The sick state of the right

Written By: - Date published: 7:45 am, October 17th, 2013 - 77 comments
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The Herald reports today that John Palino’s campaign team were up to their eyeballs in the Len Brown dirty digging (or should that be “pantie sniffing”) with Bevan Chung releasing evidence that it was a calculated political move.

Their response? A whole lot of implausible denial. And speaking of implausible denial, it’s looking increasingly like John Banks is gonna have to go. And then there’s Hooton’s going berserk RNZ, and David Farrar’s desperate attempts to rake muck over Cunliffe’s CV, and Nick Smith’s increasing foundering over the Ruataniwha dam, and Simon Bridges’ going berserk on Campbell Live, and Amy Adams’ RMA fiasco…

All in all the right is not looking at all well. In fact it’s looking downright sick and nasty. No wonder Key’s looking like he’s over it.

77 comments on “The sick state of the right ”

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  1. Ant 1
    17 October 2013 at 7:49 am

    Would be interesting to see how and when Chuang was brought into the C and R fold.

  2. Sanctuary 2
    17 October 2013 at 8:04 am

    If the reports of Jock Anderson’s sacking are true, then it seems the New Zealand political right could be on the verge of a cultural split every bit as debilitating as the Tea party vs. Moderates split in the GOP.

    In one corner you will have the ACToid rump fanatics like Lusk, Slater, Hooton, Collins, Farrar, etc all heavily polluted by Fox News and wingnut websites and in the other you’ll have the old schoolers like English and Anderson and Federated Farmers.

    The fanatics will wage a filthy war every bit as energetically against their own “traitors” as they will against the “left” (translation: anyone normal). They even use the same language as the Tea Partiers. But unlike the United States, our electoral system is robust enough to punish them heavily for their extremism.

    • Ad 2.1
      17 October 2013 at 11:08 am

      Well said there, with an overlay of Auckland National-Act-C&R political culture versus the rest of NZ.

  3. You_Fool 3
    17 October 2013 at 8:04 am

    Reading the statements by Ms Chuang made me wonder what her motivation was and who was using her, today’s story makes no surprises to me, neither do I believe whale-oils denial that he had nothing to do with it, neither do I believe that he was “looking after her” other than by using her emotional state to get political points, something that looks like it is about to make it worse for the right (also no surprise)

    I worry for Ms Chuang and her state of mind, one hopes that some friends and family that actually care about her gather around and get her out of the media limelight and away from impure influences

    • bad12 3.1
      17 October 2013 at 8:15 am

      Chuang Bevan, described in the media as ‘ambitious’ i would say hasn’t got the intellectual where-with-all to maintain such a level of ambition,

      If Her actions were those of a ‘dizzy’ teen i probably could sympathize with Her, as She is to all extents and purposes a mature adult i cannot,

      In my mind She deserves little sympathy, it isn’t like She didn’t know that Len Brown was a married man and to be totally uncharitable considering today’s revelations in the Herald, it would appear that Chuang was happy to use sex in the furtherance of Her personal ‘ambitions’…

      • You_Fool 3.1.1
        17 October 2013 at 8:24 am

        That is somewhat un-called for, from the little I know of her (I also am a little involved in the Auckland Chinese Community Centre, which she is/was a member and done events for) she is an intelligent and well adjusted woman; just because she wore the wrong colour recently doesn’t change who she is and I feel that it is wrong to try and paint her as some sort of evil, stupid right wing succubus.

        Reading all her statements I feel there were two forces at work in her poor choice over Len, a little “I get to go to important events, which will help my political career” and “Len talks nice to me and makes me feel loved” – and it is that second bit that makes it inappropriate to smear her as some sort of slut. She may have actually liked Len, even if it was just cause he spoke nice to her and complimented her. It is also what makes me like Len more from this; he had good enough charisma to talk his way into her pants.

