Key backs Hide’s lies

Written By: - Date published: 12:47 pm, September 20th, 2010 - 31 comments
Categories: john key, national/act government, rodney hide - Tags:

Rodney Hide kept David Garrett’s disgusting secrets from us while running a hypocritical ‘tough on crime’ line. John Key says that’s fine and he backs Hide. He doesn’t care that one of his ministers has been exposed as a lair and a cheat, again. He can’t afford to care.

Key needs Hide to keep his government together. Lose Hide and ACT may fall apart entirely or return to Roger Douglas’s economic liberal/social liberal ideology – not the kind of party that supports taking away all prisoners’ voting rights or giving dictatorial powers to Gerry Brownlee. And Hide’s fate depends on Garrett staying in Parliament

Key doesn’t want to touch the Garrett fiasco with a barge-pole. He wants to keep his brand clean. But here he is backing a shyster as one of his ministers. In the fight to keep his government together, all Key’s supposed principles go out the window.

31 comments on “Key backs Hide’s lies ”

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  1. Armchair Critic 1
    20 September 2010 at 1:01 pm

    Please please please let David Garrett stay in parliament, Rodney Hide stay on as leader of ACT and please let John Key keep defending them. That would be the ultimate gift for the opposition, surely they can make something of it. What more could Labour ask for?

    • HitchensFan 1.1
      20 September 2010 at 2:21 pm

      Armchair Critic@ 1.10 pm.

      Exactly. This is the point I was trying to make in my comment on the Awatere-Huata post below. You’ve put it far more eloquently!

      If he goes, people will have forgotten in a year. The opposition needs Garrett and Hide to stay right where they are if there is to be any chance of a change of govt in 2011.

    • Roger 1.2
      20 September 2010 at 2:34 pm

      “That would be the ultimate gift for the opposition, surely they can make something of it.”

      Damn right they should!!!
      National made lots out of the Winston Peters issue and he was cleared of wrong doing by the SFO.

    • the pink postman 1.3
      20 September 2010 at 3:58 pm

      Garrett’s such an arrogant Barstard that he very well may decide to stay .Here’s hoping .

  2. the sprout 2
    20 September 2010 at 1:05 pm

    Considering Hide lied to Key about Garrett’s past and broke the No Surprises Rule, Key is actually saying he approves of his senior ministers lying to him. That is rather odd.

    Here’s my favourite quote from Key on the matter:

    “All I can say is that in the 22 months that Mr Hide has been a minister in my Government he’s shown very good judgement and he has my full support.”

    And he has the gall to call people out of touch.

    Can’t help but wonder what Hide’s got on Key?

    • Richard 2.1
      20 September 2010 at 1:17 pm

      Can’t help but wonder what Hide’s got on Key?

      Five seats.

      And being somebody who can “own” (and therefore be blamed for) Nationals more odious policies.

      • bbfloyd 2.1.1
        21 September 2010 at 11:44 am

        combination stalking horse and scapegoat. the total allrounder that any team needs in the tight stuff.

  3. gobsmacked 3
    20 September 2010 at 1:34 pm

    Key’s not a fool.

    2008: ACT on 3%, no real effect on National’s vote = good deal.

    2010: ACT on 1%, may start to affect National’s vote = time to review the deal.

    2011: ACT on 1%, only being kept alive by Key, costing National 5% = no deal.

    Key will back Hide as long as there’s a net gain. And as long as ACT start backing each other.

    So, not for much longer, then.

  4. Rex Widerstrom 4
    20 September 2010 at 1:35 pm

    Meanwhile, rewind a couple of years…

    Clark doesn’t want to touch the Spencer Trust fiasco with a barge-pole. She wants to keep her brand clean. But here she is backing a shyster as one of her ministers. In the fight to keep her government together, all Clark’s supposed principles go out the window.

    It’s what politicians do, folks: put power and self-interest above all else. And they’ll continue to do it unless we change the system that allows them to do so.

    Like the scorpion on the frog’s back, it is their nature. Instead of wailing “oh woe is us” every time we get stung, we need to get them off our backs.

  5. Treetop 5
    20 September 2010 at 1:40 pm

    The PM really needs to look into the future. I can just hear Hide campaigning at the next general election, “The Act party got the three strikes legislation through.”

    I doubt that the PM will have an inquiry into the Hide/Garret issue as this current government has not always been transparent with ministers who have over stepped the line. The clever ones have come clean, which has enabled them to allow the voter to have some confidence in their public service.

    • hurr 5.1
      20 September 2010 at 1:56 pm

      “The PM really needs to look into the future”

      Does the right ever look into the future?

      captcha: disturbing

      • Irascible 5.1.1
        21 September 2010 at 1:08 am

        Key has revealed his agenda- “Back Hide to discredit MMP so National can gerrymander a FFP election system.” What’s the betting National will campaign against MMP from now till the referendum in the hope that the country returns to the FFP voting system?

