The states of John Key – Nasty side

Written By: - Date published: 10:49 am, July 28th, 2010 - 26 comments
Categories: john key - Tags:

Sixth of a series by Guest poster Blue.

John Key is not always the affable everyman he appears to be. There’s a solid streak of bully in him not uncommon in people who crave power.

Back in 2002, before he rose up the ranks of the National Party, he made his infamous comments about mothers on the DPB ‘breeding for a business’. The Herald’s biography reveals that a more media-cautious Key has emerged since then, as demonstrated by the following quote:

Key admits to being more cautious about the phrases he now uses he likens it to being a magician with a magic wand. ‘You know, you don’t quite realise how powerful it is until you get to pick the wand up and you realise very small movements have quite strong and far reaching reverberations,’ Key explains. ‘My underlying philosophies remain the same.’ So his beliefs remain the same, the difference is in the language? ‘Yeah, I think that’s largely correct.’ This is a startling admission which suggests that the real John Key is actually the John Key who originally entered Parliament, not the version we see today.

The new media-trained image isn’t completely infallible, however. Just before the last election, in November 2008, Key was heard to yell at a work rights activist who was heckling him, shouting ‘the truth is you’re an idiot!’

It’s not the only time Key’s careful brand image has slipped back in 2009 when he was addressing a business audience in Australia he denigrated actress Keisha Castle-Hughes‘ views on climate change, saying ‘my advice to Keisha is this stick to acting!’  There was no reason for him to bring up her opinion at all it was simply putting the boot in and mocking someone because he felt he could. He clearly didn’t expect it to get back to New Zealand asking the audience if they had even heard of Castle-Hughes. Unfortunately for him, also in the audience was journalist Claire Trevett from the New Zealand Herald.

It’s been noted by commentators that one of Key’s most effective weapons is to listen politely to someone’s objections and then agree with them, taking the wind out of their sails so he can move on, unmoved. However, his occasional outbursts show what happens when the salesman loses his cool and reveals a surprisingly vehement intolerance of anyone who disagrees with him.

Blue

Series posts

The states of John Key Quantum uncertainty
The states of John Key The drivers
The states of John Key The Salesman
The states of John Key – Flexible in telling the truth
The states of John Key – Avoidance
The states of John Key Nasty side

26 comments on “The states of John Key – Nasty side ”

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  1. r0b 1
    28 July 2010 at 11:06 am

    On the nasty side, Key also described young protesters in Mt Albert as “cold and desperate”. Strong echoes of Clark’s “haters and wreckers” that the right whipped themselves into such an orgiastic frenzy of excitement about…

  2. pollywog 2
    28 July 2010 at 11:08 am

    Key’s most effective weapons is to listen politely to someone’s objections and then agree with them, taking the wind out of their sails so he can move on,…

    i do that with jehovahs witnesses.

    agreee that, yes, they as christians set an excellent example of people trying to help others in their community and that we need more people like them out there doing the good work and spreading the good word, but i’m fine with God and He’s fine with me, so i don’t want to upset the mutual understanding and fine relationship we’ve developed….you know, if it aint broke why fix it ?

    …totally throws them cos they’re looking for a good argument to validate their faith and convert me to their cause.

    but back to Key. He reminds me of someone who has charged himself and his lackies to fix things which aren’t really broken just cos they can and to exert some measure of will on them to satisfy their own egos. Powertripping for the sake of it.

    He also reminds me of Odo from Star trek deep space 9, a shapeshifter whose name means nothing…

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Odo_(Star_Trek)

  3. Cnr Joe 3
    28 July 2010 at 11:08 am

    I guess he’ll always be able to get the best training, being an ongoing process and all.
    Then there’s the dope they have him on. Its widely understood to be in the pizzas.

  4. randal 4
    28 July 2010 at 11:19 am

    at the moment they are bulllying the medical school in dunedin to pay off some tacky promise tony ryall made before the eelction.
    crummy.

  5. tsmithfield 5
    28 July 2010 at 11:24 am

    States of the left:

    1. A paranoid obsession with John Key.

    • joe bloggs 5.1
      28 July 2010 at 11:48 am

      States of the Left:

      2. Delusional fantasies about John Key
      3. Dislike of self-determination
      3. Throw enough mud and eventually some must stick – surely!!
      4. People in glass houses can, and should, throw stones – it’s a democratic right

      As for equating Key’s “cold and desperate” comment with Clark’s “haters and wreckers”, or Cullen’s “rich pricks” – sad to say it’s not even in the same region, let alone ballpark… lest we forget May is not the warmest month of the year – of course they’re cold, hehe

      • bbfloyd 5.1.1
        28 July 2010 at 12:08 pm

        j.b. you really need to get out more lad. by the way, is your name written the right way around?