        • bad12 3.1.1.1
          17 October 2013 at 9:05 am

          Uncalled for, not at all, if there are any ‘victims’ in this sorry little tale those ‘victims’ are Len Brown’s family,

          How do you think ‘lover boy Luigi’ and Blubber boy got to hear of the Brown/Chuang affair in the first place,

          Detective work???, not likely, in the pillow talk between lover boy Luigi and Chuang, She told him,

          The texts between Chuang and lover boy Luigi published in today’s Herald say it all, Chuang would have provided Luigi with the ‘hot’ smoking gun texts from Brown to Chuang except Brown was now refusing to correspond with Her so she couldn’t…

          • Tracey 3.1.1.1.1
            17 October 2013 at 9:20 am

            IF she was in love with Brown, and he threw her aside, she might have been emotionallly distraught. Anyone who has been emotionally distraught knows that your thoughts swing wildly… loss, rage and so on. If someone was stoking the fires at that time, those swings get “grounded”. I am NOT excusing her part in this, but she is not ahead of Brown, Banks or Slater on the bad behaviours stakes, imo. She was emotional and made a very stupid decision that she will probably never be distanced from, NZ is too small. So let’s we all stop adding to it and focus on real targets in positions to damage NZ society.

            • McFlock 3.1.1.1.1.1
              17 October 2013 at 11:58 am

              I’ve lost one or two much more minor elections, and needed to potter off for a couple of days. And that was without a bf/fmr-bf pressuring me to do shit, and a sense of responsibility for my chosen candidate losing, and so on – just simply losing an election after weeks of intensive work on top of real life. So in a moment of great emotional stress, she purged – unfortunately to a muckraker, not a therapist.

              Frankly, I think the lesson is that if you are surrounded by tories, there is nobody you can confide in.

              • CnrJoe …
                17 October 2013 at 12:48 pm

                if you are surrounded by tories, there is nobody you can confide in

                quite. right.

                • The Pink Postman …
                  17 October 2013 at 3:01 pm

                  However we should all be on guard . Tories are experts in”the Dirty Tricks Brigade.
                  Crosby-Textor are the best in the world at smear.This Latest Whale Oil sleazy campaign should alert the political left on just what to expect for next years election. Rats in a corner can be very dangerous ,

              • Huginn …
                17 October 2013 at 9:08 pm

                Agree with McFlock

                It does sound as though she was emotionally vulnerable after losing the election. Slater and the Palino camp saw an advantage and took it with no regard for the consequences for Chuang or Brown’s family – or for the political culture that has deliberately, and properly, kept these affairs off the board.

                This is a tragedy

      • muzza 3.1.2
        17 October 2013 at 8:25 am

        B12 – Summed up nicely!

        Chuang deserves no sympathy, she has made choices along the way, and as an adult she will have to live with those choices!

        The articles trying to sell this distraction are ridiculous!

        What *news* are we missing while the MSM outs this gutter level coup attempt?

        @ You fool – Um, yeah bro, appropriate handle!

      • karol 3.1.3
        17 October 2013 at 8:26 am

        Oh, come on. Who in politics isn’t “ambitious”? Chuang may not be a saint. Who in this story is? But she has been used and abused by SleazeOil and Steohen C(r)ook. Good on her for spelling out publicly how it went down.

        • muzza 3.1.3.1
          17 October 2013 at 8:37 am

          Hi Karol, of course Chuang is being used, so is Slater, Palino, Key, Banks, pick a name, they are all tools of those who are pulling the strings, those who we do not get to see.

          The point is, they are all adults who are responsible for their choices and actions, and what these types deserve, is to be outed for their actions and intentions. This is serious stuff, and if the dragon baby mamma is looking for sympathy, she should be told to suck it up, and live with the fallout!

          Ambitious, is a cover for all sorts of unfortunate personality traits, mostly of the undesirable nature, and is used as an attempt to cover for those traits with a positive sounding terminology!

          Holistic, altruistic ambition, will never self proclaim!

          • karol 3.1.3.1.1
            17 October 2013 at 8:44 am

            It is hard to know who pulls Slater’s strings. And I cannot understand any woman trusting him to publish intimate details of her life.

            But, for me, publishing of intimate details of the affair sounds like total Slater. the guy’s a misogynist, gutter-swilling, sleaze, and for that he deserves all the backlash he gets.

            • muzza 3.1.3.1.1.1
              17 October 2013 at 8:52 am

              It certainly has the reek of WO, and his handlers all over it, but remember, Chuang had to sign the affidavit, that was her choice, her “words”. She would also have had to authorize the release of any material, otherwise we can expect to see law suits against WO et al.

