Good call.

Given the amount of support Shearer gets from National party cheerleaders I imagine his new nickname will be something like ‘Toast’ in the not too distant future.

Hell will freeze over if Shearer is PM in 2014

One of the most important rules of politics is to know what the others are doing and thinking, it just happens that for me just about everyone else is ‘the others’.

I’ve agreed with quite a few posts and comments there lately. There’s actually some very insightful things posted at The Standard, and some good commenters and comments. Like here you have to look past the noise and the dross.

Ah, and there’s a bit of an ongoing game with HMV, the scratchy old LP.

They are on track to win on current polling? Labour should keep him.

http://www.whaleoil.co.nz/2012/11/is-shearer-really-that-bad/

“probably” IS redundant.

It’s mostly a poisonous waste of time

“Mostly” is probably redundant.

They are not all public servants. lprent is, ah, can’t remember, what does he do again? Something to do with data entry, but in private business. Has also had medical attention perhaps it was a double funnybonotomy.

And some are workers servants. There’s a strong union presence there, hence their support of Cunliffe and resentment of Shearer trying to appeal to anyone or anything not hard left.

a Labour-aligned, anonymously written blog.

For those who have lives, it’s called The Standard, and it is written by Labour Party members who are also public servants, hence the anonymity. It’s mostly a poisonous waste of time, although if you want an insight into the thought processes of Labour-supporting public servants, it is quite an education.

To be Honest I think Shearer’s biggest problem is his new-ness and I don’t mean this in terms of his performance,

Labour (for better or worse) is still a tribal party, and Shearer has not had enough time to build up a decent support base amongst the various factions in the Party…

I think there’s something to that.

I’m sure part of the reason I wasn’t accepted by the activist clique at The Standard was that I hadn’t done a hundred years hard slog delivering pamphlets for MPs and unionists etc – hence lprent grizzling about my lack of experience:

Basically you’re a bit of a newbie. You’re making the same dumbarse mistakes that many do when they first discover the net, spent only a few years learning the basics, but don’t understand etiquettes that have evolved over the decades I have been on it. Which is the point that Irish made to me when we were talking last night.

Also at the Standard when Shearer won the leadership I got the impression that lprent and other political dinosaurs really resented the fast tracking of Shearer without having to prove himself to the pawns. They never got over that, and probably never will unless Shearer promises compulsory unionism and a 90% top tax rate (unionists exempt).

A better summary of that cesspit you could not hope to find. If ever there was a dictionary meaning required for “buggers muddle”, thats your one-stop-shop, right there.

Labour (for better or worse) is still a tribal party, and Shearer has not had enough time to build up a decent support base amongst the various factions in the Party, Goff Survived because he was the anointed successor of the Aunty Helen, Shearer was selected because they wanted to out-nice John Key, with a hope that he would “grow into the job” -

I think they will keep him on till at least mid 2013, but if the polls have not turned around by then, they will really stick it to him

What surprises me is they gave Goff three years, yet some appear unwilling to give Shearer even 18 months.

Perhaps it’s a sign that some of their old dogs can, in fact, learn new tricks.

I suspect it is the prospect of the new leadership selection rules, more than Shearer’s recent performance, that has led to the not-so-subtle Clayton’s coup attempt. The unions will have too much power by half in future leadership selections – support in caucus, affiliate votes, and they will encourage members to take up full party membership also.

It is very possibly “now or never” for both Cunliffe and Robertson

I blogged this morning about how anonymity on The Standard made it much easier for Shearer to tell them to get stuffed. It has resulted in an interesting exchange with lprent where an axe isn’t hovering over one of our heads: The Standard’s credibility problem.

Shearer claimed on Firstline this morning that they were winning.

The first prize is a coalition with Greens.
The second prize a coalition with Greens and NZ First.
The third prize is a coalition with Greens, NZ First and Mana holding deciding vote.