All political campaigning is about publicity and spin. There are a number of lobbyist organisations out there that conduct public campaigns, with carefully crafted press releases. It is pretty easy to shoot them full of holes. Anyone who chooses to campaign publicly for their cause has to take the rough with the smooth, the risk that the public will not sympathise with their cause and turn on them instead.

Bradford has to weigh up the same risk herself, and I think that the general public does not care that much because not that many people vote Green. I think that she has chosen to publicise this as a way of countering the negativity of the referendum result.

That is merely a matter of your opinion and credulity to claim that Bill English comparing Helen Clark to Mugabe is pandering to right wing extremists. It is of course no such thing. You may be referring to a piece of undemocratic legislation held dear by some on the left (The Electoral Finance Act) without understanding or being reasonable enough to admit that it might be a reason why Labour lost the election.

I don’t see anything to support a conclusion that the established Right wing parties are more likely to pander to radicalism. There is a large degree of difference politically between the Act party and the Greens. The latter have fingers in many pies strongly connected to various movements known for organising street marches and protests, some of them very much on the fringe.

What difference is that?

At best there is no difference at all. I think you would be best to get off your hobby horse and admit this before you get your foot stuck any further inside your mouth.

So called “peaceful protestors” in various left wing causes use physical force and violence fairly often in their protest actions. Sue Bradford herself is no stranger to this having been arrested numerous times in such kinds of protest. Ditto for Hone Harawira and others.

Just the usual xenophobic bogeymen.

Right now it’s about time for every political group on the left in NZ to tell us how much support they get from overseas.

When we hear a lot about “democracy under attack” supposedly in Auckland it’s worth remembering what happened before the last election, the Electoral Finance Act as a piece of pure Labour ideology, disconnected from reality and public opinion – along with a number of other laws.

Yes of course. And that’s what he should do if he wants to disassociate himself from them.

He’s choosing to provide a safe haven for these freaks. It’s not something that’s happened to him which he can’t control, it’s something he chooses to allow every day.

And if he continues to choose to allow it, why would anyone think he disapproves?

Finally Henk van Helmond, the man behind all the sites, says he did not know who threw the bricks at Clark’s office. He has said he doesnt know them, nor has he met them – just had “contact” with htem. He says he doesnt know the people who post on his sites either – that includes Bryn Rodda. But he certainly knows a lot about the brick chucking. And he knows Bryn Rodda more than he makes out. Both have had contact with the woman who used the riding crop on her son. They`re all connected.

I know that.

Thanks, Dave C, for that.