Key returns home after going on the news in Washington reciting claims Donghua Liu has donated hundreds of thousands to the Labour Party, and it turns out there is no record of any donations because they didn’t have any donor party on the date Donghua Liu claims. So there’s no mystery $100 000 wine, there’s no $15 000 book and Key has just defamed Cunliffe while the mainstream media do nothing more than join in.
How genuinely upset do the Press Gallery look by being told Key doesn’t have any actual evidence of Donghua’s donations? Their depression is obvious.
When will the mainstream media apologise to Labour for promoting this manufactured smear?
Isn’t this incredible, PM insinuates hundreds of thousands in donations, Donghua Liu only releases a 6 week old signed statement that the media won’t even show the public and when it all turns out to be bullshit, no one apologises, no one admits they got it wrong, they just move onto attacking Labour for having a Party list that has too many women.
This is why we can’t have nice things people!
Does everyone else enjoy the audacity of John Key now calling for Donghua Liu to provide evidence of donations? The donations the National Party manufactured as a smear and had broadcast uncritically by the mainstream media? Those donations?
We get the mainstream media hate Labour, but sweet zombie Jesus this is just ridiculous.
Isn’t slander/defamation illegal in NZ? If so, someone should press charges. In any event, it must have breached broadcasting standards, surely?
I actually wonder myself if Labour have a case against Liu and Key
@ Raegun – possibly and could be the reason Fairfax media has kept its head low as far as this issue is concerned.
Any legal case from Cunliffe/Labour might also involve the NZH for publishing unsubstantiated material.
Probably too close to the election to realistically be able to do this without distracting from your own policies, and after it would just look petty. Why do I think that someone else thought of that before I did?
Mr Liu apparently did not release the document. The NZ Herald obtained it.
Via a 3rd party no less – so second hand information. That’s even less impressive as a source
So, Gosman, any reason you can think of why the Herald hasn’t released Liu’s “signed statement”?
Astounding! The only conclusion I can come to, and I will repeat it as a challenge to the MSM, is that they are afraid of John Key. I once heard a manager state to a room full of employees, that if they acted against him that they would never work in this town again.This is what has happened to our media.
We need them to be more afraid of misleading the public. At least in the good old days the elite ruled mindful of the possibility that they might end up like Simon Sudbury.
This rings true Charlieboy when related to Key’s infamous “would like to see wages fall” comment in Kerikeri at a business forum that saw a local journalist pressured by ‘FearFacts’ to retract his reporting.
The media certainly do look like the chumps walking along side the school bully thinking its better to be support staff to the bashing’s than been on the receiving end, and none worse than the NZ Herald.
No, I don’t think they are afraid of him. They just think he is the best thing since sliced bread and if they start telling the truth about him and his party then he might go away and that would make them so sad.
Body language is an amazing thing, 2 of the most tell tale signs of lies are the flicking of the head to the persons left and the stroking of the nose. Key refrains from the nose stroking almost till the end but the head flicking is like a merry dance all through that portion of the press conference.
Yeah, Dishonest John has his lying face on (again).
When he’s in bullshit mode I am astounded at the similarity of his expression to that of George Bush at the end of his responses – that moment of silence when he closes his mouth, appears to blow air through his closed lips and vaguely nods his head as he vacantly gazes around the room, almost as if he’s personally amazed that people are buying this shit.
@Lloyd Jordan – yes I have noticed the ever so subtle flick of the head to the left from Key when he’s lying, which is most of the time. Bill English does it too.
I’m surprised the pair of them don’t have a permanent crick in their necks from the constant head flicking!
Actually reading body language is a bit more complicated than that.
A more accurate assessment of honesty is Key’s track record which I would say speaks for itself – a fairly consistent pattern of lies, reversals, and vague statements.
The other one to watch out for is the ‘Nose Wrinkle’.
A dead give away!
That should set your bullshit detector on ‘Red Alert’!
Key (no pun intended) words in understanding the Smear Campaign mayhem are Malignant Narcissism and Flying Monkeys.
Excellent article Travellerev – I think you really nail it.
It seems to me that if he’s calling for Liu to provide evidence, he’s well aware that the backlash from the lack of evidence is coming dangerously close to hitting National, and he’s pre-empting the blow by turning on him publicly. My guess – Watch for sympathetic articles about how Key was deceived which will trigger some nicely distracting anti-immigration discussions (WP should be rubbing his hands in anticipation) to take the heat off. Meanwhile, admissions of guilt on the part of the press gallery for running speculative stories will be quietly strangled before they draw a breath.
