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notices and features - Date published:
11:15 am, March 27th, 2014 - 14 comments
Categories: uncategorized -
Tags: internet party, kim dotcom, polity
Rob Salmond’s view on the Internet Party launch today.
Today is the day the Internet Party, which amusingly abbreviates to IP, will actually launch.
More importantly, today marks 146 days until Kim Dotcom winds up the Internet Party because it isn’t polling near 5% and has no deals with others to secure itself an electorate seat.
Vernon Small agrees. Pam Corkery does not. I’m OK with that.
The Internet Party won’t poll near 5% because the ill-defined vanity project of billionaire German who collects Nazi memorabilia doesn’t exactly fit with New Zealanders’ self image of political leadership. What is worse, even if you do buy into Kim’s personal quest, you don’t get to vote for Kim personally.
Simply, there’s nothing at the core of this party for New Zealanders, and any lolly scramble between now and Writ Day looks too much like a cynical bribe for people to take it seriously.
And the cupboard appears to be already bare in terms of other political suitors.
This is going to be a colossal waste of time, energy, talent, and money.
The server will be getting hardware changes this evening starting at 10pm NZDT.
The site will be off line for some hours.
This is kind of reminding me of the America’s Cup.
Two billionaires (and NZ) pitting their monstrous insatiable egoes against each other….
Key and Banks pissed off DotCom so he is going to stay in their faces…
Sometimes it feels like we are all being punished…
Like Rob, it does seem to me that the Internet party is politically a minor distraction.
But what I’m puzzled about is how intense the PR campaign has been against dotcom and the internet party. Over the last weeks we’ve seen some pretty concerted and persistent attempts to smear and nobble it. But I’m wondering a bit.
It doesn’t matter to me particularly if it has been TV3 being fed material for the ratings or Cameron Slater being given drip fed his lines. The sheer scale and obviousness of the attack seems to me to be kind of counter productive in the demographic that the IP appears to be targeting.
They’re the uninterested and usually disassociated internet generations. They know instinctively what marketing campaigns on social and mainstream media look like. That is why they never believe them. This looks like an ideal kind of campaign to designed to attract them to an underdog – especially this latest one on some collectible from 50 years before they were born.
Makes me wonder who is feeding this bumfff to the unsophisticated fools at TV3 and the even more credulous blogs. What looks like a deliberate smear campaign against an underdog party when they’re opening membership… It may be an ideal marketing campaign for their disenfranchised audience.
Either way, it looks to me that one side or another is spending a lot of money on PR
Agreed, Lynn. And I made a similar kind of comment under micky’s post, about the smear against Dotcom being likely to have the opposite impact as intended on the demographic that the IntP is targeting.
Saw that and 😈 just responded to it…
heh.
I must say, though I’m no fan of Dotcom or his party, the main policy outline has some good elements – and it will definitely appeal to those that are IT savvy, but not necessarily very political.
Stuff -.
This is a pretty narrow election manifesto.
Also, Dotcom’s direct way of calling out the National Party as the people behind the MK smear of him, will get him a fair bit of support from some voters – and also meets the Mana Party criteria of saying that the IntP will not support a National government.
its understandable that the policies are narrow. its a party with a particular interest. in some ways thats a great thing cos you know what any party that formed a coalition with them would be asked to concede. it doesnt matter to me if tgey have an economic policy or welfare policy as long as they stick to their knitting.
i suspect the answer is personal. banks doesnt want a criminal conviction and key thinks dotcom may have proof of his lies. egoes brother. big money men with bigger egoes.
i cant work out what else they are scared of… perhaps dotcoms mobey could buy a couple of whistleblowers.
the left just need to remind people only one person has been wined, dined, helicoptered, accomodated in hong kong and donated to by dotcom… JOHN BANKS
IP plans to get internet to all nzers… this will require purchase of devices, much lower monthly fees…
Rob’s right. The right-wing billionaire party is a large balloon for a man with an ego. Let it pop.
To others: It’s not a distraction. It’s a way to end the news cycles for a number of important stories involving 3 female ministers. That’s the way it plays.
It’s also a useful tool to associate those who have visited the alleged Nazi-lover in the last several years. The only way to kill the association is to start up some pretty robust criticism – which is electorally sound in any case.
the greens started off as a narrow issue focused party. not comparing anyone in greens to dotcom, in case anyone decides to draw that long bow.
halving internet fees and more computers in low decile classrooms could fit with mana…
perhaps he could announce wind and solar farms to power all his servers too?
The Green Party NZ started off with the NZ Values Party, via the Alliance, to what it is today – not such a narrow focus initially as the Int Party.
This was the outcome of a group of people with a strong commitment to politics and social/economic issues, working together towards a new kind of politics. nothing like KDC’s lurch into poltics.
I recall the Values Party used the books The Greening if America, and Small is Beautiful – as kind of guides to their values and platforms.
i guess i meant as much perception, as policies. i first voted them solely on their environmental stance not their economic policy and didnt see them as influencing that per se…
i would at 10-15%
I voted for the Values Party way back – didn’t really see them as Green so much, as wanting a different kind of politics and society: one where the kind of society aimed for is more important than putting the primary focus on (capitalist) “economics” as the 2 main parties did. I think, at that stage, I didn’t understand the difference between economics as a focus on “growth” and the alternative sustainable, steady state economics. I just didn’t like how Labour and the Nats focused on it.
The internet party claim to have gotten support from a currently sitting electorate MP, but are refusing to name the party or the MP.
Be funny if it were Banks.