Colin’s hot milo with Key & how the Left need to adapt to tactical MMP voting

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The symbolic gesture of potential political allies sitting down for a public cuppa as epitomized in the ritualistic Epsom date every election is set to become the norm as the Game of Thrones machinations for making the Parliamentary math work start to reset the chessboard.

That unique feature of coat tailing within MMP gets used better by the Right than the  Left  because the Right want to win while the Left hold their nose and mutter about the sanctity of democracy.

It’s time the Left woke up and realized that the Greek fathers of Democracy won’t be rolling in their graves because deals are cut in electorates to force this Government out.

Labour and the Greens have a range of electorates where their combined vote could eject a National Party MP, if Key is going to engage these tactics, the Left have to get the hell over themselves and start adapting. As long as the Greens and Labour are open with their electorates about why they are doing this there is no great wound to the democratic process.

Labour could cut a similar arrangement with MANA to regain some Maori electorates while eliminating a possible coalition partner for Key in the form of the Maori Party.

There are even options to fight Colin Craig.

One thing is for certain however, if Key is seriously looking to the religious right for power, where does he get off trying to spook the electorate with the Greens?

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Colin Craig was asked what his policy issues were and he gave legalizing hitting children, climate denial and anti-Maori Treaty bashing – that’s the National/Conservative Party 2014 agenda???

Not child poverty, not unemployment, not the rising inequality – Colin’s priorities are religious zealotry in relation to physically disciplining children, quack science that doesn’t believe in man made global warming and redneck anti-Maori bigotry?

Who would Jesus vote for?

14 COMMENTS

  1. I presume this article has been prompted, in part, because of recent polling that shows Hone Harawira in a tight race in Te Tai Tokerau. I think this threat is slightly overblown, given the considerable personal support Harawira and the fact the Mana campaign machine has not yet been deployed. That said, it would be foolish to ignore such polling, and it highlights how the fragile nature of Mana’s toehold in Parliament.

    It would be an incredible shame – a disaster even – if Mana were to lose this toehold, and even more so if they were dismissed by a (quasi-) leftwing party like Labour (I’m under no illusions about Labour – they are a capitalist party and actually quite staunchly so). As I have advocated before on this website, Mana must be very focused in its commitment of resource in the next election, and it goes without saying that retaining Te Tai Tokerau is an absolute priority. If a deal needs to be cut with Labour so be it, but we should be fearful of the damage to the integrity of Mana’s independence (look how ACT have suffered in terms of being regarded as a genuinely independent political voice). The best result would be defeating Labour in an upfront contest, something Hone is certainly capable of (he has done it a few times now after all).

    Rant concluded.

  2. Hmmm. “if Key is seriously looking to the religious right for power, where does he get off trying to spook the electorate with the Greens?”

    Well yes, this is entirely logical. You cultivate the Religious Right by scaring them through waving the Greens at them. Key himself was party to this sort of debacle way back in 2005 with them Exclusive Brethren in his Hellensville electorate office. Much spooking of electorate with Greenery powered by religious right happened that year, as you will remember.

  3. This is why I loathe partisan politics – deal deal deal – scam scam scam.
    key – banks cuppa was talked up loudly (by the left) as a scam and now you want the left to repeat it.

    I can see your logic but is the sneaky deal making going to put people off voting or worse trust the red/green/Mana team (or politicians in general) less than they do now?

    In the end both the red team and the blue team do the same including keeping the loopholes open to fatten themselves (Green team or Mana have not had the chance to run the show and expose their true colours. I think they would be different if given the chance – but with the dreamy belief that Natz are the business dudes and Greens the Business killers its a hard sell)

    I want this pack of crooked turds out as much as the next man – but where is the honour in this methodology of back room hand shakes.

    People worldwide are screaming for honorable ‘Leadership’ in my mind this powerbroking not the way to win the hearts and minds of the masses of non-voters which Labour/Greens/Mana needs to mobilise.
    David Cunliff has shown new fresh ideas that challenge the status quo, will deals like this poison these great ideas.

