slippery

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Pride in your work

Written By: - Date published: 10:05 am, July 25th, 2008 - 22 comments

Some of our rightwing commentators are rejecting the argument that National’s ‘workplace policy’ strips workers of their rights. Problem is, every workers’ rights organisation thinks that it does and John Key does too. Think about it, if you think people will welcome your policy do you slip it out with as little fanfare as possible? […]

Unauthorised, unimpressive, unquestioning

Written By: - Date published: 11:52 am, July 22nd, 2008 - 94 comments

I’ve finally got through part 1 of the Herald’s deification of John Key and it’s surprising how boring and mediocre he comes across. Impressive contortions too. How three senior reporters with six months to write an article managed to avoid asking how Key could have both talked politics over the dinner table and not have […]

Key moves to shut down hard questions

Written By: - Date published: 10:07 am, July 18th, 2008 - 31 comments

Part of the Crosby/Textor MO is to avoid any hard questioning or real investigative journalism from the media. Step one in this process is be matey with journos. They’re people too and they can fall for charm. When that fails and something embarrassing comes out, attack the journo. Key did this over the “we would love […]

Follow through

Written By: - Date published: 9:56 am, July 18th, 2008 - 34 comments

Over at Kiwiblog David Farrar has found an amusing error made by the Herald online in its politics section which has listed several stories from 1999 as current. Good for a laugh I thought and so I had a look. Two stories in particular got me thinking. One of them was headed “Clark’s mission: clean […]

Not ready for prime time

Written By: - Date published: 4:00 pm, July 17th, 2008 - 28 comments

John Key tries to reassure us that National’s policy to privatise ACC would keep the scheme’s principles intact. Here’s how he defined those principles on Radio Live: ‘no fault, 24 hour, no fault, blah, blah, blah.” Sorry, but that doesn’t fill me with confidence in our wannabe PM and his policies. [Update: gobsmacked points out […]

On the fourth estate

Written By: - Date published: 11:59 am, July 17th, 2008 - 39 comments

Francesca Mold on National’s ACC announcment: ‘What’s interesting is the way they’ve put this out under the radar, perhaps showing how sensitive they are to how voters might react. And they’ve done that with a number of policies recently. Although, I have to say, it’s not hurting them in the polls’ a) It won’t hurt […]

Spinbusting: NZF’s donations are Labour’s business

Written By: - Date published: 8:59 am, July 17th, 2008 - 52 comments

National is calling on Helen Clark to investigate alleged donations by Owen Glenn to New Zealand First (which, if they happened, were perfectly legal). Consider what that means: National is advocating for the leader of a political party to be able to delve into the internal finances of another political party. That would be a […]

Crosby/Textor line de jour

Written By: - Date published: 7:46 am, July 16th, 2008 - 82 comments

Every Wednesday, John Key does his round of interviews. Breakfast TV makes a nice soft start with interviews on Breakfast then Sunrise. Then he’s on KiwiFM with Wammo and bFM with Mikey Havoc, neither of whom are political specialists but are increasingly asking good questions. Every week, Key comes prepared with two or three lines, […]

Silence those media lambs

Written By: - Date published: 9:17 pm, July 8th, 2008 - 32 comments

Media bleating about Labour’s ‘personal attacks’ is getting tiresome. Some journalists seem to forget from one election to the next that an important element of the triennial exercise is to find out whether contenders for political office are fit to hold elected office. That means they will be probed, scrutinised and, yes, criticised, for failings […]

Havoc interviews Key on Crosby/Textor

Written By: - Date published: 1:51 pm, July 7th, 2008 - 37 comments

Here’s some great audio of Key running Crosby/Textor lines to avoid answering Havoc’s questions. Around the half way point my personal favourite C/T line even makes an appearance: “I intend to run a positive upbeat ambitious campaign; I think it reflects my personality”. As Havoc observes “[John] you’ve spent the last nine months gaining New […]

