Piggy in the middle

27 comments on “Piggy in the middle ”

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1. mickysavage 1

   5 June 2009 at 12:24 pm

   Dare I say it but our previous leader was right. Mr Key has this propensity to flip flop on issues trying to work out what is the most popular thing to do.
2. Kaplan 2

   5 June 2009 at 12:29 pm

   Perhaps he is trying to invoke the ghosts of past Nat leaders…
3. gobsmacked 3

   5 June 2009 at 12:29 pm

   Key is now rearranging his diary to meet the woman.

   And yet he did not meet Richard Worth, who is in the same building every day. He got his staff to do it instead, and then he got scared off by the Big Lawyer with his Big Bluster.

   Poor “piggy in the middle”.

   Still, if the woman is telling the truth, she’d shell out the bucks and hire a PR firm too, wouldn’t she? They’re the ones you gotta believe. Not the little people.

   I’m not here to help Key, but this is dumb, dumb politics. Acting like Worth and the woman have equal merit in his eyes, and it’s all just “he said, she said”, is sending a terrible message. I honestly thought he was smarter than that.
4. Evidence-Based Practice 4

   5 June 2009 at 12:44 pm

   Is he in a sow crate?
5. calltoaccount 5

   5 June 2009 at 12:58 pm

   I think this blog and the MSM need to call time on Key. Here’s why:

   After the first Indian incident (the trip to India), Key’s first failure was to merely give Worth a ‘bollocking’. Whatever that was, it wasn’t enough to protect the lady at the centre of the text message series of events. Failure two was Key’s relative inaction over following up on this second incident. This allowed Worth enough latitude to pursue the Korean lady at the centre of the third incident, whereupon an event serious enough for the police to be involved occurred.

   I suggest there is a case here for Key to answer. That is, if he had done his job way back after the first incident, Worth would not have been in a position to do whatever it is he has done on two separate and subsequent occasions. A clear chain of events that Key was in a position to stop. He didn’t.

   In short, if Key had done his job, then all of this could have been prevented.
   • Maynard J 5.1

     5 June 2009 at 1:17 pm

     You forgot the taxi-driver incident.

     A question – what is it with Worth and Indians? They’re his achilles heel.
     • calltoaccount 5.1.1

       5 June 2009 at 1:37 pm

       I am actually serious here. There are so many ‘incidents’ it’s hard to keep track of it all. His responses to Mary Wilson, for example, were a disgrace.

       My point is to identify a clear chain of events and call Key out to explain himself.
       • Maynard J 5.1.1.1

         5 June 2009 at 6:45 pm

         I know, my first point was serious, if not so much the second. An unorganised litany of idiot…
6. Mr Magoo 6

   5 June 2009 at 1:20 pm

   yep.

   Some MP who can’t keep his dick in check and how the PM handled it is the worst thing that will happen over this term…

   …yeah right.

   Of interest was how hard the jockeys on National Radio tried to spill dirt on labour over all this. They went after Goff almost as hard as Key?

   It was kind of pathetic actually.

   Still, loving it. Can’t wait for the next one! 🙂
7. vto 7

   5 June 2009 at 1:33 pm

   Have to agree that Key seems to have exhibited mind-blowingly appalling skills in dealing with this.

   And agree completely that he has dug his own hole.

   It will be very interesting to see how Key handles it from here – a big big test methinks. It is as much a Key story now it seems.
8. toad 8

   5 June 2009 at 1:36 pm

   Mr Magoo said: Still, loving it. Can’t wait for the next one!

   Nick Smith, step up to the plate!
   • Mr Magoo 8.1

     5 June 2009 at 2:27 pm

     *rubs hands*

     Let me just get my popcorn…
9. Peter Wilson 9

   5 June 2009 at 1:45 pm

   Someone should inform Mr Key of the first cardinal rule of holes – when in them, stop digging.
10. Outofbed 10

    5 June 2009 at 1:47 pm

    Yes dear Old Nick Smith Yes there is definitely something brewing with Nick
    couldn’t happen to a nicer person
11. exbrethren 11

    5 June 2009 at 1:47 pm

    Toad is there news about nasty Nick or is that just wishful thinking?
12. toad 12

    5 June 2009 at 2:01 pm

    Now don’t be impatient exbrethren. There’s plenty more mileage in Worthless yet.
13. sonic 13

    5 June 2009 at 2:06 pm

    Go on, spill the beans on Smithy
    • Mondograss 13.1

      5 June 2009 at 3:08 pm

      *cough* Sandra Goudie *cough*
      • calltoaccount 13.1.1

        5 June 2009 at 3:55 pm

        Look, one at a time folks. It was only yesterday, which seems like a long time I know given Key’s workrate, but stay with the topic of his latest stuffup.
14. Tigger 14

    5 June 2009 at 2:19 pm

    This is typical Key – ‘it’s all about me’. Whenever he speaks he talks about his personal experience or his personal thoughts on a matter. This has been his undoing here. He’s shared far too much on what he personally thinks about Worth’s recent actions and left himself in a bind.
15. Craig 15

    5 June 2009 at 2:29 pm

    Key couldn’t have done a worse job on this, except maybe if he had taken media advice from Melissa Lee.

