Advice for Phil
There was an interview with Phil Goff in the Weekend Herald. First of all I can’t resist a swipe:
He’s been the leader of the Labour Party for seven months now and I wanted to know how he thought he was doing. He says the Mt Albert byelection was the first big test of his leadership. I say the handling of the Richard Worth issue was.
We got into a circular argument over why he called the Labour Party woman at the centre of the row “strikingly beautiful”. I want to know why on earth he said it; he can’t see what my problem is. He says it was absolutely relevant because “that was one of the things that made her attractive to Dr Worth”.
How could he possibly know that? Does he think only strikingly beautiful women get hit on?
Now he has to make the giant leap from robot (he teased me by asking how I voted in the byelection, so I’m teasing him back) to human being. Because, I say, staying on message is used as a criticism of his personal style.
“That’s one of the challenges of moving from being a member of caucus to leader – people want to know more about you.” He has to make himself interesting. “I have to make myself more public. People are asking of me: ‘We want to see the full human being …’ I’ve never felt I’ve had to go and sell myself as a fully rounded person that people want to know about.”
For my 2c I think this is right. Goff’s public profile is almost universally of him as an MP, and almost nothing of Phil Goff the man. What do I mean by that?
Well to take just one (superficial) example – I don’t even know the name of his wife. Now I know it isn’t meant to be about your family, but the public likes to know little thinsg such as Jim’s wife Joan had nine kids and was a devoted mum, and Jenny’s husband Burton was a basketball player and banker etc.
Now if someone who follows politics as religiously as me doesn’t even know the name of Goff’s wife, I can assure you almost no one in NZ knows her name. Now the name of Mrs Goff is a trivial issue, but it is an example of how NZ does not yet know Phil Goff except as a former (and competent) Minister.
He had the misfortune to become Labour Leader the same week John Key became Prime Minister. All the normal profiles were not done.
Goff should have an interesting story to tell. He was a Minister in both the 4th and the 5th Labour Government. Unlike Clark and Cullen though he was no rebel against Douglas – he was a loyal follower. But I don’t know what he actually believes in. At present he sounds like a clone of Helen Clark – against any private sector involvement in well almost anything. He needs to explain how a Goff-led Government would differ from a Clark-led Government. Yes I know the rank and file activists still love Helen, but she only got 33% of the vote in 2008 – Goff will not grow that unless people understand what he stands for. I would be fascinated to hear Goff on (for example) the five best things the 4th and 5th Labour Government each did.
Labour’s tactics at the moment are pretty fucked. They do not understand the difference between opposing a hugely popular new Government (and PM) and opposing a third term tired Government. The tactics National used against Labour from 2005 – 2008, are not (yet) going to work against National.
If Goff wants to become PM one day, he should do the following:
- Do a series of puff pieces in the women’s mags etc. Have us learn more about Phil Goff. Do some extended interviews with the weekly newspapers.
- Dampen down the negative tactics. The handling of the Choudary allegations was clumsy at best. Labour is far too focused on “beltway” issues and not issues that matter to voters.
- Start outlining what Goff believes in, and how it differs from both Helen Clark and John Key. This will not be without risk but is necessary.
- Do a reshuffle within 12 months and promote some of the Class of 2008 to more senior positions, and go into the next election with a shadow cabinet that doesn’t look like the one thrown out three years earlier.
As I said before, Goff at the moment is a enigma. And people don’t vote fr enigmas. Being a competent Foreign and Trade Minister doesn’t impress a lot of voters. They want to know more than that.
June 25th, 2009 at 1:28 pm
The problem with Advice #3 (for Goff to outline what he believes in and how he differs from Clark) is that there’s really not much to say. Compared to other Labour leaders of recent decades, Phil Goff is economically to the right of Helen Clark, David Lange, Bill Rowling and Geoffrey Palmer, while also being more socially-conservative than Mike Moore or Norman Kirk. Yet although Goff is all these things, his dominating politics is actually “pragmatic managerialism”. In a “political textbook” sense he is the ideal heir to Clark, and what’s more he’s the ideal opposition to Prime Minister John Key, as Goff is essentially another version of Key. But will this get him noticed? Will it win Labour the election in 2011? No.