Yep, that’ll be right – National throwing yet another useful idiot under the bus now that he’s been clipped.
Mr Woodhouse met Mr Liu in a hotel “sometime in April or May” (Shades of Banks vagueness?)
The letter falsely claiming $150,000 of dollars being donated by Mr Liu was dated 3 May.
Somehow Mr Woodhouse must be made to state the date of that meeting. See the inference?
According to the original Gower story on May 7th, the Woodhouse/Liu hotel meeting was April or May 2013. Woodhouse’s answers during question time on May 8th (question 12 in Hansard) also referred to 2013.
Williamson however, resigned on May 1st – 2 days before the statement was written, when Collins was melting down over her friends treatment. It was Jared Savage who broke the Williamson story, and subsequent Cunliffe Letter and Donations stuff. I’m thinking it’s more likely a Collins connection. And she does love her mate WhaleOil.
If Liu was pissed off at Labour imagine how pissed off he’s going to be after Key double crossed him!
Actually the MSM doesn’t hate Labour. It tolerates Labour. It reserves its hate for any other party. Ideally the media wants a two party first -past-the-post system because that set-up is so easy to manipulate. If the two parties are right wing and share the same economic agenda, so much the better….. and untill the rise of the Greens that is what they had these past 30 years.
So they hate the Greens but acknowledge that the Greens will always get their core 10%, neither more nor less, despite all that the media throw at them. The sudden appearance of the Internet/Mana Party coupled with the obvious fragility of the Labour vote is creating panic. For IMP to pick up 10% of disenfranchised Labour voters and any number of non-voting youths is not inconceivable.
So the MSM hates the IMP with a passion; and it looks like a real election for the first time in decades.
Well said Dennis. If Labour want to see a spiteful media then they should try releasing something resembling core Labour ideology. Remember when Shearer teamed up with the Greens with their single buyer power policy…the media had a meltdown.
What we’ve seen from the media lately is just a dumbing down of journalism – this is quite different to hating on Labour.
Labour should try minimum wage @ living wage, institutional welfare and a massive investment in social housing – that will bring out the hateful reporting from the media
Get the best lawyers that $5 raffles can afford and sue every MSM outlet that ran with that story for an apology. Maybe, if there’s a left-leaning lawyer who can do this on a pro bono basis it might save Labour some of it’s hard-earned cash reserves.
Make a complaint to the Broadcasting Standards Authority if it was a visual medium. These Tories and their puppet fourth estate need a rocket and they need to collectively and individually hang their heads in shame and apologise unreservedly. And not on the 21st of September – now.
I’ll do it, and I’m not even lawyer!
Why do people vote for Key? He is so obvious with his attempts at manipulating the truth eg in that video he tries to say that this $100k lie is in the same territory as the John Banks questions!?! BANKS WAS PROVEN TO BE GUILTY IN A COURT OF LAW FFS! It is an attempt to make it all seem murky, so the sheeple will get sick of it all & brush it ALL away as bad politics when the truth is Banks (& Williamson) were actually proven to be guilty & all Key has done is insinuate & mislead
Its all about keeping the myth going. People keep the myth of John Key going because they desperately want to believe it is true, therefore it is true.
So true Mike.
It wasn’t Key, can’t have been, he’s never had an original thought in his life. He read it from his briefing notes.
Today Radio NZ asked Key if Slater was his source. His smarmy denials were not convincing.
If I were a betting man…
Still nothing on stuff .co.nz about this
@GEOFF LYE – I’ve said this before. I think Stuff.co.nz, as part of the Fairfax media network, realized the material coming out is unsubstantiated and might, just might attract legal action sometime in the near future.
Fairfax I’d say, obviously doesn’t want to take the risk of being implicated. Unlike the NZH, which is up to its eyeballs in it!
Some days I really fucking hate living in this country.
There is not a single day I hate living in NZ. Even throughout the Clark years, with all her social engineering and nanny state interference, I never gave up on my country. The wait was worth it. Now we have a Govt. that has our best interests at heart, that is responsibly managing the economy, and that stands for all NZ’ers, not just special interest groups.
“Nanny state interference”
Yeah those dastardly energy saving light bulbs were a threat to freedom, democracy, and the right of the average Tory bloke to spout brain-dead drivel. Too right mate!
Shower heads
Anti smacking legislation
WFF
Of course these are just the beginning, and reflected a wider incompetence that manifested in decisions such as spending 1b on a train set.
