When Todd Muller burst onto the political scene a few weeks ago like, as Bomber put it, a loaf of stale white bread, he promised to be a different kind of leader than Bridges. No criticism for criticism’s sake and all that.
What a difference a few weeks make. Now he is on every media outlet that will have him saying that the government had utterly failed and only they – National – could succeed in wiping out the virus. They – National – would not have let anyone through the border with the virus. They – National – would have run a tight ship. And so on.
In a great blog, Gordon Campbell has laid out the contradictions in the National Party’s position. Chastising the government for not copying the Australian mode, until the latest outbreak of community transmission in Victoria. Criticising the strict approach to compassionate exemptions then saying they would be stricter. Wanting to open up the country earlier then wanting stricter lockdown at the borders. The list goes on.
There is no way that National would have provided the level of leadership that Labour has shown, nor the effective stimulus package, nor the teamwork approach. Muller the Nice Guy would have acknowledged this and expressed disappointment. Muller the full-blown election guy is using his pit bulls Woodhouse and Goldsmith to attack the government in every way.
The urban myth about the homeless guy getting two weeks free at the government’s expense was an amusing one. I remember a similar myth after the Christchurch earthquakes in relation to the Hotel Grand Chancellor, the one with the huge lean. It was said that a homeless person was living in the hotel, going from room to room, emptying each minibar and sleeping on the bed, before going on to the next. It was a great story but not true. Joe Bennett wrote a novel about it, King Rich.
It was particularly not true because the government had already provided accommodation and support for all homeless people. Why spend two weeks in quarantine when you can have your own place?
National are not ready for leadership. Their one tactic is to look at what Labour has done, then offer up a scheme that is better and promises more. Without the government’s benchmarks to make policy, National is nowhere. And we cannot believe that the solutions they have dreamed up in opposition will be the ones implemented in government. They are too much fly-by-night, written on the back of the daily Order Paper.
There is also an issue of competence. There is a particular kind of racism/sexism in claiming that a white bread cabinet will do better than the diverse, multi-hued group currently in charge. “Give it back to the white men, we will deliver” is indeed a stale approach.
Muller is running the election campaign on a platform of “Trust National- we know what we are doing”. But I think National will have trouble making ground on this. They have given no reason to trust them. They are as chaotic as Boris in the UK.
Muller is not the right sort of person to oppose Jacinta. A 20th century party in the 21st century, National has nothing to offer the electorate except division and austerity.
Dr Liz Gordon is a researcher and a barrister, with interests in destroying neo-liberalism in all its forms and moving towards a socially just society. She usually blogs on justice, social welfare and education topics.
I remember a similar myth after the Christchurch earthquakes in relation to the Hotel Grand Chancellor, the one with the huge lean. It was said that a homeless person was living in the hotel, going from room to room, emptying each minibar and sleeping on the bed, before going on to the next. It was a great story but not true. Joe Bennett wrote a novel about it, King Rich.
This is a beautiful analogy of NZ at the moment, under neoliberalism as embraced by the National Party while the Labour Party who ushered it in is trying to turn the boat around and as we know, that takes time. And this is made worse because they are all in a dinghy straining at the oars towing a cruise ship! The Dingy Dinghy, that is what we are without real, combined practical and idealistic leftie leadership.
Having it will make all the difference to each individual’s betterment. We won’t look up to rich people going from one project to another, sucking profit out of it, and then moving onto the next, leaving devastated communities and jobless people in their wake. Some of us don’t want to see footloose, homeless, despairing and angry people shuffled around like a pack of cards. What’s the game? Police Poker? Jobless and Joyless? Homeless and Hopeless? Fuck that.
Stick our jaws out, our bodies fit, our muscles strong, but give up on the violence. Channel the energies, build the resolve to work and think, to stick together, help each other, and do right by each other. And that would be a turn-around never yet undertaken by the vast majority of middle-class individuals in work at reasonable pay. Take note and be scared, if you won’t act from a decent wish for fair equality for all, then act for yourself; you won’t have a job, or perhaps even a recognisable country in near decades’ time without it.
Isn’t it more like ‘trust national cause we know best’. We might be getting more cases by the day and we will cause they are flocking home by the day (like sheep) fleeing countries riddled with the virus and some bringing it (the virus) with them. And can we really trust the airlines who have a vested interest to check if people are sick before boarding, nah! Now all of a sudden NZ has become to many, a sanction not a backward, slow, racist, dull, nanny state country portrayed by some.
