Hard News: And meanwhile ...
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Ahhh, so that's where Craig is.
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Meanwhile, John Ansell is going completely nutso about Helen Clark over in the comments at Poneke's blog. Gracious in victory, much? And this is an intelligent, personable, sensible guy, from what I've seen and heard from him.
I've just posted a comment there to that effect. When I met him recently, he was a personable, witty man and good company.
His post on Poneke -- and most especially his claim that Helen Clark "lied about the state of her marriage" -- makes him seem like an angry, unpleasant nutcase.
What is it about Act supporters that makes them incapable of grace?
Gah, if anyone here gets to this level of personal attacks about Key or English, please shoot them, Russell.
I think everyone else would come down on them like a ton of bricks before I had a chance, frankly.
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Where is Craig? Craig?
Indoor voice, Brown! :) Like Andrew Sullivan I found myself having a multiple WTF-gasm about Obama apparently doing worse with teh gayz than Kerry.
Who knows -- there might be an element of "Leave Britney... I mean Hillary alone" diva worship about it (because we gayz can be as flaky and superficial as anyone), or good old fashioned racism (because we gayz can be as bigoted and vile as anyone else). Then again, a goodly proportion of gays and lesbians might just have thought McCain was, on balance, the better candidate on substantive grounds.
But to give McCain what little credit he's due, he wasn't using gay marriage as a wedge issue; and I don't think the man is personally homophobic. He just panders to people who do, which is worse in my book. Still, if you were a right-leaning could look at Bad John and Caribou Barbie without being drunk, I can understand why you'd feel more confident about McCain than a Romney or Huckabee.
11am
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But to give McCain what little credit he's due, he wasn't using gay marriage as a wedge issue
Yes, he has plausible deniability there at the very least. The issue was there to do its wedging nonetheless, is what I meant.
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His post on Poneke -- and most especially his claim that Helen Clark "lied about the state of her marriage" -- makes him seem like an angry, unpleasant nutcase.
That, or trapped in the bitterness of unrequited love. Who knows?
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What is it about Act supporters that makes them incapable of grace?
I deal with lots of criminals in my line of work. Now, I am not for a moment suggesting that Act supporters are villains, but something about the behaviour at the extremes resonates with something I see in the interview rooms: the ability to rationalise quite opposite viewpoints (simple example: ban abortion, but support death penalty).
I think it's this cognitive dissonance that causes the outbursts: the inability to acknowledge that aspects of your world view don't align. Such internal conflict must be very corrosive, causing little explosions...
But then again, I'm probably just talking complete bollocks.
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Hillary has handbags.
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However, my brother insists that Obama is as conservative as all hell
And if he frustrates the nutroots -- left, right and orbiting Uranus -- with impartial majesty, I'm not seeing the downside. What I really like about Obama the man is that I think he really is temperamentally a small-c conservative: Careful, reality-based, sees the need for change but doesn't confuse it with innovation for it's own sake. To use a rather lame analogy, the kind of man who'd rather fix an old house than demolish it and start over.
I feel good about that.
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While McCain certainly wasn't, namesake, Palin certainly was.
Incidentally, I've been having a quiet chuckle at the election results- notably the fact that the Kiwi Party only polled one thousand or more votes more than the Bill and Ben Party, and that the Bill and Ben Party outpolled Taito Philip Field's Pacific Party and the ghastly Tamaki/Mortlock beast the (Franken) Family Party.Incidentally, I'd like to draw attention to two new fundie Nat MPs- Peseta Sam Lotu'Liga (Maungakiekie, Nat) and Jonathon Young (New Plymouth, Nat)- although Mr Young (no relation whatsover!!!) took New Plymouth off Harry Duynhoven, previously Labour's only remaining sock con troglodyte. I fear these two characters will be this term's version of Banks and Lee...
CY
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Incidentally, Craig R, what are your thoughts on the Hoover Institute's Paul Brady, who thinks that the Republicans should imitate the Cameron UK Tories and eschew sock con politics from this point on? Imagine either Palin, Huckabee or Romney standing for Republican Presidential nominee (shudder)...
CY
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Re John Ansell - It kind of occurred to me he was a bit of a loose unit himself.
The guy has seemingly worked on every party's election campaign at some point then had a 'falling out' and got grumpy sucking about it.
Most recently ACT's 2008 campaign.While his National billboards from 2005 might have been 'clever' to some people they looked bloody horrible.
