Posts by Kracklite
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Hard News: Last Words, in reply to Hebe,
+2
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Hard News: Last Words, in reply to Steve Barnes,
Your little protest could mean we get National again. And your argument? that they didn’t do what you wanted whilst in opposition.
Correct. If a party does not represent me, then they do not earn, let alone own my vote.
A vote against Labour is as good as a vote for National and these people are dangerous.
Does “You’re either with us or against us” ring any bells? That not-so-latent authoritarianism and sense of entitlement can exist anywhere, painted red or blue.
I would vote for a stinking pile of poo
Be careful what you wish for.
In any case, your attempt at blackmail makes sense only if Labour is the only opposition party under a FPP system, which is not the case.
Brent: Snap.
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Hard News: Last Words, in reply to Sacha,
Wonder if that’s more or less likely with a significant Greens vote?
Hmm, a dilemma. If Labour is… I will not write “decimated” because it means one tenth of mutinying legionnaires are crucified…
…um, if they suffer something bad tomorrow, there won’t be enough younger and newer MPs to rejuvenate what I think of as the Baby-Boomer Politburo (though Brezhnev, Andropov and Chernenko had the decency to be crippled with age before they got so solipsistic), but I can also imagine them saying afterwards, “Phew, that was close, we really need to cut out the dead wood… really, we do… OK guys? Guys? <crickets> OK, soon anyway… in time for the next election… nah.”
I’ve been surprised at Goff’s improvement in performance over the last few months and my congratulations go to Brian Edwards. The knives might be out on Sunday, but he may well have saved his job as party leader, but I doubt that he can translate that into the will or authority to cut out the dead wood.
Since everyone else is doing it:
Definitely MMP, maybe STV as second choice or probably no second choice.
Party vote Green, especially based on Meteria Turei’s performance and the party’s general performance and the fact that the environment is not simply treated as just a nice thing to have (despite some of their fringe still afraid of anything with genes or even neutrons). Kedgely’s departure has had a major part to play in that decision.
You know, I’ve had half an iota of a slight fraction of an impulse to consider whether I might hypothetically permit the thought of voting ACT, purely based on the idea that their presence in parliament might be vastly entertaining, to begin drawing up non-binding proposals, exploring as a range of scenarios, the possibility of crossing my mind… but decided to forget it.
Part of my reasoning for voting Green is, if they support Labour, they’ll be Banquo’s Ghost at least, reminding them of things they thought they could forget once they gained power. If, on the other hand, they come to some arrangement with National (such as abstention on confidence and supply – I can’t imagine formal coalition, because they know it would tear apart their base), they might be able to blunt the sharper edges of their policy.
There is simply no way I can vote Labour. It’s the last three years AWOL as opposition and their support for too much illiberal legislation in that time and before. The fact that they have some good policies now only reminds me of Churchill’s quip that Americans will always do the right thing – when they have exhausted every other option. It’s a hollowed brand for me and even if they were willing to carry out their policies, as Danyl says above, I don’t feel they can do it competently, without compromise… or even at all (like their arts policy, which is full of “Yeah… later… nah.”).
Electoral vote… problematic. I’m not as impressed as many are with Robertson – he’s just a particularly good party apparatchik IMO. Considering the strength of my disdain for the party as a whole (you can tell, can’t you?), it’s a “No.” Probably Shaw as a protest vote.
Fingers crossing enough to provide diagrammatic illustrations of String Theory for a good Labour Party list in 2014, for Jones to be burned as a witch by crazed Destiny members for something like whistling on a Tuesday and Mallard to suffer some equally painful, ignominious and poetically just fate as well (perhaps he’ll have the wild inspiration to see if an out-of-control combine harvester can survive a head-on collision with a twatcock on a bike?).