It’s curious that Phil Goff has managed to be a key player in New Zealand politics for more than two decades during some very important times, yet he has left very little impression in the history books. If you look in the New Zealand history and political science books of the last 10-20 years you’ll find that Goff is hardly mentioned. The key texts by Jane Kelsey, Colin James, Bruce Jesson, Raymond Miller, etc, or the edited collections on the Fourth Labour Government or recent elections have very few entries recorded in their indexes for Goff. It’s as if Goff has worked so far beneath the radar that he has managed to avoid being part of the political story. All of this is part of Goff’s ultra-pragmatism and opportunism. But in a counter-intuitive sense, such strong pragmatism and opportunism has turned him into “the nowhere man”.
Bryce
http://www.liberation.org.nz
June 25th, 2009 at 1:30 pm
“Labour’s tactics at the moment are pretty fucked”
And your government?
http://tvnz.co.nz/politics-news/buzz-goes-flat-beehive-2797282
[DPF: is polling 20% ahead of Labour]
June 25th, 2009 at 1:33 pm
I totally agree. I don’t know much about Phil Goff either. Puff pieces don’t have to be intrusive. I’d see Goff talking about his childhoodd, his personal values, why he went into politics, what his kids are doing, what he likes to do in his spare time, his favourite holiday spot in NZ etc.
June 25th, 2009 at 1:39 pm
Sonic
That government is also yours.
June 25th, 2009 at 1:48 pm
Maybe if he got his gap fixed, they will stop calling him Phil Gap.
June 25th, 2009 at 1:57 pm
That’s . . . er . . . quite an interview – it’s like we got to meet Goff personally but had to swallow a fistful of amphetamines and suffer repeated blows to the head beforehand. You do have to wonder what the Herald were thinking giving an interview with the leader of the opposition to their TV reviewer instead of their political staff, and why Goff’s office agreed for him to be interviewed by such a lightweight.
June 25th, 2009 at 1:57 pm
If Phil is prepared to use “strikingly beautiful” labour party supporters to set up opposition cabinet ministers, then I don’t think he would want his personal values made public.
June 25th, 2009 at 1:59 pm
Do a reshuffle within 12 months and promote some of the Class of 2008 to more senior positions, and go into the next election with a shadow cabinet that doesn’t look like the one thrown out three years earlier.
- Indeed. But who do they promote? Robertson, Hipkins, Twyford and Davis? Just steer clear of Curran. She is weird. Burns could be interesting and Ardern could have a place. Beaumont while under the radar a bit I think could prove to be a winner. They should certainly dump Hodgson, Mallard, Carter and Horomia. But I don’t think that goes far enough either.
June 25th, 2009 at 2:00 pm
Wikipedia suggests that Phil’s wife is Mary Ellen Goff.
June 25th, 2009 at 2:12 pm
If Phil is to make progress he will have to initiate a culling (no pun) of the dead wood around him on the first and second benches ….
Horomia
Dyson
Whatshisname from Dunedin North
for starters
Guess he also needs a plan B for Mallard when he goes off the rails completely.
Then he has to articulate what he actually believes in. The mantra of Labour Good, National Bad, just doesn’t cut the mustard.
And if Mt Albert was deemed a high point (with a 600+ reduction in Labour’s majority) then the low point is going to be dandy.
But with sonic, mickey and billy singing his praises he surely doesn’t need any enemies.
June 25th, 2009 at 2:19 pm
Phil(In) needs to show more leadership and vision. Currently they come across as a toughing party lying in the gutter. Goff should show that the Labour party respects and cares about tax-payer money, and come up with with alternatives rather than just bag what the govt says. Gaps leadership in the Worth(less) affair just shows they have no viable plan or vision for the country and are looking for petty and wasteful point scoring, acting like a bunch of 4 year olds having a food fight in the house. His handling of the by election just goes to show Labour are more interest with spending tax-payer on themselves rather than the country, and will promises anything even if they can’t deliver it just to get into power. Labour and their leader just keep showing there is nothing honorable about government and the so called honorable title should be stripped until they can prove they are their to serve NZ and not themselves. Goff needs a honorable life not a PR stunt
June 25th, 2009 at 2:25 pm
Good post. You seem to know him quite well.
Agree about Points 2-4 not about Point 1. US voters love to know about what your children had for breakfast this week, see you playing basketball, ten pin bowling (badly in Obama’s case) etc.. Kiwis are much more demanding, they want to know how you are going to improve their lives and when. They don’t seem to mind it if you are a bit straight and boring (Lange is the only extrovert PM I can remember), Clark and Cullen knew their stuff but they were dull to listen to.
