Wow.
There is tone deaf and then there is Simon Bridges.
National struggled when this pandemic erupted globally. The week before the drastic decision to lockdown the country, Simon and his Finance Spokesperson Paul Goldsmith were holding press conferences bragging about how they were going to set alight a bonfire of red tape.
It went down about as well as Donald Trump at a feminist folk festival.
New Zealander’s were desperately turning to the State for protection while Simon and his grinning mate were promising to burn the very regulations those panicked Kiwis were trying to shelter under.
National’s small Government mantra was the last thing any Kiwi wanted to hear as they huddled in fear.
This grotesque misreading of the nations mood quickly changed as Simon understood the magnitude of what was happening. From that point on he started playing the role of Opposition Leader responsibly and effectively, he managed to pull out from the purposely obtuse Ministry of Health during the Epidemic Response Committee he chaired that our track-trace-quarantine infrastructure was a farce (sure it was decades of National Party underfunding that ran the Ministry into the ground, but thats a story for another day).
The criticism thrown at him for commuting to Wellington was needless, tribal and spiteful and until yesterday, he was looking responsible and a genuine check and balance to what is effectively a Police State.
Then he responded to Jacinda’s announcement of lifting the Lockout and was flayed on Facebook…
National leader Simon Bridges badly misjudged in his response to the lockdown decision, accusing the Government of holding back the country in its testing and tracing failures.
The concerns he raised are legitimate; less so is his desire to lay it at the feet of the current administration and wail as if we were spending another month in solitary confinement.
Bridges’ repeated mantra, that sometimes “the medicine is worse than the cure”, both made little sense (the traditional saying is that sometimes the cure is worse than the disease) and came uncomfortably close to US President Donald Trump’s arguments for reopening the economy despite his country’s death toll passing 40,000.
His pining for an approach closer to that of Australia also rang false, given many experts have said the two countries are more similar than they are different at present (even though you can get a haircut across the ditch).
Bridges would have expected criticism from the Twitterati – but even he may have been taken aback by the torrent of negative remarks on his Facebook page, while not all in his caucus seemed happy with his approach.
…Twitter & the Woke Twitterati don’t mean anything to public opinion (in fact what they are for the rest of NZ is generally aghast at), but Facebook sure as hell does represent middle NZ and the backlash on his page was a fair representation of where the electorate is right now.
Despite the criticisms of the Plan B Death Cult Capitalists, the vast majority of New Zealander’s accept and understand Jacinda’s decision and they are grateful for her leadership. They collectively feel she has led us through this pandemic with grace and real courage, they watch in horror the incompetence of America and the UK and are thankful for her.
We have all just experienced a unique shared sacrifice, Simon’s terribly misjudged criticisms made New Zealander’s feel like he was shitting on their shared sacrifice which is electoral suicide.
What he should have done is celebrate and salute the shared sacrifice of Kiwis and turn the focus on rebuilding, instead he bitched and whined like a spoilt brat while making a mockery of the shared sacrifice everyone had just made.
He may as well have pissed on an ANZAC grave while screaming ‘war criminals’.
He has misjudged the shared sense of experience in favour of parroting Death Cult Capitalist talking points and in doing so alienated a huge chunk of the voting public who wanted their shared sacrifice to be acknowledged, not written off.
He zigged when he really should have zagged.
Simon has become as welcome as Boris Johnson at a Public Health Conference.
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I worry about our good colleague Mr Bridges. Mr Bridges is a real leader and the crazy thing is he doesn’t even feel like he is a real leader because people have been beating him down for so long and he’s listened to it. So all you great people who’re hating on Mr Bridges, especially in this time, just give him a bit of love and let him know that he is a real leader.
The past is not the present, the present is not the past. Election2020 – Mr Bridges vs Jacinda. Have a good day Mr Bridges.
Maybe a sprinkling of fairy dust and Simon will become a real boy.
