The NZ National Party is the Wizard of Oz
The National Party is a sad, confused, slightly dazed white old man behind the curtain.
john armstrong
Armstrong: The tide going out on National
John Armstrong writes on the tide going out on National, and the big swing towards Labour in Ohariu.
Armstrong demolishes Nats on housing
John Armstrong is not impressed: Government’s handling of housing crisis lurches from chaotic to shambolic
Nats politicising earthquake response
Oh look, National are nakedly politicising government earthquake response.
John Armstrong – a person worth disagreeing with
Today John Armstrong published his swansong at the NZ Herald. He is losing his long battle with Parkinson’s disease. Like most things that John wrote, it is worth reading. Certainly that was how he was regarded here. More than 500 of our 17,000+ posts referenced his work.
NZ First’s long predicted demise isn’t going to happen
I am getting a bit bored with pundits proclaiming the imminent demise of NZ First. Over it’s 25 year life this has been the constant refrain from the likes of John Armstrong. The reality is that they appeal to a conservative mindset that traditionally had been part of the National parties internal coalition. They will keep eating at it.
Armstrong is Craig’s last fan
John Armstrong is apparently the last political “commentator” to take Colin Craig seriously. It’s really quite sweet.
Key’s pre-budget falls flat
Key’s attempts to drum up enthusiasm for this year’s upcoming budget have fallen absolutely flat. And as usual, promised funding actually represents an ongoing cut in real terms.
National has to win Northland (plus Armstrong’s amazing U-turn)
In which John Key denies the bleeding obvious, and John Armstrong risks whiplash with the speed of his U-turn.
National Ltd™ Battling Truth On Two Fronts
The lies and media pap being distributed for public consumption by the boys down at “The Club” are old and worn out now. Politicians, public commentators, and media heads who really think they can get away with this flimsy “rinse and repeat” justification of the indefensible are treated us with contempt.
Hide vs Armstrong on Sabin
In which Rodney Hide writes the column that The Herald’s senior political reporter should have written…
Armstrong still pulling his punches
What does it take for Armstrong to call for Key’s resignation, the way he called for Cunliffe’s?
Armstrong: Key’s Cynical Politics
Herald: The Key administration has plumbed new depths of arrogance and contempt for the notion of politicians being accountable for their actions, writes John Armstrong. Also: Andrea Vance
Bombs Away?
So much for any abatement of dirty politics…
Donghua Liu Letter: More Dirty Politics
Frank Macskasy at the Daily Blog has produced a timeline on the 11 year old David Cunliffe – Donghua Liu letter that shows some more seriously dodgy Dirty Politics
NRT: Fundamental incomprehension
Idiot Savant nails the basic issue that commentators like John Armstrong and many others simply don’t understand about the Greens. They aren’t particularly interested in the political game. They are interested in effecting change. But that’s the problem with the galley: they don’t think policy matters. The idea that some victories aren’t worth winning is something they just don’t understand.
The Credibility Stakes: John Key vs Nicky Hager
BLip comments on John Armstrong’s article yesterday. Then he updates his “Honest Man” list about John Key and his limited understanding of the truth.
Polity: Shifting ground?
Rob Salmond looks at the recent shifts in media opinion pieces. Perhaps the National strategy of getting the house to rise too early has backfired. It appears to be giving opposition parties more room to showcase their policy, more room for National to showcase its arrogance, and more time for the polls to close.
Armstrong’s gotchas
It’s only “gotcha” politics when the left wing does it.
Polity: Armstrong on Labour, turnout, MMP
Over the weekend John Armstrong had a column about youth voter turnout in the upcoming election. Much of the material was familiar – young people don’t vote so much – nobody talks their language, yo! – parties are Trying Very Hard, but they are also old fuddy-duddies – and so on. He then blamed much of it on a perceived trend toward centrist politics under MPP. But runs directly-if-casually contrary to at least two large research programmes in political science.
Dear John Armstrong
A dear John letter to Herald Columnist John Armstrong.
