The right blogs are gleeful in pointing out Cunliffe is polling lower than Shearer and thus the decision to replace Shearer was a terrible blunder.
Nonsense.
Shearer could not remain leader because of his utter inability to stay on track within a 30second soundbite. If Shearer was going into the leadership debates with Key, Labour could be polling 40% and it wouldn’t be enough to stem the collapse that would occur as Shearer got whipped in the debates. Cunliffe can beat Key, and this is his moment to prove it.
The establishment have gone romper stomper on Cunliffe’s desire to break with 30 years of neoliberalism and have given him the kind of media attention that would make the Beast of Blenheim blush and the polls reflect those cheap headlines. NZers are still beyond caring about the election until it’s actually on. Cunliffe’s strength is his ability to debate, the public don’t see him in full flight often and this spotlight that falls upon him and Key in the debates will be his opportunity to impress voters.
The smart move by Key would be to minimise the one on one debates and leverage up the multi leader debates.
It’s often hard to tell whether your posts are satirical or not, Martyn – and that ain’t a good thing
No doubt you will censor this comment, like you do for most commenters who are critical of you
I’ve never found that to be the case with TDB comments, it’s usually robust and Bradbury gets plenty of criticism from left posters as well as those from the right who drop by.
Gasman and IV are here trolling up threads all the time, for instance.
If only the debates were as worthless as they seem; but people who do not regularly follow politics actually watch them and soak up the surrounding commentary, narrative and one liners.
So they do have an importance beyond their real worth. Perception and aspiration are the fumes in Key’s near empty tank that he runs on daily.
The group debates again are hopeless except for backhandedly reinforcing MMP by virtue of the multiplicity of people to be eyeballed–“duh there is way more fullas than Nashnull and Layba”, “Go Winnie, he show’ed ’em” etc. Plus people may get briefly exposed to the likes of Hone and Laila if they are allowed on screen.
If Cunliffe can jab and body punch Key around a studio all the better, but DC has not shown much if anything at the weigh in.
Laila wont be in the debates – she is 2nd on the list to Hone. The Alliance only had one representative – famously the Christian Coalition didnt send a leader in 1996 because they couldn’t agree
“Perception and aspiration are the fumes in Key’s near empty tank that he runs on daily.”
Sadly, the tank is actually nearly completely full of fumes. I guess you’re one of those “glass is half-empty” types.
Middle NZ will dine on barbecued chimera, as they always do. (Ingredients include 95% pork, and 5% dingleberries. May contain faint traces of mana*.)
*In the Te Reo sense, not the political party sense.
Come on Bomber.
Why not just accept that about half the population are either bastards, dumb, or both?
It’s been pretty clear since the crash that right wing ideology had got us into a terrible mess, yet people keep voting for it in spades. Best we can hope for is marijuana legalisation so we can smoke our blues away.
Terrible mess? Sounds like you’re already smoking something away.
So it seems quite possible Cunliffe won’t be contesting…
After the revelation’s that Cunliffe wrote a letter for Mr Liu after previously claiming he’d never met him it may not be Cunliffe debating against Key come election time.
Grant Robertson could well be the Labour leader by that stage.
In your dreams .I can smell your fear!
Key is stuffed either way.
It’s pretty obvious to anyone with even a modicum of intelligence, that the media have gone into mental overdrive with trying to discredit David Cunliffe at every turn, doing their utmost to prevent him from gaining any momentum. The fact that he is still standing and smiling is a credit to his resilience.
However ,unwittingly, the media in their haste to discredit , have now also created a battle hardened warrior.
Key, who predominantly has had such a cushy ride before and during his tenure as PM ,has shown that even when he’s had the lightest of ‘tickle ups,’ he can’t take it, and the toys go out of the cot!
How the debates turn out will depend a lot on how much bullshiting he is allowed to get away with .Because if he is allowed to lie with impunity as he did in the John Campbell interview, for example,Cunliffe will have to have an effective strategy to counter that,and also still be able to say what he wants to say .This of course he is well capable of, providing he doesn’t have an off night like Obama did.
Prediction : Cunliffe 3. Key 0.
The multi leader debates will be just as hard for Key.
The intellectual firepower on the left is formidable and will be relentless.
Once again his only hope will be if one of either Guyon Espiner,Duncan Garner or Patrick Gower are the mediators.
Even then , scratch beneath the surface and there is a cultural vacuum behind Key, which will be sorely exposed, and when his fallacious, ‘we are masters of the economy’ mantra is shot down in flames there will be nowhere to hide. Game over!
Prediction: Left Leaders 3. Right Leaders 0.
How the media spin all this ….now that’s another story!
” the media have gone into mental overdrive with trying to discredit David Cunliffe at every turn, doing their utmost to prevent him from gaining any momentum”
Jesus Grant, the media are only reacting to the walking disaster that is David Cunliffe. If he stopped shooting himself in the foot he might get some positive press.
In your dreams.I can smell your fear!
Grant: I like your comments, they are novel, interesting and humorous.
I agree that Key has no real intellect, I guess that’s why he’s so popular.
That’s very funny!
Rubbish. Cunliffe is full of scripted one-liners, but can’t string sentences together to save himself (or more importantly, Labour). Key will squish him.
Ah, wire cross alert je ponce.
In your dreams. I can smell your fear!
There’s lots of fear in the air!
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