Cameron Slater: So who pays who?

Written By: - Date published: 4:19 pm, December 12th, 2013 - 203 comments
Categories: accountability, blogs, dpf, john key, national, Parliament, parliamentary spending, Politics, public services, rumour, scoundrels - Tags: ,

Over at blubbering boys blog this morning, ‘authored’ by Cameron Slater.

The Parliamentary Press Gallery had its end of year party last night. Basically it was a trough-fest for corporate lobbyists…with them out numbering journalists by a substantial amount.

This was the scene that confronted staff and MPs arriving this morning.

The image is here* for those of you who don’t want to amble over to the site. However what was more interesting was Claire Trevett tweeting this…


Claire Trevett on Jason Ede clicking away

 

Which is of course why you don’t piss off journos talking about their party life.

So she states that the image that turned up on Whaleoil today was probably taken by Jason Ede this morning. Moreover by the sounds of it, he’d have to have deliberately taken the image to put on Whaleoil because I can’t conceive of a reason for the John Key’s long term comms person to go and take an image of the residue of a party at 7:30am in the morning.

But more importantly, at The Standard we’ve had some of our more knowledgeable beltway authors and commentators speculating about Jason Ede writing for Whaleoil and Kiwiblog blogs for a long time. Both in posts and comments back to 2010. The rumour was that Jason Ede was responsible for some of the political dirt posts that turned up on those sites, either directly or indirectly. In fact he is rumoured to be the National Party smear unit.

For instance in 2010 Zetetic said..

3News viewers were left wondering if Duncan Garner is still pissed after the long weekend tonight. Using material that has clearly come from Jason Ede in Key’s office Murray McCully, Garner played the message-bearer for National’s continuing attacks on Labour’s gay MPs.

Looks like the National parties dirty BIG secret has just broken out into the open like a lanced smallpox cyst. If you want an arsehole blogger, look no further than John Key’s office.

Mind you Cameron Slater does need all the help he can get because he really isn’t the most competent person I’m aware of. I wonder how much he “demands” from the taxpayer to run that shithole of a site?

 

* Please please could Jason Ede get legally wound up about copyright. I really would like to do some discovery on his phone and browser history. Not to mention on the Whaleoil blog. I’m sure that given a good forensic look through some computer logs we’d be able to find out more about the relationship that these two have.

203 comments on “Cameron Slater: So who pays who? ”

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  1. TheContrarian 1
    12 December 2013 at 4:22 pm

    So what? JK’s photographer sent images to a blog…meanwhile Cunliffe writes over at TDB while several posters here hold positions in parliament (or actively running for seats).

    [lprent: Who is currently running for a seat and who is currently holding a position in parliament?

    You are banned until you provide credible proof for either of these allegations. In other words, it will be permanent.

    See the policy about making claims against our authors. It is something that I don’t even bother responding to these days. There have been allegations, mostly from deriving from Cameron Slater for that period of time. To date no-one has ever bothered to listen to what I have said on the topic.

    So these days I simply ban the idiots who make them here. ]

    • karol 1.1
      12 December 2013 at 4:34 pm

      Cunliffe writes under his own name – no comparison with feeding stuff to Oil and not acknowledging where it came from.

      • lprent 1.1.1
        12 December 2013 at 4:37 pm

        The suspicion has been all the way back to 2007 when this site (and Whaleoil) started that Ede was actually directly writing content for his blogs, and not under his own name.

        • Balanced View 1.1.1.1
          12 December 2013 at 8:43 pm

          So it’s ok for this site to post a suspicion, but not ok to comment with one?

          [lprent: Read the policy. Provide proof that this site has ulterior and unstated reasons for running the site or hget banned. It is pretty simple. There are plenty of other sites to post that on to. But I’m tired of seeing it.

          If you continue this line on this post then I will ban you for diversion trolling. ]

          • infused 1.1.1.1.1
            13 December 2013 at 12:43 am

            That’s how it rolls here.

            • framu 1.1.1.1.1.1
              13 December 2013 at 7:54 am

              not quite, contrarian is making a supposition about something pretty mundane – people using the internet, and trying to equate it to yet another supposition and it would seem eyewitness accounts, in a long string of suppositions and other occurances, (there is history on this topic remember – and blubbs admits he gets paid) that certain political parties are paying a certain 3rd party to run their dirty war

              please tell me you guys understand the difference between the two things?

              to follow you particular complaint you have to do two things 1) not understand the difference and 2) utterly ignore the known relationship between the nats and blubbs

              its not even a “nice try” its just plain weak

          • Frank Macskasy 1.1.1.1.2
            13 December 2013 at 9:57 am

            I’d say it was more than a “suspicion”, Anonymous-Person-posting-as-Balanced-View.

            Ede has outed himself. End of.

            Now he pays the consequences. (Not that right wingers are big on taking responsibility for consequences. That’s something that has become abundantly clear over the last five years.)

            • Balanced View 1.1.1.1.2.1
              13 December 2013 at 10:20 am

              I was referring to political party staffers writing posts for blogs under a pseudonym. Ede hasn’t admitted doing that, neither has Cameron Slater.
              Yet 1prent is happy to allow these accusations, but will ban anyone that tries to do the same to left winged parties.
              A bit hypocritical don’t you think?

              [lprent: Since you clearly really really want to make your suspicions known about connections between staffers and this site, then I suggest that you do it on other sites. That seems like the appropriate place to do so. Just as this is the appropriate place to air suspicions about Whale’s site.

              In the meantime you’re also trying to say how we should run our site which is also intensely irritating.

              You can comment here when and if you have some proof that we have ulterior motives outside of those in the about. ]

              • Arfamo …
                13 December 2013 at 10:32 am

                There’s a conflict between your saying that Cameron Slater hasn’t admitted political party staffer Mr Ede writes for WO under a pseudonym above, and lprent saying at 1.1.1, yesterday:

                The suspicion has been all the way back to 2007 when this site (and Whaleoil) started that Ede was actually directly writing content for his blogs, and not under his own name..

                How do you propose to resolve this conundrum, beyond claiming “hypocrisy”, in a balanced sort of view?

