Hide v Brash
April 24th, 2011 at 9:09 am by David FarrarDavid Fisher reports:
Act leader Rodney Hide’s brand is “toxic” and “people don’t like him”, says the man who wants his job – his old mate Don Brash. …
Brash also raised the stakes for Act by saying he might launch his own party if he doesn’t get Hide’s job.
Phil Goff must be thanking whichever diety he made a virgin sacrifice to, for answering his prayers.
Related posts:
- Hide on the Brash coup
- Hide resigns
- Brash to chair 2025 Taskforce
- Are there any ACT members involved in the Brash bid?
April 24th, 2011 at 9:18 am
The term virgin sacrifice is unfortunate considering that Darren Hughes has a number of allegations of a sexual nature against him
Vote:April 24th, 2011 at 9:23 am
‘Curious’? ‘Dogwhistle’ more like. . .
Vote:April 24th, 2011 at 9:29 am
“Phil Goff must be thanking whichever diety he made a virgin sacrifice to, for answering his prayers.”
Lol…nice ‘spin’ DPF.
The reality is that a new right wing party or the ACT party led by Brash is only going to help the Nat’s stay in power, and, lets be honest, staying in power is what the Nat’s really want. National clearly do not have the countries best interests at heart, to them it is all about retaining the baubles of office (as it is for Winston Hide)
Vote:April 24th, 2011 at 9:32 am
Act has had its day unfortunately .. the far right need a new vehicle without baggage
Vote:April 24th, 2011 at 9:36 am
I don’t know if a Brash led Act would help National much, it could as easily work against them. It could strengthen the “don’t want Brash/Act/National” vote. National couldn’t avoid being seen to be closely associated with Brash and vice versa.
And it would certainly be portrayed as a National set up, allowing them to run the safer/softer approach while letting Act pull off the more radical policies.
the far right need a new vehicle without baggage
Brash is baggage, whether he runs with Act or a new entity, and by association he is also baggage for National.
Vote:April 24th, 2011 at 9:43 am
PG
‘Brash is baggage, whether he runs with Act or a new entity,…’
Never a truer word.
ACT needs a leader, not a highly intelligent blundering bungling old bumblefoot.
Vote:April 24th, 2011 at 9:44 am
In his story, while denigrating Hide, the chief repeater for the rag HoS repeats the lie that I “campaigned against name suppression”. That is completely untrue, and he must know it. Either that or he is unable to use Google.
The most I ever said about name suppression – either before or during my time in parliament – was that it was an issue that needed to be thoroughly looked at, particularly in the case of so called “celebrities”. At the time I was granted name suppression in 2005 I was the farthest thing from a “celebrity”.
Sensible Sentencing has campaigned against name suppression, but I am not SST. Garth McVicar and I disagree on many things, most notably on the proper treatment of offenders who are diagnosably mentally ill at the time they commit their crimes. Many members of SST favour the death penalty as a matter of public policy; I no longer hold the view I held on it when I wrote my book in 1999.
David Fisher once turned up at my house hiding a camera behind his back and spoke to my children about me. He is extremely lucky I was able to restrain my wife, whose fuse is a lot shorter than mine. What a noble profession the prick belongs to – a liar and person who approaches young children to get to their father.
Vote:April 24th, 2011 at 9:44 am
that’s true PG .. he did get within a seat of being PM though .. dipped out by the interest free student loan bribes, the Exclusive Brethren red herring and .. Winny
Vote:April 24th, 2011 at 10:04 am
if he promised to dump the crazy ETS farce, I would consider giving him/them my party vote
Vote:April 24th, 2011 at 10:12 am
if he promised to dump the crazy ETS farce
He can’t promise anything that he could deliver on. At best Act will only be a small minority coalition partner. Brash said on Q+A he would consider staying on the cross benches, so any promises would be meaningless.
Vote:April 24th, 2011 at 10:38 am
Disaffected traditional National voters are looking for a right-wing party. National certainly are not one and I suspect that a large portion of their support is because it has become Labour and sucked in many of the labour voters. ACT is not a right-wing party, never was despite the media portraying it as such.
Brash, in his short term as National’s leader, garnered a huge amount of support by espousing conservative values. I have no doubt that if he took over ACT or started a new party, he’d get massive support……especially in Epsom.