Point 3 is the most relevant, heard he and Key debating yesterday morning and I couldn’t tell who was who- he definitely needs to pick a sharp policy difference so voters feel they have a choice. Labour desperately needs its younger MP’s to get a profile, this will take time, which will make the next election difficult for them.
June 25th, 2009 at 2:34 pm
And just seeing the pathetic antics of Shane Jones. He needs to go as well. This guy has no talent.
June 25th, 2009 at 3:04 pm
Here’s some REAL advice for Phil.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JqfjEjcZlgQ
June 25th, 2009 at 3:16 pm
“Does he think only strikingly beautiful women get hit on?”
C’mon David lets get Honest here. I dont see fat ugly chicks getting surrounded by fellas.
June 25th, 2009 at 3:38 pm
Funny that upon hearing that Goff enjoys hunting made me think a bit more of him.
Perhaps he should get himself on the cover of Rod & Rifle with a 300Lb bloodied boar strapped to his shoulders – wouldn’t go down too well with pinko wing but who cares…
June 25th, 2009 at 4:04 pm
He sounds like a clone of Clarks on just about all the soundbites that I have ever heard.
Problem is, he doesn’t sound convincing. The voice must be too high!
June 25th, 2009 at 4:08 pm
DANNY::::::::You do have to wonder what the Herald were thinking giving an interview with the leader of the opposition to their TV reviewer instead of their political staff, and why Goff’s office agreed for him to be interviewed by such a lightweight.
Maybe the TV reviewer was strikingly beautiful.
June 25th, 2009 at 4:09 pm
Chris G …….. LOL…. you silly man, have you never seen the huge following that BBW’s have? you need to check it out wee man, just ‘cos it ain’t to YOUR taste doesn’t mean there are MEN out there who don’t really like stick insects and prefer womanly curves to bony impalement. ;O)
June 25th, 2009 at 4:33 pm
“And people don’t vote fr (sic) enigmas”
Wasn’t Obama an enigma?
June 25th, 2009 at 4:33 pm
Not wishing to be to rude but who frigging cares. Every time I’ve seen Philin he is usual frothing and on the verge of blowing a blood vessel. Quite frankly I think he is rather a sick puppy, this is the man who wanted to drop the age of consent to 12, for fucks sake. He obviously was very happy to toe the Liarbore line when the witch was in power and didn’t rock the boat, he’s a yes man. How many years in politics has he had, heaps, what does he stand for, sweet piss all.
June 25th, 2009 at 4:37 pm
>Goff at the moment is a enigma.
Maybe the problem is that after being in parliament since 1981, there isn’t anything “to” Goff except politics?
June 25th, 2009 at 4:53 pm
DPF said: Start outlining what Goff believes in…
I like that suggestion. It will deliver votes to the Greens.
June 25th, 2009 at 4:55 pm
“The tactics National used against Labour from 2005 – 2008, are not (yet) going to work against National”
They will never work against National.
National’s tactics were to expose Labour’s corruption and socialism.
Since National will never be socialist or corrupt, they are immune.
June 25th, 2009 at 4:56 pm
BTW where has Annette King been lately?
June 25th, 2009 at 4:56 pm
Interesting post. Michelle Hewitson always does a personality piece in the Weekend Herald, and wastes half the article on stupid stuff like the colour of the couches they were sitting on.
But anyway, I agree with some of the criticism of what Goff and Labour are doing at the moment. And I have mentioned this to Labour members.
There doesn’t seem to be an “alternative plan” out there for Labour. Sure, they are getting some good hits in places, but really that only works in parliament: not for the general public. What Labour really should be doing is something along the lines of what the Green Party has done with their “Green New Deal”. Outline exactly what “economic stimulus” they’d undertake, what its benefits would be, how much it might cost and so forth. The Green New Deal doesn’t involve a HUGE amount of money ($3 billion over a few years) but generates a huge number of jobs on very effective things like building houses, cleaning rivers and developing smarter transport systems.
If Labour came up with their version of this, tweaked appropriately and perhaps a bit broader, and then went about selling that as an alternative to National’s largely “hands-off” approach to the recession, then people might be quite fond of it. Particularly if they are worried about their jobs (or have just lost their jobs) and think the government isn’t doing enough to help them.
June 25th, 2009 at 5:03 pm
Toad
Why do you persist with the delusion that Labour people are going to vote for the Greens?
It simply is not going to happen.
June 25th, 2009 at 5:10 pm
My advice for Phil is simply this:
* Get your lazy arse out of bed in the morning you drug atrophied fool
* Gain a sense of personal dignity, self-reliance and civic responsibility.
