for super. At the moment National are rejecting his call, as Key would be obliged to resign if the age is raised. But the problem remains. National have weakened Labour’s Cullen fund and KiwiSaver, and they seem to have no ideas of their own…

Who were the Nat leakers?

Michael is dead right. The most important thing about the Hollow Men is not how Nicky Hager got the information but what the information is. It reveals National’s modern politics in all its unprincipled ugliness. Nonetheless, which Nats gave Hager the information is a subject of legitimate interest. I have some theories.

Who needs evidence?

John Key doesn’t need evidence. He just knows stuff. John Key just knows that Don Brash’s emails were stolen by a mysterious hacker, despite having no evidence at all. The same “reasoning” underpins most of National’s flagship policies. Key just knows they’ll work, even when the evidence says otherwise…

Brash emails hit headlines again…for the wrong reason

The leaked emails which helped bring about the downfall of former Nat leader Don Brash hit the headlines again today, for all the wrong reasons. The story of who “stole” the emails was nothing more than a successful Tory decoy. Journalists have already forgotten the insidious tricks used by the top echelons of the National Party.

Stupid greedy voters – Brash

With true tory arrogance at the ACT conference this weekend, Don Brash has described New Zealand voters as venal and stupid.
Apparently New Zealand’s reluctance to destroy what is left of their society by implementing Brash’s discredited crazy old man economic voodoo is a sign of their stupidity.
Apparently nobody in ACT disagreed with him. Go figure.

Goff: Scrap the 2025 Taskforce

We all know the 2025 Taskforce is a farce and a waste of taxpayers’ money. The Government has disowned it, the critics have […]

Oram on the Brash Report

Always worth listening to, Rod Oram rips the Brash Report on Nine to Noon, not just on the findings but on the quality […]

Systemic failure of the media

felix in comments points out in his usual sarcastic style about the media response on Don Brash’s 2025 Taskforce report. For example, consider […]

Remember this?

Pascal’s Bookie dug up this classic in the comments: Congratulations…. You always knew that politics would be exciting, but I guess that neither […]