Vote:April 24th, 2011 at 10:44 am
It’s debatable whether Brash was a success or a failure as National Leader, he didn’t beat Helen Clark but under his leadership the Nats came a long way back up from where they had been. But then, he didn’t beat Helen Clark.
Don Brash might do a better job of actually explaining what ACT is about and getting people interested; than the complete tool who is there now…?
Vote:April 24th, 2011 at 10:55 am
What must the Maori Party be thinking of this? How likely are Maori to vote for a party allied with Brash and Key?
Vote:April 24th, 2011 at 11:09 am
I’m with Pete on this:
1) A powerful Brash-led Act Party would be a turn-off for many soft Labour voters who might otherwise vote National. It would be as big a bogeyman as Winston First.
2) Ironically, even if Act were to win a dozen seats, it would still have little power to steer policy. The public has little tolerance for a party that throws its toys out of the cot and wont play, so Act would have no real choice but to give confidence and supply support to National even if the Nats gave nothing in return.
Vote:April 24th, 2011 at 12:53 pm
# Pete George (9,701) Says:
April 24th, 2011 at 9:36 am
I don’t know if a Brash led Act would help National much, it could as easily work against them. It could strengthen the “don’t want Brash/Act/National” vote. National couldn’t avoid being seen to be closely associated with Brash and vice versa.
And it would certainly be portrayed as a National set up, allowing them to run the safer/softer approach while letting Act pull off the more radical policies.
the far right need a new vehicle without baggage
Brash is baggage, whether he runs with Act or a new entity, and by association he is also baggage for National.”
____________________________________________________________________________________________________
MY RESPONSE (ok Sofia?
Well – there you go!
SHOCK HORROR!
‘Pete George’ – on this issue I agree with you 100%.
Does that therefore make me ‘mental /mad’ or ‘not-so-Bright’?
Or does it make YOU, Pete George (and others who agree on THIS issue) ‘mental/mad’ or ‘not-so-Bright’ – because you therefore agree with ME?
eeek!
What this proves is that working on an ‘issue-by-issue’ basis throws up arguably unusual ‘allies’.
To be fair to Rodney Hide – although we on most issues (privatisation/ ‘user-charges’ / Auckland $upercity /’Rogernomic$ etc) are on different galaxies, let alone planets – he has been very helpful on some issues where we have agreed in principle.
EG:
Rodney Hide was VERY helpful in explaining what would be required in order to get a Select Committee Inquiry into Metrowater, which successfully helped stop the practice of Metrowater ‘charitable payments’ which were ruled ‘unacceptable’ by the Local Government and Environment Select Committee:
Petition 2005/106 of Penelope Bright and 40 others
http://www.parliament.nz/NR/rdonlyres/…CA79…/DBSCH_SCR_4216_6286.pdf
It was Rodney Hide who gave me a MOST useful piece of advice – which was that often it was possible to get more information under the ‘Privacy Act’ than the ‘Official Information Act’.
It was Rodney Hide who presented the petition calling for an urgent inquiry into the jailing of Vince Siemer.
http://www.parliament.nz/en-NZ/PB/Presented/Petitions/4/d/c/48DBHOH_PET2881_1-Petition-of-Penelope-Bright-and-30-others-requesting.htm
Date: 24 July 2007
Petition of Penelope Bright and 30 others
Requesting that Parliament conduct an inquiry into the committal for imprisonment of Mr Vincent Siemer for contempt of court.
Petition number: 2005/142
Presented by: Rodney Hide
Date presented: 24 July 2007
Referred to: Justice and Electoral Committee
Report presented on: 20 August 2007
Report name: Petition 2005/0142 of Penelope Bright and 30 others
Rodney Hide has proven by his practice that he does believe in ‘freedom of expression’.
http://tvnz.co.nz/politics-news/watercare-boss-head-super-city-agency-2752609/video
Every time I have had a meeting with Rodney Hide, I have had a productive outcome.
In my considered opinion, Rodney Hide’s Electorate Secretary is the most efficient, and most helpful of ANY that I have dealt with, across all parties.