A guy with a PC and Microsoft Publisher calling themselves a 'designer'.Seems like he has a chip on his shoulder - no excuse for that kind of carry on.
Footnote: WHY are election ads so devoid of aesthetic quality. OK the Greens nailed it but the rest were pretty awful.
Keep the damn Photoshop off Helen for a start!
What would Hillary think? -
Incidentally, I'd like to draw attention to two new fundie Nat MPs- Peseta Sam Lotu'Liga (Maungakiekie, Nat) and Jonathon Young (New Plymouth, Nat)- although Mr Young (no relation whatsover!!!) took New Plymouth off Harry Duynhoven, previously Labour's only remaining sock con troglodyte. I fear these two characters will be this term's version of Banks and Lee...
Its already started :
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10542274 -
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While his National billboards from 2005 might have been 'clever' to some people they looked bloody horrible.
Eye of the beholder and all. We can now put aside the acrimony and recognise Mr. Ansell's masterful media manipulation for what it really was - a long and hitherto thankless mission, driven by unswerving dedication to the principles of The Treaty, to deliver something close to an Iwi/Kiwi coalition.
Michael Basset was probably in on the sting as well, cunning devil.
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Peseta Sam Lotu'Liga
I take it, that for the next 3 (or more!) years, Peseta Sam Lotu'Liga will be to Peseta Sam Lotu'Iiga what John Keys is to John Key and Helen Clarke was to Helen Clark.
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But Citizens & Ratepayers councillor Toni Millar said Mr Lotu-Iiga was not the first politician to mix national and local body commitments.
She said he was an "incredibly level-headed" councillor with "a massive propensity for hard work".
"I just feel that he will cope. Sam does not take on more than he believes he can do."
So... he believes two days a week is sufficient for such a role?
Jeeze - if we could all be that good at our work eh?lol
:P
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People are looking again at the role of ace neocon Randy Schneumann, who was for a time this year in the pay of both the Georgian leader Mikheil Saakashvili and the McCain campaign, where he was a senior foreign policy adviser.
But we're all still agreed that 9/11 was just a guy in cave, right?
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3410,
Can someone point to a complete list of outgoing MPs?
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The guy has seemingly worked on every party's election campaign at some point then had a 'falling out'
I don't know Mr Ansell myself, can't comment on him (other than the discussion on Poneke seems extraordinary vitriolic).
However, in the psychology books, "Families and How to Survive them" and "Life and How to Survive It" written by John Cleese and Robin Skinner, there's something explaining why people at the political extremes are prone to projecting their fears on others, and to splintering into ever greater fragments, each one purer in ideology than the last.
One question: can someone explain to me what exactly Judith Tizard ddi or didn't do that causes so many people to deride her so much?
Is she just a convenient target? Or did someone (e.g. John Banks) mount a sustained campaign against her reputation? There's shades of the Hilary hating there, and I can't quite work out what she did to deserve to be painted as less competent than George W Bush.
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I think Judith's recent falling into bed with big music leaving ISPs in a legally dubious position pissed a lot of people off a lot
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IMHO She assumed that Auckland Central would continue voting for her as of right, so she never bothered to look after them (according to a number of people I know who live in AC and are/were Labour supporters). It appears they found her arrogant.
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I think Judith's recent falling into bed with big music leaving ISPs in a legally dubious position pissed a lot of people off a lot
I don't get you - can you please not use John Key language and I may be able to understand?
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I've never found Judith to be arrogant myself.
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One question: can someone explain to me what exactly Judith Tizard ddi or didn't do that causes so many people to deride her so much?
Is she just a convenient target?
To be honest, I think she is. As far as I know, her electorate office has been as busy as ever, but there's no doubt that the idea that she had somehow ignored her electorate had considerable currency. I think I'll write something about this after I've checked some facts.
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The Kiwi Party should find solace in that their single issue is about as popular as legalising cannabis.
Hmm. Maybe the ALCP could start their campaign for the next election by trying to get a referendum on that?
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Is she just a convenient target?
She is a woman, she is outspoken and she is an old friend of Helen Clark. The tory boys can't deal with women at the best of times, but one with a savage wit really gets up their noses. Besides, she was a proxy target for the PM.
I worked for Judith. As a Minister, she had an immense workload in demanding potfolios. Minsisters do not get to spend as much time in their electorates as backbenchers. But being out of Cabinet, Judith didn't get the profile from which Ministers usually benefit and which compensates for absence.
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