              Easy to be swayed by those that are involved, and to lessen the responsibility/accountability on Chuang, who must accept that her choices and actions, have contributed to her situation, the same way that Brown must also accept the consequences of his actions.

              Slater et al, this is their standard operating procedure, it is well known, and can be no surprise. Chuang, as a calculating, ambitious individual, must not be allowed leeway for her decisions or actions, that is the responsibility of adulthood,

              May she learn the painful lessons from this, yes that would be good, but lessons are learned from the consequences of actions, that is why some people grow, some don’t!

            • Tracey 3.1.3.1.1.2
              17 October 2013 at 9:21 am

              Would he publish anything on Collins of Cactus Kate’s for example if he knew about it?

            • The Pink Postman 3.1.3.1.1.3
              17 October 2013 at 3:10 pm

              I have much better descriptions than that Karol but they are unprintable ..There are a few Yiddish words available but even those can not describe this “toe rag”

        • bad12 3.1.3.2
          17 October 2013 at 8:49 am

          Read the texts between Chuang and ‘Lover boy Luigi’ carefully and with both eyes open please Karol,

          Chunag did NOT provide the up to date texts between Her and Len Brown through any ‘moral’ concern about what ‘lover boy Luigi’ and Blubber boy were going to use them for,

          Chuang in Her own words couldn’t provide the texts between Her and Len Brown on the sole basis that Brown WOULD NOT correspond with Her,

          My view of that is that had Len Brown not cut off all communications with Chuang, She would have happily provided Brown’s text messages to ‘lover boy Luigi’ which would have then been splashed all over the sewer by Blubber boy,

          Chuang was a willing party in all of this and Her belated ‘sorrow’ for Len Brown might be truly felt by Her but i view such as simply ‘crocadile tears’ from a willing partner in all aspects of this sordid little affair…

          • Colonial Viper 3.1.3.2.1
            17 October 2013 at 8:57 am

            And something on the Herald about being asked to record her cell phone conversations with Brown because that’s when he says dirty stuff… but she couldn’t because he wasn’t taking to her any more. Still not a good look for her.

            That Luigi guy sounds like a lying scheming manipulative prick.

            • bad12 3.1.3.2.1.1
              17 October 2013 at 9:12 am

              Yeah of course CV, lover boy Luigi is slimy sleazy scum just what we would all expect to be hanging out with Blubber boy, Palino by association is little better,

              And seriously, Len Brown can hardly claim sainthood from His actions, in Lens defense tho is the fact that He is but a mere human, Len got caught out by that which catches out many a balding fifty something bloke, a good looking ‘younger woman’ switched on that part of the anatomy which hadn’t been rocking His world for quite a few years,

              Lolz, Vance did it to Dunne, the difference being there that Dunne as far as we can see only got to ‘think about it’ whereas Len Brown let it all hang out…

              • Tracey …
                17 October 2013 at 9:22 am

                really I know heaps of 50 something balding guys who aren’t cheating on their wives.

                “boys will be boys” is a puerile defence.

                • karol …
                  17 October 2013 at 9:26 am

                  indeed. So “boys will be boys”, but women will be scheming two-faced cheats…. or whatever the line is that’s used against the “other woman”.”

                  Men can’t help their biological impulses, and really it’s all the fault of the woman.

                • Colonial Viper …
                  17 October 2013 at 9:31 am

                  “really I know heaps of 50 something balding guys who aren’t cheating on their wives.”

                  Neither was Brown last week.

                • bad12 …
                  17 October 2013 at 10:18 am

                  Lolz Tracey, the fifty something balding bloke getting a bad case of teenage yearning for a younger woman that is receptive to His advances is a ‘historical norm’,

                  The fact that you know heaps of baling fifty something blokes you ‘claim’ are not cheating on their wives is immaterial, do you think that when such blokes engage in such cheating they all publicly display such, it is by definition an engagement steeped in secrecy,

                  As CV points out, none of us knew Len Brown had been at it until this week, so what you ‘know’ and what is reality as far as people ‘cheating’ on each other are usually two different things,

                  It’s pretty obvious to me that from reading the Herald’s revelations this morning that had Len Brown been communicating with Chuang Bevan last week Blubber boy would have been publishing it all word for word,

                  Do i attach to Chuang any label of denigration, no far from it, where i live in society the actions of Chuang Bevan are par for the course some of my best friends are as ruthless if not more so when it comes to the politics of life,

                  Sorry if that bursts your bubble…

                  • karol …
                    17 October 2013 at 10:27 am

                    FFS, 50 something men, whatever the “norm” in a patriarchal society cannot side-step taking responsibility by blaming their biology and historical “norms” for their choices, while others (especially the “other women”) get held to account for their “ruthless” behaviour.