I do not agree with most ACT policies, and most certainly do not want to see a National/ACT coalition / partnership which push more ‘Rogernomic$’ policies, and the privatisation of more state assets / Public-Private-Partnerships (PPPs) / ‘user-charges’ and more corporate welfare.
However – despite our acutely different political positions on most issues – on the few areas where we do have common ground, I wish to give credit where it is due, and thank Rodney Hide, and staff for their assistance.
The other thing you will find about me – is that I am NOT a ‘pack’ person – and don’t like seeing people being picked on in an unfair way, that makes no attempt at a balanced or reasoned assessment – good points / bad points – strengths /weaknesses – that sort of thing
That applies as much to Rodney Hide as it does Phil Goff.
Well ‘Kiwibloggers’!
What on EARTH are you going to make of THAT example of successful ‘issue by issue’ politics?
Penny Bright
Vote:http://waterpressure.wordpress.com
April 24th, 2011 at 1:19 pm
Quite right Penny. Still what’s wrong with this model for council?
Here’s a real life example of what city administrations should do. and sorry Penny but I think you should go visit them and learn what they do. Eye opener.
Vote:
April 24th, 2011 at 1:42 pm
The saddest thing about the political analysis surrounding this situation appears to be that people like David Farrar are afraid of Don Brash becoming a leader of a minor party because: “It will drive away left-wing National supporters who do not want to see a National-ACT coalition with Brash steering the policy”. What does that say about the majority of National supporters? And what is the price to pay to keep them? More of the same as we are getting now – a socialist government that has no direction or intention of saving New Zealand’s struggling economy.
Vote:April 24th, 2011 at 1:49 pm
Complete emasculation is the answer to your question.
Vote:April 24th, 2011 at 1:54 pm
# Viking2 (3,853) Says:
April 24th, 2011 at 1:19 pm
Quite right Penny. Still what’s wrong with this model for council?
Here’s a real life example of what city administrations should do. and sorry Penny but I think you should go visit them and learn what they do. Eye opener.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f8qFvo2qJOU&feature=player_embedded”
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________
Sorry Viking2.
I am unwilling to respond to your very fair question – because it seems to be ‘off-thread’ and I don’t want to get pinged another 10 demerit points by David.
Before you are possibly pinged 10 demerit points for being off-thread yourself – may I suggest you post it on General Debate and I will answer you there?
Penny Bright
Vote:http://waterpressure.wordpress.com
April 24th, 2011 at 2:09 pm
Hide is a disaster and the Act Party needs to dump him soon. Hopefully Hide then gets the message and steps down to be replaced by Brash if necessary. Brash could still be leader for one term while they groom another. I am not sure about Boscowan – he might do. That mannish female from Dunedin I thought had promise but she has turned out to be just dreadful.
Vote:April 24th, 2011 at 2:22 pm
Replace Mr Hide – yes. With Dr Jekyll – no way!
Vote:April 24th, 2011 at 2:30 pm
With Dr Jekyll – no way!
See why do people think that potential ACT voters have any problem whatsoever with Brash apart from his age?
Vote:April 24th, 2011 at 2:58 pm
So… no thought to what might be best for the country, then, just what would suit Don’s ego. Funny how he’s seen as somehow being more principled then Hide, or anyone else in politics these days.
In fact, speaking of Winston… his primary motivation in forming NZF was to torment those National MPs he felt should have backed him for the leadership and to become the de facto leader of the party by holding just enough seats to blackmail it.
Inded I suspect that’s why he set Laws onto destroying its 30 percent poll rating in 1995, reducing it to 13 percent by the election. Not enough to govern (that would have been too much hard work) but enough to have Cabinet sprinkled with a handful of Laws’ hand-picked fruit loops, and to hold the balance of power.
Likewise I suspect a large part of Don’s motivation is to have in his hands the highly polished testicles of the man who overthrew him from the leadership of the Nats.
Other commenters are right – Act needs new blood, not a sour remnant of past politics.
Vote:April 24th, 2011 at 3:02 pm
Act needs new blood, not a sour remnant of past politics.
Yes but the point is Brash is the only one available right now and Rodney has to go. It’s not rocket science.
Crikey.
