The victims of Brand Key

Written By: - Date published: 8:12 am, February 7th, 2010 - 52 comments
Categories: john key, national/act government - Tags:

Remember the struggling Auckland family that John Key used in 2007 to help build his brand? Well, according to the Herald:

The mother of the 12-year-old girl John Key took to Waitangi three years ago says she has been let down by the Prime Minister, and her daughter now wants nothing to do with him.

John Key disgracefully used the mum and kids for his own political ends. And now the family are suffering directly from the policies of the Key Government.

She and her family were worse off since National won the election…

She had been impressed by Key during his visit but had changed her mind since the election. “He’s just made everything worse for us and made it easier for ones that are higher up. I’m struggling every week.”

And if that wasn’t a kick of the guts enough. The National Party sacked the mum from the job they had given her.

“They gave me the job to sweeten the deal, and then as soon as they got elected I got the sack,” she said.

The worst thing in all this is the way a 12 year old was treated by Key and his advisers as PR prop. She was used to help perpetuate Brand Key with scant regard for her well-being.

I hope Key feels bad. Because he bloody well should.

52 comments on “The victims of Brand Key ”

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  1. mickysavage 1
    7 February 2010 at 8:17 am

    Wow.

    In the Herald too?

    The complaint that Key is all spin and no substance obviously is gaining momentum.

    • Graeme Edgeler 1.1
      7 February 2010 at 11:30 am

      So can we stop with the “New Zealand Herald is shilling for National” line, and just replace it – when needed – with the “New Zealand Herald is sometimes just not a very good news organisation” line?
      [Can’t it be both? 🙂 you can write whatever you like on your blog. The fact is that the Herald is a rightwing political actor and its reporting, and especially op-eds, generally reflect that.]

      • BLiP 1.1.1
        7 February 2010 at 11:36 am

        What about: The New Zealand Herald is a small cog in a foreign-owned multinational media machine focussed on the sole function of maximising return to shareholders?

        • Matthew Hooton 1.1.1.1
          7 February 2010 at 1:24 pm

          That also describes the Sunday Star Times which is notoriously left wing, so I don’t think ownership is the issue.

          • Bored 1.1.1.1.1
            7 February 2010 at 2:12 pm

            Jeepers Matthew, if the SST is left wing where abouts to the right of Genghis Khan do you reside?

          • BLiP 1.1.1.1.2
            7 February 2010 at 2:25 pm

            Its not about ownership per se – its about transforming the Fourth Estate into an echo chamber.

          • mickysavage 1.1.1.1.3
            7 February 2010 at 9:12 pm

            Yeah they have really left wing columnists like Michael Laws and this other guy Matthew something.

            Wooton or Cooton or …

            Oh it is you!

            Are you a left winger?

  2. BLiP 2
    7 February 2010 at 8:34 am

    The smiling assassin claims another victim . . . wattaguy!

  3. quenchino 3
    7 February 2010 at 8:49 am

    This is why the original act was so wrong. By using these people as he did, Key created an personal obligation with them he could never properly fulfil.

    Of course they feel betrayed.

    • Lew 3.1
      7 February 2010 at 8:52 am

      Absolutely. And he couldn’t fulfill it because our political system doesn’t allow for the extent of patronage that would require. That, at least, is a positive.

      Labour should make hay out of this — but it’s imperative that they do so without further exploiting that family. That will be a difficult line to ride.

      L

  4. tc 4
    7 February 2010 at 8:58 am

    Gosh and he’s such a nice man with all those millions earned via the sweat of his brow and leads a talented capable group of ministers with NZ’s best interests at heart…..Yeah right !

    The more the facade, the deeper the cracks when they begin to appear……his carefully maintained image in combination with their influence over the MSM (working so far by the way) seems to be finally poking some journo’s to action.

    Lets see if it’s a sustained line or simply more ‘balance’ pieces that get buried by the typical pro gov’t / zero analysis pieces the MSM have mastered since election 08.

  5. Sanctuary 5
    7 February 2010 at 9:05 am

    I love the reflexive Tory victim blaming from Jackie Blue at the end of that story:

    “…Blue said she had tried to keep in touch, but Nathan’s phone had been disconnected…”

    Those pesky, indolent poor! Why didn’t the Nathan’s just sleep on Jackie Blue’s electorate doorstep if they wanted more unearned crumbs from the rich Mr. Key’s table??