              • Frank Macskasy …
                13 December 2013 at 10:42 am

                Ede has admitted to supplying for Slater. That’s the issue here, BV.. Anything else is a distraction – a round circle of finger pointing.

                But really, how credible is Ede’s excuse,

                “It was a silly, spur of the moment thing to do, and I consulted no-one.”

                And the most important question though is, what else had Ede fed to Slater?

                Considering that Ede is paid by you and me, I think there’s a valid public interest here.

            • Frosty 1.1.1.1.2.2
              14 December 2013 at 7:13 am

              No RW responsibility? Aaron Gilmore resigned, John Banks is pulling the pin. These guys have more media scrutiny (usually through Campbell Live) whilst the Left Wing get a free ride.
              Ol Len was caught with his dick in the help, busted getting perks. He’ll stay, no shame.

  2. Bruce 2
    12 December 2013 at 4:28 pm

    meh – that was boring.

  3. The Gormless Fool formerly known as Oleolebiscuitbarrell 3
    12 December 2013 at 4:28 pm

    This is disgusting.

    Will Lprent confirm that no-one who writes for the Standard is in a comms team for a political party funded by the taxpayer?

    That’ll let the Standard occupy the moral high ground.

    [lprent: Read the policy. Provide me some proof of your allegation. Banned until you do, ie probably permanently. I got sick of answering that particular claim and variants of it 6 years ago. For 6 years there has never been a proof. There have just been dirty tricks allegations from fools like Bill English through to deliberately lying idiots like Cameron.

    But it looks like that is where he gets his help from John Key’s office directly. I guess that is why he has always suspected us eh?

    Anyway I’m tired of it. I reward people making it with losing their rights to write here. ]

    • framu 3.1
      12 December 2013 at 4:43 pm

      if youve got evidence that labour has someone operating covertly to supply the standard with dirt and innuendo on their opponents – then out with it

      fucks sake – its pretty damn clear what the issue here is – its the secrecy coupled with the organised smear campaigns. Its the using a proxy to wage your dirty tactics war. There is a yawning gulf of difference between that and people using the web to communicate openly

      its pathetic that the responses straight out of the blocks are this.

      • lprent 3.1.1
        12 December 2013 at 4:52 pm

        Sometimes I wish that they did. It’d make it easier to pass back the information when the parliamentary wing was screwing up by the numbers.

    • Rogue Trooper 3.2
      12 December 2013 at 5:33 pm

      You are Right, they never clean up after their Party.

      • the pigman 3.2.1
        12 December 2013 at 9:30 pm

        They don’t even need to clean up, because like Slater says, “Sunlight is the best disinfectant”.

        Come to think of it, that misapprehension probably explains his greasy locks and generally wretched appearance.

    • Rogue Trooper 3.3
      13 December 2013 at 3:55 pm

      a request for clemency for GF (they are interesting, if nothing else). 😀 (one can only try, call it a Christmas offering).

  4. CnrJoe 4
    12 December 2013 at 4:30 pm

    I live for moments like these
    How can I help wind Ede up?

  5. karol 5
    12 December 2013 at 4:38 pm

    It seems Mr Ede didn’t like the “media” supporting parliament cleaners or criticising people smoking in the Beehive grounds.

    The photos appeared on the Whale Oil website, run by Cameron Slater. He used the photos to attack the media as ”sanctimonious hypocrites”.

    They had ”gone into bat for the parliamentary cleaners to be paid more, calling MPs and staff messy” and had criticised smokers for lighting up in the parliamentary precinct, Slater said.

    According to Gower’s tweets. Ede is one of said smokers.

    Jason Ede smokes there all the time, pretty sure he doesn’t takes his cigarette butts back up to John Key’s Office?

    Such a petty retaliation via WO!

    • framu 5.1
      12 December 2013 at 4:45 pm

      “The photos appeared on the Whale Oil website, run by Cameron Slater. He used the photos to attack the media as ”sanctimonious hypocrites”.”

      – “how dare they! – thats my bloody job!” said slater

      • McFlock 5.1.1
        12 December 2013 at 6:12 pm

        If slater’s “attacking the media” as a collective group and not using the word “we”, doesn’t that mean that he’s not part of the media and therefore is not a journalist?

    • Murray Olsen 5.2
      12 December 2013 at 7:42 pm

      Is Blubber Boy WhaleSpew proposing that the cleaners be paid more? Or is it just those, like his foul self, who smear crap all over the place, that should be paid more?

  6. blue leopard (Get Lost GCSB Bill) 6
    12 December 2013 at 4:52 pm

    …so have we got an issue with a undue influence in the judiciary here?

    That the court ruling slammed Slater’s site – and in a way that sets a precedent for all blogsites – as ‘not a news medium’ starts to look like ire at Whaleoil showing National up in a bad light over the ‘Brown affair’…following on so quickly after that debacle.

    • lprent 6.1
      12 December 2013 at 4:56 pm

      Especially since the National people around John Palino’s campaign were so active in feeding information to Cameron in that instance. It all starts to look like Cameron really isn’t much of a “journalist” (not that I thought he was) so much as a conduit for feeding dirty linen about other people into the blogs.

      I guess that if you don’t have any political morals, then you talk to Cameron. It does seem to be a bit extreme that John Key’s staff do it. I wonder who ordered that? 😈

      • blue leopard (Get Lost GCSB Bill) 6.1.1
        12 December 2013 at 5:06 pm

        After reading “The Hollowmen” – Nicky Hagar I was left with the impression that it wasn’t National running Act – it was more Act-types running National and therefore this latest event isn’t really surprising at all [to me]…those Act-types are extremists.

        [That ruling didn’t need to be done in a way that set a precedent for all blogsites…however I guess that is a separate issue from this thread….]

  7. rod 7
    12 December 2013 at 4:56 pm

    and we are the least corrupt country in the world, Yeah right

    • blue leopard (Get Lost GCSB Bill) 7.1
      12 December 2013 at 5:00 pm

      @ Rod

      …that’s the trouble with comparative terms like ‘least’…kinda deceptive when you look at the state of some of the countries we seem to like to follow like star struck fanatics….

  8. andy (the other one) 8
    12 December 2013 at 5:03 pm

    Oh the irony, Cameron Slater is a ‘Repeater’.

    Bwahahahaha!

