Small target

Written By: - Date published: 1:45 pm, November 18th, 2011 - 26 comments
Categories: election 2011, john key - Tags: ,

Outraging families of suicide victims. Insulting the Police as layabouts. Declaring war on the media. Negative teapot stories  every day, now spreading to overseas coverage. The Nats are spinning that this was planned; that they decided to go nuclear on the media as a vote winner. What a joke. They were successfully running a small target campaign until a week ago.

Hubris. That’s what’s behind this. From talking about secret plans within spitting distance of the press gallery in a public cafe to the increasingly bizarre public comments and behaviour of the PM, this started because the Nats thought they were bullet-proof.

On the verge of “unbridled power”, the Nats didn’t need to create a shitstorm but they didn’t think they were creating one. They thought they could crush the embarrassment of the tape by monstering the HoS and avoid the embarrassment of the tapes’ contents getting out. But it didn’t work. Every day has seen an escalation. Now, they don’t know how to kill the story.

They’re trying desperately not to give more sound bites. That’s why Goodfellow canceled on RNZ at the last minute. But Key’s lost it. He can’t help himself. And loose cannons like Banks and Brash keep on making good fodder. And the police investigation itself is now keeping the negative headlines coming.

Small target is all about avoiding the critical eye of the media and the public. National is now fully in the focus of that glare. Not just the teapot tapes themselves but the Nats’ record on equality and wages, Key’s refusal to front up for serious policy interviews, and Key’s secret meetings.

This is getting worse by the day. Every poll we’ve seen was out of date when it was printed, yet they all show National falling already.

26 comments on “Small target ”

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  1. Carol 1
    18 November 2011 at 1:54 pm

    And Sue Bradford calling double standards, on National’s plans to increase surveillance of beneficiaries private lives, while Key gets indignant over being taped at a media stunt he knvited the press to:

    http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PO1111/S00477/the-breath-taking-double-standards-of-john-key.htm
    Press Release: Mana Party

    John Key wants to step up state probing into the private lives of beneficiaries but can’t cope with even the slightest hint of accountability himself says Mana Social Wellbeing spokesperson Sue Bradford.

    She says a seemingly innocuous section of the Welfare Policy announced by National on Tuesday proves the breath-taking double standards of John Key.

    ‘At present beneficiaries are subject to probing into the most intimate details of their private lives to prove they are entitled to their benefit, but John Key and Paula Bennett want to increase this.

    • Jim Nald 1.1
      18 November 2011 at 1:57 pm

      Privacy for me but not for you

      • Craig Glen Eden 1.1.1
        18 November 2011 at 2:15 pm

        Thats always the way with National, freedom and liberty for them and everyone else can kiss their arse, as long as they are able to get more power more money.

        • aerobubble 1.1.1.1
          19 November 2011 at 9:29 am

          There was never any expectation of privacy when a lip reader could
          have been invited. I mean how dumb are the talking head in our nation,
          there were cameras in Key’s face the whole time, he begged them to
          be there (true reporters are easy meat), but how can anyone expect
          privacy when there was a noticiable package on the table besides him.
          Journalists as a rule leave tapes on, duh, they lose their jobs if they
          don’t get copy.

          So why does the majority still think Key is worthy to be PM?

  2. the sprout 2
    18 November 2011 at 2:19 pm

    i think pretending this was all planned is about all the Key team could come up with when Key suddenly went all broken arrow, veered off course, became increasingly erratic then crashed in a ditch.

    “ah… yeah… he meant to crash… he meant to alienate the media because he was well in the lead before then… we wanted to make sure Key got plenty of days of really negative coverage just before election day”

  3. mike 3
    18 November 2011 at 3:26 pm

    So some Nats are are saying they went nuclear on the media as a vote-winner? By bullying the media and attacking their freedom to inform us? Are we supposed to be impressed with this manipulation tactic? This is how you try to win votes? I guess old fashioned routes like doing a good job and coming up with policy that makes our country a better place for all are passé.

  4. tc 4
    18 November 2011 at 3:40 pm

    So you:
    a) invite the press to a public endorsement of an old has been who just escaped prosecution for KSaver fraud….primo ACT party material there.
    b) hold it in a public place at a reserved table by the door in a venue that has alot more private tables.
    c) the old has been is cavorting with the media before your arrival as such priming the event
    d) you’re being filmed and taped at your request to record your endorsement of the old has been.
    e) you alledgedly make small talk that could be very damaging to your campaign.

    Anyway you look at this it’s an epic failure on the nat machine’s part at a very last minute endorsement they arrogantly thought they wouldn’t need.

    As such they didn’t micro manage JK to the point where his cue cards were written out so he went off his own bat and told some truths….uh oh you can never trust the bankers as to what they’ll say next eh.