Isn’t it more like ‘trust national cause we know best’. We might be getting more cases by the day and we will cause they are flocking home by the day (like sheep) fleeing countries riddled with the virus and some bringing it (the virus) with them. And can we really trust the airlines who have a vested interest to check if people are sick before boarding, nah! Now all of a sudden NZ has become to many, a sanction not a backward, slow, racist, dull, nanny state country portrayed by some.
Good article. And when put like this and showing the contrasts,- shows what National and Muller really are.
A joke. And I guess the following had to come. Love this old rocker ! 🙂
“No More Mister Nice Guy”
( Or the real shades of the National party )
Alice Cooper – No More Mr. Nice Guy
https://youtu.be/KN6ngThqMEs?t=28
—————————–
I used to be such a sweet, sweet thing
‘Til they got a hold of me
I opened doors for little old ladies
I helped the blind to see
I got no friends ’cause they read the papers
They can’t be seen with me and I’m getting real shot down
And I’m feeling mean
No more Mister Nice Guy
No more Mister Clean
No more Mister Nice Guy
They say he’s sick, he’s obscene
I got no friends ’cause they read the papers
They can’t be seen with me and I’m getting real shot down
And I’m, I’m gettin’ mean
No more Mister Nice Guy
No more Mister Clean
No more Mister Nice Guy
They say he’s sick, he’s obscene
My dog bit me on leg today
My cat clawed my eyes (clawed my eye)
Mom’s been thrown out of the social circle
And dad has to hide
I went to church incognito
When everybody rose, the Reverend Smithy
He recognized me
And punched me in the nose
He said no more Mister Nice Guy
No more Mister Clean
No more Mister Nice Guy
He said you’re sick, you’re obscene
No more Mister Nice Guy
No more Mister Clean
No more Mister Nice guy
He said you’re sick, you’re obscene
Isn’t it more like ‘trust national cause we know best’. We might be getting more cases by the day and we will cause they are flocking home by the day (like sheep) fleeing countries riddled with the virus and some bringing it (the virus) with them. And can we really trust the airlines who have a vested interest to check if people are sick before boarding, nah! Now all of a sudden NZ has become to many, a sanction not a backward, slow, racist, dull, nanny state country portrayed by some.
Isn’t it more like ‘trust national cause we know best’. We might be getting more cases by the day and we will cause they are flocking home by the day (like sheep) fleeing countries riddled with the virus and some bringing it (the virus) with them. And can we really trust the airlines who have a vested interest to check if people are sick before boarding, nah! Now all of a sudden NZ has become to many, a sanction not a backward, slow, racist, dull, nanny state country portrayed by some.
Isn’t it more like ‘trust national cause we know best’. We might be getting more cases by the day and we will cause they are flocking home by the day (like sheep) fleeing countries riddled with the virus and some bringing it (the virus) with them. And can we really trust the airlines who have a vested interest to check if people are sick before boarding, nah! Now all of a sudden NZ has become to many, a sanction not a backward, slow, racist, dull, nanny state country portrayed by some.
Seems that michelle has found a sanctuary here.
She obviously knows how to copy & paste, she has no patience when the comment does not show though & posts it again & again & again…..
Well that’s my guess as to what happens. She would have spelt sanctuary at least once in 5 attempts you would thing if she had been starting again each time.
No I haven’t found a sanctuary Greywarbler I have found a voice
Sounds horse to me. Look after yourself.
Picture being Tantrum Todd.
Someone spills a drink on his orange shagpile carpet. Todd would have you know its a pretence to the Four Horsemen of the Apocolypse. Oh and its Labours fault.
Someone gets his cocktail wrong. The end of humanity plus its Labours fault.
It’s too rainy. The world is ending very soon, definitely! And blame Labour.
It’s too sunny. Out come the whips for a solid round of self-flagellation to cleanse his soul of all of Labours sins.
Think about it, it must be really really hard to be as depressed yet angry and as outraged as Todd Shambles Muller every day.
In fact, he cannot be too far off stripping off his clothing and running around parliaments grounds naked screaming.
Toddy, mate – give it a bone. Please!