    • Dumrse 8.1
      12 December 2013 at 6:35 pm

      And this blogg is chokka full of cut and paste experts. Big difference eh?

      • Arfamo 8.1.1
        12 December 2013 at 6:38 pm

        The number of things that go straight over your head is amazing. I wish one of them was a sack. It’d probably improve your perception.

      • North 8.1.2
        12 December 2013 at 7:21 pm

        Sad DumbArse.

      • Frank Macskasy 8.1.3
        13 December 2013 at 10:04 am

        @ Dumbrse,

        Most the “cut and paste” relates to publishing apalling economic statistic generated by this hopeless excuse for a government, Dumbrse. High unemployment; growing inequality; collapsing manufacturing sector; corporate welfarism; rising child poverty; falling National MP’s IQs; that sort of stuff.

        We’re happy to serve. 🙂

        F****n ecstatic actually.

  9. Arfamo 9
    12 December 2013 at 5:09 pm

    Lol. Gawd. I just had a rare quick look at WO. He’s frothing.

    • lprent 9.1
      12 December 2013 at 5:19 pm

      So I see. It appears that he thinks it is all a conspiracy against him by the NZ Herald. He is picking his links up and walking away from the baadddd reporters.

      Bbwahhhh!

      My rapidly growing great nephew is starting to display more maturity…. Be interesting to see what he does when he leaves playcentre

  10. chris73 10
    12 December 2013 at 5:12 pm

    Wow what a non-event

    • Arfamo 10.1
      12 December 2013 at 5:14 pm

      Exactly. Someone tell Cam.

    • andy (the other one) 10.2
      12 December 2013 at 5:15 pm

      Is that you Jason?

    • Colonial Viper 10.3
      12 December 2013 at 5:15 pm

      Then go put some cricket on mate, the rest of us here find slow motion car crashes quite exciting.

      • chris73 10.3.1
        12 December 2013 at 5:23 pm

        I suppose its better (from the lefts point of view) of having to defend Goff and MFAT (WI 62/1)

        • andy (the other one) 10.3.1.1
          12 December 2013 at 5:26 pm

          Quick Jason, Must be time for Paula Bennett to announce another crack down on the Bene’s.

          Need better distraction today.

          • chris73 10.3.1.1.1
            12 December 2013 at 5:31 pm

            Well theres Len Brown doing his best to hinder the EY report, the MFAT leakage doesn’t look good for Labour and I’m pretty sure that the people running this site can check my ISP address to find out what part of the country I’m commenting on

            But indeed crow about a photographer sending pics to a blog because thats big news

            (WI 67/2)

            • gobsmacked 10.3.1.1.1.1
              12 December 2013 at 5:39 pm

              Chris73

              Either – the Prime Minister’s senior communications adviser works for WhaleOil, without Key’s knowledge and/or permission …

              Or – he works for WhaleOil, with Key’s knowledge and/or permission …

              So it’s either Jason Ede to resign, or John Key to confess.

              Which?

              • Rogue Trooper …
                12 December 2013 at 5:42 pm

                Death by elimination

              • chris73 …
                12 December 2013 at 5:45 pm

                Or he doesn’t work for Whaleoil at all

                • gobsmacked …
                  12 December 2013 at 5:48 pm

                  No, he works for the National Party, which is the same thing.

                  If he’s done nothing wrong why has he now apologised?

                  • chris73 …
                    12 December 2013 at 5:53 pm

                    I’ve sent things to Whaleoil, do I work for him? (By the way the answer is no)

                    • gobsmacked …
                      12 December 2013 at 5:58 pm

                      I don’t know, do you head the Prime Minister’s propaganda team?

                      That’s Ede’s job. As in paid, as in Beehive.

                    • Arfamo …
                      12 December 2013 at 5:58 pm

                      I’ve sent things to Whaleoil, do I work for him? (By the way the answer is no)

                      Well actually if he uses anything you sent him, the answer is yes, but you just don’t get paid for it.

                    • chris73 …
                      12 December 2013 at 6:13 pm

                      Its not work because I do it for shits and giggles

                      (WI 103/3)

                    • Arfamo …
                      12 December 2013 at 6:22 pm

                      Well obviously you do it for shits. He runs that site for shits. And if it requires any kind of effort, that’s work. Didn’t you do science?

                    • Rogue Trooper …
                      12 December 2013 at 6:23 pm

                      interesting movements, hope you wipe thoroughly.

                    • lprent …
                      12 December 2013 at 6:27 pm

                      Bearing in mind what Cameron has said about being paid by the people providing him information. The question would be more if he is working for you?

                    • Ron …
                      12 December 2013 at 8:13 pm

                      They say if you lie down with dogs you get up with fleas.
                      Hope the itching is not too bad

                    • Rogue Trooper …
                      13 December 2013 at 5:58 pm

                      I Love this Ron. Absolutely, you are analysis for the nation. 😛

                • Frank Macskasy …
                  13 December 2013 at 3:39 pm

                  Or he doesn’t work for Whaleoil at all

                  He doesn’t have to.

                  Simply passing information regarding his workplace to a third party (Slater) on work-time (paid by the taxpayer), using his employer’s computer and internet connection (owned by the taxpayer), raises a few questions of inappropriate behaviour.

                  And the Big Questions;

                  1. What else has Ede passed on to Slater?

                  2.What involvement did Ede have in the Pullar/ACC leaks to Slater? Was Ede the source?

                  3. Did his employers know?

                  4. What permission did he have and from whom?

                  5. What is Key’s view on this connection between Ede and Slater? Did Key know? If not, does this constitute a serious security threat in the Prime Minister’s Department?

                  6. What, if anything, has Ede or the National Party/government received in return?

                  Just off the top of my head….

                  • Arfamo …
                    13 December 2013 at 3:56 pm

                    You know Frank I really don’t think most people take any notice of this – it’s a sideshow of interest to a few bloggers and journos, and even then only for the moment, until something more important like the queen tripping over a corgi comes along.

              • leftriteleft …
                12 December 2013 at 9:47 pm

                I’m sure that Key won’t remember.
                Suffering from to much CS.
                What a moment

            • Rogue Trooper 10.3.1.1.1.2
              12 December 2013 at 6:17 pm

              only at stumps chris, play on.

