A disgrace
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8:55 pm, June 13th, 2009 - 23 comments
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I’m stunned by National. Their leader didn’t support his Mt Albert candidate by turning up tonight and now nobody will talk to the media.
There’s being a poor loser and then there is this kind of behaviour. At the very least front up, concede and thank your supporters and the electorate.
Lee is a disgrace. Key is a disgrace. They should show the voters some respect.
Update: Lee spoke to the media after this post went up. You can see it here. She acquitted herself well. Watching the video I note the whole line was that it was her fault she lost. I really got the feeling she has been hung out to dry.
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I guess John Key was at the rugby, going by the result.
Lee is at Labour campaign HQ congratulating David Shearer as I type.
Good, she’s finally showing some grace. According to Stuff she’s also finally made a statement to the media. I guess we won’t hear anything from Key.
So we’ll all be seeing an early morning retraction or editing of this post, then?
This is a disaster for the Nats. Key will have SUPERCITY stamped on his head from now on. And its in the Auckland City area where opposition to Hide and Co. is at its lowest.
They have nowhere to go anymore, since they have made a pact with the devil.
s’alright meaner, I’ve dispatched a WAHmbulance for ya.
Should be there presently.
Sit tight ol’ son.
That’s Prime Minister Disgrace to you.
Congrats Mr Shearer and well done to all labour party volunteers!!!! Excellent result…Thank you…
get over yourself bill, irish are more gracious winners than this little display of petulence, jeeeeez
Oh dear, what a sore loser…
good pic of post election result JK here: http://tinyurl.com/ncsxjx
I just watched Lee’s concession and am curious, who was her campaign manager? Johnathan Coleman or Mark Thomas?
Lee’s speech was gracious and hard to watch given her obvious upset and abandonment by the National hierarchy.
Good on her for fronting up. It’s a pretty brutal business at times.
One reason I respect the likes of English and Goff more than Key is they know what it’s like to have to face defeat. (Goff even lost his seat in 1990).
Whereas Key can only cope with applause, and when it’s not there, nor is he. Like tonight.
Indeed. Where was Key?
Where was the support for Lee?
Where was the respect for Aucklanders?
Wooooooooooooohooooooooooooooooo Go Labour!
The funniest thing tonight was walking along Ponsonby Rd with friends when a man and woman walked past.
Now my friends, who have real lives so are not politically aware, exclaimed what the f–k was that? Was it a beached whale? No is was DPF with all his chins and bellies waddling along the road with the local MP.
Now Ms Kaye is definitely no oil painting but my friends had to question what the hell was that woman doing with that thing. I had to sit them down and explain the true ugliness of the right in all its glory.
[lprent: That is over the limits of toleration. Consider yourself warned along with anyone else who wishes to proceed too far down this type of line. Read the policy ]
Do you feel any better about yourself now? Maturity will probably clear up the skin condition, thus exponentially increasing the chances a blond lady might one day talk to you, but then there’ll still be the problem of your personality, so I wouldn’t go getting my hopes up…
I’m thinking her picture will be on his blog then, as is his normal practice when a woman actually speaks to him.
The media said Key was having a holiday in Taupo on friday I guess he had it planned to avoid being anywhere near Mt Albert, pathetic no show, I felt sorry for Lee watching her fight back the tears. Seems Key had washed his hands of Lee faster than ditching Worth.. totally unprofessional and shows Where’s Waldo Key to be a gutless snake which the media will have to agree with after this debacle..
Lee’s career is over before it started, Key looks like 1 term is gonna be a struggle.
Congrats to David Shearer I’m sure he will get politically savy over the next few years in opposition and become a front bencher. Was a good night for Labour all round and hopefully a turning point 🙂 The guy in the red labour beanie who was in every tv background shot looked like he had a good time 🙂
Congratulations indeed to David Shearer, who has the potential to be a truly outstanding MP. If he lives up to his potential I expect to hear some exciting stuff coming out of Labour shortly (unless the powers-that-be are scared of being shown up by thee new boy).
However congratulations must also go to the Greens and their on-the-ground organisation because if GT over at Kiwiblog is right the figures also show:
Gaining market share in an apparently uninterested market is quite a campaigning achievement.
They put their biggest ‘gun’ into the electorate. One of the leaders of the party. The Greens were able to push a reasonable amount of their campaigning resources into the area. He did ok in the circumstances. But it was hardly surprising and not much of an acheivement to go from a *low* base to a less low base in marketing terms.
Bill and Ben did a lot better in percentage terms.
Rex
“If” is a marvellous word because GT has c*cked it up bigtime. GT compared 2008 final count with 2009 election night. Electionresults.org.nz says there are 1,114 special votes to first be allowed (by the Registrar of Electors) and then counted. Final result in 10 days.
So turnout will be down by something over 33% but nowhere near 41%
But then I rarely expect reality from the KB commenters.
Coleman – “The prime minister is busy, he’s got a lot to do. This election was a sideshow and frankly Labour were always going to win it.”
There’s nothing worse than when leaders – plural – abandon their troops. The fact that no senior Nat was there is appalling. And I’d say the same if it was Labour who’d abandoned their candidate in this way. Lee screwed up – but she gave it her best and she wasn’t trying to fail. This feels so much like Key as CEO rather than Key as PM – look at how he distances himself from anyone who doesn’t perform.
Lee. Worth. Who next will be persona non grata in casa Key?
A pathetic point by Coleman following a pathetic campaign that he ran.
The Key team, Coleman, Lee, Bennett have performed terribly in the last couple of months. Maybe they’ve been given the rope by the old National hands and managed to hang themselves.
Coleman will never run a campaign again, McCully will be in charge the next time.
How many months until English ousts Key?