Know when to fold ’em
Written By:
- Date published:
2:11 pm, June 15th, 2009 - 40 comments
Categories: mt albert -
Tags: john key, melissa lee, mt albert
- A string of high-profile stuff-ups. You were too smug and incompetent to deal with them.
- A disappointment to your boss. Key put a lot of faith in you.
- He defended you at first before cutting you loose to protect his brand.
- A devastating public humiliation. After which it is clear you have no political future.
- Now person non grata. Key has washed his hands of you.
- Destined to be one of the has-beens on the backbench.
- Your presence a drag on your party. Fodder for your party’s enemies.
Worth showed he knew when it was time to slink off, do you?
Melissa, what good will staying do?
40 comments on “Know when to fold ’em ”
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Do you need some salt and lemon juice?
She knew when to fold em – weeks before the election.
Knew when to hold em, when john key was on a very important prior engagement.
Knew when to walk away, such as from some of public debates.
But I think she really should have known that is was NOT the time to run.
But then you you can’t count your support, while you ain’t actually at the boss’s table.(i.e. in cabinet)
And there was certainly enough for vote countin…when the polling was done.
Thank you, thank you. I will be here Mondays, Wednesdays and most public holidays….
Zetetic you show a complete lack of class.
I agree with Exbrethren.
Contrast this with David Shearer, magnanimous in victory. A positive message from him and from Labour can strike a chord with voters. Immature personal vitriol will not. It’s very depressing (again) to see this kind of tin-eared rubbish on the Standard.
Zetetic, a period of silence on your part would be welcome.
Odd to be bitter in victory. If Lee sticks about, that could be to your benefit, if she is such a liability.
I do not see the point of this article from a strategic or tactical perspective. We all know Lee’s flaws but stepping down after losing a by-election is unlikely and would be a bad outcome for the Left.
National is one Worth away from Franks, remember that.
maybe Zetty has done that calculation. or maybe he’s just trying to make the Righties squeal
Next up after Cam Calder is Conway Powell. So there’s two to go before Fwanks
Thanks Jasper, you are right. this gladdens my heart.
merlin – making them squeal does not achieve much, and is not a good look. Stirring has its place, doubtless, not like this though.
Slink off together with smelly Goff and the sting lady Choudary.
poooweeee, what a stench emanating from labour over this. mind you it was rather commonplace pre-election 08 too so should not be a surprise.
It is Key’s action/nonaction which is more interesting. Was it his decision to back off support? Did his advisers believe that it would be less damning to not be seen than fronting up as a show of loyal support? On a personal level (not politically) I do feel a bit sorry for Melissa.
It’s stupid is what it is. He avoided a few potentially bad images of doubtful effect, in favour of a day or two of coverage about what a prick he is, and highlighted the lack of support Lee got throughout the campaign.
As a political response to what they must have known about at least a week ago, it’s made of suck really.
And yeah. Lee gets pathos points.
If Key had been there he would be seen as being with the troops at a bad time. I think the images would not have been that bad. If he really could not go, then fair enough (I am being generous perhaps but it is not inconcievable that there was no way he could attend), English should have been there. Or Brownlee. Or Power. Or Smith. I will let Ryall off, he has better things to be doing. Collins, Williamson, Carter, Tolley – someone in the top ten; well, top five really.
Coleman is 29 on the list.
Coleman’s hasty “it was all Melissa’s fault. Please let me keep my career” schtick is also more worthy of opprobrium.
I question why he was made her ‘campaign manager’. They kept playing the ‘think of the big issues’ cards but he now claims it was all about local issues…. He is a busy Minister – why was it left up to him? National clearly didn’t ever take this race seriously and it showed.
vto said: poooweeee, what a stench…
Speaking of stenches, there is something very fishy about the Rankin appointment. It is now clear that she wasn’t appointed upon her application, but the Nats were actively trying to find a senior appointment for her.
Anyone got any idea why, given that she played no small part in the demise of the last National-led Government?
Have you looked at the make-up of the For the Sake of Our Children Trust?
She has been mentoring Bennett, correct? Also mentoring others? Perhaps pushing for list selection – but too polarising to be on the list so used elsewhere? Or simply rattling the Nat cage for some payback for all her help? This is very interesting news – hardly surprising though…
I think I’ve found a photo from Key’s weekend away.
Sorry, I’m really too busy to be there Melissa.
Edit: link fixed
“Hey look”! It’s John!
