Clark blunders again
Watching TV3 News last night, it appears clear Clark has blundered again with her boycott of the full Waitangi programme.
John Key didn’t just look comfortable at Waitangi – he looked Prime Ministerial, and was almost greeted as such, while Clark was missing in action.
I did enjoy the only in NZ absurdity of Key being greeted by, and shaking hands with, Tame Iti who was arrested by the Police for allegedly being the leader of a group which aimed, amongst other things, to assassinate John Key. However only once he had actually become PM! Could you imagine this in any other country.
And even more bizarrely the costs of the Iti family going to Waitangi are being paid for by Television New Zealand.
Colin Espiner blogged yesterday that Clark no-show was a risk
Key, too, is on to a winner whatever happens. While National leaders have not always been welcome at Te Tii, Key is so easy-going and charming that he is unlikely to cop a faceful of mud like his predecessor. But even if he was abused, it simply plays into his favour. It shows that he’s prepared to face up to criticism, while his counterpart is not.
… Being the Prime Minister is a little different, of course. One does have to keep one’s dignity. But I wonder whether this would have been the year to take the risk and return to Te Tii.
Audrey Young also blogged about Key at Waitangi:
It has been John Key’s Waitangi so far today, not Helen Clark’s who is just about to land in the Far North.
And the bizarre spectacle of the PM who refuses to turn up, criticising the warm reception John Key received. She just sounds bitter and small. And her lack of judgement comes through even more when she suggests that Key is not being honest about his agenda – because in fact the media have been reporting that Key has not been delivering a different message to a different audience, and despite the unpopularity has confirmed National policy is still to abolish the Maori seats and not abolish the Foreshore & Seabed Act.
Finally on radio this morning, I hear that John Key was asked to lead a prayer of his own at the dawn service, as the PM wasn’t there. Again this just makes him look like he is the PM, not just wanting to be. Clark has surrendered her most important weapon – incumbency.
The result of the next election is by no means already determined. But Labour needs a error-free year, and so far there have been two blunders barely one month in.
February 6th, 2008 at 10:15 am
When I saw Clark on TV# News last night, I couldn’t hekp but think that she looked haunted. Or should that be hunted?
G
February 6th, 2008 at 10:15 am
TV3….
G
February 6th, 2008 at 10:16 am
TVNZ don’t simply report the news they want to make it.
It is apparent that what really happens is of no consequence it is more important that the media contrive situations that are either newsworthy by their standards or more worrying influence the thinking of Nzers in a particular way.
The media do not have any level of accountability and in fact thrive in a world that is conditioned by manufactured celebrities who in reality have little going for them other thanm as instruments for marketing.
Iti still remains a prat (a criminal prat)but no doubt he is now to be seen as hero or icon or just a news item.
It is pretty weird and a worrying sign of where we are heading.
February 6th, 2008 at 10:24 am
Reading her response in the NZ Herald makes her sound more like a witch every day. She would be better to keep her mouth shut than spew bile at the media.
Also she mentioned hidden agendas again.
DPF you should keep a log of how many days she can actually go through without telling the media John Key has “hidden agendas”.
February 6th, 2008 at 10:24 am
you natty-boys/girls get very very excited ..
..about very very little..
eh..?
phil(whoar.co.nz)
February 6th, 2008 at 10:25 am
Clark is now irrelevant and people no longer care what the hell she does. No one can be bothered listening to her any more – Another poll yesterday has National miles out in front so the good news continues for the blue team, while the reds fumble and bumble from one issue to the next.
I tink Key is being very shrewd – he is saying to Maori – “we can work with you”. (ie a co-alition partner in the next government. Certainly National has an excellent track record in this respect if we look back (as the lefties are so keen of doing) to the 1990s where even the vile witch admitted that one good thing the Nats had done was move the Treaty process along.
February 6th, 2008 at 10:29 am
The poll was TV3 as well which normally doesn’t favour National. Will be interesting to see what the next Herald or TV One poll shows.