            • Frank Macskasy 10.3.1.1.1.3
              13 December 2013 at 10:07 am

              @ Chris. Pathetic.

              If you want to deflect, you can do better than that. Try ‘andy (the other one)’s’ suggestion.

              Again, happy to help. (It’s Friday.)

        • Arfamo 10.3.1.2
          12 December 2013 at 5:29 pm

          Imagine how gutted the Nats are? They pay Rebstock a fortune and the best she can come out with is allegations and confirmation the Minister of Foreign Affairs is a numpty. Something everyone else already knew anyway.

        • Paul 10.3.1.3
          12 December 2013 at 5:30 pm

          You guys should love Goff – a true pioneering neoliberal from the 80s
          He’s really one of yours.

          • chris73 10.3.1.3.1
            12 December 2013 at 5:34 pm

            To be fair he is one of the best Labour has (does tell a few too many porkies though) and hes right about T.P.P

            But hes on Labours side so you gotta do what you gotta do

            • Rogue Trooper 10.3.1.3.1.1
              12 December 2013 at 5:40 pm

              those ’73 Toranas used to fall over too; power to wheel-base ratio; too narrow.

            • Paul 10.3.1.3.1.2
              12 December 2013 at 5:53 pm

              People born in 73 had values formed in the neoliberal 80s. I feel sorry for you

              • chris73 …
                12 December 2013 at 5:54 pm

                Is that specifically 73 or do any other years count as well?

                • Paul …
                  12 December 2013 at 6:30 pm

                  Tough not to have grown up in a time and place where you would have seen benefits of placing society above the individual.
                  You have lived in the TINA years and sadly been propagandised so well that you believe the acronym.
                  Your faith in neoliberalism is fascinating and at the same time depressing.

                  • chris73 …
                    12 December 2013 at 7:01 pm

                    Didn’t answer my question

                    • idlegus …
                      12 December 2013 at 8:48 pm

                      i was born in 73, i believe in socialist principles. just talking to another 73’er, from my home town hamilton (he’s still there), i said ‘man i miss the 70s/80s’, & he said “yeah it was all breakdancing and second hand stores, now it’s all cafe’s and begging, sux.”…

                • leftriteleft …
                  12 December 2013 at 9:53 pm

                  Do you have a speculation on 1947. I’m really interested in that reply.

                • Frank Macskasy …
                  13 December 2013 at 10:09 am

                  1973 was a good year for me. It’s when I started down the road to over-coming my rightwing tendencies…

    • North 10.4
      12 December 2013 at 7:25 pm

      A non-event you say Piss ? Then you 73 on it already ???

      Oh, I see………

  11. mickysavage 11
    12 December 2013 at 5:35 pm

    Funny how all the wing nuts turn up and start frothing and diverting. Makes you wonder if deep in the Beehive the instructions are going out.

    And I wish it was true about TS authors being funded. If it is where do I collect my cheque?

  12. Rogue Trooper 12
    12 December 2013 at 5:37 pm

    exploding whales leave disgusting messes. 😀

  13. Thomas 13
    12 December 2013 at 5:47 pm

    Urh. Is there any evidence of money changing hands? or are you just making up that smear?

    [lprent: Perhaps you should look at the last link in the post and you might figure out it is a reasonable supposition that Cameron gets paid to run campaigns.

    http://www.thepaepae.com/as-playful-as-he-is-psychotic/

    Here is Cameron admitting he takes money for dirty campaigns.
    http://www.thepaepae.com/wp-uploads/2012/11/demanding-money-to-run-PR-lines-media3.mp3

    As the PaePae post says…

    By Cameron’s fevered reasoning, he clearly feels there’s nothing wrong with him pumping undeclared paid ‘advertorial’ and PR propaganda through his partisan sphincter to his blog’s witless, er, half-wit, no, unwitting audience.

    So long as Cameron agrees with the propaganda message, that’s Cameron’s integrity in action.

    Given that admission and that the communications guru inside John Key’s office has clearly passed (at least) a photo to him for a post, it is perfectly legitimate to ask who and how much Cameron “demands” for this service. ]

    • Rogue Trooper 13.1
      12 December 2013 at 5:50 pm

      even without such an ‘exchange’, a conflict (well, not for him) of interests appears.

    • chris73 13.2
      12 December 2013 at 5:56 pm

      Evidence? Are you serious? We don’t need evidence (unless you’re criticizing anyone on the left in which case you better have links to back your assertions up)

      • andy (the other one) 13.2.1
        12 December 2013 at 6:02 pm

        @Chris73

        Where is your number thingy?

        0xDEADD00D

      • Paul 13.2.2
        12 December 2013 at 6:03 pm

        Your loyalty to the cause breaks new bounds.
        Unquestioning devoted and obsequious,
        Your masters should reward you for your devotion.

        • chris73 13.2.2.1
          12 December 2013 at 6:10 pm

          Oh well when you’re being paid as much as I am by my Act overlords to go onto blogs and do what my masters bid its not such a bad thing you know

          • gobsmacked 13.2.2.1.1
            12 December 2013 at 6:21 pm

            Just to clear this up, Chris …

            When David Cunliffe is Prime Minister (or Russel or Metiria if you prefer), will you, as a taxpayer, be happy to have your taxes going to political operators, working in your government, whose job is to attack Cunliffe’s opponents? Will you also be happy for this to be kept a secret from you? Will you be happy for Labour (or Greens etc) to lie to you about this?

            • chris73 13.2.2.1.1.1
              12 December 2013 at 6:26 pm

              Well first off you have to prove thats whats happening in this case, which nobody has done yet

              • Paul …
                12 December 2013 at 6:31 pm

                That’s not an answer.

              • gobsmacked …
                12 December 2013 at 6:37 pm

                What would you like to be proved?

                Ede is real. His job is real. His confession is real. The blog is real. The taxes are real.

                Google if you want. But you don’t want.

              • lprent …
                12 December 2013 at 6:44 pm

                Ede has apologised already for passing the photo to Whaleoil

                http://www.stuff.co.nz/dominion-post/news/politics/9509926/PMs-adviser-takes-photos-for-WhaleOil

                So I guess that takes care of the means.

