Written By:
Steve Pierson - Date published:
7:59 am, November 5th, 2008 - 34 comments
Categories: election 2008, john key, youtube -
Tags: 'new zealand sucks' campaign
Ahead of the final leaders’ debate tonight, 08wire has produced a video on John Key’s lies in the second debate.
What strikes me about these lies is how they are, for the most part, of the ‘New Zealand sucks’ ilk and that they are quite petty. I guess telling lots of smaller lies lessens the likelihood that the media will call Key to account, as they might with larger lies, but it also means he makes himself a liar over small beer. Not something most people would sacrifice their integrity for.
Expect him to repeat the same lies tonight. As with the previous two debates, there will be live fact checking on The Standard.
The current rise of populism challenges the way we think about people’s relationship to the economy.We seem to be entering an era of populism, in which leadership in a democracy is based on preferences of the population which do not seem entirely rational nor serving their longer interests. ...
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ha ha ha ha pathetic.
he who lives in glass house should not throw stones.
double standards.
hypocrites.
zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz
You are probably right he has told a lot of lies… the problem is the other parties lack ethics also.
The most principled party (currently in parliament) seems to be Act.
Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.
In one sense vto is right. These are petty, pathetic distortions of the truth that Key is making. His partisan supporters will justify them as the kind of “white lie” necessary in a political campaign.
The problem is that Key does it so reflexively, as if it was his natural right to flimflam the masses with impunity. But one does not have to get to a very great age to know that a man who makes little, unecessary untruths cannot be entrusted with larger matters either.
The most principled party (currently in parliament) seems to be Act.
Oh yes the false allegation party.
Redlogix
My take on this is that Key is a less accomplished liar than Helen – nothing more nothing less.
The saddest thing is the longer people are in politics the more seamless their lies become or perhaps it’s because they are no longer able to discern when they are fibbing themselves.
Agree Mr Logix. It doesn’t need to be pointed out surely that Clark was guilty of the same thing, yet she she has been “entrusted with larger matters” for the last 9 years. And putting aside some policy directions and sub-standard standards at times I think she has done well. I suspect Key will be similar.
But what to do about the myriad “white lies” that all politicians tell? It seems to be an absolute necessity to tell myriad white lies.
Do we just grin and bear it? Or rail against the tide and gnash our teeth?
When has Helen actually told any lies? I don’t mean the media twist and spin on issues that have manipulated events to make it look like she did. Name me an instance when she knowingly told a lie, and which can be independently verified.
I’m a seasoned Helen watcher from way back, and I’ve never known her to lie.
Vto – Well, we call them on their lies and inform others of their lies. The problem with Key’s lies is that they’re like a virus and people can’t help but pass them on to other people who in turn spout the same vile lies to more people.
By the way I hear there is a biography of her due out soon after the election which will hopefully deconstruct a lot of the -gate myths.
“john key will sell kiwibank”
“they will have roger douglas in cabinet”
2 from the last debate
“it is too late to hold the smacking petition on the election”
“it is not a story I am running”
“if there is a war they want to be there”
etc.
[Clark is just repeating what English has been saying behind closed doors. National hasn’t even denied the latter. SP]
First two suppositions not lies and may prove correct. Last one correct on historical form and on record in Hansard. Petition answer was on advice from the Justice officials, and the second to last is correct as well. No lies in this lot.
djp. This is the same Act that had a supporter lay the jacket complaint? Imagine Hide’s faux suprise.
John Key has proved himself to be nothing but an opportunistic liar saying whatever he feels needs to be said to the audience at hand.
The only message he sticks to is his C/T argumentum ad nauseam fluff… ‘Health, Education, Law & Order… AND ultra-fast broadband’
Seriously, if he were any more hollow he’d fly away in a light breeze.
ha ha whatever Janet. Keep believing.
Nice one Janet.
vto,
Can you please show where Janet is wrong?
Can’t be difficult to do if you find it so laughworthy.
what do you expect from a man who’se sole occupation since childhood has been grasping for cash
he has no other experience in the world except lining up the marks
Vto – excellent argument, “whatever Janet. Keep believing,” well thought out, well researched, doesn’t get lost in verbiage or get too repetitive. I’m fairly sure if you actually looked real hard you could probably find Helen lied about something, but the problem is Key can’t stop lying. It seems to be his default whenever he’s asked a question.
Janet, good stuff, love your work.
Speaking of Key lies – here’s a real corker! Hat tip No Right Turn:
Cuss and discuss…
I am getting sick of all these right whinging trolls who drop their s**t here just to annoy and have nothing intelligent fair or balanced to add to discussions here – they have their pits to hang out in, can we start kicking these endless trollers off of here.
[lprent: I do when I find one – usually after I toy with the prey for a while. But generally comments have been pretty good for a few weeks. It was just getting too noisy with remarks that were too damn petty which is why I picked a few and dropped a warning.]
Yeah good work Janet.
rOb: The trouble is that those sayings are common currency. Like Scotch mist. Try and refute them and another appears in its place. When I get an earful from the nats they all spout the same thing. And “time for a change folk” draw out the same myths. Hard to do anything about them. People like VTO have no intention of listening. In the States many of the myths were refuted by the media but our MSM….?