  5. Deadly_NZ 5
    18 November 2011 at 3:42 pm

    BUT take a look at any of the MSM sites/printed media etc etc and whose mug is there sneering at you from everywhere? It could be victory by brainwash if this shit keeps up…

  6. Dr Terry 6
    18 November 2011 at 3:45 pm

    I still have a lurking suspicion that Key will even get away with this, so insanely devout are his disciples. He appears always to have absolute carte blanche, never mind what. People even adore him following asset sales with promise of plenty more! They mind not the historic debt achieved under his reign (always blame Christchurch of course), the poverty of 230,000 children, the punishment of beneficiaries who fail to take jobs when there are no jobs to take, persecution of the young (especially those who cannot vote) with stipulation of $10 an hour pay packets (whilst MP’s gain hugely increased pay and allowances, backdated at that!) Thus far I have heard only one MP decline this wicked award – Hone Harawira. Now have we moved still further toward a Key “police state”? Key could massacre a thousand innocents and his beloved would not blink.

  7. ianmac 7
    18 November 2011 at 4:02 pm

    Fancy Tracey Watkins National Party Defender coming out and being critical of John Key’s judgement. As indicated in Zetetic’s intro.
    http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/opinion/5989801/Tea-stains-may-be-hard-to-shake

  8. JS 8
    18 November 2011 at 5:41 pm

    What I don’t understand are the numbers of people saying they are against asset sales who are still voting National because they don’t believe that nice Mr Key is really going to sell them.
    They don’t seem to understand that half the work has been already done and the rest starts on 27 November if the government gets back in.

  9. marsman 9
    18 November 2011 at 6:04 pm

    We’ve had The Hollow Men for the last three years or rather they have had us….by the nose, they gave us A Study In The Politics Of Deception.

  10. Policy Parrot 10
    18 November 2011 at 7:03 pm

    It’s taken nearly five years for the (local) media to start asking the hard questions of Key. And National is complaining of press bias? Gimme a fucking break!

    • ianmac 10.1
      18 November 2011 at 7:32 pm

      Garner was giving Phil a hard time because he couldn’t give the exact figures for the start of the CGTax. (For the “Nation” tomorrow 10:30) Phil insisted on reading the figures from a sheet saying that there a huge number of figures so to remember just one asked for was hard.
      Now how often does Garner hold Key to details? For example Key says that National has brought in 1200 no, 1500, no 2000 more nurses. Nurses asked have no idea where these nurses are but hold Key to account? Too hard Mr Garner.

      • Hilary 10.1.1
        18 November 2011 at 9:24 pm

        John Key won’t go on the Nation which is one of the reasons why Garner is getting a little bit annoyed with him.

        • ianmac 10.1.1.1
          18 November 2011 at 10:52 pm

          So Key’s clever plan works. Do not front up so no one can hold him to account because he doesn’t say anything. Baldrick and Joyce are his advisers.
          That leaves Garner free to nit pick Phil and have fun trying to pull the wings off Phil’s flies.

          • Zaphod Beeblebrox 10.1.1.1.1
            18 November 2011 at 11:02 pm

            One thing about Goff- he puts himself out there and fronts up to explain. He went in front of the NFF this week and told why we need and ETS on agriculture and why they shouldn’t get their water for free. I admire his courage to tell people what they don’t want to hear- unlike cerain other spineless leaders who attack the questioner whenever challenged.

      • Jilly Bee 10.1.2
        18 November 2011 at 9:37 pm

        I had hoped for a decent doco with ‘The Nation’ but sheesh a Saturday morning, I found I just had other more important tasks to attend to. After watching the first few programmes, I gave up as it was just a cheer leading rah rah for the ruling party.

      • Zaphod Beeblebrox 10.1.3
        18 November 2011 at 10:58 pm

        Today I saw Key claiming National had reduced crime by 7% single-handedly. And this was why police had so much time on their hands. Talk about simplistic cause and effect. Can someone in our media make him accountable for the laughable causations that he comes out with? Or can he just get away with any BS statements he likes without any justification.

        • wtl 10.1.3.1
          18 November 2011 at 11:03 pm

          To be fair, the media did make him accountable for that statement – they kept repearing it to make sure everyone heard it. It goes without saying that it is pretty dumb (almost Melissa Lee-esque).

          • Zaphod Beeblebrox 10.1.3.1.1
            18 November 2011 at 11:12 pm

            Did they ask him to explain his how he went from vague association to causation? I guess nobody gets to ask him any follow questions so they probably did their best.

  11. Descendant Of Smith 11
    18 November 2011 at 11:08 pm

    And of course crime went down in part because multiple fraud offences are now treated as one offence:

    http://thestandard.org.nz/collins-fudging-crime-stats/

  12. anne 12
    19 November 2011 at 2:42 pm

    I’m throwing my toys out of the cot! why the hell hasn’t all the negative dictatorship style of key and his minders haven’t reflected in the polls,there are many,many instances of his shafting the
    people in nz and yet people are still asleep at the wheel,what does it take? The media have protected ‘dear leader’ for so long and no serious questions are asked as to his suitability for
    the job of PM,where is his CV? what is his history?,nothing has been required of him.
    The latest revelation that the stunt was planned and he goes to the police,this useless excuse
    for a man is a moron,or is it crosby texter’s way of spinning it.
    Surely people see key’s behaviour as pathetic and not appropriate for the leader of this country,hopefully he is sacked on saturday 26th.

  13. anne 13
    19 November 2011 at 6:02 pm

    Normal media coverage of politics has started again,the continual national lean can be seen in
    mostly all of the sites in the media,the left bashing has taken off again,there is nothing that
    is positive about labour,its leader or its policies,so its business as usual,key’s word is law.