    Key being tricky with Colin Craig or Labour/Greens/Mana conniving – I think if those are the choices Jesus would be voting for Pontius Pilot

    • Come on PhilDC, there is no such thing as honest politics.
      I’d much rather see Greens and Labour work together in how they attack this next election.
      Key’s cup of tea with the criminal was fine by me – it was out in the open for all to see, its just a shame Epsom people love causing poverty so much.
      We all know what the coalitions will look like (except for a couple of parties that could go either way). Lets not rate our form of democracy too high, just as long as they do it in the open before the election so we can all see, then its not a back room handshake.
      The Left’s real problem is that Labour give us nothing to vote for, nothing to promote, nothing to support

  4. Martyn yelling from the tree as usual

    ” Who would Jesus vote for?” too easy

    Jesus would vote two ticks NZ NAT Martyn

    • Dream on. Jesus threw the likes of Key out of the temple. Jesus would provide loaves, fishes, and wine for school breakfasts. Jesus healed the sick instead of telling them they had degenerative conditions. And he did all that without even being real.

  5. “That unique feature of coat tailing within MMP gets used better by the Left than the right because the Right want to win”

    I’m pretty sure you have that the wrong way round, going by the rest of your post.
    Incidentally, I’m pretty sure Jesus wouldn’t vote at all (neither as a regular man or the mythical son of god).

  6. Labour has no good reason to stand against strong Mana candidates in Maori seats. They have no good reason to stand against strong Green candidates where they might win. These three parties really need to sort something out, and to say it’s what Key did with Banks is a load of shit. Banks and ACT were unelectable relics of two different streams that had somehow been squished together like dogshit between Brash’s toes. ACT is a relic of the first ACT government, with the policies important to them having embedded themselves in Labour and National. They never were serious about libertarian social policies, just an abrogation of responsibilities by the rich. Banks is a relic of authoritarian Muldoonism who can’t figure out why water flows downhill. As for Dunne, another total waste.

    The Mana, Greens, and Labour politicians and their voters who would benefit from a grown up attitude to MMP are nothing like the great entitled of Epsom, nor whatever the UF voters in Ohariu are. They need and deserve a half way decent government, which is apparently what Labour members stand for (well, maybe not Sealord Jones, Lawn Order Goff, or Scalper Mallard, but most of them) Just bloody well do it!

  7. “15. Beware of false prophets,which come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves.
    “16.Ye shall know them by their fruits. …
    “17. …every good tree bringeth forth good fruit; but a corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit.
    “18. A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit; neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit.
    “19. Every tree that bringeth not good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire [I can see why the God botherers like this bit].
    “20.Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them.” [Matthew Ch 7]

    I am not a religious man by any means, but there is a whole lot more wisdom in the Bible than is often alleged. It is not the fault of the Bible that the foolish turn it into foolishness, and the corrupt turn it into corruption (and call their foolishness and corruption the ‘Word of God’, forsooth!).

    I agree: Jesus probably wouldn’t vote. Nevertheless, here is some guidance, perhaps, for the voter.

    Cheers,
    Ion

  8. “Colin Craig was asked what his policy issues were and he gave legalizing hitting children, climate denial and anti-Maori Treaty bashing”

    Well why not treat the electorate like adults and push this hard so everyone knows that National’s only viable coalition partner is a basket case, instead of fighting deal making with deal making. Besides, it would limit the voter choices, and turn elections back to the FPP levels, just what The Right wants. Win the next election honestly and get rid of the sham Epsom clause!

  9. Totally agree in regards to the Greens and Labour needing to start working together to win seats for the Left. Anyone who wants to vote for either party when only one of them stands a candidate in an electorate still has the opportunity to give them their party vote. Plus any negative impact from this approach is likely to be minimal.

  10. Silly. Jesus definitely wouldn’t vote, he’d tell you to give all your property to the poor, abandon your children to the winds of fate, and wait it out in a commune for the end days when the Lord bodily carries the faithful to heaven, any day now.

    That’s the problem with those exclusive brethren people, they’ve actually read the bible.

    And it’s not Labour’s seats that matter, it’s the threshold for the little parties. Give Winston and the Greens a seat, and Hone of course. Keep all that together in government and it’ll be loads of fun to talk about for the following three years. What more does a blogger need.

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