Did you forget IV that your dear leader John Key voted FOR the anti-smacking leglisation? On the matter of shower heads, offering a subsidy for those who use more energy efficient equipment makes as much sense as giving a subsidy to people to insulate their houses. Didn’t hear you grumble about that!
I’m worried about you IV. What drug are you on?
Coffee…lot’s of coffee!
@Intrinsicvalue -give me nanny state any day, over bully state, which we have now!
*snort!*
Deflecting much, Anonymous ACT Supporter Intrinsicvalue? 😀
I can tell when you’re stuck for an answer. You totally evade the issue, and go strolling off into LaLa Land…
Thanks for showing that there is no defense you can possibly mount in National’s smear campaign against Cunliffe…
Oooh Liu has come up with proof that he donated 2k to a rowing club that Barker’s daughter was a member of, which, I assume is supposed to give 100k to Labour story some credence.
You almost think that more credence could be gained by providing proof of the 100k would you not.
Not altogether sure how Labour should have been aware of the 2k to the rowing club and how that might besmirch them.
I personally know an ex-journo who used to work for the Dominion (before it became an expensive piece of Fairfax toilet paper). He knew a lot of the Press Gallery people and he told me that it was common knowledge in the industry that the National Party provided plenty of “gratuities” for those journalists that compiled stories favourable to National and would cause those who did otherwise to lose their jobs. However, to breathe a word about it meant instant dismissal and the end of your journalistic career. That was then, it is apparently much worse now because the parliamentary journalists don’t even bother to try and hide their pro-National bias now.
It’s what I have suspected all along Marcus and once you see it you can’t unsee it.
It’s so bloody obvious!
Thanks for the insight, Marcus…
MSM and Politics in this country have given me a severe bout of depression lately, our PM a first generation New Zealander does not appear to have NZ’s interests at heart and prefers his adopted USA as his first choice.
Yeah , because he is a fake new zealander. I have been saying this for over 10 years. He is breathtakingly ignorant of this country and it’s history and culture. He has none of the interests or skills usually associated with someone growing up in NZ. e.g. water sport skills, outdoor skills, ( camping, fishing, hunting, conservation, skiing) DIY skills, no interest in the arts or art community connections. No community connections in terms of volunteer work, fundraising, sports clubs, charitable work.
Zip. , zilch, zero. Devoid of personality.
Spot on Shona, in other words a “Hollow Man”. Also there is something about those dead oily black eyes…
In the Herald Headline Liu Donation Confirmed, the $2000 donation to the Hawkes Bay Rowing Club has been confirmed Headline News, still no word on Key/Whale Spew $100k donation for a bottle of wine???
God this headline is so tragically pathetic of the Herald.
A donation of $2000 to a Hawkes Bay rowing club is confirmed. The headline misleads completely and if you read no more it suggests the 100K bottle of wine etc has been confirmed.
What about the 70 million dollar property Liu was building in the Newmarket, the same one Key cut the ribbon for, its CONFIRMED too is it not NZ Herald, and yet it looks just like an abandoned bowling club to me.
One could ask what a donation to a rowing club has anything to do with Labour. Typical shit MSM, knowing full well that nationannul supporters don’t bother reading much past the headline.
We’ve been discussing this over at The Standard.
The Hawkes Bay Rowing Club donation story was interesting I thought. Lieu was introduced to the club and subsequently made the donation some time in 2007.
On June 3rd 2007 the Hawkes Bay Annual Charity Wine Auction was held.
http://tizwine.com/index.php/ps_pagename/newsdetail/pi_newsitemid/478
That is the same date the Barker picture is time-stamped with:
https://twitter.com/jaredsavageNZH/status/481304165637832704/photo/1
And the same date the Liu statement gives for the “Labour Fundraiser”.
Given that Barker was the MP for Hastings, it’s not at all implausible that he may have been a host/special guest at a local charity event.
Would explain the date, the reason for Barker pic, and the reason there is no Labour Party record of a Liu donation.
I’d be laughing hysterically if that turned out to be the case.
N.B The Hawkes Bay Auction didn’t have a bottle go for $100 G but since that’s not an amount that Liu has provided any evidence for, it doesn’t really make any difference.
Jackpot! I think you have nailed it! Or, at least, that part of it. Liu, with his lack of English language and his very vague understanding of NZ, has become hopelessly confused, and does not understand the difference between a totally non-political “Charity Auction”, which has nothing to do with any political party, nor with the government of the time, and a “political” event. Possibly because, in China, it is impossible to conceive of any such event that is not somehow closely linked to the ruling party.