  6. mike 6
    7 February 2010 at 9:09 am

    You can lead a horse to water but you can’t make them drink. After years of handouts under labour it must be hard for these people to cut loose..

    • kaplan 6.1
      7 February 2010 at 9:14 am

      This really isn’t so much about the Nathan’s situation but please go ahead and bash the victim anyway. It speaks volumes.

      This is about Key and his cuddle the baby routine while the camera’s are on him then callously drop it to the ground and walk away when he think’s no one is watching.

    • quenchino 6.2
      7 February 2010 at 9:14 am

      After years of mean-spirited, heartless cynicism it must be hard for you to act like a decent human mike.

    • zugzug 6.3
      7 February 2010 at 11:29 am

      hah, kaplan just owned you mike…

      i love how righties love to threadjack as much as the MSM does… just distract people from logical arguments long enough for people to lose interest then on to tha next… so predictable.

    • the pinkpostman 6.4
      7 February 2010 at 3:06 pm

      swell mike I wonder why most of these so called hand -outs actually happen under National Governments. May I remind you that under the Helen Clark Labour Government wehad the best employment record within the OECD countries. May I remind you that in the 1980s National MPs were publictly saying that NZ needed 7% unemployment .
      This Nathan business just show the dirty tricks the Nats will indulge in to gain power. GT

  7. big bruv 7
    7 February 2010 at 9:24 am

    Neville Key’s popularity is driving you guys mad, there you are, sitting in a padded room screaming your lungs out and nobody can hear a thing.

    Have you not yet worked out that this type of attack is NOT GOING to work for you, yes, it might make the hard left nut bars and union scum smile and cheer but it is not going to get you any closer to the treasury benches.

    If you want to see the back of Neville Key (and so do I) then you have to play the game much more intelligently than you have done so far, the rules have hanged, no longer do the Nat’s (Labour lite) have to play the game by the rules you set down, they have the ball and the whistle.

    So think about it, if you want to see the back of him then you are going about it in the wrong way, attacking him for being the evil and nasty “tory” is faling misetably.

    • quenchino 7.1
      7 February 2010 at 9:33 am

      sitting in a padded room screaming your lungs out and nobody can hear a thing.

      The only padded room here is the one you are in… utterly deafened by your hubris to what is really going on.

      Sure Key’s had an easy ride for a year or so … any populist spin artist with a nice smile and a docile media can do that.

      If that is all you want from govt then you are onto a winner…but eventually the frogs will find King Log less than useful. Especially when the promises keep getting broken and betrayed.

      • big bruv 7.1.1
        7 February 2010 at 9:42 am

        That is exactly why you are destined to remain on the opposition benches for at least two terms (and more likely three)

        I will admit that I detest the idea of another Labour government but the reality is that Key and co are simply continuing on with the failed Labour polices of the past.

        We do have one common goal, we both want to see this man out of office, however by attacking him the way you guys have been doing in lunacy, the more you do it the more popular he becomes with middle NZ.

      • Tigger 7.1.2
        7 February 2010 at 9:42 am

        bruv – the person doing the attacking is someone who was used and abused by Key. The people here are just commenting about it. Do you think someone who was callously abused as a PR opportunity by a powerful man doesn’t have the right to tell their story?

        • big bruv 7.1.2.1
          7 February 2010 at 10:29 am

          Tigger

          Of course they have a right to tell their story, however I doubt their motives.

          This is not the sort of thing you guys want to get into, a tit for tat exchange on what some night call corruption (I note this is what Toad called it and coming from the Greens that is hilarious) is never going to be a winner for you, rightly or wrongly (I would say rightly) the stench of corruption or perceived corruption still hangs over the Labour party and most defiantly hangs over the last Labour government.

          This story has no legs, it might make a bit of a splash but the reality is that most of middle NZ will not take any notice, they will look at it from the point of view that ‘another person lost their job, that is bad luck for them but plenty of others are in the same boat”.

          They are also not so dumb as to not be able to read between the lines, had this woman not lost her job the accusations would be coming thick and fast from the left that this lady was only kept on because she might embarrass the gutless PM.

          I repeat, this is not the way to oust Key, if you guys are serious about wanting to be an effective opposition then there are far more telling blows you can land on the Nat’s.

  8. batgirl 8
    7 February 2010 at 9:43 am

    Has labour kept in touch with that choudry woman, or the guy goof-up used to highlight the stand-down policy even though he had over a million dollars of investment property? I bet they haven’t.

