Clinton and mates both within the DNC and the big dollar donors were pathologically unable to do partnership with anyone. That the DNC buried Bernie was proof alone of this.
That said, despite Bernie being a 74 year old communist in the land of the free, he would have impassioned the you enough to get him to the White House.
There was passion for Bernie, there was passion for Donald, but there was no passion for Hillary.
The DNC lost the election, rather than Donald winning the election
I think the Democrats need to stop treating the people as morons
1. Celebrity endorsements don’t appear to work
2. Ignoring your voting base doesn’t work
3. Calling potentially half the people in your country deplorables doesn’t work
4. Assuming you have the votes and not bothering to campaign doesn’t work
5. Assuming all women will for for a women is…actually quite sexist
“Following Donald Trump’s win in the 2016 presidential race, the Ku Klux Klan has announced plans for a celebratory rally in North Carolina, an important swing state in which Trump ultimately received 51% of the vote.”
The only electoral cohort that came even close to “half” were those who abstained, or were prevented from voting by Republican voter suppression laws and direct intimidation. Clinton and the serial rapist shared the remainder – with her in front (just) – about 25% each.
chris73… treating people as morons is the MO of those – mostly the extreme right and morally compromised – who favour the slanderous and dirty politicking of Trump, and which is delightedly promoted by the click driven money-making media
none of what you refer to made the slightest headline in any of the papers I read
the tabloid innuendo you refer to, was I assume encouraged by – the racist, mysogynistic, sexually abusive language that was actually recorded coming out Trump’s own mouth
Clinton supporters are avoiding looking at the obvious. I did a post on this. A super majority of non-college educated whites, men and women, voted Donald J Trump.
Democrats have lost that white working class vote for now. If Trump does what he does right, Democrats will also lose much more of the black and Latino working class vote in 2020.
Trump did not win off the backs of the poor disenfranchised working class. He won off the backs of authoritarian middle class white people.
Maybe you should take a look at the queues of people who lined up at Trump rallies all throughout the country, take a look at the type of people they were, and get yourself a reality check.
Whatever gains she made among well-educated and Hispanic voters nationwide either didn’t occur to the same extent in the key battlegrounds, or were overwhelmed by Mr. Trump’s huge appeal to white voters without a degree.
Bear in mind that white median household incomes in the USA are 70% higher than black median household incomes IIRC.
Most blacks voted Clinton, most whites voted Trump.
That skews Trump’s apparent income figures upwards.
Trump’s opportunity: consolidate his white working class appeal and extend it into the Latino and black working class. Entrench his support in the rustbelt/mid west states.
The Democratic Party long abandoned/long ignored the white non-degree qualified working class.
And this week a supermajority of them male and female turned their backs on Hillary Clinton and voted for Trump.
The issue is that the Democratic hierarchy and the DNC were intestinally incapable of accepting anyone else except Hillary Clinton, the ultimate status quo candidate in a change election year.
actually I’m sure someone said the deep state had probably endorsed trump at the last minute which is the main way he got over the line – so trump is as establishment as anyone else – of course he’s really just a better liar or maybe a glove puppet for putin and/or the deeeep staaate – hard to know – one thing we DO know is he is a disaster for the environment, of that we can be 100% certain.
And my American friends (who have been saying for over a year now that a Trump victory was absolutely inevitable) are wildly optimistic about Trump being great for America.
Only time will tell us which group was on the money – tho my mates are one up on predicting the election result.
Trump is beyond awful, but he is a result of Republican intransigence and Democrat refusal to take account of ordinary people, in their catering to the establishment.
50% of the USA didn’t vote, as their Government no longer represents them in any way shape or form.
Or maybe Clinton was a weak candidate too concerned with going to millionaires fundraisers in California and Martha’s Vineyard even in the last couple of months of the campaign.
Instead of doing extra community visits in Florida, North Carolina, Wisconsin and Michigan.
or maybe not – post truth politics entitles the loudmouth liars like trump especially when innocent ordinary people are scared and suffering – it’s just a bigger version of sensing murders – take advantage of people, make money, and run run away when the edifice begins to fall – which it will and sooner rather than later imo.
Trump got just a wee bit less vote than Romney or McCain, Clinton got a lot less than Obama. To me, that doesn’t make a wave of enthusiasm for Trump, it means there was just a lot less enthusiasm for Clinton. Most of the old tribal loyalties held, most of the Republican “never Trumpers” came home in the end. The few “never Trumpers” that held out were compensated by the few alt-right deplorables that no responsible political party should ever seek to attract.
When voting means going out and standing for hours in line, you need to be motivated to do it. That’s generally the experience in poorer parts of cities, not so much in wealthier suburbs or rural areas.
As I understand it, minorities in the primaries weren’t enthused by Bernie and generally went for Clinton. If they weren’t fired up in the primaries, why would they find a lot more enthusiasm in the general? Who really thinks those voters that found Trump’s brash siren song would have been more attracted to Bernie’s socialism? Remember socialism is still a dirty word to most older people in the US, and what little data we have suggests older people leaned Trump, younger people (who aren’t so negative about socialism) leaned Clinton.
I have still never seen a good explanation of why the Dem elite were so enthusiastic about Clinton, to the extent that other credible candidates never even put their hands up. Were they simply so attracted by her experience and high approvals at the end of her State time that they underestimated how much the stains from previous smear campaigns would show? Particularly under sustained fresh attack from the right and far-left?