If the polls get National over 60% can we call the election a no-contest and just award them the title.
February 6th, 2008 at 10:31 am
The two boilerplate responses to a National hit or Labour blunder:
1. “It’s a media beat-up”
2. “You Nats get excited over very little”
Expect to hear them a lot.
February 6th, 2008 at 10:32 am
Clark is coming across as very negative, a sign of desperation. She obviously hasn’t been watching either last years Aussie election nor the current US Presidential Primaries where negative campaigning has been a losing idea.
The best thing the Nats can for with themselves is not get too carried away because of the polls. To use a boxing analogy the Nats need to keep on going for the body and not try for a big knock out punch yet. Unless something extraordinary happens Labour are now heading for a humiliating defeat.
February 6th, 2008 at 10:42 am
Hey phil Just wait until The Gnats announce their environment policies about two weeks before the election and steal 4 points off the Greens leaving just the commie lunatic fringe to poll less than 1% on the day.
Doncha just love it? Today the Maoris, tomorrow the Greens and then NEW ZEALAND!!!!!!!!
February 6th, 2008 at 10:45 am
Well, as I put it (@ http://craigmranapia.blogspot.com/2008/02/waitangi-day-scorecard.html), it looks like Clark’s not so secret agenda is to avoid any tricky audience and stick to ‘dignified’ carefully-staged photo-ops stocked with party faithful and tame media.
I also suggested the press invest in a swear box (all proceeds to charity, naturally) and hit Clark up for a god coin every time she chunters about National’s ’secret agenda’.
February 6th, 2008 at 10:46 am
No, phil, I don’t find you the least bit interesting, let alone exciting.
February 6th, 2008 at 10:57 am
” . . . paid for by Television New Zealand”
What is TVNZ doing financing Tame Iti to attend Waitangi, to mingle with John Key?
Aren’t they just supposed to report news, not create it? Especially as they are a taxpayer funded entity, a state broadcaster, afetr all.
Next they will be taking other people before the courts and make popular heroes of them, treat them like they are on THIS IS YOUR LIFE, maybe people like David Bain, which would be . . . What? . . . they HAVE WHAT? . . . really . . . oh . . . shit . . .
February 6th, 2008 at 11:01 am
The fact that the DPS and police seem to have no problem with Iti being so close to Key shows once again that the Dawn Raids of 2007 were nothing more than some Klark/Broad-inspired political jack up designed to smear supporters of the Maori Party as terrorists and to make the Pakeha community think they need to fear Maori – all with the aim of improving Klark’s image among white, working-class conservative Labour voters. Klark accused Brash of trying to divide New Zealand. His antics were nothing compared with what she has planned.
February 6th, 2008 at 11:02 am
… and, at this rate of Klark snafus, Goff will not need to wait much longer for his prize.
February 6th, 2008 at 11:19 am
Southern Raider said “The poll was TV3 as well which normally doesn’t favour National. Will be interesting to see what the next Herald or TV One poll shows.”
You’re right on the money SR – last election, the 3News poll was the only one that Dear Leader was taking any notice of – and at the end of the day, it was pretty much bang on – Labour by a whisker. If the 3News poll is showing Labour trailing by 49% to 35% when Clark has been in the news and Key hasn’t, what will be the outcome once the House resumes and the opposition starts asking questions that the government would rather they didn’t??!!
Clark has made a HUGE tactical blunder by staying away from Waitangi. She has gifted Key centre-stage, and as others have noted here, he looks positively Prime Ministerial. Clark, by the same token, looks bitter and twisted, and her refusal to even mention Key by name is bizarre, bordering on paranoid – it’s almost as if she is trying to deny his existence in the hope that he will vaporise and the “problem” will disappear!