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Fascinating (as Bishop would say, dissecting a dead facehugger in Aliens), listening to Hooton on Nine to Noon. He was obsessively repeating “ so-called asset sales” and puffed up with moral indignation over Labour’s “scare campaign” (this from a man who compared them to the Kahui parents a few years ago). His urgency, and his repetitiveness was quite morbidly interesting – he seemed to be panicked.
Moreover, he generally takes every opportunity to ridicule the Greens and didn’t mention them at all.
Someone sweaty has had a talk to him, obviously.
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Hard News: A week being a long time in politics, in reply to Joe Wylie,
That's what I love about the place.
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Hard News: A week being a long time in politics, in reply to Ian Dalziel,
More the Last Men, really.
:)
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Hard News: A week being a long time in politics, in reply to Sacha,
Not so. Smart enough to have pulled off the China FTA amongst other things.
OK, he's a good technocrat, never doubted that, but I'm one of those people who harps on about principle and vision in a serious tone. Get me revved up and I'll talk about metaphysics as if it matters. I'll vote for anyone who can quote J. D. Bernal or Olaf Stapledon sincerely.
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An observation about polls, FWIW/BTW, which I've used teaching design students.
In the early eighties, Renault and Citroen researched responses to "one-box" cars, that is, small city cars that were more like miniature vans rather than conventional hatchbacks (engine compartment as a "box" out front, passenger and luggage as a bigger "box" behind it) or saloons (the boot as the third "box" sticking out the back). Both came up with the same results: the majority of potential buyers did not like one-box forms. Citroen decided then not to pursue that design philosophy and their model flopped. Renault made the Twingo, which was a hit, because while they found that the majority did not like it, a substantial minority loved it and would not make it the second choice after a German or Japanese competitor. Citroen lost because their model was "liked", it was not preferred over the various Golfs and Polos that Volkswagen offered.
Since then, Citroen, with its new parallel DS range, has tried to push French quirkiness and won good sales, while, perversely, Renault, especially with its larger saloons, has declined against the German competition.
The lesson is, the secret of failure is trying to please everyone and the secret of success might - just might - be trying to get enough to love you... enough.
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It sinks further when he repeats he's been transparent and upfront.
Hmmm.
If I may be adventurous... while the 'worm" is supposedly a vulgar, trivial thing, if it makes strong movements, perhaps it represents then the impulses that drive the floating voter?
Hence, while, as I've said, "objectively", the Teapot Tapes may seem like a distraction to many people, and most will respond to polls asking specifically about that will say that it's unimportant, a subliminal impression of Key and his handlers as insecure, insincere and authoritarian may spread more subtly and inflect peoples' responses to other things that he has to say.
Still not betting on a Labour-led government, but maybe a Labour-led one in 2014, if they learn their lessons well enough and put them into practice between now and then.
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Well then, if the worm is to be believed, perhaps Phil Goff has saved his own job. Fingers crossed that Mallard and a lot of the other deadwood (Horomia, Curran, Jones...) lose theirs' yet if he loses the election and remains as leader of Labour and is emboldened to look rationally at its need to rejuvenate itself.
The architect of R'lyeh would know the dimensions into which my fingers have been crossed in order to support that statement.
Good governance - as opposed to politics, which tends to take precedence - depends not about whom one likes or respects, but who can get the right things done. I don't like or trust Goff for a second (his beliefs seem sincere, but his mind is as deep as a not very deep thing), but I never "liked" Clark because liking her was never relevant. I admire more than any other achievement of the second half twentieth century the Apollo programme, even though I know that the great promotor of it, Kennedy, was ambivalent at best according to the record... but whatever an individual thought, even an individual in a critical position, something great was done (and the legacy frittered, but that's another story). It didn't matter that he really believed in it, it mattered that it really happened.
So...
It has to be said, it's pretty unlikely yet that a left-ish coalition of contingency can win in a week, but if the plutocrats lining up behind Key can be bridled at least for three years by the rising minor parties before his bubble bursts, that's good. If... well, that's enough - too many "if's" for now.