Is the lesson that “change” is always a powerful argument and that Clinton was “too experienced”? The argument that change is best brought by someone that thoroughly knows the existing system may be too difficult to get across. Maybe there’s a Goldilocks level of experience. Sanders, McCain, Romney, Kerry, Gore had all been in the system a long long time.
Lots of people on The Standard defended Clintons nomination as the Dem candidate. A big mistake IMO.
And the American people punished the Democrats by not only putting the White House, the Senate, the House, and 3 more state governorships in the Republican tally. They also de facto have given the Republicans control of the Supreme Court.
“When voting means going out and standing for hours in line, you need to be motivated to do it. That’s generally the experience in poorer parts of cities, not so much in wealthier suburbs or rural areas.”
Good points Andre. I too think that the lack of commitment to the democratic process – with the difficulty of voting and the complexity and gerrymandering of districts (particularly by the Republicans in 2010 with the REDMAP) – by the US in general, makes their promotion of world wide democracy laughable.
Until they can get their own house in order, they have no business trying to tell others.
“The Democrats cannot rebuild by pointing fingers at Hillary Clinton and her campaign, which as the Keys demonstrated, were not the root cause of her defeat,” he said. “The Democrats can rehabilitate themselves only by offering an inspiring progressive alternative to Republican policies and building a grass-roots movement.” Allan Lichtman
To which I might add, a movement has to be built around something, and no movement can be built around Business As Usual.
During the presidential election campaign where, though it was virtually ignored by Clinton, who never properly never challenged Trump on this issue, Climate Change is one of defining issues between Trump* and the Democrats.
Because of this the Democratic Party couldn’t do better than coming out in support of Standing Rock, which is a movement that embodies the protection of the environment over corporate profit.
Bernie has done it. He has visited Standing Rock.
To regain any shred of credibility and to heal the rifts between the Party and the base. the Clintons the Gores and the other leading Democratic Party establishment figures need to visit Standing alongside Bernie Sanders. Otherwise the Democrats will continue to be riven with divisions that will make building a “grass-roots movement” nigh near impossible.
The American people need to see them standing there, alongside Bernie.
*(Notice I said “Trump” and not the Republicans. The reason. Even the establishment Republican Party insiders know that climate change represents a deadly near and present danger. [Not that they want to do anything about it that might affect Business As Usual])
An even better question would be would the current Labour MPs allow him to, even if he could (which I doubt). Andrew Little to me is a genuine person making a good fist of a difficult job. But he’s not Bernie Sanders or Jeremy Corbyn.
An even better question would be would the current Labour MPs allow him to, even if he could….. Grey Area
By this standard even Bernie Sanders was not Bernie Sanders. (Who was blocked by the Democratic Party establishment.)
Andrew Little could do worse than to take a page out of Trump’s play book, who defied the whole Republican Party establishment, virtually telling them all to go to hell.
…can Andrew LIttle transform himself into a Bernie Sanders?
He is already more than half way there Jenny. He is saying exactly the same things as Bernie Sanders. Problem is: the msm are bypassing the message in order to concentrate on putting words into his mouth he never used, or misinterpreting (on purpose) words he did use. So his message is not getting through to the populace.
He continues to move around the country talking to people at every opportunity but that of course is not enough. How do you force the msm to play fair?
Know that life is not fair and that you will fail often, but if you take take some risks, step up when the times are toughest, face down the bullies, lift up the downtrodden and never, ever give up—if you do these things, then next generation and the generations that follow will live in a world far better than the one we have today and—what started here will indeed have changed the world—for the better
Yes Jenny. I go along with that quote. It’s hard sometimes when your enemies (be they personal or political) are determined to cause you to fail but the answer is to never give up. It’s my past experience that it makes you are stronger person in the end.
Traditionally blaming the media has been quixotic, however dishonest they were. But the media are no longer monolithic – they are increasingly vulnerable and may perhaps be brought into more of a semblance of neutrality.
They know – no-one better – that their clickbait cynicism and bias is losing them their market share. There are fewer cushy outcomes for laid-off journalists every day.
Stuart, it is my view that ‘the people’ don’t actually want neutrality. The most popular news network in the US is Fox, who are openly pro-right. Their main competition, CNN and MSNBC, are both pro-left. The MSM are losing market share to alternative news delivery, such as blogs, virtually all of which have a declared bias. The days of a neutral media are, in my opinion, long gone.
Friend of mine did some research on this – taught a group of journos at three papers a quality metric for reporting – timeliness, accuracy, balance, depth & so on. Lifted their circulation by 70%.
It’s like comedy and tragedy – people don’t want the mental effort of serious drama – but they remember and prefer serious over cheap ‘entertainment’.
There’s no point in following invented news – truth is stranger than fiction so ultimately made-up stuff is boring.
Fox succeeds because things like Murdoch’s influence prevent real journalism from competing. The truth does not serve Murdoch’s neo-liberal ends – so he gradually destroys the validity of his business. It’s almost Grecian.
He is already more than half way there Jenny. He is saying exactly the same things as Bernie Sanders.
– where has Little attacked the conduct of the banks and the financial sector?
– where has Little attacked the effect of neoliberalism and free trade policies?
– where has Little attacked the obscene wealth of the mega-rich?
– where has Little advocated for increased taxes on millionaires and corporations?
– where are the crowds of thousands following Little around to hear him speak?
The clock is ticking for neo liberalism bulshit progressives.
The question is do the ‘morans’ rebel first…and deliver us a big pile of crap like Trump or whatever Fascists are climbing to power in Europe.