    • bbfloyd 5.2
      28 July 2010 at 12:04 pm

      it’s been my experience that when people make that kind of sweeping generalisation, it most often is a symptem of shallow, reactive thinking. using emotively charged words like “paranoid” does no more than expose the lack of coherent thought being brought to bear. it is innaccurate at best, and insults people who, for the most part, have the intellect, memory, and the social concience to be concerned for the future of our society.
      p.s. please excuse my terrible spelling. my dictionary died last week. sniff

    • ghostwhowalksnz 5.3
      28 July 2010 at 1:07 pm

      Its not an obsession when Key makes it his business to appear constantly in the media….. oops that right hes PM. I wonder how he got there?

    • Draco T Bastard 5.4
      28 July 2010 at 4:02 pm

      State of the Right:

      A paranoid and delusional denial of reality.

      The difference between my statement and yours? Mine happens to be true whereas yours is part of your delusion.

  6. Ron 6
    28 July 2010 at 11:41 am

    TS – if we’re talking about paranoid obsessions I’d point to the Right’s obsession with Helen Clarke as a truer example. The Right spent the last couple of years of that Labour term simply making stuff up.

    I think the issue with JK – and the Tories as whole – is that we’ve known their true agenda from the outset but they’ve tried to deny it. If he – and they – had simply been upfront about what they are trying to do then there’d be agendas and policies to argue about but what we get is exactly what’s described above – a smokescreen of reasonableness (is that a word?) hiding an extreme right wing agenda that essentially hasn’t changed since Bolger. It was revealed before the election in the secret recordings (again, their response wasn’t to debate the issues but to attack the whistleblowers); it’s been revealed several times through slips of tongues – they just won’t admit it. It’s not paranoid to KNOW they’re out to getya!

    It’s not that we’re obsessed with Jonkey. It’s that Jonkey IS that smokescreen and we’re obsessed with trying expose that very real agenda.

    • joe bloggs 6.1
      28 July 2010 at 11:52 am

      speaking of paranoid “they’re out to getya!” obsessions – try using that excuse with the 66% of electors who didn’t vote for Clark.

    • tsmithfield 6.2
      28 July 2010 at 11:53 am

      Ron, I selected my words carefully in that comment.

      I believe the litany of fear-laden articles about JK on various themes and the associated posts by left-leaning contributors would meet the test for both paranoia and obsessiveness.

  7. travellerev 7
    28 July 2010 at 12:09 pm

    Someone told me that she had been to a political thingy with John Key as the main speaker. When someone asked John Key to explain the world wide financial collapse and why this was happening he answered with a sneer: “That is because your parents wanted a better car.” Yep, according to bankster Mr Nice Key it’s all our fault.

  8. Firsttimereader 8
    28 July 2010 at 12:17 pm

    States of the left: Comparing “haters and wreckers” to “cold and desperate”.

  9. felix 9
    28 July 2010 at 12:51 pm

    I’m enjoying this series. Contrary to the whimpering protestations of ts and joe, it seems to be based on verifiable facts reported in an uncontroversial fashion.

    Which is why they have no response. They can’t dispute the facts and they can’t feign their usual “how dare you say that about the King” outrage.

    (cue “we don’t respond cos it’s stupid” and “we weren’t playing anyway” etc)

    • tsmithfield 9.1
      28 July 2010 at 2:09 pm

      Paranoia and obsessiveness has become such a normal for you that you can’t recognise it when you see it.

    • Mac1 9.2
      28 July 2010 at 3:33 pm

      Hi,Felix. You forgot the ‘PC obsessed’ that Sean uses below. If all else fails, deflect the criticism by blaming the critic for being ‘PC’.

      Clue for Sean14- non-PC behaviour used to be called bad manners, at best.

      • comedy 9.2.1
        28 July 2010 at 4:00 pm

        Nah, non PC behaviour used to be call having a sense of humour at best, having bad manners by the hoity toity and racism at worst by ijits.

  10. sean14 10
    28 July 2010 at 1:04 pm

    A politician moderating their language? How in the hell is that surprising?! It’s a prerequisite for public office in a PC obsessed country like NZ.

  11. comedy 11
    28 July 2010 at 1:57 pm

    Is that a photo of him dropping a large flatus ?

  12. kriswgtn 12
    28 July 2010 at 4:35 pm

    Nah hes rapping man

  13. gobsmacked 13
    28 July 2010 at 4:35 pm

    A year ago I drew attention to the nasty side of John Key. In the comments I expanded further on it:

    http://www.thestandard.org.nz/crossing-the-line/

    The essential point is: Politicians being nasty isn’t so unusual. But when they trade so heavily on their nice-guy image, it’s quite unsettling when it turns out to be fake.

    It’s like discovering that a “strong leader” is chronically indecisive, or that a great wordsmith is just reading someone else’s script. If Mr Nice Guy is not so nice after all, what else has he got?

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