  6. tc 6
    20 September 2010 at 2:20 pm

    Like all good traders sideshow will keep backing Wodders right up until the point where he calculates it’s time to cut and run as the gains bottom out which will not be till all akl’s new CCO’s have emerged from their ‘robust’ processes around divvying up the jobs for the boyz.

    He’ll stick the knife into ACT (which makes a change from them doing it to themselves) and announces a nat candidate that can win Epsom all in one sweeping move leaving the enfant terrible with only himself and his f’d up excuse for a party to blame.

    Don’t be fooled by the relaxed charade……he can’t pull the trigger till supershity’s done and dusted with a pile of steaming excrement left at wodneys feet.

    • bbfloyd 6.1
      21 September 2010 at 11:55 am

      so he can be relaxed about the shithole that auckland is becoming at an ever increasing rate, which will compound after this incredibly stupid restructuring goes through. but only as long as it suits his political objectives.

      this displays either psychopathic, or at least a personality disorder of the first magnitude. tell me i’m not the only one frightened by this.!

  7. BLiP 7
    20 September 2010 at 2:26 pm

    Key doesn’t want to touch the Garrett fiasco with a barge-pole. He wants to keep his brand clean.

    Which explains his hurriedly organised last minute road trip – complete with fawning media – over to the West Coast to visit a paddock in the middle of the mist. While the rest of the MSM was ignoring the constitutional implications of the Brownlee dictatorship while feasting on the public disintegration of ACT, Key made sure he was as far away from the eye of the storm as possible.

  8. Bill 8
    20 September 2010 at 2:29 pm

    There is a straight line joining the three ‘hear no, see no, speak no’ monkeys on this one.

    They have all independently picked up the same brush in their rush to justify, excuse and minimise and in doing so performed self tarring. All of their own volition.

    But is our msm going to hold the obvious up to the light? Not turning blue on that one.

  9. Richard 9
    20 September 2010 at 2:58 pm

    I still think Key got off quite lightly on this. On the day that Garrett fessed up to what he had done, Key did not publicly condemn his actions but wimped out by saying it was up to the New Zillund public to decide if Garrett’s actions were acceptable or not.
    And what is Key’s line now – the New Zillund public have spoken……
    Blah blah fucking blah. Grow some nuts Key. Do you believe in anything or do you have to adjust your moral compass to public opinion on every issue.
    None of this is surprising though – this is the guy who can’t remember what his feelings about the ’81 Sprinbok Tour were. How the hell could you be at an NZ Uni in 1981 and not remember what your tour feelings were?

    • Draco T Bastard 9.1
      20 September 2010 at 3:09 pm

      Do you believe in anything or do you have to adjust your moral compass to public opinion on every issue.

      Jonkey doesn’t have a moral compass and will say whatever is necessary to get the people to like him.

      How the hell could you be at an NZ Uni in 1981 and not remember what your tour feelings were?

      That’s easy – he wasn’t, and still isn’t, connected to the rest of the community.

    • Logie97 9.2
      20 September 2010 at 8:59 pm

      Couldn’t agree more. I watched our Prime Minister speaking at his post cabinet conference.

      “He (Garrett) should resign – public opinion says so…”

      Does Key have any idea how ridiculous he sounds? Is he totally driven by opinion polls? Does the man have any concept of what is right or wrong?

      Seems he has spent too much time looking at trends on Money Market screens – what a shame he didn’t accrue his wealth in the real world – perhaps he would then be a little more in touch with reality.

  10. Adrian 10
    20 September 2010 at 3:18 pm

    Good luck to anyone the Nats put up in Epsom, the nasty bastards in ACT will have some crap on him and let fly at the right moment. How about Peter Goodfellow, now there’s a fine upstanding example to all.

  11. RedLogix 11
    20 September 2010 at 9:55 pm

    In the meantime Key reveals his real colours:

    The Act Party’s problems are likely to turn people off MMP, Prime Minister John Key says.

    There will be a referendum on MMP at the same time as the next election, when voters will be asked whether they want to change to another electoral system.

    Mr Key was asked at his post-cabinet press conference today whether he thought “the Act debacle” would affect voter attitudes.

    “I think it will increase the likelihood that people will vote MMP out,” he said.

    This is truly a slimeball tactic on Key’s part.

  12. gobsmacked 12
    21 September 2010 at 3:41 pm

    Brownlee & co made a mess of protecting the PM in the House this afternoon. They spent half an hour on points of ordrer, arguing (in essence) that Key didn’t have to answer Goff’s questions about Hide.

    They might as well have held up a big neon sign to the media, saying “Keep Asking About Hide! We’re Worried As Hell!”

    Lockwood helped them out in the end, but the damage was done.

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