Or do we, the Leftists or Progressives, or even Centrists…take the initiative, ‘grow some’, turn on our supposedly benevolent, lesser of two Evils, overlords…and deliver candidates of REAL DEEP STRUCTURAL CHANGE TO THE WHOLE ECONOMIC MODEL>
Turn Labour Left.
And vote for the Left wing candidate who doesn’t scream in horror at being labeled a Socialist or any related label.
(or keep to our bubble and sit around like stunned mullets when Trump or Brexit or whatever-next rolls in to town)
“Or do we, the Leftists or Progressives, or even Centrists…take the initiative, ‘grow some’, turn on our supposedly benevolent, lesser of two Evils, overlords…and deliver candidates of REAL DEEP STRUCTURAL CHANGE TO THE WHOLE ECONOMIC MODEL>”
I’d back that, had enough of a government and it’s more of the same year in year out, the system is not working, is it? anyone here think the western political system in it’s current formats working?
Yes Siobhan, but it won’t happen with this bunch of neolib labour MPs. I think we are banging our head against a brick wall around here telling Labour time and time again to mend its ways. Many of the commentators here cannot see the need for a change in direction.
“Morans” = ordinary people who see that the current arrangements are definitely not working for them and their children’s future.
Who can see that no one in the establishment, or current political parties, want to know.
Who see that the only way to change BAU is to chose someone outside the tweedledee and tweedledum establishment.
No matter how repugnant.
Not “morans” but entirely logical people.
The same will happen in New Zealand, unless we get alternatives that differ, in reality not rhetoric, from the current “take of your leg and still take of your leg but use some anesthetic” alternatives. ( Nod to D Cunliff).
Obama’s cowardly, pathetic attempts to curry favour with the extreme right only earned him contempt from all sides. Look at the following two photographs. The first shows him with Raoul Castro….
Why did he fear to be seen shaking hands like a man with Castro? Because he was imagining what Fox News would do with the footage. It’s a perfect example of the sort of vacillation that has made the last eight years such a wasted opportunity and a disappointment.
“Barack Obama, forty-forth president of the United States, called the operation against Osama bin Laden “the most important single day of my presidency.””
Thanks Chris. What a hero he was, sitting in that “situation room” with the grave and heroic expression of a true warrior. I wonder if he gathered his cast of heroes around the “situation room” like that every time they killed someone with a drone….
Between 2009 and 31 December 2015, the administration claimed that it launched 473 strikes, mostly with drones, that killed between what it said were 2,372 and 2,581 terrorist “combatants”.
“He continues to move around the country talking to people at every opportunity but that of course is not enough. How do you force the msm to play fair?” Anne
Anne, the MSM would sit up and take notice, as if given an electric shock. If Andrew Little joined Phil Goff in declaring that a Labour led Government would, “from day one”*, send the deep sea oil drillers and seabed miners packing.
That would be being a true Labour party. Something the “don’t scare the horses” Labour caucus would fight tooth and nail.
It is the sort of thing that is really required to fight AGW.
Labour, and the US democrats, were both to much part of the establishment to do it.
Now they have Trump to push against instead of a Government which pretended it was on the side of stopping AGW, but in reality continued to subsidise and fight wars to support big oil, we may see some real hard activism against climate change in the USA.
The Democrats may even use it as a point of difference against the Repugs. LOL.
yes the rise of the conservative right is depressing, but don’t assume that this is a “body blow” to Democrats…. despite all the slanderous lies and conspiracy theories about Obama and Hillary, he won two elections and Hillary won the popular vote
I predict that things will change drastically over the next 4 years from the Republicans’ and Trump’s reign and their regressive, illiberal, self-destructive politics…
and the real ‘body blow’ will be to American society and the many many poor and minority groups who will suffer the fallout
imo you have waged a bitter relentless attack on Clinton, Obama, Democrats, the Left and anyone who expresses disgust for the slanderous lies and prejudice-feeding awfulness of Trump
I see the massive majority of Black, Hispanic and minority group voters who voted for Hillary over Trump (including the majority of all Americans who voted) as a sign that liberal, progessive and decent values are alive and well in the the US.
I am also convinced that the Republicans got their support from the hatred machine they created that blamed Democrats, Clintons and Obama for every real or perceived problem or threat to their way of life.
Now that the Republicans have control of everything and fail to make things better, maybe we’ll see a complete reversal in those statistics in 4 years time
What slanderous lies about Hillary? Whitewater? Qatar and the Saudis investing in the Clinton Global Initiative? The “suicide” of so many people who have posed a threat to the Clinton crime family?
Richard, statements like “Clinton crime factory” are exactly what I meant by “slanderous lies”
– and lets be very clear, the entire Republican machine has generated multiple unfounded and disproven politically motivated accusations about Hillary Clinton over the past 20 years
Your utter disrespect for Hillary Clinton means you can’t even begin to see that Trump is in a league of his own when it comes to dissembling, hiding the truth and outright lying.
The rate, volume, putrescence and malevolence of what Trump has said about his opponents over the past few months make him completely untrustworthy and unfit to be given any kind of responsibility for governing on behalf of all Americans.
Trump has fed the seething hatreds of many Repubicans, his lack of transparency regarding his tax returns is instructive, his lies about his dealings with Russia, his illegal use of his ‘charities’, the slanderous and relentless birther conspiracy which he fostered. And I haven’t even started on Trump University fraud…
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The land around Lyme Regis, where Meryl Streep once stood, in a hood, on the Cobb, is falling into the sea.MerylThe land around Lyme Regis, around the Cobb that made it rich, has always been falling slowly but surely into the sea. Read more ...
