Bizarre attack on Cunliffe

48 comments on “Bizarre attack on Cunliffe ”

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1. karol 1

   27 August 2014 at 4:59 pm

   Vance had an odd piece up this morning about Key being all slick managerialist front and Cunliffe being “dead calm”.

   Or, it could be that Key, once touted as the non-politician politician, is all marketing and little substance, while Cunliffe is more down to earth and genuine and able to talk off the cuff.
   • Puddleglum 1.1

     27 August 2014 at 5:03 pm

     Yes, karol.

     And in this latest article Vance states:

     “Labour was pushing its KiwiBuild housing policy on a visit to Auckland’s Hobsonville Pt this morning, but its lacklustre campaign is drawing questions about leader David Cunliffe’s hunger to win.”

     Yet the only thing I’ve read ‘asking questions’ about Cunliffe’s ‘hunger’ was the other Vance article you linked to.

     Doing unacknowledged referencing to your own earlier ‘questions’ seems like a very WhaleOil kind of approach to drumming up ‘concern’.
   • Rosie 1.2

     27 August 2014 at 5:49 pm

     Yes, saw that this morning, and thought it was rather twisted and biased

     Well, well, two anti Cunliffe/pro Key pieces in one day Ms. Vance. Do you get paid bonuses for the anti Labour articles you write? Is there some one other than Fairfax paying you?
     • poem 1.2.1

       27 August 2014 at 7:31 pm

       No doubt, Andrea Vance is obviously expecting extra performanced based bonuses on the twisted biased anti David Cunliffe articles she has been putting out one after another.

       Noticed a typical example of Vance’s skewered take to undermine David Cunliffe in her article “Cunliffe: grubbiest election campaign yet” over national’s dirty politics, she wrote…

       “However, he accepted much of the negativity also comes from the Left.”

       But going from David Cunliffe’s response, one wonders if he had heard something entirely different when he said…

       “That’s a fair comment. There is clearly an underbelly of public anger about the Government, I think, being out of touch.”

       here
   • Ian 1.3

     27 August 2014 at 6:34 pm

     Yes, Karol – I read that bizarre piece too and commented on it. Somehow a slick photo op no substance whistle stop tour is going places whereas talking policy isn’t (Deep Sigh)
     • word 1.3.1

       27 August 2014 at 7:33 pm

       No doubt, Andrea Vance is obviously expecting extra performanced based bonuses on the twisted biased anti David Cunliffe articles she has been putting out one after another.

       Noticed a typical example of Vance’s skewered take to undermine David Cunliffe in her article “Cunliffe: grubbiest election campaign yet” over national’s dirty politics, she wrote…

       “However, he accepted much of the negativity also comes from the Left.”

       But going from David Cunliffe’s response, one wonders if he had heard something entirely different when he said…

       “That’s a fair comment. There is clearly an underbelly of public anger about the Government, I think, being out of touch.”

       here
       • greywarbler 1.3.1.1

         27 August 2014 at 9:02 pm

         This is strange – two comments under different names but totally the same wording.
         So 1.2.1 7.31pm from poem and 1.3.1 7.33 pm from word – the same.

         On journalistic style, it seems that there must be some negativity in every political journalist’s comments on Labour. This from Vance in the link here in 1.3.1. First something positive, then a ‘but’.

         “Labour’s own campaign depends on voter turnout, which has steadily declined, and it’s promoting a Vote Positive message. Cunliffe says there is real risk of apathy if politicians can’t keep it clean. ”

         and from Puddleglum’s 1.1 example:
         ““Labour was pushing its KiwiBuild housing policy on a visit to Auckland’s Hobsonville Pt this morning, but its lacklustre campaign is drawing questions about leader David Cunliffe’s hunger to win.””
         • newsense 1.3.1.1.1

           27 August 2014 at 10:04 pm

           “pushing” is also negative- so the whole sentence is negative. Pushing- as in the public don’t want it, Labour are shysters, it’s not a good product etc etc…
   • Patricia 1.4

     1 September 2014 at 3:41 pm

     I dont think you are looking at the same person as everyone else when looking at Cunliffe.
     He always looks as if he has been rehearsing in front of a mirror, his facial and hand expressions shows a man of little substance, weak and his policies are non existent.
     Cunliffe is only still in the news because of the leaked emails from the left and the vultures in his own team know they cant get rid of him until after the elections when he will be gone, discarded and he knows it.
     The media will have a lot to answer for if there is a government change, Labour and the Greens wont last a year as their egos will not allow them to take a back seat and govern together. It is the NZ public who loose out, with this negative press who are determined to take down John Key, the tall poppy syndrome is alive and kicking in NZ. If it is not the Asians that the left are so worried about it is a government that is succeeding. NZ does not know how lucky they are to live as we have been, put in the opposition and watch this country slide. I support National, for the most important reason and that is that it will give NZ the best chance to succeed- something the left cant stand!!!!! Policies are all I am interested in not gossip – sorry that puts Labour completely out of the running!!!
2. ScottGN 2

   27 August 2014 at 4:59 pm

   This election campaign has gone rogue and the Press Gallery have become more and more irrelevant to the action.
3. RedLogix 3

   27 August 2014 at 5:03 pm

   Something has not smelt right about Vance for a while now. Not since the debacle over Peter Dunn and the ‘pre-leaked’ Kitterridge report she became a player in.