I’m late for the angry mob…where does the line start? But we are new age modern mob, so I brought aerosol paint cans and a black and decker drill, instead of a pitch fork…is that OK? Now what do I do about these lammingtons mum baked for me to throw?
can’t get into the link?
Not very classy, Zetitic. About as classy as the Labour Party activist who yelled out when Lee turned up to concede at Labour Party HQ: “At least you’ve finally done one thing right!”
I have to say I think this post is a little in bad taste. Yes Melissa Lee made a number of rather silly mistakes in her campaign. However some things, such as her blank in an interview with TV3 should never have been aired. Melissa also took responsibility for her mistakes in her concession speech on Saturday night. She also had the guts to come over to the Labour Party celebrations and congratulate David Shearer in person. That put my estimation of her up a million miles.
I think the National Party has been awful to Melissa. They didn’t have anyone from the leadership supporting her on Saturday, not even the party president!
So while my personal view of Melissa is that she is inexperienced, and she comes across as rather arrogant, I do have a fair bit of sympathy for her right now. Why kick her while she’s down?
Fully agreed there. Time to cut her a bit of slack I reckon.
If you throw in someone politically inexperienced to the mess that is a byelection then you need to give them all the support you can. Sure Melissa Lee stuffed up a few times, but she tried her best. The same can certainly not be said for senior members of the National Party.
If Lee is smart she will learn from this and come back stronger. She should take heart that it was third time lucky for Shearer, so one should never give up if you believe that you have something to contribute.
And maybe the way Shearer and Lee behave with each other is a lesson to us all.
I agree Pat. Mr Shearer seems like a nice guy, and he has been gracious and a gentleman in victory. Ms Lee had the courage to front up and concede after what must have been a pretty humbling loss. It would be the nice if people like zetitic could be a bit more decent, but I suppose he can afford to behave so disgracefully when he’s writing anonymously.
Rochelle, I tend to agree with you. Apart from this bit:
However some things, such as her blank in an interview with TV3 should never have been aired.
The blank interview with Duncan Garner was just a few days after Melissa Lee stood him up. He had arranged an interview, she had initially agreed to it, and then she failed to turn up.
What goes around comes around, and the golden rule (unless you are very clever in doing it, as Winston Peters was, although he eventually became unstuck too) is “Don’t piss off the media”.
After Melissa’s no show, Duncan presumably decided to get his revenge, and ran the whole shambles of her interview. I recall seeing Rod Donald once stuffing up two takes of an interview, and the interviewer was still prepared to do a third, which was the one that was run.
But piss them off, and they will run the one that makes you look worst.
I did feel a wee bit sorry for Melissa Lee, but if you don’t know what a unitary authority is (or what it is named) when local government organisation is a major issue in the campaign, you bring it upon yourself.
A little less haughtiness earlier from Melissa and she may have persuaded Duncan to reshoot that interview. But I do think the way it turned out for her was entirely her fault, and that of the National Party who failed to surround her with competent political and media minders. I mean Jonathan Coleman FFS – the man who gets into strife for blowing smoke in peoples’ faces at a rugby game while in a tobacco-sponsored corporate box!
duncan garner likes to think of himself as the news, more than just reporting on it.
According to Garner she had just told him that she didn’t need to go to public meetings about the supercity because she was already out there on people’s doorsteps, explaining to them how the supercity would work.
He called her bluff.
I’d rather have Disastrous Korea(n) in Parliament that Stephen (my dog can’t get married so why should gays) Francks.
What was the important meeting Key had on the Sat that couldn’t be cancelled because on the friday the media were reporting he just was having a break in Taupo? Did lord Ashcroft fly in to watch the rugby?
Key reminds me of the sergeant instructor in All Quiet on the Western Front..
“a family do in Taupo” according to Colin Espiner
where is zetitic to rebut this? I must say, since clinton/steve left the standard (ahahaha) of posting of the newbies is pretty shit. And I vote labour
“a family do in Taupo’
How dare he let his family come before work. You wouldn’t find Helen..ah..hang on a minute…
Yeah it’s only a by-election after all. Nothing important.
Exactly what Trevor implied over at Red Alert.
Do you think I would give a shit?
Melissa Lee has already paid the price for her poor campaign – a really humbling defeat.
Her gaffes were in no way serious enough for her to need to quit parliament, although I think she’s going to have trouble turning her career around after this.
Z is fine. I don’t agree with much of what he says but its nothing too bad. Though for a RAM voter, I would have thought he’d be much tougher on Labour who have seemingly gone even more pro-worker now that they’re in opposition.
this post was just nasty, there was no wit or intelligent criticism, just bile.