Felix on the Mana debate

Written By: - Date published: 1:30 pm, November 1st, 2010 - 24 comments
Categories: by-election - Tags: , ,

Q+A held a debate between the Mana by-election candidates yesterday. Felix has done a very nice summary of how the candidates came across:

1) Hekia Parata is a nasty piece of work who gets angry when challenged. Her entire platform is “I ♥ John Key. Don’t you ♥ John Key too?”

2) Kris Fa’afoi is well meaning but a bit of a flake. His entire platform is “I’m from Labour, just like Winnie Laban”

3) Jan Logie is pleasant enough. Standard Green philosophies but nothing of special local relevance (even though she lives in Mana). Possibly effective but a bit soft for my liking.

4) Colin Du Plessis is a joke candidate doing a parody of an inbred aristocrat.

5) Matt McCarten is not from the area but seems to have a better grasp of the issues than any of the others.

6) Paul Holmes is the National Party candidate.

Very fair calls. Fa’afoi is a good guy but we’re not seeing his values coming through very strongly. He has spent a career attempting to suppress them, of course. We need to hear more from him about why Labour values matter to him and to the electorate that go beyond talking points. And Parata is a nasty piece of work. She continually interrupts everyone else when they speak then gets upset at the slightest questioning. How she handles the questions from the public at the Backbenches debate on Wednesday will be very interesting.

24 comments on “Felix on the Mana debate ”

  1. gobsmacked 1

    Why haven’t Labour been running that old clip of John Key sniffing the veggies, at Porirua market? It was on the Standard a couple of years ago. Link it to the GST policy, have a bit of fun with it.

    Once voters see that, National’s campaign would never recover.

    • Mark M 1.1

      A video of John Key sniffing a vegetable will wreck Nationals campaign ?
      What are you trying to say about the minds of the Mana people.

  2. outofbed 2

    I think that’s a fair summary, Matt did very well, I was pleased with Jan as this was her first big media outing so was very inexperienced can only get better, but lightweight she is most definitely not, I have a feeling that she used to work as EA or something to Sue Bradford
    Holmes is obviously a tory and as someone said yesterday that Parata was brown Margaret Thatcher a thoroughly unlikeable person it must be said.

    • gingercrush 2.1

      Don’t make excuses she was nuts and could only spout off pathetic slogans the way all Green MPs do.

  3. outofbed 3

    BTW who here is going to Back benches? I will be

  4. Very fair calls. Fa’afoi is a good guy but we’re not seeing his values coming through very strongly. He has spent a career attempting to suppress them, of course.

    Or just maybe he has none.

    Unless self-interest and self-advancement are values, that is.

    His entire platform is “I’m from Labour, just like Winnie Laban”

    An ineffective flake trying to ride the coat-tails of another ineffective flake? Priceless!

    • gingercrush 4.1

      Lies. All Labour MPs are very hard workers and are extremely dedicated to their communities and have outstanding qualities and all should be cabinet ministers.

  5. Lady Gaga was horrendous, a hectoring Maggie Thatcher.
    The candidates of the Left were all fine, but Matt is setting the agenda politically.

    The working poor need jobs and a living wage. GST is a tax that punishes the poor-
    we should abolish it outright and replace it with a Tobin Tax.
    These are the meaty ideas we want to see the Big Parties respond to.

    As for who lived in a State house and when, Python comes to mind.
    LUXURY- Matt had to live in at the bottom of a lake, was killed before breakfast before
    working 20 hours down the pit 😉

    When a journalist and a consultant with several houses (she seems to be a local everywhere)
    try to get Prolier than thou, its worth reminding them- you’re running for parliament, guys.

    Solidarity
    Joe

    • The Baron 5.1

      So much crazy in one post – and I haven’t even got to the policy. Lady Gaga? “Prolier than thou”? Pythons and lake bottoms? WTF?

      Really Joe, the ideas sound so much better when they are expressed coherently. And before you start, there is no vast right wing conspiracy that is making you sound incoherent…

      • swordfish 5.1.1

        Nah, I think Joe made perfect sense. You have to be a Monty Python fan to get it, of course. As for “Prolier than thou”, surely a reference to which candidate has the most “proletarian” background (and therefore, in the context of lower-income areas of Mana, is the most “holy”), no ?

        Unfortunately (as a Mana voter), I missed Q+A. Sounds like Matt did particularly well.

        I wonder if anyone’s intending to conduct a poll in Mana during the run-up ? Maybe they already have and I don’t know about it ? I’m in a reckless mood at the moment and may very well throw caution to the wind and make an authoritative (and one can only assume, widely-respected) prediction on the by-election results. But I don’t want to be preempted by any poll results.

  6. SHG 6

    I don’t get it, is Hekia Parata a nasty piece of work or not?

    • pollywog 6.1

      She seems like a strong, educated and informed maori woman who’s not prepared to take any shit from anyone.

      …for the dominant white male demographic, that would prolly make her a nasty piece of work.

      • felix 6.1.1

        She doesn’t seem strong to me. She seems like arrogant yuppie scum.

        • Maynard J 6.1.1.1

          But only coz you’re white, apparently.

          I gather you’re only allowed to make these comments if you’re brown.

        • pollywog 6.1.1.2

          maybe felix…i’ve not had much to do with arrogant yuppie scum so can’t honestly make that call.

      • Fisiani 6.1.2

        Hekia was the most passionate candidate and the most informed candidate and easily the best candidate for ALL the people of Mana.

        Sadly Kris will still plod into the seat though as yet another Labour nobody.

  7. Correct, Swordfish.

    @Baron-

  8. ron 8

    Parata’s old man Wira gardener on the Nats durting the Brash years : “We seriously contemplated whether the National Party was ever going to be the party for us,” he says, “but in the end we didn’t abandon it, we just went to sleep for a while.”
    In other words they kept their heads down and said nothing as the Tories showed their true racist colours…but kept supporting them. Class.

  9. great synopsis Felix

  10. trademark 10

    I think the big plus for Colin Du Plessis was that he got a chance to be on the show. The other two ALCP and Alliance candidates weren’t lucky enough to receive the Paul Holmes treatment.

    • felix 10.1

      You think tv exposure is a plus for Colin? I reckon Colin’s best strategy would be to stay at home and not answer the phone until polling day. The less people hear from him the more votes he’ll pick up.

  11. Frank Macskasy 11

    Hekia Parata came across as intolerant and hypocritical. Some of her remarks were cringeworthy.

    Kris Fa’afoi seremed a “safe candidate”.

    Colin Du Plessis – god we laughed our heads off! The man was an embarressment. He made Parata look pretty damned good, by comparison.

    Matt McCarten was probably the most credible out of the whole bunch.

Links to post

The server will be getting hardware changes this evening starting at 10pm NZDT.
The site will be off line for some hours.