   I think she’s been compromised and her writing lacks coherency because of it. I’d like to be wrong, but WhaleDump has had bigger surprises.

   Go back and read David Fisher’s article to see how it can so easily go wrong.
4. McFlock 4

   27 August 2014 at 5:05 pm

   I saw that article.

   If the behaviours were reversed, cunliffe would no doubt be portrayed as “frantic” and leaving bemused voters in his wake with no better idea of what Labour stood for, while key was “relaxed” and adapting his campaign on an hourly basis. 🙄

   It really seemed to be more spin than analysis.
   • RedLogix 4.1

     27 August 2014 at 5:08 pm

     Yes but why?

     Vance is an experienced, intelligent and capable woman. She must understand what she is doing and what it looks like.
     • McFlock 4.1.1

       27 August 2014 at 5:21 pm

       If I were to speculate, ISTR she did a reasonable one on cunnliffe a few days back, and was part of the journos most obviously pissed off by the way they’d been manipulated and treated with contempt by the nat smear machine.

       The pretty obvious flip back might suggest someone had a chat to her about “balance”. Whether that was from govt threatening to leave her in the cold, a slater threat, or an indication from the publishers that an “unbalanced” (as they might define it) column would not be automatically published, I neither know nor particularly care.

       There’s an outside chance that her cognitive dissonance managed to paper over the cracks and she’s back to tory BAU, but I suspect that political columnists have only two real alternatives: do the “mea culpa” along the lines of David Fisher as posted by Karol, or make the choice to go back inside in the warmth and not have to work so hard – but serve a secret master.
       • Macro 4.1.1.1

         27 August 2014 at 8:08 pm

         “Balance” is right across the spectra of published media apparently. It would be laughable if it wasn’t so serious. Try getting even one story a week for a political party into any local news paper – if the Nats haven’t had one in, then neither can you.
     • yeshe 4.1.2

       27 August 2014 at 5:29 pm

       she’s compromised; has been since the Dunne leaking affair.
       • Colonial Viper 4.1.2.1

         27 August 2014 at 5:45 pm

         compromised possibly, but RL’s question still remains: “why?”
         • weka 4.1.2.1.1

           27 August 2014 at 5:53 pm

           or how?
     • McFlock 4.1.3

       27 August 2014 at 6:09 pm

       thought I replied to this, must be in mod queue

       Basically, you can do a David Fisher, or you can stay in the warm where you’re fed regular stories, not both
       • Weepus beard 4.1.3.1

         27 August 2014 at 6:23 pm

         @McFlock. I agree. They fall over themselves to appear balanced but it is at odds with the need to be extreme, hence dramatic in order to sell copy. This then requires extreme comment on both sides of the political spectrum in order to project the appearance of being balanced and independent.

         Fisher and Hager do not indulge in it and are labelled rogues for their troubles.

         RL, I think you give Vance too much credit. She’s a woman, and she’s experienced, but that’s about it.
     • Karen 4.1.4

       27 August 2014 at 6:39 pm

       I suspect she’s been told to by Fairfax, and the timing of her attacks are designed to undermine Cunliffe before the TVNZ debate. Political journalists are easily replaced if they don’t toe the line.
5. Blue 5

   27 August 2014 at 5:22 pm

   Most of the wacky claims about Cunliffe come from Claire Trevett at the Herald. Perhaps Andrea is trying to get a slice of the nut pie for Fairfax.
   • Tracey 5.1

     27 August 2014 at 5:26 pm

     has audrey been quiet, for her?
6. Tracey 6

   27 August 2014 at 5:24 pm

   And when key was crowing about the hobsonville development why didnt she ask, or google, how many of them are actually affordable.

   This article and her item earlier are just downright wierd for their skewed emphasis. Once is odd, two starts to be a pattern
   • emergency mike 6.1

     27 August 2014 at 6:49 pm

     http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/10425677/Cunliffe-grubbiest-election-campaign-yet

     However, he accepted much of the negativity also comes from the Left. “That’s a fair comment. There is clearly an underbelly of public anger about the Government, I think, being out of touch.”

     So what’s three? I wrote a longer comment about this but it seems to have disappeared.