                    • bad12 …
                      17 October 2013 at 10:44 am

                      What are you suggesting here Karol??/, should Len Brown resign???my view of Brown’s actions are that He is doing what a zillion fifty something balding males have done befor Him and a zillion other’s will do after,

                      The difference being that Len’s the Mayor and this is all now public knowledge, you are attaching blame here for the initial ‘sexual behavior’ which i am not,

                      Not in any way, the fact that Chuang ‘seems’ to have been into Brown’s bed and then outta there and into ‘Luigi’s” on at least two occasions simply draws from me a smile because such actions, by both Men and Women, i see them every day, it’s what i consider ‘normal’,

                      Put aside the ‘sexual relationships’ for the moment, hard i know as such inter-link the story, and what have you got???,

                      What you have got is Bevan Chuang who if Len Brown had of continued to communicate with Her would have happily passed on those communications to ‘Luigi’ and thence to Blubber boy,

                      The only reason She didn’t is coz Brown,(possibly more clever than i would have credited Him with), didn’t…

                    • karol …
                      17 October 2013 at 10:52 am

                      bad, no I have said many times I don’t think Brown should resign – at least not in the short-medium term.

                      As you have done, so have others, defending Brown by saying other guys in political office have done as much and more in the past. So we just go on accepting the “historical norm”. When is it going to become NOT OK for some men to abuse their positions of power as many have done in the past?

                      Brown has done wrong. But there’s a nasty smear campaign being waged by some righties who know they stand little chance of getting their guy/s elected democratically. That is the worst thing going on right now.

                    • bad12 …
                      17 October 2013 at 10:55 am

                      PS, whats this ‘responsibility thingy’ that us 50 something balding blokes should be doing,

                      Chuang and Brown are two mature adults,(although that’s debatable), both are free, in a free society, to engage in sexual acts unconstrained by Law or the supposed morality of other’s,

                      Len of course would seem to have some modicum of responsibility through His marriage vows which to me just says more fool Him for engaging in such primitive behavior of ‘ownership’ which is how i view such primitive vows…

                    • Colonial Viper …
                      17 October 2013 at 11:05 am

                      Indeed let’s remember she is 32, not 18. And it’s unfair to say at this point that Brown abused his positional power over her.

                    • bad12 …
                      17 October 2013 at 11:10 am

                      Karol, please do not put words in my mouth which i have neither used nor implied, i have made no reference to what other men or woman have done in political office, full stop.

                      What i have said is that in the world i inhabit it is ‘normal’ for men and women to behave sexually as have both Brown and Chuang, you on the other hand seem to see something grossly wrong in the actual act of sex between the two which as far as i can tell was consensual,

                      From where i sit,(remembering i am not a member of Lens family), what exactly is ‘wrong’ with the adult Len Brown having sex with the adult Chuang Bevan, my view is nothing,

                      If there is any ‘wrong’ to be attributed to such actions it is NOT for us to attribute such wrong,(are we the moral police now), it is for Len Brown’s family to attribute any wrong-doing on His part,

                      The point at where something is ‘wrong’, in my opinion, is at the point where Chuang has obviously tried to have Len Brown communicate further with Her,

                      In my view the ‘wrong’ here is that She was deliberately trying to ‘trap’ Brown knowing that She would then be passing on such private communications to a third party

                    • karol …
                      17 October 2013 at 11:22 am

                      bad, now you are “putting words in my mouth”. I do think there is a power imbalance in such cases. i don not agree with the “Historical norm” defence – ie others have done it.

                      I do not agree with any “entrapment” defence of Brown.