So, not a good day for Helen yesterday, which has prompted me to start a new series on Keeping Stock (apologies for link-whoring DPF!!) entitled “Helen’s Bad Day” – a journal which will chronicle the Trials of Helen in Election Year, and may need frequent updating!! Enjoy!!!
http://keepingstock.blogspot.com/2008/02/helens-bad-day.html
February 6th, 2008 at 11:26 am
adolf..!..don’t forget your medication..!
you are ‘over upper-casing’ again..
and you know what that can lead to..!
phil(whoar.co.nz)
February 6th, 2008 at 11:41 am
philu said “adolf..!..don’t forget your medication..!”
Stones and glasshouse phil, stones and glasshouses….
February 6th, 2008 at 11:44 am
I have always been struck by the similarities between Clark’s and Blair’s administrations particularly with respect to the tactics both have used to manage the media message. Have a look at this short article that reports on Blair’s speech to Reuters in his final days, as he lambasts the media for turning upon his administration.
The article suggests the Iraq war, for Blair, was the turning point. For us, it’s been the EFA.
February 6th, 2008 at 11:45 am
phil don’t worry mate. Ive taken my medication – for blood pressure and cholesterol. Clark is about to get her medicine by the look of it.
You know, I’m coming to the conclusion that for the first time, Clark has run up against someone of whom she is scared. Scared shitless in fact. It shows in all her body language and commentary. She knows already he has got her beat.
February 6th, 2008 at 11:54 am
it’s ok..!..inventory..
i’m taking mine..!
phil(whoar.co.nz)
February 6th, 2008 at 11:55 am
Inv 2 says Clark `looks bitter and twisted’.
Haggard and Scrawny are also words which spring to mind every time I see her these days.
February 6th, 2008 at 11:56 am
“..Ive taken my medication – for blood pressure and cholesterol..”
um..!..ever thought of changing your animal-fat-based diet..
to a fruit-vegetable-based diet..?
(just a thought..!..y’know..!..)
phil(whoar.co.nz)
February 6th, 2008 at 12:11 pm
Phil, if you are a living example of that diet many will head for KFC
February 6th, 2008 at 12:14 pm
It may be something as simple as mistakenly thinking that where the prime minister is, is where The Story is. In this case, the PM is just a participant in a larger event – and if she’s not at the centre of the story, the story about her is why she’s not. By moving to the centre of the story, JK became a main fixture in it – as HC would have, had she understood the actual news flow.
February 6th, 2008 at 12:17 pm
no ‘blood-pressure/cholesteral medication’ in this kneck of the woods..
eh..?
(just the calming ‘erb’…)
phil(whoar.co.nz)
February 6th, 2008 at 12:23 pm
Inv2 recons Dear Leader “looks bitter and twisted” and pdm recons she looks “haggard and scrawny”. You guys are amazing, it’s taken you 9 years to make this observation?
Oh and philu just enjoying a nice milkshake from my cows, God I’m a cruel and evil arsehole.
February 6th, 2008 at 12:29 pm
Blood-pressure/cholesteral problems can be hereditary. It runs in my family. Doesn’t matter what you eat.
February 6th, 2008 at 12:38 pm
By the time election time rolls around, I reckon she’s even gonna be past airbrushing.
February 6th, 2008 at 12:41 pm
Audrey’s got a really lovely, lauditory story about HC’s visit to Karetu. But because it was Karetu, it is a second-tier story in the news stack.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/category/story.cfm?c_id=280&objectid=10490914
February 6th, 2008 at 12:41 pm
Paul I agree. Go to this link at stuff and find the picture of Helen.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/676991a26645.html
It looks like Helen is running from something. Would make a great caption competition.
February 6th, 2008 at 12:54 pm
Clark has this view that some issues are Labour issues like poverty, anything to do with maori and much else. Key simply challenges her on these and much more. She hates that. She goes on about the mother of all budgets, the springbok tour heavens she has not mentioned the 1951 waterfront strike yet. She has not started the year well. Waitangi day has been a disaster for her and if that continues she will be rolled. The political failures of Gordon Brown (a Clarkesque figure) and the slow deconstruction of Hillary Clinton are proving subtle reasons not to support her. You can be sure political success of those two figures would be used to assist Clark.