* Become a decent role model for your son by providing for your household through your own efforts.
* Ditch the Greens, for they are a motley collection of smelly beatniks, Marxists, anachists and luddites.
[ Oh shit, this thread is actually about Phil Goff, not phil u ] Apologies, my mistake.
June 25th, 2009 at 5:23 pm
>>It will deliver votes to the Greens
Like in Mt Albert, you mean?
5-7% is your lot, Toad.
June 25th, 2009 at 5:26 pm
mike12 yep a three hundred pound capain cooker on his back that he has taken with dogs and a sticker.
Now that would really impress those girly Wellington and jafa types.
June 25th, 2009 at 5:29 pm
Goff an enigma? You must be joking!! He is terminally BORING. I scarcely want to think about the sad goobers who might buy a magazine to read about his hobbies. About the only thing Goff could do to be INTERESTING, is to be accused of some crime involving small mammals or satanic abuse. And I’m not holding my breath.
June 25th, 2009 at 5:40 pm
did you miss the memo sonic? this is a democracy. we had an election. that makes them our government.
that is a really valid point. IMO kiwis want people in leadership that they can relate too. that was part of Helen’s downfall – she became too aloof, too distant. Goff is already in that place.
Tough place for Labour supporters. The party doesn’t stand for anything and no one standing for the party stands for anything.
Outstanding!
June 25th, 2009 at 5:57 pm
“It will deliver votes to the Greens.”
No, it will not. The only way for the Luddites to increase its number of voters is to pray for an increase in the number of morons, delusional, naive, stupid, and addled-brain individuals.
June 25th, 2009 at 6:13 pm
Helen ‘became’ aloof?
She has been an elitist ever since she first told her father to shut up because he supported New Zealand fighting communism.
June 25th, 2009 at 6:19 pm
Manolo said “The only way for the Luddites to increase its number of voters is to pray for an increase in the number of morons, delusional, naive, stupid, and addled-brain individuals.”
Is that why the Greens are so strongly pro-cannabis? After all, Philip Ure would be their poster-boy, would he not?
June 25th, 2009 at 6:25 pm
pushmepullu: “Since National will never be socialist”
Does the name Muldoon mean anything to you?
June 25th, 2009 at 6:26 pm
Hahahahaha, hillarious Angus, brilliant
June 25th, 2009 at 6:29 pm
Depite being in the public eye for nearly 30 years Goff has been extraordinarily adept at keeping most of his background, his marriage, his children, his beliefs very obscure. We actaully know next to nothing about him. He is just a cardboard cut-out. A puppet maybe.
June 25th, 2009 at 7:04 pm
Spent a lunch with Goff a few months back,completely out of the blue at an army function. Found him intelligent, huge memory, delightful to talk to but unfortunately that’s not how we see him publicly. DPF is right, he does have a personality to sell and inmho is a much easier sell than a lot of the other MP’s of either side.
Most probably the weight of office will wear him down and especially the constant lefty barrage from those he unfortunately inherits. I can see why he wanted Shearer there.
IMHO he may well be more right than the current lot in power or at least be a lot less socialist. Many in the first and second Labour Govt’s were.
June 25th, 2009 at 7:20 pm
Think about this. If Goff can lift their game and replace the red diehards like Mallard etc then there is a good possiblity of a coalition with Act with whom he shares a lot of idea’s. (you not aware well go find out.)
That would stuff the National Socialists and imho be good for NZ.
The Nats will continue on as they have and in the rest of the term do sfa as they have so far. One bill 23 minor changes to regs all promoted by ACT.
Nothing substantial, just noise, even Wheldon today pleading for time for the jobs summit to work. Well what haven’t they understood? Nine, yes Nine years in opposition making all sorts of noises, selling out to the Greens with smacking and global warming, reneging on tax cuts, failing to lead over the economic crisis here,( and I don’t consider borrowing to fund the dole que leadership).
English wandering round like some farmer in the paddock trying to figure out what needs doing and all he needs to do is to listen to Douglas who has been prepared and who identified way back just what the issues are and how to fix them yey Billy with the short willy is still wondering what to do after 9 years training for the job.
They are hopeless actually. Even crusher has today conceded that corrections has impressed. If she had not been so dishonest she would have known that and said so months ago but like all ego maniacs she needed the press.
So far the only Minister that has impressed has been Tony Ryall so the others have a lot to do.