Buzz from the Beehive Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters was bound to win headlines when he set out his thinking about AUKUS in his speech to the New Zealand Institute of International Affairs. The headlines became bigger when – during an interview on RNZ’s Morning Report today – he criticised ...
The Post reports on how the government is refusing to release its advice on its corrupt Muldoonist fast-track law, instead using the "soon to be publicly available" refusal ground to hide it until after select committee submissions on the bill have closed. Fast-track Minister Chris Bishop's excuse? “It's not ...
As pressure on it grows, the livestock industry’s approach to the transition to Net Zero is increasingly being compared to that of fossil fuel interests. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / Getty ImagesTL;DR: Here’s the top five news items of note in climate news for Aotearoa-NZ this week, and a discussion above ...
The New Zealand Herald reports – Stats NZ has offered a voluntary redundancy scheme to all of its workers as a way to give staff some control over their “future” amidst widespread job losses in the public sector. In an update to staff this morning, seen by the Herald, Statistics New Zealand ...
On Werewolf/Scoop, I usually do two long form political columns a week. From now on, there will be an extra column each week about music and movies. But first, some late-breaking political events:The rise in unemployment numbers for the March quarter was bigger than expected – and especially sharp ...
David Farrar writes – The Herald reports: TVNZ says it is dealing with about 50 formal complaints over its coverage of the latest 1News-Verian political poll, with some viewers – as well as the Prime Minister and a former senior Labour MP – critical of the tone of the 6pm report. ...
Muriel Newman writes – When Meridian Energy was seeking resource consents for a West Coast hydro dam proposal in 2010, local Maori “strenuously” objected, claiming their mana was inextricably linked to ‘their’ river and could be damaged. After receiving a financial payment from the company, however, the Ngai Tahu ...
Alwyn Poole writes – “An SEP,’ he said, ‘is something that we can’t see, or don’t see, or our brain doesn’t let us see, because we think that it’s somebody else’s problem. That’s what SEP means. Somebody Else’s Problem. The brain just edits it out, it’s like a ...
Our trust in our political institutions is fast eroding, according to a Maxim Institute discussion paper, Shaky Foundations: Why our democracy needs trust. The paper – released today – raises concerns about declining trust in New Zealand’s political institutions and democratic processes, and the role that the overuse of Parliamentary urgency ...
This article was prepared for publication yesterday. More ministerial announcements have been posted on the government’s official website since it was written. We will report on these later today …. Buzz from the BeehiveThere we were, thinking the environment is in trouble, when along came Jones. Shane Jones. ...
New Zealand now has the fourth most depressed construction sector in the world behind China, Qatar and Hong Kong. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: These are the six things that stood out to me in news and commentary on Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy at 8:46am on Thursday, May 2:The Lead: ...
David Seymour has failed to get the sweeping cuts he wanted to the free and healthy school lunch programme, Labour education spokesperson Jan Tinetti said. ...
Hon Willie Jackson has been invited by the Oxford Union to debate the motion “This House Believes British Museums are not Very British’ on May 23rd. ...
Green Party MP Hūhana Lyndon says her Public Works (Prohibition of Compulsory Acquisition of Māori Land) Amendment Bill is an opportunity to right some past wrongs around the alienation of Māori land. ...
A senior, highly respected King’s Counsel with decades of experience in our law courts, Gary Judd KC, has filed a complaint about compulsory tikanga Māori studies for law students - highlighting the utter depths of absurdity this woke cultural madness has taken our society. The tikanga regulations will compel law ...
The Government needs to be clear with the people of the Nelson Marlborough region about the changes it is considering for the Nelson Hospital rebuild, Labour health spokesperson Ayesha Verrall said. ...
Ministers must front up about which projects it will push through under its Fast Track Approvals legislation, Labour environment spokesperson Rachel Brooking said today. ...
The Government is again adding to New Zealand’s growing unemployment, this time cutting jobs at the agencies responsible for urban development and growing much needed housing stock. ...
With Minister Karen Chhour indicating in the House today that she either doesn’t know or care about the frontline cuts she’s making to Oranga Tamariki, we risk seeing more and more of our children falling through the cracks. ...
The Labour Party is saddened to learn of the death of Sir Robert Martin, a globally renowned disability advocate who led the way for disability rights both in New Zealand and internationally. ...
Labour is calling for the Government to urgently rethink its coalition commitment to restart live animal exports, Labour animal welfare spokesperson Rachel Boyack said. ...
Today’s Financial Stability Report has once again highlighted that poverty and deep inequality are political choices - and this Government is choosing to make them worse. ...
The Green Party is calling on the Government to do more for our households in most need as unemployment rises and the cost of living crisis endures. ...
Unemployment is on the rise and it’s only going to get worse under this Government, Labour finance spokesperson Barbara Edmonds said. Stats NZ figures show the unemployment rate grew to 4.3 percent in the March quarter from 4 percent in the December quarter. “This is the second rise in unemployment ...
The New Zealand Labour Party welcomes the entering into force of the European Union and New Zealand free trade agreement. This agreement opens the door for a huge increase in trade opportunities with a market of 450 million people who are high value discerning consumers of New Zealand goods and ...
The National-led Government continues its fiscal jiggery pokery with its Pharmac announcement today, Labour Health spokesperson Ayesha Verrall says. “The government has increased Pharmac funding but conceded it will only make minimal increases in access to medicine”, said Ayesha Verrall “This is far from the bold promises made to fund ...
This afternoon’s interim Waitangi Tribunal report must be taken seriously as it affects our most vulnerable children, Labour children’s spokesperson Willow-Jean Prime. ...