@Sam. 100%
That is called ‘reverse psychology’ and is usely used to get the ‘point’ through to children, so is Simon Bridges a child???
Answer;- I think it is possible that Simon is a child; –judging on ‘Simple Simon’s responses to Jacinda.
Election2020 – Mr Bridges vs Jacinda. Have a good day Mr Bridges.
Heh 🙂
I’d rather give him a drum kit so he can show everyone how down with the kuds and Pulla how cool he is.
If the two of them combined their social media loiks, there’s a chance they could go viral, and with a few more visits to the Caci Clinic, they might even become slightly appealing
Oh Y’know guys, I just wanted everyone to know that we are waking up strong and diet is really important like % of the work it takes to being strong. It just feels so good when things are getting done. I live most of my life in a barren environment, the soil is better so getting fresh stuff is always an issue, not like store fresh I mean in season fresh (very different). One of the things I like to do about now is to plant some blackberries in some soil that I make because black berries are always good first thing in the morning particularly when they’re fresh. Anyway guys be strong and don’t let no one beat you down.
Yea Mr Bridge is a true leader ae
Personality politics has no place in real politics based on policy and outcomes.
Where is NACT policy undoing the damage they rort on our health system, education system, defence and weaponised oppression of people who have never harmed NZ, the restoration of our waterways and environment as well as addressing fossil fuel exploration and its dire consequences.
Where is the policy to reduce inequity and lift the poor out of the poverty trap. What is stopping National from reducing inequity and increasing the tax take to address our public health system and several other essential social programmes needed for a cohesive civil society.
johnky was a conman who many thought was a “lovely” front man. Look at the damage he did to NZ, our social structure and his gifts to the international corporate investor sharks of half of our energy sector thus pushing up prices for Kiwis and the exportation of money offshore. As well as the lies he spoke to mask temporarily what he had planned. ” There is no housing crisis” … Liar!
Simon may not have been caught tugging hair of young girls but how perverted would you have to be to think that was your right. So he is better than key but still a puppet to Business NZ and its offshore advisers.
Personality politics stinks but blinds the feeble minded while they are stabbed in the back.
But I enjoy your sarc.
John don’t worry this isn’t going to mean anything. If Jacinda wins then the winner should have a choice of podium to stand on. 80% of all the voters out there will probably be really relieved and when the election does go down we are going to see who brings it on the day. Hope you’re having a good time, this corona crises is perhaps the biggest mental health crises to hit the western world, look out for each other, don’t get into any fights and hope your families stay safe. For everyone reading out there I hope this made you smile a little bit and the government just crushes this pandemic like a man, Yknow bullies it. Have a good one.
You can get a quick and dirty take on the integrity of the “journalist” in question with this quote “the two countries are more similar than they are different at present (even though you can get a haircut across the ditch)”.
Riiiight, so the construction, manufacturing, mining, restaurant takeaways and big box retail stores that are operating in OZ don’t rate a mention but… hair dressing does? What a douche. The sooner he starts learning to code and departs the odious trade of hacksterism the better.
Bridges is absolutely right to start applying the blowtorch now.
“instead he bitched and whined like a spoilt brat”
That will be Simons epitaph.
To me Simon Bridges comes across as the 2020 leader of the McGillicuddy Serious Party(formerly known as the NZ National Party). And whilst he is leader National can well kiss any chance of being in government again a Sweet Goodbye and deservedly so.
He never practiced what he would preach eg Stay Home/Save Lives. Instead it seems he deemed himself as living an enchanted life on the NZ Taxpayer purse by traipsing from Tauranga to Wellington and back again. Sorry but this action by him reeks of hypocrisy and I just don’t stand politicians like him who think they are above everyone else.
And every time he opens his mouth it seems he is totally incapable of saying anything intelligent.
Where was Simon Bridges whilst the previous National government were under-funding essential services like the Health Service? Where was Simon Bridges when fecal matter was dripping down the walls of Middlemore hospital during the last National government?
