Key ties himself to Hide

Written By: - Date published: 8:34 am, September 23rd, 2010 - 36 comments
Categories: act, john key, national, rodney hide - Tags: ,

What is John Key thinking? Why would he tie himself so firmly to the mast of the sinking ship that is Rodney Hide and ACT? And tie himself he has:

Rt Hon JOHN KEY: Mr Hide has carried out his affairs in a personal and private capacity to a high ethical standard.

and…

I can say about Mr Hide that as a Minister he has conducted his affairs in his portfolio to a high standard, and that in all of my dealings with him as a Minister he has been honest and trustworthy with me.

Pinched from No Right Turn

So let’s see. Rodney Hide is the party leader who knowingly supported as one of his MPs David Garret, a man who stole the identity of a dead baby, hid behind name suppression, hid a former assault conviction, and who knows what else. Rodney Hide concealed these facts while ACT hypocritically fronted campaigns against name suppression and in favour of tough (3 Strikes) law and order policy — policy that Key’s government turned in to law.

What else has the honest, trustworthy and highly ethical minister Rodney Hide been up to? Well, famously, he earned himself the nickname of the perk-Luster when he ignored Key’s directive and spent tens of thousands of tax-payer dollars on jaunts with his girl friend to Disneyland and Hawaii. In that single spectacular flameout be burned whatever credibility he had after years of (obviously empty) opposition “perk busting” rhetoric, and initiated the bloody internal backstabbing battle that has turned ACT into electoral poison. Way to go Rodney.

For the sake of argument let’s put aside the usual political lies, the dangerous and bullying behaviour, downplaying sexual harassment, the attacks on the Bill of Rights Act, the stupid politics of the Auckland SuperCity, privatising water and the like. Politics as usual, sadly. What isn’t politics as usual was Hide’s most honest, trustworthy, and highly ethical (not!) fiasco, his corrupt abuse of office in selling himself, in his role as Minister for Local Government, to raise funds for his party (against the rules of cabinet and almost certainly illegal). And how honest, trustworthy and highly ethical was it of Hide to blackmail Key by threatening to resign as a minister if there are any Maori seats on the Auckland SuperCity council? Perhaps Key’s dog enjoys being wagged by Rodney’s tail? Speaking of which, John, was it honest, trustworthy, and highly ethical of Rodney to point out that you’re a do-nothing Prime Minister?

None of these ministerial misdemeanours should come as a surprise to anyone who has been watching ACT for a while. Don’t even get me started on Hide’s pre-ministerial “honest, trustworthy, and highly ethical” antics over the years. The dishonest electoral stunts, failure to disclose donations, the failures over the Huata affair, and more.

Nope, sorry. Key’s vastly overrated “political instincts” are so far out of whack here it is laughable. Far from being honest, trustworthy, and highly ethical, Rodney Hide is a nasty amoral little political opportunist with a raging sense of entitlement and his head stuck right up somewhere that the sun don’t shine. In tying himself so firmly to this ongoing shipwreck (is Garret’s tell all out yet?) Key has made a mistake that he will come to regret…

36 comments on “Key ties himself to Hide ”

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  1. Jim Nald 1
    23 September 2010 at 9:06 am

    Reject the Key-Hide double act
    Reject Key’s doublespeak
    Reject Key’s double meanings
    Reject Key’s double Dipton
    Reject the duplicity

    • Mr Magoo 1.1
      23 September 2010 at 10:11 am

      Here here! Never have their been a bigger bunch of hypocrites. And look where it got national supporting them!?

      The ACT party, not satisfied cannibalising itself, have started attacking national now who have done nothing but be overly supportive. (publicly anyway) That good old fossil rodger the dodger has come out swinging drunkenly at Key like only a has been can.

      If I did not know better I would say old rodders is feathering a national nest and the rest of the doomed party realise it?

      Maybe he will jump from the titanic to national at the next election if rolled? Could he ever give them up?

      Want more evidence? Look no further than this video. Damming to say the least!

  2. Joe Bloggs 2
    23 September 2010 at 9:18 am

    There’s no doubt that those who are Right will be hoping that Key’s support for Hide doesn’t end up in the same shambles as Labour created for itself in 2008.