The nats,are on the road to nowhere,at this time,their new lass on the front bench,as deputy,done her best today in the house and truth, shallow squacking from a lame duck that they are,one man leader with his vote deciding im the man,as their caucus was split fifty fifty, with the Zesty vote his deciding. Default of fence sitting partners,are Labour!s noose and in many areas correct,so is it danger time for Labour, to recon,its danger at our parliament border of compromise.Or like Trump,and his opposite in America,ets have mass meetings for both,one elect survival,other chance,and like all capitalist profit margin,fuck the proletariat, enough will be not contaminated to make a difference to our outcome.Prolatariat,always make the diffrence,mind you not this continent,so many working class Torries.
Yes I did notice National deputy squawking and every Labour failure she quoted were the same failures that were created by National in the first place. Over population of Auckland via immigration overload, a housing crisis, gridlock without a transport plan etc etc etc.
So those voting come September remember Labours so called failures were created by National in the first place. I would suggest it will take more than 3.years to fix Nationals self made mess. A massive shame Seymour doesn’t take his share of the blame for this.
Hey everyone totally pissed off with Todd Mullers comments about the virus is out in the community.
Wasn’t his key goals to kickstart our economy his comments are scaring my customers I have had 11 cancellations for the school holidays and I don’t need this I’m struggling as it is.
Is there any feedback from other businesses
Instead of national putting the boot into the current government over the covid quarantine shouldn’t they being developing policy to get us out of the poo. We may have border issue with so many now coming home but in the meantime all our other issues and there are many, are getting neglected.
What National promises and what National delivers are two different things and may as well be Poles apart i.e the North Pole and the South Pole.
I seriously get the impression National don’t have any policies or ideas because they just cannot think that well or intelligently. Ans as per usual they will always Copy and Paste ideas and policies from say their beloved US of A and of course Saint Donald Trump.
And so the best they can achieve is to ridicule, demean and criticise everyone else but themselves. And when taken into a corner of having to accept criticism it does look like Muller behaves like his ‘glorified God-like’ idol Donald Trump by throwing a temper tantrum i.e refusing to allow himself to be ciritised or even National behaving like adults and accepting they have made numerous mistakes even whilst in government. Their ‘holier than thou’ attitude really is getting boring.
Methinks National should be on an iceberg somewhere in the Southern Ocean because they have been useless whilst in government and shows how shallow and stupid they are now in Opposition.
Lets look at the obvious fact too that in a short span of three years they have gone through 3 ‘leaders’ i.e one per year. Not exactly a political party that has stability when all things considered!!!!! Not a ‘glowing’ report card especially at the voting booths around NZ on election day.
And with so many negatives on their part involved I wouldn’t vote National because they are too hypocritical, arrogant and deem themselves as utter perfection upon an imperfect planet.
I think….. no I am sure where National are concerned and because they are so ‘Look at Me(National). Aren’t I important i.e an ‘essential worker(for the life of me I wouldn’t call Michael Woodhouse an ‘essential worker but instead a trougher’)’?’ attention grabbing antics I just don’t trust National at all.
They are too flimsy and contradictory. They say one thing one week and completely something different about 2 weeks later. They completely lack stability when it comes to keeping to what they said 2 to 3 weeks ago.
Is that the sort of people we want as our leaders in a government when they cannot keep to what they say from one day to the next???!!!! They are inconsistent and most likely self-serving because all in all they just want to keep onto their cushy and lazy little jobs and get the NZ taxpayers to pay for it all.
Surely their record of privatisation, selling off essential infrastructure and public assets, setting up a state sponsored private school system, tax cuts for the wealthy and running NZ as a tax haven, running down of the public Health system, overseeing a growing homelessness and poverty, selling off of NZ land to off shore buyers, increasing immigration and then using imported cheap worker and overseas students to effectively increase immigration again, their and causing spiraling prices of homes: is more than enough to give NACT the boot permanently.
“particular kind of racism/sexism in claiming that a white bread cabinet will do better than the diverse, multi-hued group currently in charge. “Give it back to the white men, we will deliver” is indeed a stale approach”
Following Muller are Nikki Kaye, Amy Adams and Judith Collins.. so your identitarian rhetoric makes little sense.
And if giving important portfolios to “white men” is a stale approach why has Labour done exactly that? Robertson, Hipkins, Parker, Twyford, Clark, Lees-Galloway, O’Connor are all white men. So is Ashley Bloomfid by the way.