February 6th, 2008 at 12:58 pm
in your own words..(bloody)-bob..
in your own words..
and infused..’..Doesn’t matter what you eat..”
really..!..dosen’ that fly in the face of medical advice..?
lot’s of vegans in yr blood-pressure/cholesterol-sodden family..?
are there..?
or is that your family ‘excuse’..to continue stuffing animal fat into your/their blood pressure/cholesterol-sodden bodies..?
(methinks the latter..eh..?..)
phil(whoar.co.nz)
February 6th, 2008 at 1:00 pm
test
February 6th, 2008 at 1:22 pm
SSB
Perhaps I should have used the words – `even more haggard and scrawny.
February 6th, 2008 at 1:30 pm
Having Clark attend the full Waitangi programme would have allowed the usual suspects to grandstand and protest knowing that the media spotlight would be on them. The media will always put presenting images of “conflict” (even if its just a minority of attendees) ahead of reporting the real story. Clark’s presence would simply encourage bad behaviour on the part of the protesters. By staying away she has defused that situation and removed the grevience industry’s main means of attracting attention.
Second to that, the insults that she has had to put up with in the past have obviously left a sour taste in her mouth (can’t say that I blame her), the payback is that organisers of some events no longer get the mana and prestiege associated with having the PM visit. IMHO this serves them right.
Unfotunately for Labour, this allows Key to lap up the media coverage and look prime ministerial (and good on him) and this is not good when the party is on the ropes. I’m not sure if the alternative would have been any better though.
It will be interesting to see what happens this time next year when Key is PM and becomes the focus for the protesters. What will he do then and how will the protestors behave? Will he need the support of the maori party to govern or will national be governing alone? On race relations and treaty issues, will his government be closer to the national party of Jim Bolger and Doug Graham or more like the national party of Don Brash?
February 6th, 2008 at 1:40 pm
Is Helen’s health in question? Will we see a retirement for health reasons before the election?
Innocent, if the grievance industry wanted publicity they could have gotten it just as easily by insulting John Key. I think that Helen made a substantial error of judgement in not going – a very important part of National’s strategy is showing that they can find common ground with the Maori party without compromising their principles. Key showed that once again. Labour really needed to be there to provide a contrast – the average Maori who reads the paper or watches TV only saw Key, and probably thought “he doesn’t sound so bad, I’d be OK in coalition with him.” Key needed that.
On race relations, the party of Don Brash wasn’t so different to Jim and Doug. He maintained the focus on resolving historical grievances so that Maori could go forward as an integral part of the population, rather than continuing to need special treatment that is different from the rest of the people in the country. I think that John Key is sticking to that policy too – hence the settling of treaty claims, followed by removal of Maori seats. I think the main difference with Key is his ability to communicate the policies in a non-divisive way – partly due to the way Key speaks, partly due to the way the media report. Go read Brash’s actual Orewa speech some time and tell me that you disagree with any of it – it was relatively tame. The media blew it up into something that it wasn’t.
February 6th, 2008 at 1:52 pm
Southern Raider said “It looks like Helen is running from something. Would make a great caption competition.”
It is!
http://nominister.blogspot.com/2008/02/waitangi-day-caption-competition-no-2.html
February 6th, 2008 at 1:58 pm
If someone makes a rod for their own back then complains about the beating that is administered, then they are hardly going to get too much sympathy. Helen Clark tried to implant the impression that she is the stately and dignified alternative to the populist John Key, but the impression she left us with was manipulative and devious. Sorry, but there it is.