Hamstrung
David Cunliffe forgets an eleven year old pro-forma letter. John Armstrong calls for him to resign. Then it turns out this was a […]
Polity: Armstrong on National on Labour
It isn’t a new ploy from National or its supporters. “Mortgage rate rises under National: Good. Mortgage rate rises under Labour: Dreadful!”. I’ve seen David Farrar argue both that a recession is the perfect time to cut taxes because it stimulates the economy, and a recovery is also the perfect time to cut taxes to provide a dividend. It reminds me of that old chestnut, most recently applied to Don Brash: “The answer is tax cuts. What is the question again?”
“The purists can weep”
Labour’s new KiwiAssure policy has been welcomed by John Armstrong as good politics. And it is. But it’s also good policy – at the same time we’ve got a government hell bent on making sure electricity profits flow to overseas investors, David Cunliffe’s policy is about giving Kiwi’s the ability to ensure that any money made from their insurance stays in the country and pays for hospitals, schools, and New Zealanders’ retirement.
John Armstrong is labouring under a reality delusion
John Armstrong’s column in this morning’s Herald is an interesting collection of ideas. Apparently David Cunliffe is too left yet too wishy-washy, a remit that was voted down is offered as evidence that the party is “lurching” to the left, and the party is too boring. And he decries the lack of new material before David Cunliffe has given his keynote speech. Don’t you think you should wait for the speech first John?
Armstrong on Nat’s attack on wages
John Armstrong has a good column on National’s attack on Kiwi workers today. Covering off David Cunliffe’s speech to the CTU, Armstrong talks […]
Do Armstrongs dream of electric sheep?
John Armstrong gets it right: David Cunliffe’s going to win tomorrow. But he also gets it really wrong. Armstrong cooks up a conspiracy where Cunliffe’s job is to win the election, then Robertson will roll him. It’s almost as if, in the middle of Labour’s first democratic leadership selection process, he’s forgotten that Labour now has a democratic leadership selection process.
Armstrong on National’s conference
The Herald’s John Armstrong on Key’s “outrageous pragmatism”, National’s “great leap backwards”, and their “over-choreographed” Conference…
The Greens: Party democracy and parliamentary politics
John Armstrong follows Lusk’s plan in attacking The Green Party’s democratic change to Conference remit procedures. Isaac Davison gives a more balanced account& points to preparation for a Labour-Green government. How much bottom-up democracy can there be in a top-down parliamentary system?
Frightened old men
Granny Herald pulled out the wedgie omnibus today with old man Armstrong and old man Roughan both taking their best shot at helping Key’s attempts to wedge the Greens and Labour.
Thinking too small
John Armstrong thinks poor Bill English has got it tough with the current drought and its impact on the budget. You’re thinking too small John. Way too small.
Don’t blame MMP for Nat stupidity
Recent pieces by Bernard Hickey and John Armstrong both highlighted the problem of our aging population and the unsustainability of super – in Hickey’s memorable words we are “consuming our future”. Armstrong tries to balme MMP, but that won’t wash, it’s just the usual short-sighted Nat stupidity…
Right wing bigot pines for days of right wing bigotry
John Roughan has a whinge about Campbell Live’s coverage of the Christchurch school closures in today’s Herald.
Poor John pines for the days when Paul Holmes was broadcasting rightwing bullsh*t nationwide every evening.
Go read Gordon Campbell
Yesterday the ‘sphere was all a-twitter with reaction to John Armstrong’s rant at “parasitical bloggers”. On this and many other topics, do yourself a favour, go read Gordon Campbell.
My 2 cents
It must be pretty sweet when your full-time job is to write 4 500-word columns of opinion a week. It’s even sweeter when you can use those 500 words to have a whinge at your critics rather than write about things that your audience, you know, gives a crap about. The weird thing about Armstrong’s article is it first attempts to refute the critics and then provides excuses. But, in truth, it’s a personal tirade. And the place for that isn’t a national newspaper column: it’s a blog.
The Nats’ agenda
You don’t usually see it stated as succinctly as this.