Te Pāti Māori are demanding the New Zealand Government support an international independent investigation into mass graves that have been uncovered at two hospitals on the Gaza strip, following weeks of assault by Israeli troops. Among the 392 bodies that have been recovered, are children and elderly civilians. Many of ...
Our two-tiered system for veterans’ support is out of step with our closest partners, and all parties in Parliament should work together to fix it, Labour veterans’ affairs spokesperson Greg O’Connor said. ...
Stripping two Ministers of their portfolios just six months into the job shows Christopher Luxon’s management style is lacking, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said. ...
Tonight’s court decision to overturn the summons of the Children’s Minister has enabled the Crown to continue making decisions about Māori without evidence, says Te Pāti Māori spokesperson for Children, Mariameno Kapa-Kingi. “The judicial system has this evening told the nation that this government can do whatever they want when ...
It appears Nicola Willis is about to pull the rug out from under the feet of local communities still dealing with the aftermath of last year’s severe weather, and local councils relying on funding to build back from these disasters. ...
The Government is making short-sighted changes to the Resource Management Act (RMA) that will take away environmental protection in favour of short-term profits, Labour’s environment spokesperson Rachel Brooking said today. ...
Labour welcomes the release of the report into the North Island weather events and looks forward to working with the Government to ensure that New Zealand is as prepared as it can be for the next natural disaster. ...
The Labour Party has called for the New Zealand Government to recognise Palestine, as a material step towards progressing the two-State solution needed to achieve a lasting peace in the region. ...
Some of our country’s most important work, stopping the sexual exploitation of children and violent extremism could go along with staff on the frontline at ports and airports. ...
The Government’s Fast Track Approvals Bill will give projects such as new coal mines a ‘get out of jail free’ card to wreak havoc on the environment, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said today. ...
The government's decision to reintroduce Three Strikes is a destructive and ineffective piece of law-making that will only exacerbate an inherently biased and racist criminal justice system, said Te Pāti Māori Justice Spokesperson, Tākuta Ferris, today. During the time Three Strikes was in place in Aotearoa, Māori and Pasifika received ...
Cuts to frontline hospital staff are not only a broken election promise, it shows the reckless tax cuts have well and truly hit the frontline of the health system, says Labour Health spokesperson Ayesha Verrall. ...
The Green Party has joined the call for public submissions on the fast-track legislation to be extended after the Ombudsman forced the Government to release the list of organisations invited to apply just hours before submissions close. ...
New Zealand’s good work at reducing climate emissions for three years in a row will be undone by the National government’s lack of ambition and scrapping programmes that were making a difference, Labour Party climate spokesperson Megan Woods said today. ...
Associate Education Minister David Seymour has today announced that the Government will be delivering a more efficient Healthy School Lunches Programme, saving taxpayers approximately $107 million a year compared to how Labour funded it, by embracing innovation and commercial expertise. “We are delivering on our commitment to treat taxpayers’ money ...
New research on the impacts of extreme weather on coastal marine habitats in Tairāwhiti and Hawke’s Bay will help fishery managers plan for and respond to any future events, Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones says. A report released today on research by Niwa on behalf of Fisheries New Zealand ...
Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Winston Peters will lead a broad political delegation on a five-stop Pacific tour next week to strengthen New Zealand’s engagement with the region. The delegation will visit Solomon Islands, Papua New Guinea, Vanuatu, New Caledonia, and Tuvalu. “New Zealand has deep and ...
There has been a material decline in gas production according to figures released today by the Gas Industry Co. Figures released by the Gas Industry Company show that there was a 12.5 per cent reduction in gas production during 2023, and a 27.8 per cent reduction in gas production in the ...
Defence Minister Judith Collins tonight announced the recipients of the Minister of Defence Awards of Excellence for Industry, saying they all contribute to New Zealanders’ security and wellbeing. “Congratulations to this year’s recipients, whose innovative products and services play a critical role in the delivery of New Zealand’s defence capabilities, ...
Welcome to you all - it is a pleasure to be here this evening.I would like to start by thanking Greg Lowe, Chair of the New Zealand Defence Industry Advisory Council, for co-hosting this reception with me. This evening is about recognising businesses from across New Zealand and overseas who in ...
It is a pleasure to be speaking to you as the Minister for Digitising Government. I would like to thank Akolade for the invitation to address this Summit, and to acknowledge the great effort you are making to grow New Zealand’s digital future. Today, we stand at the cusp of ...
New Zealand is urging both Israel and Hamas to agree to an immediate ceasefire to avoid the further humanitarian catastrophe that military action in Rafah would unleash, Foreign Minister Winston Peters says. “The immense suffering in Gaza cannot be allowed to worsen further. Both sides have a responsibility to ...
A new online data dashboard released today as part of the Government’s school attendance action plan makes more timely daily attendance data available to the public and parents, says Associate Education Minister David Seymour. The interactive dashboard will be updated once a week to show a national average of how ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters has announced Rosemary Banks will be New Zealand’s next Ambassador to the United States of America. “Our relationship with the United States is crucial for New Zealand in strategic, security and economic terms,” Mr Peters says. “New Zealand and the United States have a ...
The Government is considering creating a new tier of minerals permitting that will make it easier for hobby miners to prospect for gold. “New Zealand was built on gold, it’s in our DNA. Our gold deposits, particularly in regions such as Otago and the West Coast have always attracted fortune-hunters. ...