Vote:April 24th, 2011 at 3:22 pm
reid:
Well Brash isn’t an MP, which therefore gives him no advantage over any other Act member who may wish to put their hand up, surely? That’s the thing about politics in this country… it’s not a very intellectual pursuit. Therefore – aside from the occasional blog – we don’t get to see the thinkers debate their ideas and their platforms like they do in, say, France where the concept of the “public intellectual” is embraced, not viewed with a sort of “Whadarya, a smartarse?” attitude adopted in NZ.
But if we did take a look at those in Act eclipsed by shadows of the warring egos at the top of the list, I suspect we might find someone who had the intellectual heft needed to understand that, for example “the liberal party” doesn’t hold hands with the SST unless it’s intending to jump off a bridge and commit political suicide.
Someone who actually believes enough in the principles on which it was founded to ensure its policies were focused on those principles, but who isn’t tainted by the current mess.
It’s the same situation as with many of our TV “current affairs” “stars”. There are far better journalists working out in the provinces, on radio and in newspapers, but most of us never get to see or hear of them because the egos of those at the top shine so intently. Unless Act’s membership has shrunk to its MPs plus Brash (a possibility, I grant you) then I’d wager there’s someone out there better than any of them. The party just has to look a little further.
Vote:April 24th, 2011 at 3:26 pm
As I’ve said Rex someone like Graeme Scott ex Treasury Head would be ideal, but no-one in the current ACT ranks gives me the impression they are leadership material.
Vote:April 24th, 2011 at 3:37 pm
But if we did take a look at those in Act eclipsed by shadows of the warring egos at the top of the list, I suspect we might find someone who had the intellectual heft needed to understand that, for example “the liberal party” doesn’t hold hands with the SST unless it’s intending to jump off a bridge and commit political suicide.
Ironically, ACT’s only achievement (Supercity? Pfft) since finally getting into government has been the three strikes’ legislation, which has been one of their core policies ever since Stephen Franks. If it wasn’t for David Garrett perhaps not even this achievement would have been accomplished.
Are you seriously so delusional that you are willing to see ACT, at best, get Rodney Hide back in Parliament with 1% come November than have a full party with 8 or 9 MPs under Brash?
This news has been a lifeline and ACT members who aren’t happy with it are blinded by idealism.
Vote:April 24th, 2011 at 3:46 pm
Rex: Why cant you and many others get their heads around the reality that ACT’s law and order policy planks are in no way antithetical (sorry, seemed the best word) to its other policy?
For example…Article 3 (I think) of ACT’s constitution states- paraphrasing – that the first and most important duty of any state is to ensure the safety of its citizens. Roger Douglas wrote that. If any one man – yes, more than Rodney – convinced me that my beliefs fitted with ACT, it was Roger.
Roger was also perfectly comfortable with three strikes – even the original version – although he did say there were “people” in the party who would not like it, some to the point of not supporting us because of it. ACT went from two MP’s to five, so they were obviously in the minority.
I am no political philosopher, but I understand the basic tenets of liberalism pretty well. Its most basic is that liberty does not equate with licence, and that by and large, no person may excercise his freedom to the detriment of others.
You and I agree on a number of things Rex, most notably the efficacy of some form of zero tolerance policing. That would not appeal at all to those who would equate “freedom” with “doing what I like, when I like.”
Vote:April 24th, 2011 at 4:06 pm
Courage Wolf says:
The delusion is yours, Courage Wolf. I’m advancing neither scenario but instead suggesting they look beyond the tattered egos of the “obvious” contenders and find someone who embodies a new start. You’re right in that the party under Hide will not do well but I think your prediction of 8 or 9 MPs under Brash is more than a tad optimistic. But the point is, the Brash “brand” is only slightly more marketable than that of Hide. The public have had enough of these people jumping parties and discarding principles to further their personal ends.
If the party is to stand for something other than getting elected, it needs to find someone unsullied by the past but who embodies the reasons it was founded. reid has suggested Graeme Scott. I’ve no idea if he’d be interested but if the consensus was that he’d be any good at politics, why not approach him?
But my preference would be to do as I’ve suggested and look at the ranks of those who joined because they supported the party’s principles, maintain that belief, and could communicate those positions with integrity.
