This election is about Trusts
John Ansell requested a billboard yesterday, so the Vast Right Wing Conspiracy leaped into action. First we had this excellent response from Whale Oil:
Now who wants to donate some money to get that up on a billboard? 
And an overseas based reader sends in another version:
Also an excellent effort. Feel free to promote these via blogs, e-mail etc.
As for why the PM declared this election is about trust? Leftie blog Adding Noughts points out she is copying the John Howard playbook as noted by the Sydney Morning Herald:
THE New Zealand Prime Minister, Helen Clark, has taken a leaf out of John Howard’s book, calling an election and immediately defining it as being about trust.
Miss Clark yesterday said the country’s future would be at stake on November 28, when New Zealanders would decide which party they trusted most. …
“I do believe the future of New Zealand is at stake,” Miss Clark said. “I believe that Labour has shown, through its record in office, that we can be trusted with the future of New Zealand.
“It is about which leader and which major party we New Zealanders trust our families’ and country’s future with.”
When he announced Australia’s 2004 election, Mr Howard said: “This election, ladies and gentlemen, will be about trust.” He asked voters to trust him with the economy and interest rates and in the fight against terrorism.
Speaks for itself.
September 14th, 2008 at 11:03 am
Sorry to post it again, but its hard to believe she’s sticking with the same old airbrushed billboards
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/politics/news/article.cfm?c_id=280&objectid=10532067
The headline should have said “Helen witnesses first erection”
September 14th, 2008 at 11:09 am
Nice meme!
September 14th, 2008 at 11:29 am
Did she not GET the Oz election results?
September 14th, 2008 at 11:30 am
where is the key/lord ashcroft one..?
with key as ashcrofts’ puppet..
..and the line:..
‘how can you trust these two?’
phil(whoar.co.nz)
September 14th, 2008 at 11:33 am
Can we “trust” the PM when in an interview on BBC Talking Points
Friday, 11 July, 2003 she had this to say about NZ’s brain drain…
Bridget Kendall: (Interviewer)
We’ve had another e-mail which touches on a similar point, this is from Wisconsin in the US from Jonty Monopoli who says: “We’re famous in New Zealand for exporting university graduates overseas and some like myself don’t return. I’m intrigued how you plan to combat this brain drain and are there any plans to tempt some of us home?”
Helen Clark:
“Well we’d love people to come home but the reality is that the brain-drain, I think, has been pretty largely stemmed. Over the last year or so, the number of Kiwis returning home is up and the numbers of Kiwis leaving is down. Why is this? It’s because, firstly there’s opportunity in New Zealand, which is more than many countries.
September 14th, 2008 at 11:53 am
Murray, in fairness Howard used the ‘trust’ line in 2004 and won. The main difference between 2004 and 2007 was the difference between Latham and Rudd. In the one election this kind of negative campaigning fell on pretty fertile soil, not so much in the later election. It was genuinely difficult to trust Latham, and not difficult to trust Rudd. The $64 question is how easy it is will prove for New Zealanders to trust Key.
September 14th, 2008 at 11:54 am
philu … thank you for reserecting the Ashcroft non story. I mean its quite shock horror that Key should meet the Deputy Chairman of the Conservative Party during his trip to NZ. This of course was the same Lord Ashcraft who ponied up with the reward for the return of our missing VCs when your government was too preoccupied to care.
But thank you again because Mike Williams has yet to explain what he was doing in Europe leaning on his socialist mates for dosh to finance Labour’s camapign … you know, overseas money Labour good. …. overseas money National bad, and more to the point, what Government contacts did he dangle in front of those people in return for cash (no cheques please).
September 14th, 2008 at 12:06 pm
“THE New Zealand Prime Minister, Helen Clark, has taken a leaf out of John Howard’s book, calling an election and immediately defining it as being about trust”
http://www.readersdigest.co.nz/content/2008-new-zealands-most-trusted-professions-list/
New Zealand’s 40 Most Trusted Professions List
39. Politicians
September 14th, 2008 at 12:44 pm
“..philu … thank you for reserecting the Ashcroft non story. I mean its quite shock horror that Key should meet the Deputy Chairman of the Conservative Party during his trip to NZ…”
in normal/’open’ circumstances..ok..
..the ‘trust-problem’ here is that
1)..ashcroft is a serial financier of rightwing political parties around the world..
2)..key is a former/recent bag-man for the national party..
3)..that key tried to hide from us/reporters..
..that he had even met ashcroft..(remember..’trust’..?..)
4)..and that they never discussed how ashcroft could ‘help’ them..?
all of this makes the ’secret’ meeting of key and lord ashcroft..
..the opposite of a ‘non-story’..
..it is a story that is very much ‘alive’..
..and raises serious doubts about keys’ trustworthiness..
..and i mean..we haven’t even gone near the ’secret agendas’..eh..?
..and the voters wariness of national..for those reasons..
..is growing day by day..
..phil(whoar.co.nz)
September 14th, 2008 at 12:59 pm
Possibly but to be fair Andrew Clark running on trust is like turkeys cmapaigning for more cranberry sauce.
She attacks Key to test the waters and takes a bitch slapping in the polls then she dicides its going to be her ONLY cmapaign message.