Nats’ NGO policy, give the money to Aussies

Written By: - Date published: 1:08 pm, July 7th, 2008 - 18 comments

Charities are voicing fears that under a National Government public funding for NGOs would be administered by an Australian NGO called Mission Australia with dire consequences for small charities here. The NGOs say Key thinks there are too many NGOs here and wants to starve them of cash. Mission Australia does the admirable work you expect from […]

Beyond the political showboating

Written By: - Date published: 10:10 am, July 7th, 2008 - 36 comments

Ok. Now that the political theatre is done maybe National and its allies would like to engage in proper debate on the freight trucking industry. Here’s some issues for debate: Road user charges are less than 10% of costs and the increase, half what was recommended meaning petrol vehicles are still subsidising truck companies, is […]

Who are National’s moles?

Written By: - Date published: 5:53 am, July 7th, 2008 - 60 comments

The information being leaked to Nicky Hager is obviously coming from well-placed sources inside National The idea of hacking is farcical (Lyndon Hood mocks it beautifully). In the Hollow Men, Hager refers to his sources as ‘six senior National figures’, in the SST article he talks of ‘staffers’ being concerned about the actions of Crosby/Textor. […]

Reviewing the ‘truck strike’

Written By: - Date published: 12:59 pm, July 4th, 2008 - 46 comments

As a piece of political theatre it’s good and people who walk to work, including myself, enjoyed the unusual sight and gave them a wave (some people stuck in traffic didn’t find it so fun, though). But just remember, this was a set-up – truck companies did not waste a whole morning and all that fuel protesting […]

Who’s driving the ‘truck strike’?

Written By: - Date published: 3:02 pm, July 3rd, 2008 - 100 comments

So, let’s get this straight the Government has increased road user charges for diesel vehicles by half the amount recommended by the Ministry of Transport to cover the roading costs of those vehicles. The increase is 7-8%. Road user chargers account for 10% of trucking costs. So, we’re talking a less than 1% increase in […]

Time to front up on ACC

Written By: - Date published: 11:53 am, July 3rd, 2008 - 23 comments

Some excellent journalism by Vernon Small has revealed that Australian insurers expect National to privatise the ACC scheme and they see $200 million profit in it for themselves. National has now been forced to admit its policy is to allow private competitors for workplace and accident insurance, although (as always) details are not provided. Mr […]

Real John vs Brand Key

Written By: - Date published: 5:41 am, July 3rd, 2008 - 31 comments

Let’s go back to the heart of this story: it is not about push-polling or whatever, this is about how Brand Key has been purpose-built by a company world-renowned for its secretive, anti-democratic practices. Crosby/Textor are not just some consultants like parties might use to assist policy development. They have built our image of Key […]

National releases 3 more lines of policy – Scoop

Written By: - Date published: 6:24 am, July 2nd, 2008 - 17 comments

A classic headline that says it all. Here’s the three lines: ‘Give schools additional resources over time to ensure more students can take part in extra-curricula organised sport. Ensure more of the government’s sport spending gets through to the front line.’ Stop it, John. It’s great knowing exactly what you would do, how much it […]

Crosby/Textor Spin Bingo

Written By: - Date published: 6:30 pm, July 1st, 2008 - 67 comments

John Key has his round of five interviews tomorrow morning (Breakfast, Sunrise, ZB, KiwiFM, bFM) and will undoubtedly face questions on his use of Crosby/Textor. So, what line will C/T have him parrot repeatedly? He’s already trying “I get most of my advice from the public” (weak) and the more aggressive “I’m going to set […]

Brand Key shows a contempt for ordinary Kiwis

Written By: - Date published: 6:30 am, July 1st, 2008 - 39 comments

It comes as no surprise that Brand Key has been a Crosby/Textor project from Day 1. The hit and run, the bait and switch, the cake and eat it, the shoot the messenger, the misdirection, the dog-whistle, wedge politics, the outright lie – these are all elements of the classic Crosby Textor strategy that have […]