Minister for Trade Todd McClay today announced that New Zealand and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) will commence negotiations on a free trade agreement (FTA). Minister McClay met with his counterpart UAE Trade Minister Dr Thani bin Ahmed Al Zeyoudi in Dubai, where they announced the launch of negotiations on a ...
New Zealand Sign Language Week is an excellent opportunity for all Kiwis to give the language a go, Disabilities Issues Minister Louise Upston says. This week (May 6 to 12) is New Zealand Sign Language (NZSL) Week. The theme is “an Aotearoa where anyone can sign anywhere” and aims to ...
Six tertiary students have been selected to work on NASA projects in the US through a New Zealand Space Scholarship, Space Minister Judith Collins announced today. “This is a fantastic opportunity for these talented students. They will undertake internships at NASA’s Ames Research Center or its Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), where ...
New Zealanders will be safer because of a $1.9 billion investment in more frontline Corrections officers, more support for offenders to turn away from crime, and more prison capacity, Corrections Minister Mark Mitchell says. “Our Government said we would crack down on crime. We promised to restore law and order, ...
The OECD’s latest report on New Zealand reinforces the importance of bringing Government spending under control, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. The OECD conducts country surveys every two years to review its members’ economic policies. The 2024 New Zealand survey was presented in Wellington today by OECD Chief Economist Clare Lombardelli. ...
The Government has delivered on its election promise to provide a financially sustainable model for Auckland under its Local Water Done Well plan. The plan, which has been unanimously endorsed by Auckland Council’s Governing Body, will see Aucklanders avoid the previously projected 25.8 per cent water rates increases while retaining ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters discussed the need for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, and enhanced cooperation in the Pacific with German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock during her first official visit to New Zealand today. "New Zealand and Germany enjoy shared interests and values, including the rule of law, democracy, respect for the international system ...
The Minister Responsible for RMA Reform, Chris Bishop today released his decision on four recommendations referred to him by the Western Bay of Plenty District Council, opening the door to housing growth in the area. The Council’s Plan Change 92 allows more homes to be built in existing and new ...
Thank you, John McKinnon and the New Zealand China Council for the invitation to speak to you today. Thank you too, all members of the China Council. Your effort has played an essential role in helping to build, shape, and grow a balanced and resilient relationship between our two ...
The Government is modernising insurance law to better protect Kiwis and provide security in the event of a disaster, Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Andrew Bayly announced today. “These reforms are long overdue. New Zealand’s insurance law is complicated and dated, some of which is more than 100 years old. ...
The coalition Government is refreshing its approach to supporting pay equity claims as time-limited funding for the Pay Equity Taskforce comes to an end, Public Service Minister Nicola Willis says. “Three years ago, the then-government introduced changes to the Equal Pay Act to support pay equity bargaining. The changes were ...
Structured literacy will change the way New Zealand children learn to read - improving achievement and setting students up for success, Education Minister Erica Stanford says. “Being able to read and write is a fundamental life skill that too many young people are missing out on. Recent data shows that ...
Trade Minister Todd McClay says Canada’s refusal to comply in full with a CPTPP trade dispute ruling in our favour over dairy trade is cynical and New Zealand has no intention of backing down. Mr McClay said he has asked for urgent legal advice in respect of our ‘next move’ ...
The rights of our children and young people will be enhanced by changes the coalition Government will make to strengthen oversight of the Oranga Tamariki system, including restoring a single Children’s Commissioner. “The Government is committed to delivering better public services that care for our most at-risk young people and ...
The Government is making it easier for minor changes to be made to a building consent so building a home is easier and more affordable, Building and Construction Minister Chris Penk says. “The coalition Government is focused on making it easier and cheaper to build homes so we can ...
New Zealand lost a true legend when internationally renowned disability advocate Sir Robert Martin (KNZM) passed away at his home in Whanganui last night, Disabilities Issues Minister Louise Upston says. “Our Government’s thoughts are with his wife Lynda, family and community, those he has worked with, the disability community in ...
Good evening – Before discussing the challenges and opportunities facing New Zealand’s foreign policy, we’d like to first acknowledge the New Zealand Institute of International Affairs. You have contributed to debates about New Zealand foreign policy over a long period of time, and we thank you for hosting us. ...
From today, passengers travelling internationally from Auckland Airport will be able to keep laptops and liquids in their carry-on bags for security screening thanks to new technology, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “Creating a more efficient and seamless travel experience is important for holidaymakers and businesses, enabling faster movement through ...
People with an interest in the health of Northland’s marine ecosystems are invited to a public meeting to discuss how to deal with kina barrens, Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones says. Mr Jones will lead the discussion, which will take place on Friday, 10 May, at Awanui Hotel in ...
Kiwi exporters are $100 million better off today with the NZ EU FTA entering into force says Trade Minister Todd McClay. “This is all part of our plan to grow the economy. New Zealand's prosperity depends on international trade, making up 60 per cent of the country’s total economic activity. ...
There are heartening signs that the extractive sector is once again becoming an attractive prospect for investors and a source of economic prosperity for New Zealand, Resources Minister Shane Jones says. “The beginnings of a resurgence in extractive industries are apparent in media reports of the sector in the past ...
The return of the historic Ō-Rākau battle site to the descendants of those who fought there moved one step closer today with the first reading of Te Pire mō Ō-Rākau, Te Pae o Maumahara / The Ō-Rākau Remembrance Bill. The Bill will entrust the 9.7-hectare battle site, five kilometres west ...
Energy Minister Simeon Brown has announced 25 new high-speed EV charging hubs along key routes between major urban centres and outlined the Government’s plan to supercharge New Zealand’s EV infrastructure. The hubs will each have several chargers and be capable of charging at least four – and up to 10 ...