The most principled party (currently in parliament) seems to be Act.
Bahahahahahaha!
Again we cant be too hard on Key for lying….cause thats all he knows.
God help NZ on Sun if we wake up to THAT as our Prime Minister…down the shitter we will go!
God help us all. Have we forgotten the National government of the 90’s. National serves one master – business’ profit interests. Those of us who raised a family in the 90’s remember NO family support, reduced benefits and pensions, and constant fear for our jobs and keeping our pay packet – most workers’ pay reduced. I do not want to go back. These petty lies may seem minor – but reflect a lack of integrity, or an integrity based on an ideology that has not yet been revealed – but soon will be.
Can Helen Clark on the debate tonight please do better to rebut the disinformation and soundbite slogans that Key gets away with saying time after time. She has to make clear short points and avoid talking in too much academic speak and make some pledges to the New Zealand people and challenge Key to pledge what he will do with the following.
Not selling off any state houses.
Make any changes to the Employment Relations Act.
Weaken the anti- nuclear policy.
Pledge that GP fees wont go up.
Not privatize Water (as is the case in the UK)
Go against UN mandates and follow America unilaterally into any future wars.
Keep Kiwibank as is with no changes or share floats.
Wont bring back bulk funding for schools by another name.
Wont cut frontline staff or subcontract out primary services.
Wont Scrape the interest free student loans scheme.
Key hates direct questions and he cant get away with the “we have some policy coming out on that next week” line he uses … so please ask direct questions…
Its getting too scabrous to even bother saying something. the man and his party are a living lie and the rightwhingers who come on here abusing privilege and spouting hatred and bile are by extension the same sort of person as he is.
Sorry johhny boy but if you wanta “turn” then go back to the money markets and do a few ramps there if you feel like you need a “GO” to make some impact on your desensitised feelings from the last binge
shame we can’t expect for even a quarter of the lies to be challenged by any of the ‘journalists’ on set.
hey you fullas, I just throw back heavy partisan crap sometimes because that it what this site often comprises itself. Clark is without doubt the NZ master of political deception. That takes many forms – not being completely open and honest about a subject, talking around a subject and avoiding the question, outright lies, white lies, etc, etc. Clark has indulged in them all. I do not have the time to track them all down – try kiwiblog, they bring up plenty there ha ha. If you read my posts you will see that some acknowledgment of her skills is in my posts here and many previous ones. It’s just that when you get posts which say that Key deceives but Clark doesn’t, well that is just dreamland stuff.
And honestly who on earth would believe that Clark knew nothing of Mike Williams’ Melbourne trip and that she had no control over it. Really…..
This site is pretty much the equal but opposite of kiwiblog in its unbalanced nature. Actually, that’s not right – Farrar often acknowledges good aspects of other parties including Labour, which I have never seen here.
Anyway, I will take this opp to wish you all the best this weekend (I disappearing again). May the best manwoman win. Clark and Labour have done some good things the last 9 years and I congratulate them for that.
captcha: “preach allowed” ha ha ha
ACT????? ROFLMAO
Rodney’s spin on the latest revelation that one of his henchmen made the complaint to the EC as a “prank” is laughable. He wa sPresident when their return was false, now he’s Leader during another, and he spent 7 hours a day training for Dancing with the stars while WE paid his wages…
Well well well, when I heard the Clarkes tag line for this election was “This ones about Trust” I assumed it was someone having a joke.
Not at all, Ol’ paintergate wants us to believe her shit. She knew of Peter’s lies all along and so what if the police clear him – he’s still just a grubby little shit and everyone knows it. Clarke was good a few years ago, she had that sort of kiwi “she’ll be right, lets just got on with this” attitude that I thought was quite refreshing.
These days its all about clinging to power, and the appalling lengths some people would stoop to, the sort of negativity that would give a chronic depressive a headache, and finally showing that she can have a genuine Jenny Shipley style fit and lose it (the days following the first leaders debate)
No way.
Julian,
Helen wants to ‘cling to power’, as you so charmingly put it, so she can continue to lead a government that governs in the interests of ALL it’s citizens, not just the owners of capital. If Labour have been negative this campaign it is simply to counter 3 years of negative behaviour from the Nats, who seem hell bent on trying to convince NZers that the country is in ruins. It patently isn’t, and the Nats have been lying about the stats the whole campaign . . . if net migration is 80,000 I’ll eat my hat.
Re: the trust issue. So you think signing a painting Helen didn’t paint to raise funds for a charity raises the same trust issues as Key lying about having shares in a company whilst asking questions about said company in the house? One involves a philanthropic act and the other simple greed. I know who I trust, bro.
Re: Winston. Look, I’m far from his biggest fan but the SFO the Electoral Commision AND the Police have cleared him – what other criteria would you like applied?
If Key and his scary tory mates get in it won’t take long for the public to see their true colours. And then they’ll be rolled quick smart.
“And then they’ll be rolled quick smart”
If there’s a NatACT gov’t, I’m investing in torches and pitchforks, and shortselling Tory futures.
Pascal’s bookie
Where are the torches and pitchforks?
haha