John does a Don

Written By: - Date published: 2:23 pm, June 30th, 2008 - 76 comments

Remember Noelle McCarthy’s 95bFM interview with Brash in which she got him to admit to knowledge of the Brethren pamphlets? Student radio has done it again. Hager’s weekend article in the Sunday Star Times detailed an ongoing advisory relationship between the National Party and political consultants Crosby Textor. But RDU’s Kate Gorgeous asked John Key back in November 2007, “Have you got […]

Hollow politics at work

Written By: - Date published: 2:14 pm, June 30th, 2008 - 22 comments

Brand Key on Waatea news: “A National government will be a lot more demanding about educational standards, a lot more demanding about under-performance in schools, a lot more demanding on failing schools” There is no ‘how we will fix things’ here, simply a statement of problems. If schools don’t perform would National cut their funding? […]

Nat response to C/T scandal right from C/T playbook

Written By: - Date published: 11:49 am, June 30th, 2008 - 33 comments

There’s a standard formula that Crosby/Textor has its clients use when damaging information comes out. a) refuse to engage. The most senior public response to the revelation that Brand Key has been created by exactly the same people who ran Brash’s divisive, racist campaign in 2005 has come from Key’s chief of staff. No politician […]

The cost of Crosby/Textor

Written By: - Date published: 10:06 am, June 30th, 2008 - 58 comments

So Crosby/Textor has been designing Brand Key from Day 1, isn’t this just what every party does? No, it isn’t – Crosby/Textor uses a particularly undemocratic, nasty form of political marketing (more on that in later posts) and the extent to which National uses Crosby/Textor is simply beyond the financial means of any other party. […]

Busted

Written By: - Date published: 10:59 am, June 29th, 2008 - 122 comments

Nicky Hager’s piece in today’s Sunday Star Times has confirmed what we all suspected: Crosby Textor are the creators of Brand Key. For those of you unfamiliar with CT, they’re known as the dirtiest and most driven political PR firm in the game. CT specialises in dog-whistle racism, attack politics and pretty much every aspect […]

Bait and switch

Written By: - Date published: 3:47 pm, June 28th, 2008 - 79 comments

It strikes me there is a disconnect between what prospective National voters expect it to do in government and what it has actually promised it would do. Some examples: Tax Cuts How much larger do you expect the tax cut National will offer you will be compared to the ones Labour has announced? $5 a week? $10? […]

Ministry advised against concurrent referendum/election

Written By: - Date published: 11:15 am, June 26th, 2008 - 44 comments

In line with Ministry of Justice advice, the Government has decided not to hold the child discipline referendum at the same time as the election. You can read the entire advice document here: Holding a referendum at the same time as the general election is not recommended because  “From 1999, we know that voters would […]

Johnny Key and the magic $500 million

Written By: - Date published: 4:11 pm, June 25th, 2008 - 12 comments

Whenever John Key is asked to explain how he will fund some new spending or his still secret tax cuts, he says ‘we’ll cut waste/rein in spending’ and the only example he ever gives is ‘we’ll cap the core public service at 36,000′. This, he claims, will save ‘$500 million over 3 years’ or $166 […]

Cake and eat it

Written By: - Date published: 1:55 pm, June 25th, 2008 - 10 comments

I’ve noticed a new trend in the right’s spin lately (apart from their wholesale theft of campaign scripts) – the ‘have your cake and eat it’ trick. This tactic is basically a response to legislation or policy they don’t like but they know they can’t be seen to be against. So what they do is […]

Enlightening debate

Written By: - Date published: 11:03 am, June 25th, 2008 - 69 comments

In Parliament yesterday: Anderton: “Has the Minister received any reports on how many National Party members it takes to change a light bulb?” Cullen: “None. Because they like to keep us in the dark.”

ToryAid: Wastewatch (3)

Written By: - Date published: 11:59 am, June 24th, 2008 - 68 comments

In response to the UMR poll that shows 60% of voters would not want tax cuts at the expense of public services, Bill English says “under any tax plans we might have government spending will continue to increase* but [we need] more effective public services in tougher times” Notice, they are already preparing the ground […]