He appears to be a person who is opportunistic and of course self-serving. He also comes across as a person who hates ordinary NZers and will never praise ordinary NZers for the sacrifices made over the past 4 weeks.
Is that the sort of person you want as a representative of New Zealand when during the last 4 weeks Bridges has shown what a Village Idiot he truly is????!!!!!
Keep Jacinda and the team on. She will be getting my vote at the election. Yes neither she nor any of the others in the Coalition government are perfect but they are a damn sight better than Simon Bridges,.etc.etc.etc. of the McGillicuddy Serious Party(formerly known as the NZ National Party) of 2020.
Prediction. The knives are out behind his back, from all those who are suddenly very quiet. Will it be before or after the election?
” He may as well have pissed on an ANZAC grave while screaming ‘war criminals’ ”
Bomber there are plenty of other ways too describe this nasty bastard and his reprehensible behaviour than describing it with this statement.
You provide a excellent platform and write intelligently on the issues and have an acute sense of where we will be weeks before we get there and the consequences that we will be faced with incredible insight.
Please don’t get down too Simo’ns level with that type of comment.
That should have been spelt Simon’s.
And … now lets take look at that ignorant idiot Deborah Russell eh!
https://twitter.com/dbseymour/status/1252428378012934145
“Influenza kills 400-600 people in New Zealand each year while globally the flu claims 600,000 lives annually.”
opps…sorry for the inconvenient truth there!
Thank’s Donald.
lol, nice one Berty. Those FACTS ALSO take into account having flu vaccines available!
now….lets talk cancer from cigarettes…cause we want to “save lives” RIGHT?
Italy. Spain. Iran. USA.
oops….sorry for highlighting how pathetic that “but influenza…” argument is.
Try the whole picture Jase.
Many of those countries have some of the oldest populations in the world but also the highest rates of smoking…
This virus Covid 19 attacks the lungs….
Please stop, I am seriously unable to stop laughing
Try this Ross.
This virus IS considerably different. It doesn’t just affect the lungs as first thought.
It affects the heart, kidney, brain, intestines and liver. Blood clots resulting in leg amputation, thus evidence of reddening of the feet.
Sorry for the convenient truth and facts but your common flu is just no comparison.
For his ability to alienate the National Party’s traditional voting base, long may Simon Bridges stay head of the National Party.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/business/121057643/small-and-medium-business-dissatisfaction-of-government-lessens-during-lockdown
+1
Even worse for the National Party, the trickledown economics they peddle has been shown up as the complete scam it is.
It lurches on, sucking blood, until it periodically collapses under its own weight, only to be rescued by socialist intervention.
Even their Trump-like supporters are (finally) catching on to the ruse, if some of the poll rumours are to be believed.
Bridges this morning on RNZ in complete denial of his momentus fuk up…lolza gotta hand it to the little schmuck he knows how to bat flies away. I predict he’s toast before the election so any time from now until Sept.
I feel terribly sorry for Slyman Bridges. He must be absolutely exhausted. He’s an effeminate poodle with a very serious personality disorder. He sincerely believes he’s a masculine rottweiler. He received shit advice from blue trolls back in 2017 that the JKey to him becoming PM was “scoring hits” on the Government, especially Ardern.
Bridges stands next to the wall of the beehive with his dump truck full of festering turds on board. Ardern makes a speech and Bridges quickly starts throwing shit on the wall hoping that at least a few kilos of the 3 tons will stick. No wonder he’s exhausted.
He barely has time to catch his breath and he’s off again. This time it’s barking and chasing every passing car. He tries to manipulate his bark so it sounds like a rottweiler but NZ knows exactly what a poodle sounds like.
So please give Slyman a break. He’s exhausted and needs more than just his wife and a few delusional blue trolls encouraging him.
By wife did you mean Paula?
Bridges will always obfuscate, he is a lawyer after all, that’s why the hypocrisy when he talks of Winston’s political prowess.
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