                The question is if this is one of Cameron’s ongoing “demand” situations where he gets paid for running dirty tricks campaigns. The second question is if it is, then how long has this relationship between John Keys office and Cameron been going on?

                The third question on everyone’s lips from here on out is going to be to ask Ede and Slater if they are working together for every one of Slater’s dirty campaigns.

                • Anne …
                  12 December 2013 at 6:47 pm

                  how long has this relationship between John Keys office and Cameron been going on?

                  Since 2009 at the least? See my link @ 15

                  • Lanthanide …
                    12 December 2013 at 6:50 pm

                    Not sure how Key having a drink with someone is evidence that his office works with them regularly, or indeed, ever.

                    • alwyn …
                      13 December 2013 at 2:48 pm

                      Of course it is.
                      Now do you want the evidence that Cunliffe is selling out the Labour party by flying off on overseas trips with key while he passes over all the dirt.
                      It must be true. I’ve got a photo of them talking together.

                • karol …
                  12 December 2013 at 6:55 pm

                  There’s also this quote in that article:

                  When asked by Fairfax Media in October about Ede’s relationship with Whale Oil, the spokeswoman said Ede was a senior adviser in the National leader’s office. He provided communication advice and support to the prime minister and to National Party MPs, including in the area of social media and other media.

                  “Jason works a lot in the area of social media and that includes getting out National’s message to a range of bloggers and other social media sites,” she said.

                  Who is the quote from, and who are the other bloggers? DPF?

                  • chris73 …
                    12 December 2013 at 7:05 pm

                    “It was a silly, spur of the moment thing to do, and I consulted no-one.”

                    – Consulted no-one, so unless anyone has any proof to say otherwise this is…nothing

                    • gobsmacked …
                      12 December 2013 at 7:18 pm

                      and I consulted no-one

                      “Did you steal the money, Jimmy?”

                      “No I never, and nor did my mate Danny who definitely wasn’t with me.”

                      When people deny what they weren’t asked, only a fool believes.

                    • Pascal's bookie …
                      12 December 2013 at 7:40 pm

                      Doesn’t matter if he consulted anyone or not. Who said he has to ‘consult someone’ every time he pushed lines to right wing bloggers? It’s his job.

                    • Colonial Viper …
                      12 December 2013 at 10:09 pm

                      Why would National be silly enough to work directly with the blogs? According to some, no one reads those things.

                    • framu …
                      13 December 2013 at 8:02 am

                      if he consulted no-one – dont you think it odd he just up and decided to go and hide in some bushes first thing in the morning?

                      you really are stretching here chris – its actually a little funny watching you and other working so hard to avoid the actual issue.

                      The head of the PMs propaganda team, hides in bush first thing in the morning, goes running to whale oil, denies any kind of organsied effort by anyone involved

                      “look over there – unicorns!”

                    • karol …
                      13 December 2013 at 9:23 am

                      “Consulted with no one”

                      Hahahaha

                      You clearly don’t get how plausible deniability works. All it requires is for Ede to have the (as publicly stated) brief to pass on some info to selected “bloggers”, and maybe a nod/wink/ or explicit general instruction as to the type of stuff to be sent to the bloggers. Then Ede doesn’t need to “consult” on each bit secretly passed on to said bloggers.

                    • Frank Macskasy …
                      13 December 2013 at 10:17 am

                      “It was a silly, spur of the moment thing to do, and I consulted no-one.”

                      I can see that ending up on a Tui billboard! 😀

                    • Tigger …
                      13 December 2013 at 5:36 pm

                      By offering up the consultation denial he’s laid bare that, normally, he would consult higher ups when passing on information.

                      So what did Key know about past dirt that Sleede passed on?

                • Rogue Trooper …
                  12 December 2013 at 7:04 pm

                  THIS is a very informative linking of the players Lyn

              • miked999 …
                13 December 2013 at 2:59 pm

                And secondly, Cunliffe would have to become Prime Minister, so clearly we’re still very much in the realms of hypothetical situations, if not far-fetched fantasy.

      • North 13.2.3
        12 December 2013 at 7:30 pm

        Gettin’ angry there Piss……..slow darling, slow. Pinch your inner wrist really really hard. Count to 10………Aw OK 7 then.

    • andy (the other one) 13.3
      12 December 2013 at 6:01 pm

      @Thomas

      Is that you under a different pseudonym again Jason?

      OI am going to add a number string like chris73 upthread, cause its gangsta.

      0xD15EA5E

    • Thomas 13.4
      12 December 2013 at 8:12 pm

      Thanks lprent. That definitely answers my question.

  14. Sanctuary 14
    12 December 2013 at 6:28 pm

    Bit harsh on the use of the old ban stick there, just sayin’.

    • lprent 14.1
      12 December 2013 at 6:36 pm

      On that particular topic I usually am. I’ve spent a large chunk of the last 6 years pointing out that no-one has ever managed to show that we’re an instrument of the Labour party, that our authors aren’t undisclosed MP’s, etc etc. Since the people making those types of claims never seem to listen to my responses, I don’t listen to them either.

      If anyone makes an assertion in any kind of framing (ie like Gormless framing it a a question) and they’ll have to wait for the next amnesty before they can comment here again. If it is a newbie then I might warn them. But these two both know the policy about this. They’ve had ample bans to read it before. If I’m not mistaken, both have had bans for exactly the same thing before. So I regard it as being a voluntary banning. They literally asked for it.

      Of course they always have the opportunity to provide proof of their allegations…. 😈

      • Rogue Trooper 14.1.1
        12 December 2013 at 7:07 pm

        maybe they could take out an Ad

      • infused 14.1.2
        13 December 2013 at 12:56 am

        “Of course they always have the opportunity to provide proof of their allegations…. ”

        Well they don’t actually, since you insta ban them.

        • Pascal's bookie 14.1.2.1
          13 December 2013 at 8:53 am

          Well they do actually, when they make the claim.

        • lprent 14.1.2.2
          13 December 2013 at 9:28 am

          Duh. We’re not exactly the only blog around. I’m sure that they can find an outlet for any proof of their accusations if they ever discover some. There never is any. Because we don’t do the types of things that we get accused of.