    Remember when the last Labour government tied itself to Winston Peter’s apron strings despite Peters’ inappropriate handling of political donations and the other scandals that dogged him during 2008.

    Remember too the utterly gutless way that Labour refused to even acknowledge the 26 criminal convictions Philip Field racked up for bribery and corruption, let alone apologise to the public of New Zealand for sweeping his sins under the nearest carpet.

    Of course we need not mention Labour’s cynical exploitation of backdoor parliamentary and ministerial funding during the 2008 campaign.

    You’r damned righ that there’s concern about the possibility of Key repeating those nasty, amoral and corrupt precedents. God forbid we should see that quality of leadership from the Right.

    • comedy 2.1
      23 September 2010 at 9:22 am

      “You’re damned right that there’s concern about the possibility of Key repeating those nasty, amoral and corrupt precedents. God forbid we should see that quality of leadership from the Right.”

      Oh but will will – if you think the politicians sitting on one side of the house are any less duplicitous and self serving than those on the other you’re delusional.

      • Joe Bloggs 2.1.1
        23 September 2010 at 9:43 am

        my point exactly Comedy – I’m pleased that you agree.

        Why on earth some commentators think that the Left is pearly white, virginal or angelic compared with everyone else escapes me and the majority of electors – well it certainly did at the last elections.

        There’s no doubt that in any House of Representatives all types are represented. And regretably that means that from time to time we see the less savoury sides of our society reflected in our elected representatives on both sides of the house.

        Here’s hoping that John can continue to learn from Labour’s failures and step above the empty drum rhetoric, mud-slinging and muck-raking that has come to exemplify NZ politics during the last decade.

        • bbfloyd 2.1.1.1
          23 September 2010 at 4:17 pm

          Joe, i’m amazed you can still hold out hope after all that has gone down in the last two years or so. those plinking noises you may be hearing everywhere you go are the pennies dropping.

    • gobsmacked 2.2
      23 September 2010 at 9:45 am

      “The Last Lot Dunnit!” – probably the most tedious raspberry in politics.

      One small difference you might want to ponder: Third term versus First term. It’s the second year, not the ninth. This is as good as it gets.

      Is Key so tired already? He’s looking like it. Maybe he should take up cross-country ski-ing.

      It’s a tough job, only leaders should apply.

      • exbrethren 2.2.1
        23 September 2010 at 10:01 am

        Also Key doesn’t need the ACT numbers to retain the balance of power, he could ditch them but then I guess he’d have to start giving something to the MP.

        I seem to remember old shonkey bleating on and on about the moral problem of retaining Peters and how he would never do such a thing. See Mr Bloggs its not so much as claiming the left has some great moral status rather than damning the hypocrisy of Key.

        Also just to note that the left has Field’s crimes vs the rights Peters lies, Hides rorting, Garretts passport theft +++ and Capills paedophilia.

        • comedy 2.2.1.1
          23 September 2010 at 10:21 am

          Ya know that this right left dichotmoy is all BS dont ya ”

          The more extreme you get in one direction all the other you end up back to back with the extreme fucker from the other side.

          Nothing will change in NZ politics until this fake right/left your team/my team bullshit is dispensed with once and for all.

    • Draco T Bastard 2.3
      23 September 2010 at 10:30 am

      Labours handling of Winston Peters was abysmal. I’ not sure what they could have done better though – NACTs attack dogs got the bit between their teeth and ran calling for extra-judicial and unethical censorship. They also made more out of it than it was. It was, after all, a completely legal and moral donation.

      You mean the 26 convictions he got after being tossed out of the Labour party.

      I take it that you’re talking about the card thing which was funded in similar ways to which every party had used parliamentary funds for the previous 10+ years. Nice of the AG to finally get around to determining that such use was illegal. Strange that the new AG had a different interpretation of the law than previous AGs though…

      You’r damned righ that there’s concern about the possibility of Key repeating those nasty, amoral and corrupt precedents.

      But fully expected by those of us that know that National and Act are psychopaths and it is, of course, exactly what we’re seeing. Corruption.