    To be insinuating that the text messages don’t exist to cover up the fact that he didn’t investigate Goff’s information properly is quite frankly shameful.

    These woman are the complainants they deserve some respect.I am amazed he hasn’t had a bollocking from victims rights groups already.
    So he has no faith in Worth and says he would have sacked him if he hadn’t of resigned.
    Well if thats true suck it up John admit Geoff did you a favour, but you were to green to see it.

    Your Chief of staff or you will have to take responsibility sooner or later for your failings.

    Don’t Blame Goff or the Woman, be a man for goodness sake put your hand up, and you know just like you are with Maori representation in the Super City be, you know quite relaxed about it really!
16. The Voice of Reason 16

    5 June 2009 at 3:01 pm

    I get the feeling Key just can’t understand what the fuss is about. He doesn’t seem to have a clue about modern human relations, appropriate behaviour in the workplace or innapropriate use of personal power. His use of the phrase ‘a nuisance to women’ could have come from the pre- PC dark ages or even further back, Don Brash.

    Worth’s behaviour is not just appalling, it is predictable. The man is drunk on his own sense of entitlement. Rich, vain and now in power. The India trip wasn’t so much as a clue as to how he was thinking and acting, it was a Las Vegas neon sign pointing to a man out of touch with reality. Think about what he did on that trip. Bigged himself up as the Minister, got the VIP treatment at customs, did deals for his business on the strength of his new job. Lapped up the grovelling and didn’t spot that there might be anything wrong with confusing the private with the public

    If Key couldn’t see then that Worth was off the rails, then the favour Goff did him in raising the matter privately, not on the floor of the house, should have opened his eyes. Key was given a goldplated reason to move this clown on, but did not take it. More fool him.

    The bullshit just keeps on piling up. Key does not need to have evidence to sack a Minister, especially one already on a ‘final warning’. They are in their jobs on his say so and he can drop ’em any time he wants. If he’d really needed to, he could have asked Goff to arrange a meeting with the woman to verify the facts. He could then have kept the whole thing in house, dumped Worth in a diplomatic way (health issues or similar) and got back to the job of stuffing the country.

    I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again; the man’s a plonker. An ignorant, vacuous, mealy mouthed plonker.
17. Robert Winter 17

    5 June 2009 at 3:13 pm

    This is but the first of Mr Key’s major difficulties as PM. The problem for him is a simple one. Politics at the level to which he aspires is tough and demanding, far more so than any decision-making responsibilities in business. It requires scrupulous control of detail and self, a 24 hour commitment to the message on each and every issue, and a support team able to ensure that, when that control and commitment are failing, someone will automatically and seamlessly plug the gap and keep the message on track. You can learn these skills to an extent, but true command requires a mixture of vocation and dedication.

    There is a sense in which Mr Key, having succeeded in business, chose to become involved in politics in New Zealand in the way that “Gentlemen”once played cricket, or, indeed, graced Parliament with their wit and urbanity. Such amateur qualities no longer suffice, as the more hard-bitten of the National caucus will, in their heart of hearts, already know. But what can they do? Mr Key is for now their key to electoral success. They cannot dump him without major adverse consequences. Mr Power may be ready to step up (as Mr English is unlikely to get the nod) but who would want to be the immediate successor to Mr Key? So they are faced with another two or more years on tenterhooks, waiting for the next major fluffing of lines and action. More debacles such as last night’s Mary Wilson interview are inevitable. And, I fear no Chief of Staff, even H2, could solve this problem.
    • Mr Magoo 17.1

      5 June 2009 at 3:59 pm

      the first??

      Where have you been?
18. Adrian 18

    5 June 2009 at 4:27 pm

    The next one, Tony Ryall?
19. Kaplan 19

    5 June 2009 at 4:31 pm

    Are Crosby Textor actually still retained by national?
    Serious Question. Maybe they have parted ways…
    • felix 19.1

      5 June 2009 at 5:40 pm

      Hmm, if they are still on the payroll the Nats should seriously think about letting them go.

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