I’m not a member and don’t agree with enough of their policies to consider becoming one, so I have no vested interest. I’m simply offering the strategy I’d offer any third party whose upper echelons had turned it into a discredited mess because they let their egos get in the way of the party’s principles (e.g. NZF) – retain the brand, ditch the people associated with the mess, bring in a truly new face, start again.
Vote:April 24th, 2011 at 4:10 pm
VERY tricky isn’t it!
ACT is critical as a coalition partner, as National cannot rely on getting enough votes to ‘govern alone’
As Labour’s anti-asset sale campaign continues to grow, I predict the more support that they will get.
Likewise – I predict that NZ First will get growing support – especially from disaffected (former) National Party voters who do NOT want more asset sales, and in Auckland are will be opposed to the proposed $upercity 4.9% rates increases.
Those who live in the wealthier electorates – like Epsom will be particularly allergic to rates increases, which should help make significant numbers of them not want to vote for Rodney .
Not when a 4.9% rates increase will hit them hard in their back pocket.
So – if Rodney can’t win Epsom for ACT – and it does look unlikely – what to do?
If Don Brash takes over the leadership of ACT – people like myself will have a field day – using this to confirm that this ‘revolving door’ between National and ACT just proves that there is no real difference between their policies.
How many Epsom voters will have the political stomach big enough to swallow ‘dead rats’ the size of elephants – particularly when the ‘$upercity’ which was railroaded through without their consent, is now going to potentially cost them dearly?
Epsom National voters voted for Rodney Hide (ACT) , in 2008, order to help National get a coalition partner.
But if these (former?) National Party voters don’t think National is working for them (ie: the Auckland $upercity is going to cost them money – when they were led to believe the opposite would happen) – then why would they vote for either National or a future National coalition partner?
You see – the sad fact for ACT party supporters is that because ACT policies arguably don’t work for the benefit of the majority of the voting public – in my considered opinion, it is unrealistic to expect much mainstream electoral support.
In my view – whether it is Rodney Hide or Don Brash leading ACT – it seems unlikely that ACT will retain Epsom in 2011.
Of course, if Don Brash spits the dummy if NOT getting selected to lead ACT, and keeps his word about forming another ‘right wing’ party – that will obviously just split the right wing’ vote and cause even more splits and divisions than undoubtedly there are already?
(I could be wrong – but the Botany by-election ACT (electorate) vote, must be quite a worry.)
Yep – a week is indeed a LONG time in politics……..
Penny Bright
Vote:http://waterpressure.wordpress.com
April 24th, 2011 at 4:11 pm
Why not approach Graham Scott? Because he was number five on the list in 2005 and ever since then nobody has heard of him. And I guarantee if it was Graham Scott leading ACT into the November election ACT would poll at zero percent as well as returning zero MPs. Same goes for anyone else – the Alliance tried with Laila Harre in 2002 and died. Unless you have anyone in mind then you’re just arguing a pointless argument.
Vote:April 24th, 2011 at 4:31 pm
if it was Graham Scott leading ACT into the November election ACT would poll at zero percent as well as returning zero MPs
Well who cares what it polled at CW cause if Scott replaced Hide as ACT’s candidate for Epsom he’d get in, cause Epsom people like Treasury people.
So would Brash if he stood in Epsom. IMO, there are enough conservatives round the country who don’t want ACT to disappear but not enough to make 5% so you have to go for the concentrations and there are only a handful of electorates in the country with enough potential ACT voters to swing it and Epsom is one of them.
Vote:April 24th, 2011 at 4:34 pm
David Garrett says:
A zero tolerance approach is aimed at changing social norms and imposing conformity on an “outlaw” group by making their behaviour unacceptable to the majority and having the majority give voice to that disapproval – much like drink driving has changed from something we’d sympathise if one of our mates was caught doing to something we’d actively try to prevent.
It focuses on making an individual accountable to the broader community and encouraging them to conform to societal norms not through fear of an indefinite term sitting in a prison cell but because to do otherwise becomes simply unacceptable to all but the worst of the worst (cf the serial drink drivers) who become the only cohort against which harsh punitive measures are necessary.
The focus when discussing “broken windows” tends to be New York, but that city has such a unique set of problems that when looking at implementation in places like Australia or NZ I tend to prefer the results from smaller but less densely inhabited places like Massachusetts.