June 25th, 2009 at 7:24 pm
You can tell that Labour are still in denial about losing the election. They are all on high alert and digging for skeletons and rumour to bring down one National MP at a time instead of creating a new identity. It’s almost like the left of the party has given up for the first term and sacrificing Goff to public approval ratings at the next election so that they can elect a proper left winger to take over and properly challenge after Nationals 2nd term.
Goff is toast. I feel he probably knows this and that is why he is playing it safe.
June 25th, 2009 at 7:47 pm
Advice for Phil
Do not believe any advice that DPF offers. He wants to see you fail.
Keep up what you are doing, The party appreciates it, the people of Mt Albert appreciate and it is pretty clear that the people of South Auckland appreciate it.
As the rest of the country gets to know you better they will appreciate your sincerity and directness. And by then they will be asking questions about the current PM and looking for a replacement. The questions will include:
1. Why did Key fire/push Worth?
2. Will the Auckland governance review actually save money or don’t you know?
3. Where is the tax cut you promised?
Opposition is entirely different to Government, When you are in Government you actually have to keep your promises.
[DPF: You really are a pathetic plonker. As many on the left have said, they agree with what I said. You can't even argue the issues - you just say if it is from me, it must be bad. I hope Labour do listen to you - it will doom them to oppsoition for agres]
June 25th, 2009 at 8:06 pm
Advice for Phil:
Resign.
Leave the country.
June 25th, 2009 at 8:15 pm
Gueez Viking2 … big call old son. A Labour/ACT alliance. Yes, I know ACT was born out of Labour but ……. words fail me.
So, what you are suggesting is that ACT should quit the Government and tie themselves to Goff’s apron strings. That, IMHO, would lead to ritual disembowelling in both Parties and their inevitable collapse. I mean really can you honestly see Labour signing up to ACTs vision of a smaller, less intrusive Government … over their dead (collective) bodies.
Clearly Goff plied you with too much wine at the luncheon. So much that you were unable to discern his ability to say one thing to one audience and the complete opposite to another. The consumate politician you might argue. Happy to serve with Lange/Douglas and then Clark/Cullen and all the while protecting his image to the point where no-one but no-one knows what he believes in (except perhaps the levers of power at any cost).
And Douglas and farming. Many of us will NEVER forget what he inflicted on the farming community in the late 1980s … suicides and family breakups were part of his legacy … yes, subsidies were wrong but Douglas was incapable of getting rid of them in a managed way … under his pescription people didn’t/don’t count and that is why ACT polls 1%.
Your point about Collins totally escapes me. Look at the news tonight .. so you are opposed to containers with 5 star prisons your recipe for progress. I despair. Clearly Rodney is managing a really disparate lot (and doing it rather well).
June 25th, 2009 at 8:26 pm
For mickeysavage
1. because he lost faith in him.
2. the Royal Commission set up by your mob thinks so.
3. you got one on 1 April and if Labour hadn’t cooked the books for the PREFU and the world economy hadn’t gone pear shaped you would have got more (and may still get it)
You see, we believe in less taxes.
As for broken promises … Labour 1999 promise ‘We will not increase taxes’ Budget 2000 36% became 39%. Just one for starters … do I go on?
No, the electorate voted you a bunch of tossers and a bunch of tossers you remain.
June 25th, 2009 at 8:38 pm
Ross Miller
“As for broken promises … Labour 1999 promise ‘We will not increase taxes’ Budget 2000 36% became 39%”
Good try. Labour explicitly campaigned on raising the top rate from 36% to 39%. It was trumpeted from the rooftops.
Any other rewritings of history that you want to try?
June 25th, 2009 at 8:40 pm
Mickey you are such a fool. Do you hear yourself? Of course DPF doesn’t want to see Goff become Prime Minister. But that doesn’t mean what he said above wasn’t good advice. Of course you can just believe what you say. After all didn’t you predict Labour would get back in? Did that happen? I don’t think so.
June 25th, 2009 at 8:42 pm
To Micky, take two aspirin, have a cup of tea and a lie down and it you are still delusional in the morning don’t call me.
June 25th, 2009 at 9:48 pm
Advice for mickeysavage:
Keep on believing that. Roll on the National administration of 2011-2014, when the real action starts.
June 25th, 2009 at 10:19 pm
The problem for Phil Goff is that he just seems like a political robot.
like a well used, but ordinary piece office furniture.
No body gets excited about office furniture.
You get the feeling he is like someone who loves his job as the head of the Data entry department of a large organisation.
