Archive for August, 2005

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  Two polls, two stories - by frog

  
  
  
  As I suspected it might, TVNZ’s poll tonight tells a rather different story from the Sunday Star-Times poll out this morning. The whole of TVNZ’s poll was done after the tax cut announcement, and it has Labour ahead of National by three points, 43 plays 40. This is a closing of the eight-point gap in [...] read more
  August 28, 2005 6:15 pm - 3 Comments
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  Campaign quotes - by frog

  
  
  
  Rod and Andrew Wilkie visited the Waihopai spy base in Marlborough this morning. The picture accompanying this post is an aerial shot of the base (thanks Wikipedia), which allows New Zealand to form part of the global US-UK-Canada-Australia-NZ intelligence system. A former British Army major, who came to meet Andrew, noted wryly: We’ve got the [...] read more
  August 28, 2005 2:26 pm - 3 Comments
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  Dining with Jeanette - by frog

  
  
  
  Steve Braunias, formerly of the Listener and currently of the Sunday Star-Times, had lunch with Jeanette this week. His write-up of the encounter is typically humourous and quirky. He writes: The lighting was low. The room was intimate. Denied a doughnut, I settled for love; at 60, Fitzsimons remains something of a poppet, with her [...] read more
  August 28, 2005 1:54 pm - 3 Comments
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  How Brash won - by frog

  
  
  
  The evidence in the Sunday Star-Times today that Don Brash received advice about his toppling of Bill English from a line-up of Rogernomes should come as no surprise. He has always been thought of as a man who believed our New Right reforms of the 1980s and 1990s didn’t go far enough – as someone [...] read more
  August 28, 2005 1:33 pm - 12 Comments
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  National in the lead? - by frog

  
  
  
  The Sunday Star-Times has a poll out this morning, whose results should be interpreted with caution. Overall, Labour is ahead by 1%, but National is ahead by 6% in the portion of the sample taken since the latter’s tax cut policy announcement on Monday. This may be greeted gleefully by the Right, but my inclination [...] read more
  August 28, 2005 1:00 pm - 4 Comments
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  Body bags by lunchtime? - by frog

  
  
  
  Helen Clark has asserted again in the Dominion Post this morning that, were National in government right now, Kiwis would be coming home from Iraq in body bags. That’s undoubtedly true, but an even more interesting question is what National would do once in power if the US launched similar unsanctioned, unwarranted, illegal, immoral wars. [...] read more
  August 27, 2005 9:54 pm - 24 Comments
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  A lack of empathy - by frog

  
  
  
  There has been a whole lot of garbage spouted by National apologists since Don Brash’s very revealing remark about women last Monday night. All he meant, they argue, was that adults ought not shout at each other because that sets a bad example for the kids. Well, if courtesy was what he was after, then [...] read more
  August 27, 2005 9:44 pm - 4 Comments
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  Michelle Boag? - by frog

  
  
  
  Is it just me, or is it a little odd that former National President Michelle Boag is giving her old party advice on how to get its campaign back on track? She’s in the Herald today, saying that National’s tactics have been a bit wanting in the past week. Which is entirely true, but isn’t [...] read more
  August 27, 2005 9:29 pm - 2 Comments
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  Defending tax - by frog

  
  
  
  Jeanette took part in a RNZ debate of the third party leaders this afternoon. Winston Peters decided not to show up, presumably because he doesn’t consider himself the leader of a minor party, but rather the leader of the third major party. The problem with that posturing (apart from having more than the whiff of [...] read more
  August 27, 2005 9:18 pm - 3 Comments
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  Te Tai Tonga - by frog

  
  
  
  A new Marae-Digipoll of the Te Tai Tonga seat out this morning shows Labour regaining the lead in the electorate vote from the Maori Party. This changes my polling graphic assumptions: my pick that the Maori Party would win four Maori electorates included them picking up Te Tai Tonga. Today’s Marae poll suggests this probably [...] read more
  August 27, 2005 10:28 am - 6 Comments
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  Rod answers your questions - by frog