          It is a self-martyrdom offense in the policy because it is a direct accusation that the site and its authors have ulterior motives for running the site that are not listed in the about. So I treat it as being a deliberate attack on the site and one that is designed to divert discussion. Which is why we usually get it in the first few comments of a post that is causing damage to to their heros.

          They should take responsibility for their deliberate actions, don’t you think?

        • Frank Macskasy 14.1.2.3
          13 December 2013 at 10:26 am

          @ Infused,

          Wouldn’t it be a cool idea if we could invent a means of communicating by telephonic lines, sending messages as bytes. We could call it, Electronic Mail. Or… ” Ee-Mail ” for short! Then banned people could ” Ee-Mail ” Lprent with their evidence; abject apology; and a nice cake. Or pic of a cake.

  15. Anne 15
    12 December 2013 at 6:41 pm

    Remember this photograph from the 2009 Mt. Albert by-election? Cameron and John look pretty matey to me.

    John Key and Cameron Slater discuss latest gossip

    Can anyone blow up photo?

  16. chris73 16
    12 December 2013 at 6:44 pm

    “Mind you Cameron Slater does need all the help he can get because he really isn’t the most competent person I’m aware of.”

    – So why is his blog more popular then this blog and Bombers blog combined…and probably doubled

    • Arfamo 16.1
      12 December 2013 at 6:46 pm

      I think it’s the car crash phenomenon. People know it’s going to be horrible but they just have to look.

      • chris73 16.1.1
        12 December 2013 at 6:55 pm

        and look and look and look and look, over and over and over and over, agian and again and again and again

        Snobbery aside Cameron Slater has, though his blog, gained more media coverage then all the authors of this blog combined (probably) which in of itself means little but what it does mean is hes out there putting out his point of view, influencing more people while having a great time doing it

        Thats impressive

        • Paul 16.1.1.1
          12 December 2013 at 7:01 pm

          Really?
          You clearly have very different ideas on what is impressive to most people.
          I am not impressed by people who try to influence others through hate speech.
          You do.

          • chris73 16.1.1.1.1
            12 December 2013 at 7:16 pm

            In your opinion its hate speech (one could argue that calling him blubbering boy as a reference to his weight and depression is hate speech or at the very least bullying)

            I’m impressed by the influence hes managed to create through a blog, how many political blogs are there? Heaps and how many bloggers make regular appearances in other media…not so many but he does

            The jealousy from other blogs is so think its almost palpable

            • Rogue Trooper 16.1.1.1.1.1
              12 December 2013 at 7:19 pm

              compare and contrast the regular reference to political blogs in the MSM, by Bryce Edwards, for example; QoT is probably referenced more than WOBH 😉

            • Paul 16.1.1.1.1.2
              12 December 2013 at 7:44 pm

              He has influence because of who he knows.
              Daddy’s boy.

        • andy (the other one) 16.1.1.2
          12 December 2013 at 7:14 pm

          Is it Slaters Blog or Mr Eade and Mr Lusk pulling the strings?

          Only chris73 (ahem, Jason) knows.

          As for most popular, link bait is all that gets him hits.

          Where is your numbery thingy?

          0xB16B00B5

        • Rogue Trooper 16.1.1.3
          12 December 2013 at 7:15 pm

          Helen Kelly, an identified TS author is way more well-known than CS, nationally and internationally.(on the political stage, not in the political Garbage, man).

        • North 16.1.1.4
          12 December 2013 at 7:48 pm

          “Snobbery aside……” you say Piss……..then you start sort of congratulating Old SlaterPorn.

          Piss…..isn’t that “snobbery” mention, which you revealingly put aside, nought but hardout Freudian ? Like you know he’s repugnant and toxic and it embarrasses a part of you but……”Jesus I got no choice…….. I just gotta be the apologist !”

          Why ? “Oh for the selfish causes of the Prime Mournister of course”.

          • Rogue Trooper 16.1.1.4.1
            12 December 2013 at 7:59 pm

            ‘Splitting’ (pathological) and ‘Projective Identification’ (immature)…just for starters.

            “slip slidin’ away, slip slidin’ away, you know the nearer the destination the more the Right slip away…”

        • North 16.1.1.5
          12 December 2013 at 10:45 pm

          You never check the moral compass do you Piss ?

          Like, if it achieves the desired right wing result, or looks like it might that’s what’s important. And however disgraceful it is, sanely or not you see a well executed move and you are frenzy. The Crosby Textor Imperative ?

          Poor man Piss.

        • framu 16.1.1.6
          13 December 2013 at 8:07 am

          i see youve moved away from your previous failed line of distraction and settled with – “but hes soooooooooooo popular” – keep going, im interested to see where you run out of steam

          you do know that how popular you are has no bearing on whether your running a proxy dirty war or not?

    • Lanthanide 16.2
      12 December 2013 at 6:52 pm

      Lynn’s repeated theory is because Whale Oil deliberately posts youtube and other ‘popular’ content to draw international clicks from search results.

      Obviously The Standard has standards about what is posted.

      • chris73 16.2.1
        12 December 2013 at 6:58 pm

        and while that snobbery is all well and good Cameron Slater is the one being interviewed and influencing people

        • Arfamo 16.2.1.1
          12 December 2013 at 7:02 pm

          Actually he’s not really in the news that much. His was the first blog of its type I ever came across but I found him so appallingly crass, crude and nasty I stopped reading it. He just seems such a sleazeball.

        • karol 16.2.1.2
          12 December 2013 at 7:11 pm

          “snobbery” …. bwhahahahah!

          That’s a new way to describe a dislike of hate speech and Slater’s gutter politics and “dirty, disgusting and despicable” smear campaigns. Is “PC” as a criticism going out of favour?

        • emergency mike 16.2.1.3
          12 December 2013 at 7:13 pm

          That’s not how you spell ‘standards’.

        • Pascal's bookie 16.2.1.4
          12 December 2013 at 7:50 pm

          “Cameron Slater is the one being interviewed”

          fair call, he is in the media a lot, explaining himself.

        • North 16.2.1.5
          12 December 2013 at 8:05 pm

          There you go Piss …….acknowledging the “snobbery” as a natural response to the bankruptcy of the ugly standards over at SlaterPorn. On top of your confession by way of Freudian slip that you share the common natural response.