Is there a coup afoot inside the Labour party/ Yes, but the only way to get rid of Helen is to lose the next election, when she will retire. Therefore it begs the question what kind of advise is she litening to, and how is it motivated. When she starts rapidly promoting the likes of Clre Curren for example on the basis of one rather sychophantic paper about ‘Setting Agendas’ while the likes of Maharey have evidently had enough, you have to as how many competent hands are actually at the wheel?
Well I’m taking votes on this question:
Is Helen in Self-Destruct Mode?
http://monkeyswithtypewriter.blogspot.com/2008/02/who-gives-st-about-public-opinion.html
February 6th, 2008 at 2:26 pm
Having Clark attend the full Waitangi programme would have allowed the usual suspects to grandstand and protest knowing that the media spotlight would be on them.
The the usual suspects were all over it anyway. For yet another year, Titewhai Harawira turned it into a political event for her own ends, grabbing Key’s hand the way she once grabbed Clark’s.
And Tame Iti with the financial assistance of a crown-owned company, got his hongi with Key and the press photographs to prove it. The problem there is that I’m fairly sure that by the end of the year, no mainstream politician will want to come within a mile of Iti.
February 6th, 2008 at 2:37 pm
The Maori Party may need to work with National after the election so they would not have been keen to make life dificult for him. I don’t think it is too much of a stretch to say that they have a hand on the grievance industry’s leash either.
Not being Maori myself I can’t say whether the average maori gets their cues from watching the TV or not but I imagine the perfectly timed announcements relating to Ngati Porou will have helped labours cause.
Key is definately going all out to sound reasonable to Maori but National has a credibility problem here because the same people who were running a very different line at the last election are still running the show now. If maori voters forget that then they are very very foolish. If national requires the support of the Maori party to govern then maori should do well but if we see any other permutation of national government and particularly if we see a national majority government then I think we will see national’s true colours.
National wants to remove the maori seats because its an easy vote winner with certain sections of the population and because they can at times create something of a gerrymander that creates overhang seats and makes it harder for National to get in government. I pesonally don’t believe that we need maori seats either, they were created for very good reasons back in the day but now that we have MMP (and more to the point universal sufferage) we don’t need them. BUT I believe it is up to maori to make that decision through the ballot box and through choosing whether or not to enrol on the maori electoral role. The alternative – having the white man come along and disenfranchise thousands of voters is a recipe for serious racial disharmony and probably just about civil war. If you thought the foreshore and seabed went down badly with maori wait till you see what happens when you remove the maori seats. If they then combine removal of the maori seats with removal of MMP then that will be a further huge setback for Maori (and just about everyone else).
Don Brash’s Orewa speech was nothing more than a dog whistle to racists and dead white males, he knew full well how it would be received and the effect it would have. Like any speech it was written with the media response in mind…don’t blame the media when it was Brash who lit the fuse. I agree with you that maori shouldn’t get special treatment…particularly special treatment like being over represented in the prison population, in poverty, in child abuse and in just about every other negative statistic you could think of. One way of overcoming this is to grow the economy and keep unemployment low (which one would hope would continue to happen under National) but on top of this you also need to target those most in need…you can either call that special treatment or you can call it efficient use of taxpayers money, whatever.
Its great that National is keen to maintain the focus on resolving historic greiviences, my concern is that they will take too much of a eurocentric view that the treaty is only about property rights (i.e. land title and money) and will not put other aspects on the negotiating table. I also wonder how far they have really come since the foreshore and seabed debate when National’s policy was an even worse deal for Maori then the law that was eventually passed.
February 6th, 2008 at 2:58 pm
I think that National will campaign to keep the Maori seats and abolish the Foreshore and Seabed Act. Their original position on the latter was ‘let the courts decide’ and I think that position will be acceptable to their base.
Good point Russell about Iti becoming persona non gratia. I admire the man for his self-discipline and his principalled approach which he has shown are genuine by his consistency over the years. However I think the Urewera issue will prove to be a bridge too far, in the minds of the public and in reality.