    • Rubberlegs 2.4
      25 September 2010 at 9:24 pm

      thats the difference between them Joe, THE RIGHT KNOW HOW TO HIDE IT [unnecessary — r0b], but alas it all comes out at the funeral.

  3. Graeme 3
    23 September 2010 at 9:31 am

    If hide is what the right needs to govern, i am going to australia. i wanted better from Key.

  4. Draco T Bastard 4
    23 September 2010 at 10:17 am

    Key has made a mistake that he will come to regret…

    And which I hope opens the eyes of NZ to just how corrupt the National Party is.

  5. tc 5
    23 September 2010 at 10:24 am

    All this rhetoric about left V right is all well and good but the elctorate was promised by Sideshow in 2008 a higher standard of gov’t, open and transparent process along with other classics like repealing the EFA, S59, catching up with Oz etc etc.

    Face the facts that whatever the prior standards were the NACT have lowered the bar quite some distance and clueless and crew haven’t the bollocks nor vision/ability to create that brighter future they banged on about. Style up 2 sets and a match point, substance love.

  6. freedom 6
    23 September 2010 at 10:29 am

    From the lips of Garrett himself
    “But it was literally half my life ago. How can I learn a lesson from what I did 26 years ago?”

    with thinking like that from people who are meant to be ‘leaders of our nation’
    it is no wonder this country is lost

    • ron 6.1
      23 September 2010 at 12:42 pm

      The thing is it wasn’t. He got arrested in 2005? Hadn’t fessed. hadn’t done his time.

    • Maynard J 6.2
      23 September 2010 at 11:56 pm

      The lesson he might want to learn is about trying to lie by concealement while running for elected office.

      There’s also a lesson from people sick of laws such as his three stikes and his fear mongering Hysterical Sentencing Trust – we what you stand for and will happily see you off, you make NZ a more dangerous and fearful place.

      His pathetic ‘feel sorry for me’ lines you quote are a joke – the man can’t even see his hypocricy and realise what the real issue is.

      • felix 6.2.1
        24 September 2010 at 12:27 am

        Yeah that’s what stands out to me about this whole affair. Garrett and Hide – especially Hide – don’t seem to have any sense that they’ve done anything wrong. They’re not pretending, they really don’t understand it. (They were just acting in their own rational self-interest, surely. How could that be wrong?)

        Key doesn’t give a shit either but he has enough sense to realise that regular people do, so he’s able to play along to a degree, feigning a bit of empathy at (what he guesses are) the right moments.

        But those ACToids, they’re genuinely bewildered at all the fuss.

        • Pascal's bookie 6.2.1.1
          24 September 2010 at 8:00 am

          Yeah. They’ve done a good job of keeping the hypocrisy angle a bit shallow. What hits me is how their reaction detroys their rhetoric.

          We’ve got a party that’s been banging on about:
          how judges are too soft,
          crims get it easy and will respond rationally to deterrents
          and victims shouldn’t have their emotions played with by things like parole hearings,

          meanwhile bloody spokesman saying this:
          was protected by judicial discretion,
          got off,
          claims he was a young and foolish fully grown man who didn’t think about the consequences of his action
          and has victims that watch him blabbing on the teevee but can’t say anything because he’s got a suppression order.

          Hide reckons he didn’t know all the details, but if he believed his policy, he would have made it his priority to know, but he didn’t, so he doesn’t. The nasty little shit.

          • Mac1 6.2.1.1.1
            24 September 2010 at 9:23 am

            It’s a very interesting point you raise, PB. You state the hypocrisy well.

            So, why is this? Are they so thick they can’t see the gap between rhetoric and action? Don’t think so. If anything, this NACT govt is gifted with University trained people, (save the Minister of Education and former Minister of Tertiary Education).

            So they don’t see the gap because they have an ethical or empathetic vacuum which doesn’t allow critical thinking? This would be the psychopath angle that Draco T Bastard follows.

            Or they see the gap but don’t care as they are above such concerns which don’t apply to them. The uber-mensch, elitist approach.

            Or they see the gap and ignore it since they are criminals who lie and cheat and steal. What have I missed?

            This is important to spot what the failure is. Members of all parties who are well-motivated need to be able to spot these types before they get to be MPs or in positions of power and have processes which can weed them out.