          Now…….that wasn’t that bad was it ?

          Next ……..some aversion therapy I think.

          Sentenced to 3 months, 24/7, on SlaterPorn !

          [lprent: You can’t sentence squat here. He generally tries not to step over moderation bounds. But I never rule out that anyone can suddenly decide to run against the electric fences for a quick fry up. ]

        • framu 16.2.1.6
          13 December 2013 at 8:10 am

          so a guy who famously photoshopped a 14 year olds face onto gay porn influences you?

          wow!

      • lprent 16.2.2
        12 December 2013 at 7:24 pm

        Yeah we get something like 93% of our total page views from NZ. Aussie is next and then it is a tossup between the UK and the US. Our singleton and double page views are from all over the world, but most come through google

    • BM 16.3
      12 December 2013 at 7:06 pm

      I do like the video’s he posts at night.
      Some of them can be quite entertaining.

      Cameron can be a bit of a fuckwit though with his over the top American Dad persona, he should dial it back a bit.

      • Arfamo 16.3.1
        12 December 2013 at 7:17 pm

        Yeah, I don’t think he can though. I think he’s fundamentally an orc and nothing will change that.

        • BM 16.3.1.1
          12 December 2013 at 7:25 pm

          I have noticed that.

          It’s like “Fuck, Man why are you making things so hard for yourself, think about what you’re doing, You’re a middle aged Man you should have grasped how things work by now”.

          If anything I find it quite frustrating, here’s a guy that’s worked really hard and is right there on the cusp of being quite successful but he keeps fucking things up because of his ego and what looks like acute paranoia

          • Arfamo 16.3.1.1.1
            12 December 2013 at 7:31 pm

            I think it might actually be acute permanent adolescence.

            • Arfamo 16.3.1.1.1.1
              12 December 2013 at 7:52 pm

              Whatever, I’ve lost interest in him already. Last thing I want to do is increase traffic to his site. I’ll just pick it up again next time he’s in Court. The dog needs a walk anyway. She’s a better use of my time than discussing Slater.

          • framu 16.3.1.1.2
            13 December 2013 at 8:14 am

            your a mystery to me BM – i disagree with much of what you say but then you go and cause me to re-evaluate every now and then

            🙂

            i mean that as a compliment – not a dig. I actually like that people who are probably polar opposites can so readily agree every now and then.

            Keeps it interesting and unpredictable

      • felix 16.3.2
        13 December 2013 at 8:56 am

        “I do like the video’s he posts at night.
        Some of them can be quite entertaining.”

        Yeah that’s all I ever go there for. Like most of his visitors I imagine.

    • lprent 16.4
      12 December 2013 at 7:28 pm

      Because he posts a pile of videos and images on his site. That means he picks up google search traffic. The odd times we’ve had something going viral internationally we can easily get between 5 and 20x our usual page views on a post.

      The question should be how many NZ page views and visitors does he get.

      None of the other major NZ political sites like kiwiblog, this blog and the daily blog are that interested in merely getting page views from offshore. Cameron appears to be useless at working, so he is interested in advertising income to pay for himself.

      • chris73 16.4.1
        12 December 2013 at 7:31 pm

        You keep telling yourself that

        • lprent 16.4.1.1
          12 December 2013 at 7:41 pm

          Yeah, like I’m shallow enough to be interested just getting page views? Just at present it looks to me like his site puts up maybe half to twos thirds of the sites posts on non-political topics and most of those are just junk off the youtube.

          Lyn was filming a group of female bloggers coming through the country teaching exactly these kinds of techniques to make a blogsite pay. I’ll dig out the video.

          Basically when you climb a million page views over a few months with basically no interesting local content, then I’d ask whose course he’d been on.

        • North 16.4.1.2
          12 December 2013 at 8:08 pm

          Piss…….you’re a rotten snob. Go away !

    • appleboy 16.5
      12 December 2013 at 8:59 pm

      More popular? Reality TV is popular, but it’s shit. Watching pornography is ‘popular’ too. Doesn’t make it quality.

      • karol 16.5.1
        13 December 2013 at 9:27 am

        I’m also intrigued that those who support the smearing of beneficiaries and other low income people, are accusing others of “snobbery” for being anti- sleazy smears.

  17. MJ 17
    12 December 2013 at 11:24 pm

    So- the obnoxious right is Collins, Whaleoil and Key’s office?

    They want to have cameras on all our lives, but they don’t like full transparency on their dealings.

    Vote ’em out. Get a decent NZ back. Out with the obnoxious crony capitalists! Not derision, but proven facts.

  18. Lanthanide 18
    13 December 2013 at 8:52 am

    Pretty sure the title should be “so who pays whom”.

    • felix 18.1
      13 December 2013 at 8:59 am

      And AC/DC’s “Who Made Who”?

    • lprent 18.2
      13 December 2013 at 9:04 am

      Yeah I thought about that. Then I thought that it could be an organisation like the National party, which while being an entity, isn’t exactly a individual. Took me a coffee break to write the post, and could have taken me far longer to figure out the crazy language syntax without a compiler. So I played safe with the language and saved myself some time.

      • Lanthanide 18.2.1
        13 December 2013 at 9:30 am

        Haha! I’ve googled the rules for “whom” probably half a dozen times and still don’t remember it and don’t really fully understand it.

        English would be much easier with a compiler.

  19. Tracey 19
    13 December 2013 at 11:22 am

    Slater is generalky in the msn only when suing or being sued or outting salacious sex stories. Is that really “impressive” and “success”.

    I still believe he has elements of narcissism.

    If he were genuinely about shedding light in darkness he would not have so much focus on the left.

    hagar picks a cause… corngate… spying… lying about campaign partners.

    when the right smear campbell and hagar they forget corngate and clark

  20. captain hook 20
    13 December 2013 at 12:04 pm

    who did what to whom is the rule and what slater does is crap on the whole world because he is just another anal retentive with issues about giving and recieving.
    what slater has done is show the rest of the world what a slimy little creep he is.

  21. tinfoilhat 21
    13 December 2013 at 12:37 pm

    This site seems to be a bit fixated with salter and his blog.