There, the empahsis wasn’t just on “catching crims”- the authorities cleared away rubbish, fixed streetlights, enforced building codes, and expanded mental health services and aid for the homeless as well as increasing arrests for “minor” crimes.
“Broken windows” views society as an inter-connected web of people, facilities, services, governance and other factors and realises that lasting chage isn’t brought about by focusing on one of those factors but by changing society and encouraging people to “own” not just their own actions but those of their family, friends and fellow citizens – a truly liberal approach.
“Three strikes”, in stark contrast, is a conservative notion with roots in the concept of original sin; we do something wrong, we are punished. We are all equally deserving of that punishment, no matter what external factors affected us. End of story. The idea that might truly change through any motivation other than fear of a lengthy prison term is discarded – the state imposes its will on the individual and the individual complies because the will of that individual is crushed, not because they are taken in hand and made a better person and a contributing member of society.
And before the Greek chorus start singing “crim cuddler”, there’s nothing in the foregoing that suggests someone who commits a serious violenet offence does not need to be locked away in order to keep society safe. Just that we are failing – the victims, society and, yes, the criminals – by letting so many get to that point.
Vote:April 24th, 2011 at 4:34 pm
UPDATE: John Banks has said he is definitely not standing.
Where is the source for this?
Well who cares what it polled at CW cause if Scott replaced Hide as ACT’s candidate for Epsom he’d get in, cause Epsom people like Treasury people.
Get real. Graham Scott has zero profile and any National candidate would eliminate him easily. Epsom voters aren’t as smart as Rodney likes to make them out to be – they’re just as stupid as any other mum and dad NZer (albeit richer) who are scared of ‘right-wing’ policies and asset sales because of their economic ignorance.
Vote:April 24th, 2011 at 4:43 pm
they’re just as stupid as any other mum and dad NZer (albeit richer) who are scared of ‘right-wing’ policies and asset sales because of their economic ignorance.
No you’re quite wrong, CW. I lived there for ten years and I’ve watched them. While the media were full of “Hide will never win Epsom” I knew better. Since they’re not economically ignorant actually they’re not scared of conservative policies and asset sales. Not one little bit. I agree many electorates have lots and lots of people like that, but Epsom has hardly any.
Vote:April 24th, 2011 at 4:46 pm
Penny Bright said
Penny; if Labour’s anti-asset sales campaign “continues to grow”, why have Trevor Mallard, Clare Curran and Chris Hipkins, among others changed their Facebook profile pictures AWAY FROM the Stop Asset Sales signs? Could it be a tacit admission from these tech-savvy MP’s that the Stop Sign campaign is a failure?
In the meantime, how do you reconcile Labour’s anti-asset sale campaign in 2011 with the large number of state assets sold between 1984 and 1990 when Phil Goff, Annette King and Trevor Mallard were all high-ranking members of Labour’s caucus? Isn’t that just a little hypocritical on their behalf? Or does your bullshit detector not register when the bullshit is being produced by polticians with whom you have an affinity?
Vote:April 24th, 2011 at 5:07 pm
Gees I thought i saw for a second ” you have an affair?” I was gonna ask Henny Penny what that’s all about?
Phil, Annette and Trev. Having affairs with Henny Penny. The mind goes numb.
Vote:April 24th, 2011 at 5:25 pm
# Inventory2 (6,133) Says:
April 24th, 2011 at 4:46 pm
Penny Bright said
As Labour’s anti-asset sale campaign continues to grow, I predict the more support that they will get.
Penny; if Labour’s anti-asset sales campaign “continues to grow”, why have Trevor Mallard, Clare Curran and Chris Hipkins, among others changed their Facebook profile pictures AWAY FROM the Stop Asset Sales signs? Could it be a tacit admission from these tech-savvy MP’s that the Stop Sign campaign is a failure?
In the meantime, how do you reconcile Labour’s anti-asset sale campaign in 2011 with the large number of state assets sold between 1984 and 1990 when Phil Goff, Annette King and Trevor Mallard were all high-ranking members of Labour’s caucus? Isn’t that just a little hypocritical on their behalf? Or does your bullshit detector not register when the bullshit is being produced by polticians with whom you have an affinity?”
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errr………….how little you appear to know about my political track record Inventory2 ?