June 25th, 2009 at 11:04 pm
Phil Goff has the power to do some impressive damage to the left wing of the Labour party.
June 25th, 2009 at 11:37 pm
Girlz n Boyz, time to pop out from behind the bikesheds and get along to class.
What say we talk about the odd bit of policy instead of trying to jazz up your next installments of the great Women’s Weekly?
Dare say politics might get interesting once Jonkey and the rest leave off pulling faces and making empty gestures. It’d be great to see you analysing the odd bit of real policy. Now, where was that cycle way? And is Crusher going to be out there collaring Ministers for sustained loss of traction? And how many Nact hacks can you fit in a 20 foot container? Jeez, guys, get a life. Did you say Goff’s boring!!!!!!!
June 26th, 2009 at 7:03 am
Ross Miller; No wine and I am a very independent right wing person. Where you fail is that you, like so many others, have no idea of what Goff is like or thinks and you even fail to look at his past history. DPF is correct in saying he was a very effective minister overseas and he dealt not in the partisan local politics of Clark and Cullen but in the real world working to support the likes of you and the business community in NZ.
Indeed my first comment to Goff when I sat next to him was that I felt like I was consorting with the enemy. It was a very pleasant encounter over about 20 minutes and I prefer to judge people based on my contact rather than the crap you read in the press.
Goff and his people would do a great deal of service to put forward the real person and far from causing the downfall of ACT and Labour imho they under Goff’s policy mindset have a great deal in common.
Just y opinion so time will tell. Clearly the Nats are floundering greatly. English is a lost child, Key is struggling, Collins is an ego seeker and if you look at yesterday’s Nat’s press you will find the release from Collins praising Mathews. And I have no objection to containers being used for prisoners. Better than a lot of prison cells.
June 26th, 2009 at 11:09 am
I think there’s a significant difference between how electable someone is as a Prime Minister and how effective they are as a Prime Minister. Perhaps the most obvious example of that is to compare John Key and Bill English.
Clearly, John Key is a far more electable person than Bill English – he just seems like a nice kind of guy who you’d want to have a beer and a chat with. He’s not a lifetime politician, he’s generally open to ideas and so forth. He’s likeable. But my impression is that perhaps now National have won the election, that Bill English would make a stronger Prime Minister than John Key. English generally outperforms Key in the house, he’s got better political instincts and so forth. That seems to have emerged quite clearly in the last few weeks.
The problem for Phil Goff is that he’s too much “Bill English” and too little “John Key”. Whilst he’s been a very effective politician, and I think he’d be an extremely competent Prime Minister, he just comes across – at the moment at least – as someone who’s not particularly electable.
June 26th, 2009 at 9:39 pm
DPF
“You really are a pathetic plonker. As many on the left have said, they agree with what I said. You can’t even argue the issues – you just say if it is from me, it must be bad. I hope Labour do listen to you – it will doom them to oppsoition for agres”
Please name anyone from the left who thinks that Phil should “do a series of puff pieces in the women’s mags etc” or “dampen down the negative tactics. The handling of the Choudary allegations was clumsy at best”
Lefties would run a million miles before doing a puff piece. And the handling of one of the Worth complaints (good try saying they are “Choudary allegations”) is conniving in the extreme. This in particular shows that you are not interested in the slightest in advising Phil but instead are trying to continue the spin about Worth.
BTW “oppsoition for agres” is spelt “opposition for ages”. Were you angry at the time you typed it?
June 26th, 2009 at 9:45 pm
“Lefties would run a million miles before doing a puff piece”
WTF?????
I take it you never watched the nauseating “At home with Helen and Peter” clips that ran on state owned TV.?
Lefties live for puff pieces, the entire media make their lives one huge “puff piece”.
June 26th, 2009 at 9:47 pm
“Lefties would run a million miles before doing a puff piece.”
But aren’t above air-brushed photos.
June 26th, 2009 at 11:30 pm
Echoing Big Bruv – lefties are just as likely, if not more so, to run puff pieces than their more centrist/rightwing opponents. I never saw any “At home with Helen and Peter” clips (wasn’t a big tv watcher), but I haven’t forgotten all the pictures that would crop up in the news of Helen climbing mountains.
And while he ain’t a kiwi, I’m pretty certain Barack Obama is considered leftwing? And seriously – his entire campaign was puff.
The politician who can get democratically elected without even trying to tap into people’s hearts does not exist.
Sometimes it’s damned inconvenient for those of us who are big saps and don’t like having images of caring family men interfering with our political beliefs.