                      I’m pissed as hell for Brown being irresponsible and endangering the stability of Auckland Council. Yes, Chuang also has to take responsibility for her own behaviour. However, amongst all these guys, she is in a relatively weak position, and has been pressured and manipulated by some ruthless right wing guys.

                      I’m more pissed – beyond words – at Team Sleazy Slater and Team Palino their disregard for democratic processes. Now SleazeOil is trying to sit on a high horse and claim Brown is a “ratbag” and a “weasle” and he will continue to “hold him to account”. Oh, please?!!! Who is going to hold SleazeOil to account? A slimey one on a high horse is bound to come a nasty cropper!

                      There are many complicated sides to this story. No-one is looking that good.

            • karol 3.1.3.2.1.2
              17 October 2013 at 9:14 am

              Yep, Chuang has a lot to answer for, too, and she ain’t no saint – neither is Brown. But, I doubt she really understood in advance what the reaction to her would be as a result of, not only going public, but producing all that salacious stuff. She has been stupid. I believe she’s had a lot of nasty backlash she didn’t anticipate. And, whatever she thought she was doing, she has been abused by Whale Sleaze and C(r)ook.

              And, Chuang has now thrown a little dirt back act the sleazy pair, and the whole of the Auckland Palino/Slater teams.

              Let’s not forget that this is indeed about the “sick state of the right”.

            • karol 3.1.3.2.1.3
              17 October 2013 at 9:24 am

              but she couldn’t because he wasn’t taking to her any more. Still not a good look for her.

              Not just that, but this:

              Chuang: I can’t get any evidence because he won’t talk to me.

              And it won’t help my future by saying that I’ve been involved in an marital relationship?

              he won’t interact with me at all and you keep pressuring me, blaming that I won’t help, etc.

              My bold. Not just that she couldn’t but she didn’t see any advantage in doing it – yes, that speaks to her ambition. But the strongest thing that comes from the texts is that her scumbag b/f was really pressuring her and using emotional blackmail.

          • bad12 3.1.3.2.2
            17 October 2013 at 10:30 am

            Further to this and with a little bit more thought, the Herald points out Chuang’s texts to lover boy Luigi where She tells Him that She cannot provide the info He wants on the sole basis that Len Brown won’t communicate with Her,

            i then have to take a ‘speculative view’ that Chuang has tried to get Len Brown to communicate with Her, all the while Her,(Chuang), knowing that if Brown does resume the cut off communications with Her, She will pass on those communications to lover boy Luigi and hence to Blubber boy,

            i think any reasonable person could make that reasonable conclusion based upon the texts shown this morning in the Herald…

          • Huginn 3.1.3.2.3
            17 October 2013 at 9:24 pm

            That’s a very harsh take on those texts, Muzza. I don’t see it that way.

            I see a woman saying “I can’t” because she is unable to say “I won’t” .

            It shouldn’t be taken to mean that she wanted to.

            It does speak volumes of the power relationship between Chuang and Wewege before the election. And it points to how he would have come at her immediately after the election was lost

      • BM 3.1.4
        17 October 2013 at 8:27 am

        I agree, the Manchu Lady hasn’t really shown a lot of nous and cleverness

        She ain’t going to get any sympathy from no one, especially from other women

        From what I’ve seen and read, women despise other women who have affairs or meddle in others relationships,
        Fuck with my man and l’II gouge out your eyeballs and kill you seems to be the typical sort of response.

        Hard road ahead for Bevan.

  4. Armchair Critic 4
    17 October 2013 at 8:23 am

    John Key has never truly lead the National party, and now his inability to even merely manage it, or the country, is glaringly obvious.
    An early election looks increasingly likely.

  5. vto 5
    17 October 2013 at 8:34 am

    Yep, John Key’s lot look like a shabby old jumper with the stitches falling apart all over.

  6. Tony Moder 6
    17 October 2013 at 9:02 am

    haha muck raking but its not working, they are surrounded and going down, the national ship that is.

  7. Tracey 7
    17 October 2013 at 9:25 am

    5 years to date

    heatley resigned and reinstated
    smith resigned and reinstated
    worth resigned
    wong resigned
    kate wilkinson resigns
    aaron gilmore resigns
    jaqui blue resigns
    dunne resigned
    Banks resigned

    power gone to another job

    BUT its labour in disarray…. yeah right

  8. vto 8
    17 October 2013 at 9:39 am

    It is not just the National shabbiness…

    … it is their entire ethos of self-interest and the failed neoliberal policies that have led to Pike River deaths and finance company collapses.