I have noticed about Donald Trump that he has in his Inner Circle mostly white people and mostly white males. There appears to be no person of colour or even a Native American Indian within Trumps inner circle and that is highly odd.
Muiller, as is wont of National, appears to be doing a Copy and Paste of their(Nationals)beloved America by having white people and that amazingly includes females in his Inner Circle. So Muller is behaving like the Donald Trump of the South Pacific. He(Muller) criticises anyone and everyone but doesn’t like being criticised himself.
At no point has Muller shown himself to be a gentleman. Far from it. He lacks being thought as credible because of his contradictory actions and behaviour.
And in regards to the mainstream NZ media that appear to take everything the Muller Lot says as unquestioned Gospel… well it has now resulted in me not bothering listening to the “News”. I have completely switched off because the mainstream NZ media is so biased towards National.
National has the mainstream NZ media as its mouthpiece and even the tabloid NZ herald gives little attention except to criticise at the behest of National.
And so when one(me)switches off from listening to the ‘News’ either on the telly or the online NZ herald tabloid I wonder how many others have done the same thing. To date the media has sensatlionised too many negatives and not look at the positives that have been achieved even during COVID-19.
Right now on TV One Breakfast there looked like the National pandering journalist Tova O’brien was on. But naturally I had the sound off because she is one of those I just cannot be bothered listening to. I would much rather listening to the birds singing outside than hear HER voice.
Muller is just a filler leader. Voters still have fresh memories of how run down this country became under National’s last watch. Labour would have won this election regardless of covid.
All the Nats do is try to change the narrative, by changing reality.
Every second word of phrase from a Nat is “the reality is”.
If I had a dollar for every time I heard a Nat politician say …”Well, (minipause to add gravitas) the reality is….”, I’d be rich beyond my spouse’s wildest dreams.
Sir (cur) John Key was a master truth-sayer at it, The Bill Clinton of the South Pacific.
“The reality is….I did not touch that waitress’s hair!”
The reality is (really), National had 9 years of their reality, and ran down the health system, increased the homeless, cut benefits, manipulated Science by falsifying “meth-levels” in state houses so they could sell them on to developers, battered every social agency designed to help people and offered us up as a “tax haven” in the South Pacific. Did I mention selling off state assets to “mum’n’dad” investors and totally ballsing up earthquake recovery under Sir Gerry Brownlee.
We had in NZ, a blue-coloured reality for 9 years under Sur John Key and Sur Bill Unglush.
We’ve seen what wares you hawk on your barrows National.
When it comes to a choice between National’s reality and kind, we choose kind!
The truth is, National now have a leader called Todd, who coveted and displayed a MAGA hat, who wanted to be a President FFS.
Watch a couple of hours of CNN and read a few Trump tweets, to see the reality of a MAGA-hat wearing fuckwit, who wanted to be President.
I don’t want presidential reality here in New Zealand. So next time you hear a Nat talking count the number of times they say “reality is”, or “truth is”.
I don’t want MAGA, or MNZA hat reality in New Zealand.
To MNZGA we would have to go back to 1935 and have another 14 year or more of building up the infrastructure and welfare of NZ.
Only this time it will be socialism and environmental policy.
Hang roger douglarse and the lying hair tugging donky from a high place as a deterrent to other greedy selfish trolls of overseas secret right wing societies and banksters who wish to suck our life blood and destroy our infraqstructure.
Thank you John W – for what you say, I absolutely agree with you, but stringing up from high places is a bit long and fidgety, better to be more quick and humane and emulate what the French did to their elite during the “Let them eat cake!” epoch of French history.
I did miss the “G” out of my MNZA, inadvertently, but it applies anyway. There’s no way, as long as my nostrils point downwards, would any National Govt in 2020 ever make NZ “G” reat again anyway. Their focus would be unfairly and unsquarely for the 10%, who own 90% of the wealth (2.9% of whom vote ACT).
After reading your reply John W, I have searched long and hard on my dial-up, to find a way of visually finding a colour for bullshit. Every time I hear the word “reality”, and “truth”, I think National, and my bull-shit-o-meter, wails and screams inside my head. I hope my dial-up html coding works/worked ….
Back in the middle of National’s last reign of power, Oxfam put NZ wealth disparity succinctly into perspective, this way:
“Extreme wealth inequality is deeply worrying. Our nation is becoming more divided, with an elite who are seeing their bank balances go up, whilst hundreds of thousands of New Zealanders struggle to make ends meet,” said Le Mesurier.