The line in the sand for me is ‘public’ vs ‘corporate’ – not ‘left’ vs ‘right’.
I am VERY aware of the ‘Rogernomic$ reforms’ started under Labour and continued under National, and the state assets sold by Labour in 1984 -87.
Labour now have a STATED position of opposing asset sales, while National have a STATED position of supporting asset sales.
People can make mistakes and admit that they were wrong Inventory2.
Bernard Hickey is someone else who comes to mind?
“Penny; if Labour’s anti-asset sales campaign “continues to grow”, why have Trevor Mallard, Clare Curran and Chris Hipkins, among others changed their Facebook profile pictures AWAY FROM the Stop Asset Sales signs? Could it be a tacit admission from these tech-savvy MP’s that the Stop Sign campaign is a failure?”
You just keep wishing that Inventory2…………………….
Dreams are free!
Penny Bright
Vote:http://waterpressure.wordpress.com
April 24th, 2011 at 6:24 pm
Dreams are free!
Unfortunately Penny your dreams are quite costly to we Kiwibloggers since the inordinate length of your average post often forces us to manually scroll till we detect your byline and then proceed to read the next post. As you can imagine on your average GD these days this is quite time consuming. So they’re not really free, are they.
Vote:April 24th, 2011 at 6:34 pm
Do you think Penny may be Phill Ure’s long lost bastard sister that he met in the Library one night while banging away at the keyboard and it was like a moment of unrequited sibling love as he told her of his plans to smoke dope and bore all of us at Kiwiblog to death?
Well maybe not. Love stories aren’t quite like that
Vote:April 24th, 2011 at 7:30 pm
Brash on a hiding to nothing driven by ACT getting nothing from Hide.
Vote:April 24th, 2011 at 7:31 pm
Here you go all you whining and dining(?) ‘Kiwiblog kids’?
Especially Reid and and Johnboy?
Some more independent research and and ‘hard questions’ for you to consider?
Oh yes – sorry.
I forgot.
Because you don’t share my point of view you prefer to just ignore my posts.
You go RIGHT AHEAD!
But the politically sophisticated amongst you (yes – I know- a VERY small and select group
know better, and know to read carefully what the opposition is saying – so that they know how to counter it – like I do 
Gawd – some of you lot are SO thick…………… !
(Meant of course in a caring, albeit slightly exasperated way
http://www.act.org.nz/plan
Of particular interest to National Party supporters from Epsom – who voted for Rodney Hide (ACT) in 2008:
NZ ACT Party ’20 Point Plan’ – since the 2008 election – how much has the ACT Party coalition ‘tail’ wagged the National Party coalition ‘dog’?
How much of the ACT Party ’20 Point Plan’ has actually been implemented?
YOU BE THE JUDGE!
(I did try to find an ACT party ‘progress report’ on the implementation of the ACT 20 Point Plan – but so far have been unsuccessful
Penny Bright
Vote:http://waterpressure.wordpress.com
April 24th, 2011 at 7:39 pm
Glance [very brief]——-trash.
Vote:April 24th, 2011 at 9:09 pm
Rodney Hide is the recognisable brand for ACT in the public arena, replacing him with Don Brash would kill off ACT el pronto. Therefore the discussion is spin, ACT needs the attention.
Vote:April 24th, 2011 at 9:23 pm
# Johnboy (4,600) Says:
April 24th, 2011 at 7:39 pm
Glance [very brief]——-trash.
______________________________________________________________________________________________________
Another considered opinion from Johnboy (yawn……………)
He presumably isn’t a thinking voter from Epsom.
No – silly me – to be a thinking voter he would first need an organ of thought.
(No John boy – not THAT organ – oh THAT’S your problem?
You use THAT organ as your organ of thought?
Oh dear – explains a lot?!
(Bet you’ve read all of this post Johnboy!
Penny Bright
Vote:http://waterpressure.wordpress.com
April 24th, 2011 at 10:00 pm
Jaba, ACT “far right”?
You need to get out more.
Vote:April 24th, 2011 at 10:01 pm
why the hell does anyone respond to penny bright?
shes doing a phil and making the blog unreadable. the length of its posts is just silly.