    The only supporters they will have at the next election are the die-hards who are too cowardly to admit their political philosophies might be wrong for society. We can all guess the type.

    Failed.

    Go back to the drawing board Nats, you stinking scheming pricks.

  9. Blue 9
    17 October 2013 at 9:47 am

    I’m slightly more concerned about the sick state of right-wing journalism, in which the Herald tries to use the results of a self-selecting poll to force Len Brown to resign.

  10. Outofbed 10
    17 October 2013 at 9:53 am

    If it now alright to dish dirt about politicians private lives, Nick Smith must be shitting himself 🙂

    • karol 10.1
      17 October 2013 at 10:02 am

      Yep. Cunliffe has steadily and carefully worked on this, piling up the evidence. Yesterday “Labour lodges privileges complaint against Nick Smith”

      Labour today lodged a privileges complaint against Conservation Minister Nick Smith for deliberately misleading Parliament over a Department of Conservation draft submission on the proposed Ruataniwha dam.

      Labour Leader David Cunliffe says responses to written questions raise doubts over Dr Smith’s continued assertions he didn’t know about the draft submission until it was leaked to media and raised in the House on September 17.

      And Claire Trevett is doubtful about the stability of Key’s government:

      Nonetheless, the ministerial resignations of both Banks and Dunne does reinforce the perception that the stability is as wobbly as blancmange.

      Key will be relying on those assurances more than he is letting on. He has pointed out he can still muster a majority with the Maori Party. But the Maori Party votes against far more government bills than it supports, and that leaves vast tracts of National’s policy platform at risk of being put on ice. It would still be able to govern, but only in first gear.

      Politically, it is atrocious timing for Key, who had hoped to spend this time trying to be a pernicious gooseberry on new Labour leader David Cunliffe’s honeymoon.

  11. karol 11
    17 October 2013 at 9:54 am

    Interesting also that Stuff’s online poll had a bit over 50% saying Brown should NOT resign(56% today) – opposite of NZ Herald’s online poll.

  12. phil 12
    17 October 2013 at 9:57 am

    Thanks for the history of resignations,lest we forget. Chuang seems to me to be a vulnerable woman who has been MANipulated in every way! This story is a old as time. Overall, Len comes out as a mere male who can’t control himself.

  13. Puckish Rogue 13
    17 October 2013 at 11:36 am

    This is great: political in-fighting spilling out into the media…blood in the water

    Politics is getting interesting 🙂

  14. Mjoy 14
    17 October 2013 at 12:02 pm

    Seriously folks this conversation wouldn’t be going on if Len hadn’t been so weak and stupid. I agree that his personal life shouldn’t be anyone’s business but in the real world it does and if he’s not smart enough to work that out then maybe he’s not smart enough to be the Mayor. Lets put the blame for this mess where it really sits. Not with the “right” or the “other woman”, Len made the mistake and he has to live with the consequences.

    • McFlock 14.1
      17 October 2013 at 12:24 pm

      Actually, the mess clearly sits with the loathsome panty-sniffers who have taken NZ politics a few feet farther into the sewer. This conversation wouldn’t be going on if a disgraced former jonolist and his tory bully-boy mates hadn’t obsessively chased down a rumour – mostly because they couldn’t get brown on his activities as mayor.

    • felix 14.2
      17 October 2013 at 12:25 pm

      Yep, Len is responsible for what he does.

      But when you say “the consequences” you’re talking about what Slater and his bunch of fuckwits are doing, as if they’re a force of nature.

      How come you’re not holding them personally responsible for their actions?

    • lprent 14.3
      17 October 2013 at 12:59 pm

      Lets put the blame for this mess where it really sits. Not with the “right” or the “other woman”, Len made the mistake and he has to live with the consequences.

      Sure he does and I’m sure that he will both at home and when the next election rolls around. But it is largely irrelevant in actual political terms in that Len campaigned on his policies and record. The election was won on those, not primarily on his character. I’m pretty sure that based on the gap between him and John Palino, that he’d have won even if this had been made public months before the election.