February 6th, 2008 at 3:16 pm
John Key said specifically that the National Party wants the Maori seats gone.
February 6th, 2008 at 3:24 pm
Reid – you might want to go back and look at some of Brash’s speeches on the foreshore and seabed, I don’t think your recollection is correct.
http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PA0411/S00413.htm
Brash would also have legislated to circumvent the courts and would have passed a law that would have confirmed the crown’s ownership while giving even less recognition to Maori then the current law.
Letting the court case take its course would have been the correct thing to do in my book.
February 6th, 2008 at 3:27 pm
Innocent – a combination of reasonable analysis and cunningly inserted assertions that someone less charitable than I might label a dog whistle of your own (oops, did I just do it anyway? Or was that my own dog whistle? Not so good on this did he mean it or didn’t he crap).
The specific cunning insertions are:
– “National’s true colours” – is this another permutation of the hidden agenda meme? You do know that is an entirely fictitious conspiracy theory don’t you?
– the suggestion that National would remove the Maori seats without consulting with Maori. I think their policy is to hold a referendum on it or some such isn’t it?
– I don’t see any evidence of National would be trying to remove MMP, so it is foolish to speculate that they might in the context of removing the Maori seats
– the misrepresentation of National objecting to targeting of services on basis of need. What they said is that there is no particular evidence that targeting race directly is a good proxy for need, v’s just targeting the need. Giving all Maori special treatment advantages well-off Maori, targeting the poor directly covers all poor, both white and brown.
Most of the rest of your filler I agree with
February 6th, 2008 at 3:34 pm
I don’t agree with you at all regarding Don Brashes speech. I don’t believe for a moment it was written purely to get the attention of the media, not just because DB showed a remarkable lack of ability to get into the spotlight, except when the media wanted to crucify him.
It was made by a desire by Brash to say that all NZ’ers are equal, and judging by the effect the speech had, a lot of New Zealanders agreed with him adn had had enough of the special treatment dished out to the Maori.
I think it fair to say that probably wouldn’t have minded so much, except it was obvious that the money and effort being dished out to the Maori was not really producing a tangible result. A new approach was called for, that’s what Brash was saying.
But to the point, you really get the feeling that Clark is so desperate she is becoming increasingly paranoid. Unfortunately, this can become a self fulfilling prophesy.
February 6th, 2008 at 3:34 pm
Should I say, unfortunately for her, this can become a self fulfilling prophesy.
February 6th, 2008 at 4:04 pm
John Key said specifically that the National Party wants the Maori seats gone.
Yes, they’ve glossed it a bit recently by saying it wouldn’t happen until after all Treaty claims were settled, but it remains policy.
And Innocent bystander is correct: National slammed the F&S legislation as far too generous to Maori, and took the position that it would legislate over the court decision to remove any prospect of customary title.
Act had about half a dozen positions, from offering its votes to Labour to immediately legislate over Ngati Apa to letting it go to the courts, depending on what day of the week it was.
February 6th, 2008 at 4:07 pm
“Television New Zealand is defending paying for petrol vouchers and accommodation to help Maori activist Tame Iti and his family attend Waitangi Day celebrations.”
Well, well, well? News manufactured to order. Payment in advance for Services to be rendered to Close Up.
From what I understand TV1 has used taxpayer’s money to pay to have people at a certain place at a certain time, and then create news about them. Surely this is misuse of public funds to create news?
HOWEVER, IT’S NO DIFFERENT TO THE PLEDGE CARD, AND THAT’S BEEN VALIDATED
February 6th, 2008 at 4:17 pm
PaulL – Dog whistles by definition have to be directed at an audience that is tuned in to that frequency and I don’t think that can be said of readers of kiwiblog. By your own admission on the other thread is impossible to prove or disprove a dogwhistle so I’m not quite sure how to counter that. I did refer to John Key as the next PM so if I am a labour troll rallying the troops then I’m an extraordinarily bad one.
