I want to apologise. I was one of the flood of lefties who posted anti-Shearer statements in the week ahead of the conference. I advocated for David Cunliffe as a prospective leader – indeed, the only leader with the potential for success in 2014, by my own assessment.
And now it looks like my post, among others, has shafted David Cunliffe. We stirred the pot. We shook the tree. We rocked the boat, which knocked over the pot the tree was standing in. And this convinced otherwise well-meaning, open-minded members of the Labour caucus that a dangerous plot was underway to undermine the very foundations of the Party by mounting an attack under cover of pseudonyms and Birnam wood.
So I’m sorry, David C. Sorry that I played a part in what’s happening to you.
Hang on.
What the fuck am I saying?
The mainstream media constantly come down on this site, and bloggers in general, for being pseudonymous anonymous cowards with axes to grind. You couldn’t move last week for Labour MPs declaring they don’t give a damn about blogs.
And yet suddenly the word of a handful of bloggers, and some awful shillery by Patrick Gower, is enough to bring Cunliffe to the brink of expulsion?
I mean, he hasn’t done anything. Besides deliver good speeches and be generally charismatic and kind of dashing with the whole beard thing happening, Waitakere Woman likes a bit of scruff, yes she does.
… Sorry, got distracted there. Cunliffe has done nothing, at least publicly. Not spoken against Shearer. Not made increasingly more leader-ish statements to the media (when he can talk to the media). The only “source” for Cunliffe “threatening” the leadership is blogs, and Patrick Gower’s “but WHY, daddy?” interrogation methods.
Is it just me or does that make no fucking sense?
This situation is all the proof we need that there is, indeed, an anti-Cunliffe faction in the Labour Party. People who perceive his very presence, the very thought that he might like the look of the leadership some day, as an active, viable threat to David Shearer. (Because ambition is such a terrible attribute in a politician.)
Especially now the membership get more say, some might note.
So, because our media in their wisdom would really much rather report on a beat-up leadership challenge than actual policy, the ABCs are pretending to believe there’s a real problem here, that Cunliffe is up in the rafters in a mask about to drop a chandelier on Shearer’s head, so they can justify punishing and humiliating one of the most talented MPs on the front bench.
Because their first and only instinct, apparently, is self-preservation.
Wow, David C. I am sorry.
Good luck for tomorrow, mate.
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