     Actually forget three, I’ve noticed Vance consistently repeating the current National Party spin since, as others have noted, the Peter Dunne incident.
7. Ali 7

   27 August 2014 at 5:40 pm

   Anrea Vance headline: Homes “Still out of reach”

   Alternative headline/themes for the same article could have been

   Labour one ups National
   Labour reduces Auckland new housing cost by thousands
   National second bested by progressive Labour housing policy
   Old Labour policy still better than new National one
   At the end of the day, Labour offers more
   Comparison between political housing policies draws interesting result

   But instead the better policy is tarnished by bias reporting…
   That is actually quite sad and irresponsible reporting
8. Anne 8

   27 August 2014 at 5:41 pm

   I’m only going on my instincts but from the first time I saw her on the television (usually in a stand-up scenario) I put her in my ‘untrustworthy’ basket.

   Judging from the info. which was leaked about the Dunne/Vance texting activity… my conclusion: she was more than happy to give him the ‘come on’ while he was useful for extracting information, but the moment he ceased to be useful she gave him the bum’s rush.

   I have no time for individuals who behave in that way – and I never read her pieces for that reason.
9. Colonial Viper 9

   27 August 2014 at 5:43 pm

   This means that with 8% interest rates the mortgage would be $577/week instead of $777/week under National’s much panned scheme.

   So…why does a Labour government not offer mortgages at 2.5% p.a. instead of letting the banks cream off billions.

   A 2.5% pa mortgage would drop weekly repayments from $577/week to around $350/week (rough calcs). Now that’s what I call affordable.

   Follow up question – why does everyone else have to scrimp and save while the big banks continue to live up large with record profits?
10. the pigman 10

    27 August 2014 at 6:05 pm

    Just read the accompanying critique of Cunliffe’s campaigning by Vance: http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/opinion/10427022/The-slick-and-the-dead-calm

    shaking my head

    Also telling that a huge majority of the comments are pointing out Andrea’s apparent bias, yet they are all hugely voted down. Nats must have their paid clicktivists out… too bad they’re not interested in engaging in substantive debate.

    Agree about the other article Bunji… it is scarcely grammatical and really struggles to make sense. Maybe it was authored by someone else and sent to Andrea for editing in true Slugula-style.
11. Tracey 11

    27 August 2014 at 6:17 pm

    Prime news was brought to you tonight by the National Party…
12. emergency mike 12

    27 August 2014 at 6:38 pm

    And also this one from Vance a day or two ago.

    When the link for it was on the Stuff front page it had an unflattering pic of Cunliffe over a tagline like “Dirty politics, effigies, political songs, grubbiest election ever?” The article immediately repeats the National spin of lumping Hager’s book, the effigy burning, Pam Corkery’s outburst, and the angy hip hop song all into some kind of all-wrapped-up-together equivalence.

    After allowing Cunliffe to comment on Key’s dirty politics, she pulls out this pearler:

    However, he accepted much of the negativity also comes from the Left. “That’s a fair comment. There is clearly an underbelly of public anger about the Government, I think, being out of touch.”

    The implication she draws from Cunliffe’s statement is that anyone angry at the Government is being ‘negative’ and is ‘from the left’.

    There was a post here recently which said something like “her subtleties are often lost on some of the commenters here,” (I forget which one), which surprised me. To me her articles have very consistently been repeating the current National party spin. Since, as other people have noted, around the time of the Peter Dunne incident. Sometimes it’s subtle, and sometimes not. But it’s the same standard paying lip service to ‘balance’ while delivering backhanded ‘yay Key he’s slick and smooth boo Cunliffe can’t he get anything right’ all day long that seems to occur in a remarkable number of places in our media.
    • emergency mike 12.1

      27 August 2014 at 6:51 pm

      The paragraph beginning with ‘However’ is meant to be in blockquotes.
13. whateva next? 13

    27 August 2014 at 6:42 pm

    Cunliffe is deliberately being calm and measured in his responses, so as not to create a media frenzy, and be accused of even more dross. He is doing a fantastic job of smiling in the face of serious adversity from the media, and vast amounts of money being thrown at the anti Labour campaign.
    • Rodel 13.1

      27 August 2014 at 8:51 pm

      Yes whateva next +1
      I think David Cunliffe is outsmiling and outrelaxing John Key and Key is desperately trying to rein back his natural sneering traits-unsuccessfully so far.
      Cunliffe has him on the back foot (by refusing to sneer).
14. repateet 14

    27 August 2014 at 6:43 pm

    Methinks she needs a nap perchance to dream.

    To dream of leaks, now seemingly forgotten, of the Ohariu type.
    • whateva next? 14.1

      27 August 2014 at 6:46 pm

      ay, there’s the rub
15. tc 15

    27 August 2014 at 7:11 pm

    I hope they keep it up, most can see the bias and dirty politics has shown they are part of the problem not any part of a solution. if they actually did the work that journalists do they would not have been played like they have.