I don’t know what Helen Clark’s version of the “secret conspiracy” is as that is known only by her and presumably the national party (assuming she is correct). What I was referring to is that apart from changing to a leader who was very much in the engine room last election anyway, very little has changed in the national heirachy between 2005 and now. Have they changed their spots in the last three years or have we just always been at war with Eurasia? I think that is a perfectly legitimate issue to raise.
I haven’t heard national refer to a referendum on the maori seats but I’m happy to stand corrected if that is the case. Maori actually have a referendum every few years already when they choose which roll to go through that the number of maori seats to be contested. If you are suggesting that we have a referendum of the whole voting population then I can see that being extremely divisive (not to mention the result being something of a foregone conclusion). IMHO that would be a serious mistake.
National has talked about offering a referendum on the future of MMP. One would hope that the public aren’t manipulated into ditching it by the vested interests who want a return to the good old days but I fear that that may just happen. MMP has given us a much more representative parliament. Apart from their being a few more unionists, teachers and gays than the wider population courtesy of Labour, the make up of parliament generally reflects New Zealand. This is a good thing….and we haven’t ended up like italy!
National was doing a bit more than argueing over how services should be targetted. There was an implication that maori were getting special treatment at the expense of the white man. The intention was to generate envy and to make white people – Brash’s mainstream, feel like victims and to turn them against the “non mainstream”. It was calculated and nasty and in gaining national lots of votes highlighted a really ugly side of NZ…I’m glad that under Key National has toned it down.
February 6th, 2008 at 4:32 pm
I don’t think it is smart to try to force the PM to go somewhere and get abused by some group unless we support the objectives of that group – which I assume people here don’t generally speaking.
Sure Key is willing to go there and brave it, good on him – but I have nothing against clark not going.
February 6th, 2008 at 4:38 pm
Hmm. To bits of that, Innocent, I can probably only say “I disagree.” Unfortunately still at work, but later tonight I may be able to be more clear.
February 6th, 2008 at 4:51 pm
No, GNZ, my point is that political leaders can’t spend their whole hiding in their offices and only leaving for carefully sanitized photo ops. Like Ratana, I think polis of all stripes could do with being taken aside and told, “it’s not all about you, darling.”
Also, for all the bloviating about “disrespect” at Te Tii, I most disrespectfully suggest they clean up their own fucking whare because the stench of bullshit coming out of Parliament on any given sitting day is pretty overwhelming. But hey, Trev goes feral and according to Clark it’s just chivalry in action.
In future, I suggest Ngapuhi tell Clark she’s not invited, so don’t bother making the opportunistic snub.
February 6th, 2008 at 5:24 pm
GNZ said – `I don’t think it is smart to force the PM to go somewhere…….’.
It seems to me that when one holds the position of PM there are events and occasions that one is invited to. Given the 6 February is considered so important that it is a Public Holiday and there is a well set attendance precedent by previous Prime Ministers the current PM has an obligation to attend.
As does the Governor General in this instance – was he there?
February 6th, 2008 at 5:49 pm
According to the news Helens official excuse for not attending the dawn service is that she isn’t a morning person.
What kind of excuse this that? Is that because the makeup session takes 4 hours she would need to be out of bed at 1am?
When you have a job (which I think she has forgotten that she has one) you do things you don’t like doing. I don’t like getting up early to fly to Sydney or Wellington, but you have no choice.
Good to see she is above what mortals like us have to do.
February 6th, 2008 at 6:31 pm
yes george (11.03) if the terrorist thing was Clark’s ‘Orewa’ it was much more sinister than anything Brash could have dreamed up.
February 6th, 2008 at 6:49 pm
I heard Horomia trot out that line too, and when are the press going to develop a spine and start asking some rather obvious questions like”Well, few of us are — but Helen sure seemed capable of getting her arse out of bed before dawn at Gallipoli and Paschendale.”