      However the means by which this sordid little tale came to light is politically important. It appears to have been a deliberate attempt from the team of only credible opposition to Len Brown to gain political advantage by the emotional torture and abuse of someone using a sexual relationship as instrument of torture.

      I’m interested in your view about how you can justify that?

      • karol 14.3.1
        17 October 2013 at 1:06 pm

        Yep. In the end, it shows yet again that the right have no confidence in winning on policies – they spin, divert, attack, smear, and use any kind of dirty tricks they can, but have only empty promises to offer the majority of Kiwis on policies.

      • Mjoy 14.3.2
        17 October 2013 at 1:57 pm

        I’m not trying to justify or excuse. I’m just saying, if Len had kept his pants on they wouldn’t have the ammunition to attack in the first place, and lets not pretend that if we knew something similar about Banks, Key and Co we wouldn’t use it….. I know I would.

        • McFlock 14.3.2.1
          17 October 2013 at 2:09 pm

          Apart from the fact that I do seem to recall that one or two pollies (including tories) have had personal problems before, and tory bloggers didn’t go apeshit. Hide springs to mind.

          They tried to spread some personal muck about Heather Roy, but this is the first time I recall people demanding resignations over it – but then I suppose it took a while for even slater to sink to those depths.

  15. red rattler 15
    17 October 2013 at 12:26 pm

    Yawn.
    I don’t care who Len Brown is having sex with as long as its consensual.
    I do care that he is screwing the workers of Auckland by pushing the NACTs corporate plan to make Auckland even more of a fat cat playground ripping off ordinary folks and sucking up to the rich and envious.
    Should he go, yes, but not because he was smitten by a woman and smeared by the right.
    It is the job of the left to find someone who stands up for ordinary people and not for the baubles of office.
    zzzzzz

    • Murray Olsen 15.1
      17 October 2013 at 9:46 pm

      Yep, he can go because we have someone far better to replace him with, not because some sleaze merchants who wouldn’t get rated a 4 if they were paying want their guy in. We need to find that person and build a movement to get them in.

  16. karol 16
    17 October 2013 at 5:34 pm

    Jock Anderson told NZ Herald reporter he was sacked from NBR for writing a piece supporting Len Brown.

    Apparently it is because he was told to write a neutral piece on the affair, and expressed his own view as if it was that of the NBR.

    hmmmm…. so now can we have more sackings of MSM journos who fail to meet such standards?

    • newsense 16.1
      17 October 2013 at 10:48 pm

      yeh:

      NBR journalist dismissed
      NBR Staff | Thursday October 17, 2013
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      A senior National Business Review journalist has lost his job in the wake of the Len Brown sex scandal.

      National Business Review publisher Todd Scott in a brief statement today said: “We do not comment on internal employment issues but I can confirm Mr Jock Anderson was dismissed yesterday for failing to comply with specific instructions to treat coverage of the Len Brown affair in an impartial and unbiased manner.”

      Mr Anderson had filed copy on NBR ONLINE yesterday morning purporting to be the NBR’s stance on the controversy. His copy was headed “Editorial” and called for Mr Brown to stay on as mayor. His copy was removed shortly after it was posted.

      Mr Scott said NBR’s news coverage of the ongoing scandal would remain strictly neutral. There would be no restriction on NBR’s regular columnists to analyse events as they unfolded.
      http://www.nbr.co.nz/article/nbr-journalist-dismissed-147312

      what i want to know is how was it unbiased or impartial?

      Otherwise how much pressure are we seeing on editorial journalists and columnists not to say what they really think?

      Release the article NBR, let us know what Mr Anderson really thought…

  17. Jack Turnbill 17
    20 October 2013 at 5:40 pm

    Welcome to American politics..
    Palino is from New Jersey. Its a political fire state.
    Wouldnt surprise me if he supports the Republican Tea Party.
    They have just about destroyed the American economy with their extremism over the last few weeks.
    Political Agendas = American politics =Palino.
    Who mysteriously skipped the country for a holiday when the the oil in the pan started to get hot??
    Mr Palino….how convenient.
    Hope he continues his trip right back to New Jersey..
    Got a gut feeling Auckland was lucky this all happened..Bevan Chung might have done us all a favour exposing this guy.