    Garner, spinner and all the crew have reverted straight back to type after what was probably an agreed period of ‘hard questioning’ nudge nudge wink wink.

    Hope Maori tv runs the hollowmen again, mandatory viewing in an election period for folks to see where the seeds of the current national crop were sown.
16. peterlepaysan 16

    27 August 2014 at 8:22 pm

    Who is Andrea Vance? what does she know about housing (or anything else for that matter)?

    Sigh!

    Yet another “media” slave trying to sell advertising space by interviewing her word processor.
17. RedBaronCV 17

    27 August 2014 at 8:45 pm

    Notice the snide comment in today’s article about Cunliffe being at a school

    “But with only a handful of eligible voters in the room, reporters wondered how effective the visit was”. Now Key is often shown at schools (they must have the teachers locked away somewhere else for the duration) but the media have never wondered this before? Bit slow aren’t they?

    And just to bring Andrea up to the mark – telling a room full of kids how to get an ipad – will ensure many parents are dragged out of bed at dawn o’clock on polling day and harried until they take the walk. A 5.00a.m start for the booths?
    • North 17.1

      28 August 2014 at 6:33 am

      Vance’s bias is palpable – her scribblings increasingly silly – unintelligible except as a reflection of that bias.

      “Living in the glow of……” imposes obligations I guess.

      It destroys journalism deserving of respect however.

      This has manifested particularly since the Dunne fiasco…..what’s that all about ?

      “Untrustworthy” as someone said.
18. Sable 18

    27 August 2014 at 9:21 pm

    Maybe Vance could call Cameron. Might be a job at Whalevomit with her name on it maybe?
19. Inky 19

    27 August 2014 at 11:36 pm

    When you look at the slanted, unfair reporting in a huge chunk of the mainstream media, the dirty machinations of Slater, the right-leaning TV politics panels, TVNZ’s insistence on having the extremely biased Hosking as referee for the leaders’ debates, etc, etc … doesn’t NZ now feel a wee bit like Fiji under Bainimarama, just minus the military? You have no chance if you oppose that man there. And the right (aka big business) is doing its best to ensure it’s the case here, too, with Key.
20. Thinker 20

    28 August 2014 at 6:23 am

    I think Cunliffe has an advantage in the debate.

    Key’s super-quality debating style (not) has always been nothing more than schoolboy taunts, and Cunliffe clearly has the strategy (and self-control, for I couldn’t do it) to not respond, leaving Key’s nasty, snide remark(s) as the last word for people to take away.

    For once,, the debate will be seen by people for what it is, and they’ll believe their own eyes, not some hack-piece version of events.

    If it isn’t rigged against Cunliffe, then I have high hopes.
21. Walsingham 21

    28 August 2014 at 7:37 am

    The issues…the issues are housing, jobs, education, health, honouring The Treaty and transparency in government! Right now Labour appears to have an, if not monopoly, close enough to one on this

    All of the above is a government, not one totally in lock step, attempting to portray Labour as still containing the ABCs, off message and contradicting itself …to deflect from it’s own very obvious incompetence, skulduggery and rational fear entering the last month before the election. Could, if you wish, be referred to as the “Collin’s Factor”! Judith is a spoiler, currently being (deliberately) isolated and any future in her party is distant and improbable. And she has her supporters on the inside.

    Accomodation, jobs and families! More journos besides Vance are going to be filing less than evenhanded copy. Fair, balanced and unafraid exists just not in good ol’ En Zed right now. At least some of the populist demagoguery has abated.

    Cunliffe is experienced, very intelligent and his vision is a mix of old New Zealand social values and new first world economic development for and around all Kiwis. Inclusive!

    Staying on message, creatively watching the media’s spin for more irrelevancies and knowing Labour can not just be better but perhaps given the run can undo some of the elitist, short term, ‘entitled’ racist thinking of not just the Key government but those parties to its right.

    Principles not personalities…housing, jobs, education, health and clean government!
22. JonL 22

    28 August 2014 at 10:29 am

    From Facebook….””Stuff.co.nz is a joke. One of my friends is an editor there and she told me the bosses are open about the fact their aim is to get key re-elected.”
    – Louisa Berry

    So….par for the course for all the second rate hacks………
    • rod 22.1

      28 August 2014 at 5:02 pm

      Perhaps they all get a bottle of John Key’s plonk at Christmas.
23. James Thrace 23

    28 August 2014 at 5:47 pm

    [Deleted. Keep it seemly – MS]

    That explains it all.
    • emergency mike 23.1

      28 August 2014 at 9:29 pm

      You’d better make it clear that your joking James. Comments like that might be fine on WhaleSmear, but not here.

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