“I can’t even remember”

Written By: - Date published: 5:54 pm, April 13th, 2008 - 18 comments
Categories: john key - Tags:

A reader sent us this very good video of John Key’s repeated memory lapses over where he stood on the Springbok tour:

The tour was the defining event of a generation, and it’s simply not plausible that a politically aware university student would not have had a position one way or the other.

While I don’t particularly care what John believed when he was 20, I do care about what he says now. And what I see in these answers is a man who’s willing tell us whatever it is he thinks we want to hear.

Hat tip: Laura

18 comments on ““I can’t even remember” ”

  1. Monty 1

    John key is arich guy, john key is successful, John Key is the preferred PM, John Key owns a house, John Key is the subject of my obbsession. You guys are really quite sad in you obsession.

    Go and get a life.

  2. Tane 2

    Thanks Monty, a valuable contribution. Our reader sent us this video and I think it makes a valid point. What’s your view on Key’s inability to give a straight and honest answer?

  3. Felix 3

    You forgot “John Key won’t give a straight answer, ever, on any topic, if he thinks he might lose points”.

  4. James Kearney 4

    Heh, Monty can’t handle the activist left- probably supported the tour himself, the miserable old bigot.

  5. Dan 5

    The other “Can’t remember” line that worries me most about Key is his role in the run on the Kiwi dollar. I read a Listener article about his role on the trading floor where his boss bet huge sums against the NZ dollar, and Key’s responses were far from convincing.

  6. mike 6

    “the miserable old bigot”
    So if he can’t remember what he was thinking 20 years ago it makes him guilty eh JK, does this also mean Helen signed the painting?

  7. You know, I suspect he genuinely means everything he says in this piece; that he doesn’t remember, that he was ambivalent, that he wanted the Boks there but opposes aparthied… his problem is that he glides through life largely unaffected by the stuff that truly matters. Frankly, as a person who did protest against the tour, I’d have respected him more even if he supported the tour.

    captcha: men exterior!

  8. Why didn’t he just say:

    Yes I supported the tour. Like many kiwis at the time I opposed apartheid but didn’t believe that sport and politics should mix. But I was wrong, and the pressure helped end apartheid in South Africa.

    Or something more honest along those lines.

  9. all_your_base 9

    mike – not quite the same as forgetting an item on your shopping list eh? what did he believe? he’d clearly rather not say – preferring to tell people what he thinks they want to hear.

  10. Monty 10

    James K – For the record I did not support the tour. I went on protest marches with my girl-friend of the time. I am not a bigot nor am I old (but at 44 could be considered middle aged.). You are nothing but a judgmental irrelevant clown with the maturity of a pubescent school boy.

    I also watched the games on TV.

    Most importantly I do not really care that much about events of nearly 25 years ago (1984 was the year I went on protest matches).

    I am much more concerned about the average leftie who has a serious case of KDS as demonstrated by the authors of this blog, Michael Cullen, Helen Clark and the entire Labour Caucus. Is Labour’s whole election strategy based around KDS? Are Labour that desperate and weak that they accuse their enemy of their own worst sins?

  11. Sam Dixon 11

    The point is not ‘where did Key stand on the tour at the time’ but ‘why won’t he just give a simple answer now’. And the answer is because his brand depends on being all things to all men.

  12. insider 12

    While it might have defined your identity I know plenty of students at the time who were not politically ‘aware’ ie they did not care about politics (I don’t recall it being conmpulsory), didn’t have strong views on the tour, they were more concerned about parties and girls.

  13. Matthew Pilott 13

    Insider – if that were the case with John Key and was honest enough to admit it, then people might be fine with it 😉 Trying to say he doesn’t remember to avoid giving an honest, definitive position – it’s bullshit as my mate Phil would say.

  14. mandy 14

    I was eleven years old at the time of the 1981 Springbok tour and still remember vividly how it affected NZ. Key saying that he can’t remember is just plain bullshit.

  15. Steve Pierson 15

    more of the same from a man who just wants you to vote for him and will say whatever it takes.

    like they says: ‘his name’s John Key and he’ll be whatever you want him to be’

  16. mandy 16

    For John Key saying nothing and fumbling for an answer is worse than saying anything depending on the audience.

  17. Paul 17

    What a twat. Those whom argue that this isn’t an issue are sorely mistaken.

    In New Zealand we kinda like our people and indeed potential leaders to have some conviction. Sure this is an exaggeration, but every single person in NZ over 4 had a view on this tour. I was 13 and had a greater sense of social justice than this man, and given his comments I would suggest that my 4 and a half year old has a greater sense of social justice than this man.

    This man may be preferred PM, but that is based on very very hollow assumptions of who and what he is, and the more we find out the more we are realising that the only thing holding his head and shoulders above his pelvis is his suit.

    This man has less spine and more versions of the truth than a habitually lying invertebrate, let alone any ability to release policy that the public can scrutinise.

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