The coalition Government will not proceed with the previous Government’s plans to regulate residential property managers, Housing Minister Chris Bishop says. “I have written to the Chairperson of the Social Services and Community Committee to inform him that the Government does not intend to support the Residential Property Managers Bill ...
The Government has announced an independent review into the disability support system funded by the Ministry of Disabled People – Whaikaha. Disability Issues Minister Louise Upston says the review will look at what can be done to strengthen the long-term sustainability of Disability Support Services to provide disabled people and ...
Justice Minister Paul Goldsmith has attended the Universal Periodic Review in Geneva and outlined the Government’s plan to restore law and order. “Speaking to the United Nations Human Rights Council provided us with an opportunity to present New Zealand’s human rights progress, priorities, and challenges, while responding to issues and ...
The Government and Rotorua Lakes Council are committed to working closely together to end the use of contracted emergency housing motels in Rotorua. Associate Minister of Housing (Social Housing) Tama Potaka says the Government remains committed to ending the long-term use of contracted emergency housing motels in Rotorua by the ...
Trade Minister Todd McClay heads overseas today for high-level trade talks in the Gulf region, and a key OECD meeting in Paris. Mr McClay will travel to Riyadh to meet with counterparts from Saudi Arabia and the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC). “New Zealand’s goods and services exports to the Gulf region ...
Education Minister Erica Stanford has outlined six education priorities to deliver a world-leading education system that sets Kiwi kids up for future success. “I’m putting ambition, achievement and outcomes at the heart of our education system. I want every child to be inspired and engaged in their learning so they ...
RNZ News As Israel presses ahead with strikes in Rafah and seizing the Rafah crossing from Egypt, aid agencies are sounding the alarm of a “catastrophic humanitarian situation”. Rafah was “significant” because it was the only part in Gaza that had not been terribly damaged by the conflict, United Nations ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Anna Cooke, Honorary Fellow, School of the Environment, The University of Queensland We feel ecological grief when we lose places, species or ecosystems we value and love. These losses are a growing threat to mental health and wellbeing globally. We all see ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Shauna Brail, Associate Professor, Institute for Management & Innovation, University of Toronto A shift to hybrid and remote work continues to affect worker presence in Toronto’s downtown.(Shutterstock) Downtown Toronto, the core of Canada’s largest city, continues to reel from the lingering ...
Responding to an Auditor-General's report slamming failures in the administration of the 2023 General Election, Taxpayers’ Union Policy and Public Affairs Manager, James Ross, said: ...
The Taxpayers’ Union says the Beehive need to lead by example, following reports of more than $50,000 spent upgrading video conferencing equipment and furniture in the Prime Minister’s office. Taxpayers’ Union Campaign Manager, Connor Molloy, ...
An objective list of the 50 most powerful people in New Zealand, as judged by the Spinoff Editorial Board. It’s power list season, baby, and we want in on the action. Sure, there’s the rich list and the powerful “c-suite” list and the young people with power (hmmm) but here, ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Thalia Anthony, Professor of Law, University of Technology Sydney ShutterstockThis article contains information on deaths in custody and the names of deceased people, and describes ongoing colonial violence towards Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. First Nations people in Australia ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Alex Simpson, Senior Lecturer in Criminology, Macquarie University Netflix Baby Reindeer’s phenomenal success has much to do with its writer and lead, Richard Gadd, who plays Donny in a tender semi-autobiographical account of sexual abuse, harassment and stalking. Gadd’s story has ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Clare Collins, Laureate Professor in Nutrition and Dietetics, University of Newcastle KarolinaGrabowska/Pexels If you didn’t have food allergies as a child, is it possible to develop them as an adult? The short answer is yes. But the reasons why are much ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Paul Moon, Professor of History, Auckland University of Technology Ans Westra, self-portrait, c. 1963. National Library ref AWM-0705-F They try but invariably fail – those writers who believe they are capable of encapsulating in prose or verse the essence of ...
Stewart Sowman-Lund looks at the growing concern around the world in this extract from The Bulletin. To receive The Bulletin in full each weekday, sign up here. What’s all this? When Covid-19 arrived on our shores in early 2020, some argued we were too slow, or crucially, ill-prepared for a pandemic. So ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Franco Montalto, Professor of Civil, Architectural and Environmental Engineering and Director, Sustainable Water Resource Engineering Laboratory, Drexel University Water runs into a storm drain in a Los Angeles alley on Aug. 19, 2023, during Tropical Storm Hilary.Citizen of the Planet/Universal Images ...
The inquest into the death of Gore toddler Lachlan Jones has turned up a new witness who says he saw two teenagers and a small child in a high vis vest in the area where the boy’s body was found the day he died. Lachie’s body was discovered face up ...
Stories from the tenancy trenches, featuring spider infestations, cupboard rats and same-sex discrimination. Lucy’s brother was living in a damp 1930s building in Mt Eden where “he had to tie the cupboard doors closed so the rats didn’t get in”. Although he shared custody of his six-year-old son, his property ...
Simeon Brown, Chris Luxon, and Wayne Brown climbed into a hole and announced a plan to solve Auckland’s water woes. This is how it’ll work. New Zealand’s pipes are munted. They’re cracked and leaking, and struggling to handle all the extra poos excreted by our rising population. It’s a big, ...
After replacing a fifth of their caucus in just four months, the Greens’ opportunity to reset, reshuffle and refocus on the Government is quickly slipping away The post Persistent Green Party scandals delay caucus reset appeared first on Newsroom. ...