            From my observations over forty years of interest in politics and membership within one party, the people to watch for are often new-comers who are usually single issue focussed and who get ‘spotted’ by others of influence as filling a niche or ticking the boxes for a particular targeted social grouping. They get selected without proper observation and targeted scrutiny.

            Minor parties who don’t have the time in years to do the observation/weeding or a broad enough membership base are particularly vulnerable to poor candidate selection.

            It’s both a strength and a weakness of MMP that the process which allows for minority representation can throw up real lulus who sneak in on the Party List. In Hide’s case, the decision makers in National supported Hide for political advantage in Epsom. Epsomites trusted that process and got Hide and his rag tag bag of thick, single issue, new-comer, psychopathic, criminal, lying List members.

            Now, to conclude, which of those descriptors apply to Hide and Act MPs? Which can we identify and guard against amongst our own?

            AS word ‘seems’.

  7. pollywog 7
    23 September 2010 at 10:39 am

    Why would he tie himself so firmly to the mast of the sinking ship that is Rodney Hide and ACT?

    ‘cos like the great captain he is, he’s chosen to go down with the ship…

    • bbfloyd 7.1
      23 September 2010 at 2:47 pm

      no… key will go up…..to hawaii, or new york(ambassador). london, or wherever he feels like spending his his time. what happens here after he’s shipped out will not trouble him for a nanosecond.

  8. freedom 8
    23 September 2010 at 10:41 am

    c’mon pollywog, he will have his private helicopter pick him up off the poopdeck well before his little footsies get wet

  9. STGM 9
    23 September 2010 at 1:13 pm

    Garret is said to resign by sending a letter to the speaker. I am not familiar with parliamentary delivery schedules but in the age of electrons he might be able to legally do it by email.

    Hecould be sitting back, taking advice and watching the reactions of various parties.

    If he does resign, it could be at the last few moments while parliament is in session.

    Watch the headlines.

    • bbfloyd 9.1
      23 September 2010 at 3:06 pm

      STGM…midnight tonight. just read it in the herald…

    • felix 9.2
      23 September 2010 at 3:50 pm

      Lockwood doesn’t know that documents can be stored on DVDs so I wouldn’t bet on him knowing that people can send mail to his porn machine.

      • Pascal's bookie 9.2.1
        23 September 2010 at 4:50 pm

        Tune.

        • felix 9.2.1.1
          24 September 2010 at 12:12 am

          Haha, I always felt a bit sorry for that guy. The “stuff filling up the tubes” bit was actually a pretty good metaphor.

          If he’d stopped talking right there, no-one would’ve found out that he had no idea what he was doing.

  10. felix 10
    23 September 2010 at 3:44 pm

    I wonder what would actually happen if a politician – any politician – ever said something like “It seems I was wrong, my bad. Don’t worry I’m on it now”.

    • Maynard J 10.2
      24 September 2010 at 1:26 am

      The funny thing is, reporters are so used to editorialising, that if Hide had said:

      “I shouldn’t have supported Garrett and allowed him into ACT, that was a mistake and I was wrong. What do you think I should do about it?”

      the reporter would probably think it’s their job to actually answer the question. They’d then flap and flounder about for a while, and then when someone like Goff said that he should be rolled, Hide could reply with the classic “well he would say that” and then probably get off scott free after that.

      Scot free – one t or two?

  11. Mac1 11
    23 September 2010 at 4:08 pm

    Comedy, the Universe would be formed? A bit behind the times, mate. 😉 Unless of course you’re saying God is a politician…..

    I wonder into what black hole politicians who have resigned in disgrace disappear?

  12. Pascal's bookie 12
    23 September 2010 at 10:02 pm

    Anyone seen these 2 1/2 pages of dirt on Rodney that TV3 are waving around?

    And the QOTD from the newest member of the flock, who is totally supportive and not at all in the Roy Douglas camp so stop saying that.

    She feared ACT’s message of less government, more personal choice and better use of taxpayer funds had been lost.

  13. sukie Damson 13
    23 September 2010 at 11:08 pm

    Rob, great post. Rack up those links, or should I say series of tubes

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