So… Liu has been set up by a right wing dirty tricks team, to tell a highly distorted version of events, and, if that unravels, it will be only Liu who takes the blame for getting it so horribly wrong. And, in the meantime, some of the mud will stick to the Labour Party, because of the short-attention-span of many citizens, and the compliance of the highly biased mainstream media.
@ Bevan Morgan . I know how you feel but we can’t let those cunts grind us down . It’s OUR fucking country . Not theirs . Our beautiful Aotearoa / New Zealand is ours ! Not some greasy , money fetishist traitor . Not some fat , half dead American off shore investor . I was thinking of leaving NZ but I never walk from a stoush . Bring it on jonky ( Extended middle finger ! )
Please do leave. With your foul language, you do not fit in with N.Z.’s clean green image.
Just one more Key deception revealed!
Go David for wanting more women in politics.
Key spreading mistruths is setting a very dangerous precendent however MSM are still madly in love with him.
COUNTRYBOY – I am SO with you !
“Liu donation to rowing club confirmed” – This is the title of the article which has been up on the front page of the Herald all this afternoon. Exactly like others have commented, as if to give some sort of legitimacy to the 100k donation claim. I bet there is no ‘proof’ of this donation and they will end this latest campaign against Labour on this sad note, with the damage done in the eyes of the majority of sh!t eating kiwi voters.
A donation of $2000 to a rowing club of a minsters daughter, over 7 years ago! Unreal that this is even on the Herald, let alone the front page, as I said above, for the majority of this afternoon.
That seems to be some of the tactics of the Herald/Stuff, they keep articles that show Labour negatively on the front pages for longer than anything negatively portraying national. And if they do publish negative National articles, they quickly respond with a counter article and quote John Key if he is the fucking gospel with something along the lines of “David Cunliffe is a moron” – John Key.
Our media is so biased I get sick. I am glad I have found this site. Awesome keep it up
I think Labour would gain points by taking The Herald to the Press Council – they of all the MSM have been most shrill about this affair and continue to publish the Liu claims as near fact.
The whole charade has Crosby Textor written all over it I reckon – on the old ‘mud sticks’ (lack of) principle. Why does our media fall for their crap?
Yes indeed. I have said that all along. It is totally OBVIOUS. Hollow Men, 2014 version.
The Herald need to be brought to account for this latest orchestrated Smear Campaign obviously National are in bed with The Herald
$100,000. for a bottle of wine for a donation to Labour.Sounds more like someone donating to the National Party,for a bottle of the PMs private bin.
I had thought that Muldoon, because of the way he treated the media, in the way he treated the people, was the worst prime Minister we have ever had or could ever have.
I think John Key is worse. This tidily presented, affable, pleasant man is one you would easily invite into the rest home to sit and sip tea or get into the sandpit with the kids at kindy.
The reality is that the leader, the one at the head of who we are as a moral reasonable people is a scuzz.
He is sly, he is a liar, he is nasty, he is a bully. A top sportsman will be shamed and derided for an indiscretion like drunk driving and the airwaves, newspaper columns and computer screens will be flooded with laments and condemnations about ‘role models.’
Key’s destruction of the what ordinary people used to think was ‘proper’ has been consistent and subtle and different than the Muldoon approach.
He continues to leave a stain on and destroy the fabric of the sort honourable behaviour we should expect of a leader.
An acquiescent public see this nice man and many of them will want their little boys to grow up to be like him. The ultimate role model.
A dramatic comparison with Nazi war monsters is always sidetracked onto other issues so I wouldn’t invoke that similarity. I would say that the affable man in the rest home has the ominous soundtrack of the one who has put euthanasia pills in the tea of the occupants having already got them to sign their estates over to him. The man in the sandpit has the tenor about him to be the friendly ‘uncle’ of the little boys who appears in court years later for unspeakable deeds. The sort of things in both cases where everyone later says, “But he was so trustworthy. He was such a nice man.”
Just a thought seeing as Liu professes to be illiterate in the english language that any so called letter of confirmation that the Herald has to hand must be written in either of the 2 chinese lanuages
The widfe-angle camera shots of the journos sitting around the auditorium was fare more interesting than Key’s mealy-mouthed mendacities.
Look at the vid. Most of them seem to be bored witless, checking their cellphones; passing around bits of paper; chatting with each other…
I look very hard, but, I couldn’t see a ‘Woodward’ or ‘Bernstein’ sitting amongst them.
NZ has entered into a very sick dark space of politics, whereby political parties are controlling the media, the lack of independent reporting in the NZ media is actually sickening and childlike. I guess we could liken it to North Korea or Nazi Germany.
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