Vote:April 24th, 2011 at 10:27 pm
Dime: ditto…its not that hard guys…just dont respond to the mad woman and she will get bored…
Vote:April 24th, 2011 at 10:31 pm
Right on the nickel, dime. And I confess to some culpability. Her sortees to the blog are an ego trip, no more, no less. I cannot think of one single constructive contribution.
Mantra for the week: DNFTT
Vote:April 24th, 2011 at 10:36 pm
@publicwatchdog
I note the supercity rates increase is under Len Browns watch, is it not? Like any council they can choose to manage their budget more effectively or hike rates. People get what they voted for in terms of supercity leadership really.
Vote:April 25th, 2011 at 7:57 am
My nutty conspiracy of the day? Brash is doing Key’s dirty work fo him – sounding out Hide’s status, and publicising Hide’s frailty, while it going to great lengths to make it appear to have nothing to do with the National Party or the arangement between them and ACT.
And then we get spoon-fed the agenda by DPF, so that we unwitting kiwibloggers can act as an unpaid focus-group to see how well this will fly.
But what do you think?
And yes, that is the beauty of blogging – I simply scroll down, ignore and only read those with anything I feel is worthwhile reading (yes that includes ‘moi’!), and Penny B. doesn’t even have to figure as even a minute blot on my landscape. It used to wrok really well for philu. Try it. Obviously not here, for my particular contribution, right now, but you get my drift. . . .
Vote:April 25th, 2011 at 8:47 am
Yeah…good one…the National Party is hard up, and is therefore using a self selected highly skewed audience on kiwiblog as a de facto focus group to get a result… a largely meaningless result, but a free one.
Dont give up the day job Lee….
Vote:April 25th, 2011 at 9:35 am
It sounds like Brash has been a bit brash in going public with his ambitions.
I thought Brash sounded a mix of naive and arrogant on Q+A. Geoff Russell said “He should walk before he runs.” It could have been more of a swagger and stumble.
Vote:April 25th, 2011 at 9:49 am
Pete, the Herald should get their facts right. That is why I take little notice of them. Brash would need a simple majority that that is 3 out of 5 not 4 out of 5. I also do not know where the Herald is getting the 8 out of 12 board members from – probably thin air. The point I am making is that the political commentators at the Herald are pretty ill informed.
Vote:April 25th, 2011 at 9:53 am
Well – if Brash is running I might have a party thats worthwhile to get me to vote again. Don Brash can only help the battered ACT brand, that has been hit hard since prebble left.
People easily forget that it was Brash that moved national from below 30 percent in the polls to nearly 40%. People also forget how popular his policies were… removing the racist seperatist seats, getting tougher on crime, finialising treaty claims, moving road tax collection to funding roads. By the time John Key leaked all the info to that commie Nicky Hager and other press, all he had to do was become leader to eventually become PM. Remember, labour was breaking down, no party will ever make 4 terms in power under the same leader, so national could have run a dog as leader and probably would have got elected in when John Spineless Key did.
Vote:April 25th, 2011 at 10:07 am
Brash taking Epsom would mean that the conservatives have tired of the classical liberals. That of course would mean the end of ACT. Epsom could be a hospital pass for Brash if he takes it, that would leave Hide out in the cold where he could look elsewhere if they would have him. Hide in Epsom as a National Party candidate is not an unlikely scenario.
Vote:April 25th, 2011 at 12:37 pm
See Lindsay Perigo interview Brash candidly here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PuQG3Etc2KA
Interview recorded April 13th, came to air April 21st.
Vote:April 25th, 2011 at 4:22 pm
Well said Chuck. Looks like the Herald can’t count either as there are 13 on the Board. The leadership can be decided by the Caucus – i.e. 3 out of 5 or 4 out of 5. All the board can do is a) back Hide; b) recommend the caucus make Brash the leader or c) put the leadership question to the whole party and let the caucus “off the hook”. My guess is Hide will bully the board into backing him so it is really up to the caucus and which way Boscawen goes – if I was Brash I would be doing a cosy deal with Boscawen to be his deputy and take over the leadership prior top the 2014 election. Boscawen has made no secret of the fact that he wants to be leader.
Vote:April 26th, 2011 at 10:54 pm
I’d be wary of anything Zarchoff/Peter Tashkoff has to say about Rodney and bullying.
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