I honestly am not sure what Judith’s game plan. It is sort of evident but it is so bizarre that I question whether she is playing six dimensional chess or a rather bad game of tic tac toe.
Elements within National think it is the latter, Like Chris Finlayson who said this week about Collins’ reign:
Now I know sometimes, you know, brands go off, but I’ve never seen brand destruction like I’ve seen in the National Party in the last year or two.”
He said National had to go back to its roots of liberal conservatism. I think he means the sort of party that Todd Muller and not Simon Bridges might lead.
He also said:
“You’re talking to the wrong person if you expect me to express any sympathy for the current plight of the National Party, they deserve everything that’s come to them.
“Put that in your article: they deserve everything they’ve got,” he said.
“Political parties have to feel the cold blast of opposition before they acquire the humility to be in government again. But if you’re asking me to express sympathy for them, forget it.”
In the deepest darkest days of Labour’s civil war I have not seen anything approaching this for acerbic criticism. Not even from Shane Jones.
Then yesterday Collins chose to publicly support Rachel Stewart. Don’t get me wrong, I used to think that Rachel was hilarious and I have said this in the past. A few years ago I described her as a tough uncompromising columnist and not someone to hold back.
I was right about that. She recently tweeted:
Is it wrong that the leftie progressive in me wanted her gun licence taken off her?
And blow me down but this actually happened.
Instead of treating this as a perfectly appropriate response to a pretty outlandish statement the forces of the right reacted angrily.
According to them this was PC gone mad.
Surely a good old girl should be allowed to keep her weapons even though she not only thought about stripping a complete stranger naked, let him loose in a field, jump in her ute (real lefties don’t own utes) and then hunt him while driving a vehicle under the influence of alcohol and engaging in disorderly behaviour, but publicly stated this for all to see.
Call me old fashioned but I think it best that the authorities should make sure she does not have access to weapons of mass or individual destruction. Just in case. After all it is a privilege.
Rachel’s predicament was commented on by Judith Collins. One suspects that Collins’s press secretary Ani O’Brien may have had something to do with it.
I struggle to understand where Ani is at. Apart from a complete indifference to anyone struggling with a complex view of their gender identity I discern no other political belief. Although taking up the job as Judith’s Press Secretary suggest at least an indifference to Judith’s world view.
I presume that Ani tweeted on behalf of Judith something quite vague but intended to express support for Rachel. Maybe it was Judith herself.
Here it is.
I don’t understand what has happened to Rachel. In 2015 she said this about John Key:
Call me old-fashioned but the title of Prime Minister should mean something. Jumping in a cage and picking up a bar of soap in a nod to prison rape doesn’t really factor into that.
Nor does three-way handshakes, the “gay red top”, mincing down the catwalk, or planking.
The only consolation I feel is that I’m far from alone in feeling embarrassed to say I’m a New Zealander right now.
The list of shame is so long – climate change inaction, the flag debacle, domestic violence, child poverty – to name a few.
Add to the mix a Prime Minster who thinks it’s a hoot to make fun of rape, is unapologetic, and blames everyone else for not “getting it” and I think you can see why many of us are collectively cringing.
About Rachel’s latest comments I am cringing. I thought that John Key was pretty bad. Judith is way worse. At least Key had a Tony Blair like middle way theme about him. To support Judith because she is strong is akin to supporting her because she crushes cars. Dear reader, neither is true.
Bomber Bradbury, champion of the left wing and ridiculer of this Government seems to think that Stewart is being given a hard time. A while ago he opined that Stewart was being lynched by a twitter mob which given her recent comment and the media it was expressed in is rather funny. More recently he said that Stewart and O’Brien were going to be criminalised for their beliefs. My response is that threatening bodily harm on an individual publicly will normally suffice.
Without any irony Bradbury said:
This debate cuts to the very heart of identity and how we perceive ourselves, it requires so much more love and respect than it has attracted and based on the toxic manner it has been waged, I have no doubt it’s petty enough to hunt down women like Ani & Rachel for a wave of vendettas once it passes.
Angry denunciations of the Government by repeated use of the word “woke” is easy. He should back this up by actual analysis.
Collins wading into the debate and expressing support for Stewart is weird. Maybe she was playing a sixth dimensional chess move hoping to fracture some feminists away from the left. Maybe she mucked up her tic tac toe move and was desperately hunting for pro gun anti Government trumpian voters.
Whatever her intent her plan is not working.
I used to be in awe of John Key’s ability to straddle the centre of New Zealand politics and gain and retain support. I am astounded at Judith’s inability to even hold her party together.
Clearly Judith is not John Key.
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