    • QoT 8.1
      7 February 2010 at 2:25 pm

      Well your “bet” is surely as solid a story as something documented by a mainstream media publication. Evidence is for squares!

  9. toad 9
    7 February 2010 at 9:44 am

    Was it public knowledge at the time that Key arranged a job for Joan Nathan in Jackie Blue’s office in return for the good PR?

    Maybe I missed it, but the “c” word comes to mind.

  10. Bored 10
    7 February 2010 at 10:05 am

    Who is surprised by this? Keys frame of reference was that this was a deal, done at a pretty good price too for the return publicity. But as you know, to the Nats a transaction once done is done, there is no ongoing obligation. Let the buyer beware.

  11. J Mex 11
    7 February 2010 at 10:18 am

    “They gave me the job to sweeten the deal, and then as soon as they got elected I got the sack,’ she said.

    Obama did the same thing with a lot of his campaign staff. Bastard.

    • the pinkpostman 11.1
      7 February 2010 at 2:55 pm

      I should be saying I’m sorry for this poor family but I’m finding it very hard , There was no excuse for the appalling behavour of the mother of this young unworldly girl . All her life spent in a poor working class area and she thought a millionaire money dealing Right -Wing Tory was going to help her . Yea!! crocodiles are vegetarian ..
      Let this be a lesson to all you working people out there .National means anti-worker , It believe in low wages ,(after all Key himself said so , after the election of course.!)
      The fact is that for all its faults only Labour can deliver for the working majority . Perhap this Nathan episode will put the message across.

  12. Sanctuary 12
    7 February 2010 at 10:20 am

    J Mex: CAMPAIGN staff.

    Can you spot the clue?

  13. the sprout 13
    7 February 2010 at 10:39 am

    And we do all know, don’t we, that despite the initial encounter between Key and Nathan being a “chance meeting”, Dr Jacqui Blue had in fact previously been Nathan’s family GP.

  15. Anne 15
    7 February 2010 at 8:06 pm

    @ Julie

    If I had the expertise I would do it myself. Could you – or someone – email this handmirror blog post to Phil Goff – the real MP for Mt Roskill? He should at least be
    apprised of the contents. Thanks.

  16. Anne 16
    7 February 2010 at 8:16 pm

    It’s alright. I will send an email advising existence of post. Yeah well… we’re not all born brilliant 🙁

  17. Brett Dale 17
    7 February 2010 at 8:59 pm

    Michael Foxglove:

    The victims of John Key???

    I remember a few years ago, when Aunty Helen was doing her usual PR stunt for the media, she walked into a house in South Auckland.

    The rather large lady was telling the interviewer that she loves Aunty Helen, because Aunty Helen, gives her a house, gives her food, gives her money. (the fact that it was the tax payer that does this and not aunty Helen is another story)

    Now according to this lady, Aunty Helen does this, because this womans husband, cant find a job, the interviewer turned to the husband who was just sitting on couch, he didnt bother to get up to shake her hand, the interviewer ask him, how hard was it for him to find a job and he just grunted and sat there.

    My point is all politicans do PR stunts, but the people that they are supposdly trying to help, should help themselves, its not up to anyone else to help you.

    I’m betting this loser, hasnt got a job yet, and Im guessing he is still sitting on his couch, grunting, and all those on the left will blame someone else for his suitation.

  18. millsy 18
    7 February 2010 at 9:01 pm

    So you think they should all be out begging on the street Brett?

    Come on, lets have it, should they?

  19. Brett Dale 19
    7 February 2010 at 9:29 pm

    Millsy:

    I think they should be out looking for a job, this guy wasnt.

    Then again, when you can only grunt, it might be a bit difficult.

  20. Brett Dale 20
    7 February 2010 at 9:41 pm

    He just grunted when he was spoke too, he look disinterested, if I was in his suitation I would of got up, look into the camera and explained what work I was looking for.

    Of course people who are unemployed are looking for work, this guy isnt, and isnt up to a prime minister left or right to find you one.

    • Luxated 20.1
      8 February 2010 at 12:35 am

      Perhaps he didn’t want to be on TV? Had a bad day job hunting? Didn’t want to talk about what he might feel is a deeply embarrassing situation to a bunch of strangers?

      But of course you just assume that he’s too lazy to do anything about it…

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