In the end everyone was too afraid to tell Hitler and bad news, is the same happening to Clark? Everyone is too afraid of her to tell her that shes on the fast track to the back benches? (No I’m not comparing to Clark to Hitler, I’m comparing the situations.)
This is a texk book case on the decision making process reflecting a dyfunctional commincation system at the top of the command structure. This dysfunction gave us such fun events at the Somme and Market Garden.
Also election ‘08.
September 14th, 2008 at 1:14 pm
who’se ‘andrew clark’..?
and the ‘trust/inexperience’ issues are gaining traction..
key is the least experienced to ever try for the top job..
..and that inexperience shows..all the time..
..but especially in parliament..
phil(whoar.co.nz)
September 14th, 2008 at 1:18 pm
The Aussies will personally feel the effects of an [improbable] Labour victory by the 28th. They will have needed to open refugee camps to cope with the exodus across the ditch, which will have started on the 19 days earlier.
September 14th, 2008 at 1:22 pm
ok philu … clearly you failed logic 101 coming from the ‘my balls are red, fire engines are red therefore my balls are fire-engines’ school of thought. The Ashcroft story is a non story (albeit a badly handled non-story)
Trouble for you is that you are defending an administration that couldn’t lie straight in bed. And you haven’t even commented on ‘Bagman’ Williams yet and his furious (and largely unsuccessful attempt) to source o’seas funds to finance Labour’s election campaign given that ordinary mum and dad Kiwis think Helen is so toxic that they won’t donate a dollar … so all you are left with is what the Unions steal from their members … and clearly they are holding back too witness your recycling of your old billboards.
Old billboards, old policies, old slogans, tired and grumpy Prime Minister looking back to the future and hog tied to Winston Peters = receipe for electoral disaster.
September 14th, 2008 at 1:56 pm
interesting appliance/testicle analogy there..
..but you haven’t answered/addressed the questions/concerns raised in many..
..at key having ’secret meetings’ with such a ’shadowy’ financier as lord ashcroft..
..and really..!..i’m not the only one amazed by the bare-faced gall of national..and act..
..getting all pious/self-rightous about anonymous donations..
..given the millions laundered through the waitemata trust for national..
..and nationals’ long history of anti-worker/poor policy being ‘bought’ by their big business donors..
..and act..
..able to be/having been bought by the highest bidder/interest groups..
..eh..?
..you’ve got a fucken nerve..!..eh..?
..it’s up there with mccain claiming to be a maverick..
..’national..the best party money can buy’..
..what was lord ashcoft buying..?..
..from key/this years’ model of national..?
..or was he giving key his ‘orders’..?
..phil(whoar.co.nz)
September 14th, 2008 at 2:19 pm
No philu … Glenn brought Labour’s soul for the paltry sum of $500k + an interest free loan of $100k although I guess on reflection it was (a) overpriced and (b) dumb buy.
As for Trusts. Again you show your ‘dark side. Labour Trusts OK. National Trusts bad. BTW, who got the most money from ‘Secret’ Trusts leading up to the 2002 Campaign? …. answer (said slowly so even you might understand) L a b o u r.
And Mike Willaims ‘overseas money bagman’ for Labour? … no respose. Tongue tied are we or just awaiting orders?
September 14th, 2008 at 2:29 pm
williams has been the bagman for labour..forever..
..that’s no ’secret’..is it..?
..your point..?
..and..
..so ross..you’d be a supporter of state funding for parties/elections..?
..to be able to be done with the whole tawdry/democracy perverting/corrupting business..
..to have our elected officials beholden to no special interest groups/elites/big business..
..can only be a good thing for the democratic health of our country..
eh..?
..phil(whoar.co.nz)
..phil(whoar.co.nz)
September 14th, 2008 at 3:00 pm
Thank you Whale Oil, thank you Overseas Person.
I particularly like the photo of Clark and Peters on the beach – shades of Winnie’s last campaign billboard.
The ideal headline, now that I think about it, should be in quotes – to remind people that Clark said it.
Overseas Person’s heart logo is good too. Forward together (Labour’s 2005 line) should be under the heart logo, so it doesn’t overpower the headline.
The Clark-Peters hand-in-hand image has real persuasive power: get two crooks for the price of one.
Keep ‘em coming!
September 14th, 2008 at 4:47 pm
Wow! I’m sure glad the right is not running a dirty campaign
September 14th, 2008 at 7:52 pm
The right SHOULD run a hard-hitting campaign that distills the crooked behaviour of the left over the last nine years.
That’s a perfectly valid approach. But they MUST do it with humour or it will turn people off.
The left’s continuous strategy since day one has been to tell big lies and trust that it will all be cancelled out in media gobbledygook and the right will be too stupid to simplify the evidence against them.
That’s what happens every time.
The right need to marshall the evidence and hit people between the eyes with it, again and again. The left should have nowhere to hide.
Will the right do it? Not through the political parties – they’re too full of ’sensible’ (i.e. boring) people.
But we might be able to do it from here.
September 15th, 2008 at 11:53 am
Love this, will use it on my email signature line for the next few weeks…the kids pic will have to go on the backburner for a while.