    • Frank Macskasy 21.1
      13 December 2013 at 12:47 pm

      That’s ok, Tinfoilhat …

      Slater repays the favour every so often.

    • lprent 21.2
      13 December 2013 at 12:49 pm

      Not really. We tend to write posts on whatever is around. In this case we’ve had the news about the Blomfield case decision from September 22nd being reported last week. This has implications for blogs.

      This week Jason Ede from the Prime Minister office feeding Whaleoil this week. This leads to the question about taxpayers money being expended on a politically partizan blogger.

      Before that a month or so ago, we had the John Palino’s National-backed campaign leaking information to Whaleoil and that connection becoming public.

      We really can’t help it if Whaleoil keeps screwing up and providing us material to discuss…

      • Rogue Trooper 21.2.1
        13 December 2013 at 4:06 pm

        just to reiterate, Permission to grant GF a pass; They are interesting, and these are easy traps to fall into.

    • aluminium wafer headgear 21.3
      13 December 2013 at 4:23 pm

      we need more sites like this commenting on Slater and National. it is a welcome relief to read articles like this, the comments are gold too.

    • chris73 21.4
      13 December 2013 at 6:01 pm

      Well I’m guessing they’re hoping to get their pages view up by tail-gating on Whaleoils popularity…

      • Rogue Trooper 21.4.1
        13 December 2013 at 6:05 pm

        Ha Ha! 😛 (couldn’t even download his site last , late, evening, no problems with TS, Lyn has customized it faster, spy all you want).

  22. Ratty 22
    13 December 2013 at 12:47 pm

    The wheels on the bus go ‘bump bump bump’

  23. unsol 23
    13 December 2013 at 6:45 pm

    Anyone who knows anything about politics knows that there is a lot of nudge nudge wink wink going on behind the scenes on all sides of the political spectrum, a lot more than mere cup of teas, but this kind of behaviour & Cameron’s efforts to try & establish a claim of hypocrisy against the MSM just wreaks of desperation & gutter politics…literally as Ede was actually crouching down & photographing rubbish. Such silliness. Plus there is the irony – in his post on this Cameron refers to the media as a separate entity yet in his defamation suit isn’t he claiming he is one of them?

    Anyhoo. This post does raise some very fair questions re Ede vs Slater & the Nat’s involvement as a whole. If Labour was in government then yes, some suspicions or claims like those mentioned from the commentators at the beginning would warrant concern, or at the very least further investigation. But they are not. National is and even if we all know that Cameron is Judith’s ‘Trevor’, John Key would without a doubt know that this kind of rubbish is going on. Which makes him complicit & just as dodgy. Which where MPs are concerned is expected, but didn’t he campaign on being a little different? Not an institutionalised polly?

    So I wonder whether he is man or mouse – I think probably latter; as a centre-right voter I of course prefer his policies, but his spinelessness is starting to annoy me & I have had a gutsful of this kind of rubbish. I accept it was how things used to always be done (in one form or another seeing as we didn’t have blogs 30 years ago!), but these days I think we have the right to expect & demand more from our MPs. JK clearly doesn’t have as much control as what he would like us to think & without question there is just as much, if not more, division in the Nat’s camp as there is in Labour’s.

    I hate think how smutty the election campaign is going to get. If these past couple of months are anything to go by it will be about anything BUT the policies.

    And I have to say that DC is looking awfully mature in contrast to Collins et al.

  24. ghostrider888 24
    13 December 2013 at 6:54 pm

    Excellent: See, they are underestimating the growing sophistication of the electorate, not in the least through social media, a great deal of this awareness being demonstrated in blogs; personally, I have begun interacting wider recently (not without caution), yet, the more windows you open the more light you let in supercedes “sunlight is the blah blah”, I mean, an ecological metaphor from the Right, “Yeah Right NZPURE” . Great stuff comes in from feeds, as Arfamo suggested, staggering.

  25. ghostwhowalksnz 25
    13 December 2013 at 7:00 pm

    So its our turn to play

    #HeyJason

  26. SPC 26
    13 December 2013 at 8:24 pm

    Nice expose in the mainstream media of how someone in the PM’s office uses the whale oil blog to support the government. Or is that harpooning the hypocrisy of the “independent” blog?

    Clearly the government does not want to increase the MW and is opposed to the living wage campaign as well.

    So to undermine support for the parliamentary and Beehive cleaners getting a higher wage, someone who works there offers photos of the mess made there by mainstream media.

    The message to them is clear be seen as supporting opposition campaigns such as this, by giving them media coverage and the government will play dirty. It shows that there is little real regret over the spying on journalists, and that this is probably still occurring.

    It’s just the same as that person who had his electronics taken off him at Auckland airport after attending an anti state surveillance meeting in the UK, it is to send a message that the state/government regards being held accountable to the people as a threat to them as they would rather be entrenched in power.

    Jason Ede’s claim to be acting “independently” through the “independent” blog is true only up to a point. He is on the tit of the powerful one, one clearing in bed with the global financial system and related security apparatus.

    http://www.stuff.co.nz/dominion-post/news/politics/9509926/PMs-adviser-takes-photos-for-WhaleOil

    • Rogue Trooper 26.1
      13 December 2013 at 8:48 pm

      Yes! those electronic items being ‘flagged’ for Customs; wotteva! Grateful to see that reported on.

  27. captain hook 27
    14 December 2013 at 11:30 am

    the thing about loathsome articles like slater is that they are really trying to compensate for the things that they would like to do themsleves but are too chickenshit to do.

  28. BEATINGTHEBOKS 28
    14 December 2013 at 11:32 pm

    No one really cares about a few journos having a piss up. So what. People enjoy themselves at christmas. Far as I’m concerned if no one made a dickhead of themselves no harm done. Let the cleaners earn their living wage and shut the fuck up. Just saying , merry christmas bean counters. Have some fun, forget about the bill for a few days, you’re not going to live forever. Not really making a political statement here cept to have a drink with someone different to you at this time of year and see what happens ( please dont hit them ).

  29. captain hook 29
    16 December 2013 at 12:29 pm

    old blubberguts was bleating to his pals at radio sport over the weekend about having his psychopathology examined.
    Next year someone will really go after him and never forget that time wounds all heels.