Figures for the top one per cent are even more striking. According to the most recent data, taken from the 2013 Credit Suisse Global Wealth Databook, 44,000 Kiwis – who could comfortably fit into Eden Park with thousands of empty seats to spare – hold more wealth than three million New Zealanders. Put differently, this lists the share of wealth owned by the top one per cent of Kiwis as 25.1 per cent, meaning they control more than the bottom 70 per cent of the population.
New Zealand’s wealthiest individual, Graeme Hart, is ranked number 200 on the Forbes list of the world’s billionaires, with US$7 billion. That makes his net worth more than the bottom 30 per cent of New Zealanders, or 1.3 million people.”
Source: https://www.oxfam.org.nz/news-media/media-releases/richest-10-of-kiwis-control-more-wealth-than-remaining-90/
National and David Seymour squared, may be good for some, but the real “reality”, and the real “truth”is that when you have selfish trolls like National Party (John Key, Don Brash) and ACT (Roger Douglas and John Banks and Don Brash and David Seymour/David Seymour II) in charge, the “reality” for 90% of New Zealanders is a low-wage economy, with no state assets to pay for any social services for the 90%.
I read John Minto’s blog that Christchurch under Dalziel (an ex-Labour right-winger) now has user-pays water rates, which are sucking the blood from ratepayers, and they have added water charges, while Cloud Ocean Water bottles millions of litres a day for free FFS.
The “reality” is, that Christchurch ratepayers are subsidising LING HAI GROUP LIMITED 4545478, but there must be New Zealand shareholders somewhere in amongst their documentation – but I can’t seem to track down who have National Party connections, or ACT Party connections or ex-Labour Party connections, or current Labour Party connections….. follow the money and the stench. I only have dial-up so my research skills and time is limited.
The water user-pays “reality” proposal will also allow wealthy ratepayers, who pay higher rates, to get more water before being charged for it. Talk about reverse social responsibility and elitism….so in effect…the 90%…will user-pays more than the 10%, who will pay user-pays-less. FFS, that is low-paid-user-pays-more, and rich-user-pays-less, all over again… It’s like Trump (Todd Muller’s mentor signing legislation to remove Obamacare from 20 million Americans – during a pandemic.
I have written to Jamie-Lee Ross to see if he knows anything about who the Cloud Ocean New Zealanders director links are, but have not heard back yet. Watch this space, because I haven’t got the resources on dial-up to be hunting down “reality” corruption.
MNZGA should be replaced with MNZKA – Make New Zealand Kind Again.
And the only way to do that is to give National and ACT the flick in 2020 – I don’t want a National “reality”, or a National “truth”.
Think KIND to the 90% when you vote in September.
100% of Kiwis, 5 million kiwis defeated Covid,
90% of 5 million (4,5 million) Kiwis plus Jacinda and Grant) can defeat user-pays “reality”,
The other 10% (500,000 rich Kiwis) can put on their MAGA caps and take a cruise on a cruise ship over to America and be a part of Donald Trump’s “reality” and “truth”, after all Donald always speaks and tweets “reality” and “truth”.
Dianne most of the big deals and corruption takes place behind closed doors.
The corruptions there and stark. Kiwis have been trained to look past it.
Things don’t get the way they are accidentally.
Nice post Dianne
What dialup ISP are you with.
I hunted around and found a broad band deal with free national calling and home phone for not much more that home phone and very limited dialup.
Yes John W., but every once in a while political corruption is fished out of the filth and mire by truth zealots, but the establishment seem to knee-cap them and attack the men, not the message.
People like Kim Dotcom shone a light down John Banks’ sewerish donation dealings, while Jami-Lee Ross exposed shonky illegal donation splitting filth. I’m probably a bit older than you John W and can remember a chap buying a second-hand computer in the 1980’s, that didn’t have its data scrubbed properly and he asked for money for its return. He got his money, but befell a nasty car accident and never got to spend it. Can’t get more knee-capped than that, here in little ol’ Nu Zild. Don’t think the money he got was ever found again either!
You made me blush asking me for my ISP, I thought ISP was some chat-up app like Tinder.
I had to look up what that meant, but crisis averted, when I found out it meant and my marriage will remain intact (for now).
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