God, I wish she’d stop trying to be cute and folksy — because she sucks at it.
Meanwhile, number of arrests at Waitangi today: ZERO. All this despite those cheeky Tuhoe darkies have a bit of a protest march, and Helen’s provocative presence at the annual staged walkabout.
There’s so much bullshit coming out of Clark’s mouth, I wish she’d come and talk to my rose bushes.
February 6th, 2008 at 8:37 pm
Eliminating the Maori seats hand in hand with getting rid of the 5% threshold would provide an eminently workable solution for NZ, getting rid of almost all the distortions from proportionality in one go and ensuring the Maori Party could continue to thrive.
Helen doesn’t go to Waitangi as she knows that one more break into tears at the “threat” proposed by Titehat Harawira would be the electoral death knell. Pure cowardice.
February 6th, 2008 at 8:38 pm
She gets on Holmes and TV1 reasonably early on Mondays.
A good question is whether she will front on TV1 on Monday.
February 6th, 2008 at 8:39 pm
“Television New Zealand is defending paying for petrol vouchers and accommodation to help Maori activist Tame Iti and his family attend Waitangi Day celebrations.”
TV1’s defence of its actions on “Close-Up” failed to convince me. They had the perennial court jester Mark Sainsbury looking decidedly awkward as he delivered a carefully-crafted “angry” statement claiming justification (from my memory) on the basis of:
- The Iti family going to Waitangi anyway. (So why pay for the petrol?)
- Common courtesy when you ask someone to “change their plans”.
- Normal TVNZ and other media practice in these circumstances.
Defiantly Sainsbury declared that TVNZ would not change its policies in response to criticisms from other media or from the Prime Minister.
At no point did TVNZ quantify its expenditure on accommodation and petrol for the Iti whanau (if indeed these were the only expenditure items), an important and necessary ingredient for transparency in an instance such as this.
Next we’ll be hearing – again – the financially-illiterate message that TVNZ is an independent commercial organisation paying its own way through advertising revenues earned in competition with private-sector multinational competitors. That “defence” ignores TVNZ’s privileged position maintained by Government via a number of funding elements:
- the company’s equity base, and with it:
- an implied “Government guarantee” of TVNZ’s financial obligations;
- seemingly unlimited Government advertising, especially in election year;
- payment of Charter compensation with no visible improvement in quality.
TVNZ’s relationship with Government is far too cosy for democratic comfort. It should be sold forthwith. If the population can’t yet stomach full “privatisation” (big business, overseas interests, and all that) enshrine the company’s constitution in legislation pre-sale with a limit of 10% for any single shareholder (including its associates) and a combined limit of 33.3% for shareholders either resident abroad or majority-owned abroad.
February 6th, 2008 at 9:23 pm
Well, I wish the Prime Minister could get just a little upset about over a million dollars ear-marked for non-commercial programming being poured into Sensing Murder — if that qualifies as ‘non-commercial’, I’m a heterosexual Communist atheist.
And my sources tell me that this kind of thing happens regularly, so let’s cut the shit and get real here: What’s the real outrage, the practice itself (which I’d like to see banned outright, and the sanctimonious hypocrites elsewhere in the media following suit), or that the folks involved in this particular case are Tame Iti’s son and daughter-in-law, itis and you don’t much like the resulting story. If that’s Clark’s real objection, I’d politely remind the Prime Minister that political interference in the editorial content of TVNZ and RNZ is explicitly prohibited.
February 6th, 2008 at 9:53 pm
Craig Ranapia:
Some here, such as Philu, would argue that Sensing Murder isn’t just non-commercial programming, but compulsory viewing for the unenlightened
Is it just possible that Close Up went one step further and provided suitable “wardrobing services” – you know, just so Tane looks really scary to the TV1 viewers?
February 6th, 2008 at 9:54 pm
Not that Tane – I meant Tame of course!