  
  
  
  Today’s audioblog (mp3, 6.53mins, 0.8MB) is Rod answering some questions from frogblog readers wizban and bjchip. Their questions relate to electoral reform and tax. Enjoy. read more
  August 26, 2005 5:24 pm - 5 Comments
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  Another amusing video - by frog

  
  
  
  KeepLeftNZ just keeps on coming up with amusing videos about National. Drawing from Monty Python and National’s forestry debacle, the video is here. read more
  August 26, 2005 3:18 pm - 3 Comments
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  Winston Peters re-writes history - by frog

  
  
  
  So, it’s the media’s fault, apparently. Winston, having taken a hit in the polls since delivering a speech filled with thinly-veiled Islamophobia, is now blaming the media for the public backlash against his intolerance. Yesterday, he said: The media said we were anti-Muslim, ignoring the fact that it was Muslims who expressed their concerns about [...] read more
  August 26, 2005 1:31 pm - 3 Comments
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  Of chainsaws and forests - by frog

  
  
  
  National’s equivocating on West Coast logging isn’t just a matter for hilarity, though. It’s also seriously concerning that it has no real commitment to protecting our native forests. I’ve noted before that National has been marked down very badly on conservation, but yesterday’s internal wrangling suggests there are many in the party who want logging [...] read more
  August 26, 2005 11:42 am - 1 Comment
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  How not to run a political party - by frog

  
  
  
  I was thinking last night that it’s been a gaffe-a-day week for National. But perhaps that is being a little charitable: yesterday, National made two rather glaring gaffes. First, it decided its Foreign Affairs Spokesperson Lockwood Smith wasn’t up to the task of debating other parties’ foreign affairs spokespeople on Radio NZ and put Deputy [...] read more
  August 26, 2005 11:41 am - 3 Comments
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  Alarm bells, anyone? - by frog

  
  
  
  If alarm bells were ringing among National strategists last weekend with political polls showing an eight-point lead for Labour, there will be full-scale panic this morning. Two polls out this morning have very sobering news for the Right generally and the National Party especially. The polls, in the NBR and the Herald, both give Labour [...] read more
  August 26, 2005 8:11 am - 13 Comments
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  Take me to your coalition partner… - by frog

  
  
  
  The revelation that Winston Peters is at best lukewarm and at worst hostile to National’s tax cut package underlines again Don Brash’s mating problems. He doesn’t have a viable coalition partner. When asked about his options, he talks about three: Act, United, and NZ First. Well, Act is in terminal decline and no-one, not even [...] read more
  August 25, 2005 9:40 am - 10 Comments
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  Kids are evil! - by frog

  
  
  
  Question: Why are some pressure groups, such as Family Integrity, so staunchly opposed to the repeal of section 59? Answer: Because they believe parents have a God-given right to beat the evil that inherently resides in children out of their kids. That much has now become clear. Family Integrity has been a leading member of [...] read more
  August 25, 2005 9:21 am - 51 Comments
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  What is Brash lying about? - by frog

  
  
  
  Chris Trotter in his Independent column yesterday makes very clear why Kiwis should be much more concerned about Don Brash’s honesty than Helen Clark’s. While Brash has tried, and failed, to put Clark’s credibility on to the election agenda, there are some very serious questions that need to be asked about the National leader’s authenticity. [...] read more
  August 25, 2005 8:17 am - 20 Comments
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  Jeanette on being a woman - by frog

  
  
  
  Today’s audioblog (mp3, 1.4MB, 12.02 mins) is an interview with Jeanette. The questions were provided by a student magazine which is doing a feature on women leaders. They deal with such issues as what Jeanette wanted to be when she was a child, how men and women’s roles differ in New Zealand society, and the [...] read more
  August 25, 2005 7:47 am - 1 Comment