Benson-Pope rejects Legalise Cannabis Party offer

Written By: - Date published: 12:43 pm, June 12th, 2008 - 19 comments
Categories: labour - Tags: ,

Reported today in the ODT:

Dunedin South MP David Benson-Pope will not be accepting an invitation to stand as the Aotearoa Legalise Cannabis Party’s (ALCP) electorate candidate at the next election.

“Their judgement has obviously been impaired by their recreational habits,” he said when contacted.

19 comments on “Benson-Pope rejects Legalise Cannabis Party offer ”

  1. Lukas 1

    Funny hearing DBP commenting on other peoples “recreational habits”

  2. Yawn – Lukas. I heard from Ian Wishart that you’ve made a recreational habit of fu*king your mum in the ear. Funny, eh?

    [lprent: That is a new one, ear-fucking?. Please take a week off to figure out some more subtle insults. BTW: The ‘please’ part is my attempt to be polite. One of those excellent posts like Brand Key maybe?]

  3. Lukas 3

    wow sod, you just keep on with the intelligent insults don’t ya… is this a step up or down from your normal pig insults?

  4. Lew 4

    Perhaps he’s pitching for a ban so he can stop stealing his employer’s time …

    L

  5. MikeE 5

    Lukas raises a good point. Essentially cannabis is a morality issue, with most politicians in NZ being guilty of drug snobbery, its fine to consume alcohol in vast quantities, but to use any other substance is some terrible crime.

    This is especially the case considering the allegations last year surrounding DBP and his alleged “recreational habits” that others migth have a moral issue with. Personally I don’t have a problem with what he may or may not have gotten up to, and it was really noones business – just the same as cannabis use should be, providing it doesn’t harm others. And as someone on the right (albiet a liberal) I think it was very unfair of people to drag his personal life into the public…

    Then again, even though I support complete legalisation of Canabis (and other recreational substances) I couldn’t in my right mind support ALCP, as all their other policies are nonsense. So really, he should have denied it on that basis, rather than what their habits were.

  6. Lukas 6

    Lew- through my time reading this blog I have come to the conclusion that if you are from the left and abuse people on this site, nothing much will be said… but hey, I come here of my own free will so know what to expect from the likes of Robinsod.

    MikeE- agreed

    [lprent: ‘sod found a ban today]

  7. Billy 7

    lprent, surely in the hurly-burly of robust debate an amusing reference to aural sex is not out of bounds? Because I am almost certain the activity referred to is physically impossible, I doubt Lukas would have taken genuine offence.

    I know you are walking a tight line, and we wouldn’t want it to be such abuse and nothing else but, surely, that was not beyond the pale.

    The fun factor is going to be considerably reduced if we can’t get inventive with combinations of fornication and close relatives.

    Or is that just me?

    [lprent: Normally I don’t bother too much. But there is always a risk of an annoyed moderator or sysop coming away from somewhere else or seeing a stream of comments across threads, and deciding to stomp. In this case I warned ‘sod in one thread which it is likely he didn’t read. Spotted later comment in a similar vein, and couldn’t be bothered chasing him around the threads.

    Remember I don’t read the threads. I just look at the messages in reverse date time order, so often I have no idea of context. It is the risk you take on a moderated site leaving at the edge comments. 🙂 ]

  8. MikeE 8

    I believe ear fucking is an obscure reference to a particular episode of family guy, where Meg and her boy fried “ear fuck” so she doesn’t catch STDs..

    or it could be a silly insult..

    the family guy episode was gold however..

  9. I’ll be gone after this one comment:

    In medieval times it was considered the immaculate conception was performed aurally. As a result it became fashionable for women to cover their ears with a scarf. I’m not sure why but perhaps the logic was if it’s good enough for God it’s good enough for the devil…

    Make of that what you will. I’ll see you in a week. Cheers lprent (I’ve got a project I really need to get some time on).

    [lprent: Seeya. Billy reckons you were probably picked on unfairly but who says life has to be fair anyway. After all we get national government’s don’t we]

  10. Quoth the Raven 10

    I agree with MikeE. Cannabis and other recreational drugs should be legalized. I see it as a matter of personal responsibility. I would like to know if any National supporters agree or if personal responsibility is just a meaningless catchcry.

  11. Billy 11

    lprent, since ‘sod is not around, it falls to me alone to point out that there is no apostrophe in “governments” as you have used it there. It’s what he would have wanted.

    [lprent: Sorry… missing him?]

  12. Rex Widerstrom 12

    There’s a line here about not wanting to stand for a party that has no chance because he doesn’t like being beaten, but I’m not touching it… 😀

    MikeE – As a liberal also I had a difficult time with the allegations being published. However his (mis)handling of the media over earlier events (tennis balls, showers etc) made the dirt-digging inevitable.

    The tendency to hold every aspect of a person’s life up to the spotlight to judge their competency for office is very much a modern phenomenon. I watched a fascinating doco recently about an Australian Minister for Justice who vigorously favoured the death penalty but who also, the programme suggested, may have been a serial killer!! (and was actually convicted of murder). Seems people didn’t mind too much about these “minor” pecadillos in 1900s.

  13. Matthew Pilott 13

    Billy, you’re never alone. If you get banned, I’ll hold the fort (literally).

  14. Billy 14

    Matthew, that’s very comforting.

  15. Robinsod
    June 12, 2008 at 1:15 pm

    Yawn – Lukas. I heard from Ian Wishart that you’ve made a recreational habit of fu*king your mum in the ear. Funny, eh?

    [lprent: That is a new one, ear-fucking?. Please take a week off to figure out some more subtle insults. BTW: The ‘please’ part is my attempt to be polite. One of those excellent posts like Brand Key maybe?]

    he gets banned for only one week that that

    I guess being a lefty one can say what you like !!!

    Shame on you is all I can say

  16. Anita 16

    Given that Wishart comes from a trinitarian faith, I assume that the insult is to say that Wishart believes that Lukas is, in fact, God.

    I’m pretty sure that’s about as subtle (or at least obscure) as an insult can be 🙂

  17. Anita 17

    But to stray back on topic for a moment, Benson-Pope’s comment is pretty cringe-inducing. It’s the kind of centrist diluted thoughtless throw away comment we’ve come to expect from the worst of Labour’s MPs.

    It’d be nice to see some more people come up through Labour who’re willing to stand for more than the middle ground.

  18. Mikey 18

    So David Benson Pope doesn’t want to commit political suicide eh? Oh wait he already has – snap!!

  19. Anita 19

    Mikey,

    I’m not saying he should’ve made a statement about his personal views on cannabis (in either direction), but that he didn’t need to make the throwaway centrist joke that would fit so well on a National Party candidate.

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