I knew Taika Waititi quite well when he was a kid. His mother lived in a tall narrow house in Aro St, and my youngest sister had a similar house two doors along. They were both single mums, they each had a son aged seven. Taika and my nephew Stepan ...
Opinion: “As time passes, knowledge of the circumstances of the August 2016 outbreak will fade and its immediate impact will be lost.” This statement is from the 2017 report of the Official Inquiry into the Havelock North campylobacteriosis outbreak. The then National-led government established the inquiry after the outbreak left ...
Opinion: Nicholas Khoo looks at two key points in the high-stakes foreign policy pact debate – and asks if NZ can engage with as little drama as possible. The post Where to next for the Aukus ruckus? appeared first on Newsroom. ...
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Opinion: ‘Reference-class forecasting’ is at the heart of improving pricing a project and identifying the expected timeframe but it doesn’t appear to be in use here The post ‘Think fast and act slowly’ is failing big projects appeared first on Newsroom. ...
What do a sombrero in Argentina and cognitive driving tests have in common? Don’t worry, we’re not setting up a bad joke. Hinengaro Clinic dementia clinician Gregory Winkelman has the answer on today’s episode of The Detail. “We ask a patient’s spouse or son or daughter: If you went to ...
Wellington long jumper Phoebe Edwards is back and she’s having fun again. Until this year, Edwards, a top athlete in her teens, had never competed as a senior athlete in New Zealand. In March, the 26-year-old won a national long jump title in a lifetime best of 6.28m after ...
ANALYSIS:By Olli Hellmann, University of Waikato When New Zealanders commemorate Anzac Day today on April 25, it’s not only to honour the soldiers who lost their lives in World War I and subsequent conflicts, but also to mark a defining event for national identity. The battle of Gallipoli against ...
By Robin Martin, RNZ News reporter A New Zealand local authority, Whanganui District Council, has passed a motion calling for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, condemnation of all acts of violence and terror against civilians on both sides of the conflict and the immediate return of hostages. It comes as ...
Asia Pacific Report The Aotearoa chapter of the Women’s International league for Peace and Freedom (WILPF) has appealed to the New Zealand government to call out Israel over the “cruel and barbaric use of force” in Gaza and demand a permanent ceasefire. The league’s open letter was sent to Prime ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra The Albanese government will invest $566 million over a decade on data, maps and other tools to promote exploration and development in Australia’s resources industry. The project will fund “the first comprehensive map of what’s ...
Asia Pacific Report Following an open letter by Auckland University academics speaking out in support of their students’ right to protest against the genocidal Israeli war on Gaza, a group of academics at Otago University have today also called on New Zealand academic institutions to “repair colonial violence” and end ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Linda J. Graham, Professor and Director of the Centre for Inclusive Education, Queensland University of Technology Ryan Tauss/ Unsplash, CC BY Two male students have been expelled from a Melbourne private school for their involvement in a list ranking female students. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Peter Martin, Visiting Fellow, Crawford School of Public Policy, Australian National University The Reserve Bank is now assuming Australians will see no interest rate cuts this year – and quite possibly none before the next federal election, due next May. That’s ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By David Hayward, Emeritus Professor of Public Policy, RMIT University The Victorian budget offered more of the same on Tuesday, with the only change being how the budget papers were packaged. The usual shrink wrap was gone, hinting at savings in the pages ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra The Coalition is demanding extensive amendments to the government’s legislation targeting non-citizens who refuse to co-operate with their removal. In a dissenting report to the senate inquiry into the legislation, the Coalition says it ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Vanita Yadav, Senior Research Fellow, Urban Transformations Research Centre, Western Sydney University Brett Boardman/Belvoir The complex and grappling issue of violence against women takes centre stage in the soul-stirring solo dance drama Nayika: A Dancing Girl. During a dinner conversation ...
Disruption to patient care from a nationwide junior doctors strike is bordering on unsafe, a senior doctor claims, despite what health officials say. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Sarah Diepstraten, Senior Research Officer, Blood Cells and Blood Cancer Division, Walter and Eliza Hall Institute Ground Picture/Shutterstock The anti-cancer drug abemaciclib (also known as Vernezio) has this month been added to the Australian Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (PBS) to treat certain ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Dominic McAfee, Postdoctoral researcher, marine ecology, University of Adelaide Robbie Porter, OzFish Unlimited Around Australia, hundreds of people are coming together to help a once-prized, but decimated and largely forgotten marine ecosystem. They’re busy restoring Australia’s native oyster and mussel reefs. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Sara Webb, Lecturer, Centre for Astrophysics and Supercomputing, Swinburne University of Technology Austin Human/Unsplash How does Earth stop meteors from hitting Earth and hurting people? –Asher, 6 years 11 months, New South Wales Alright, let’s embark on a meteor ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Rory Mulcahy, Associate Professor of Marketing, University of the Sunshine Coast Professional sports organisations regularly promote and develop initiatives to support diversity, equity and inclusion. While sport has the power to change attitudes by sparking conversations about political issues and social ...
Comment: The weekly Monday post-Cabinet press conference is a useful forum for observing Christopher Luxon and how he is developing into the job of Prime Minister. He attempts to convey the impression of a man of action, speaking fast, delivering memorised National Party strategies in a connect-the-slogans kind of way, ...
Double votes, missing ballot boxes, tired tech and stressed staff: how tick-tallying went astray at last year’s election. Cast your mind back to November 2023, that bleary-eyed post-election period duringwhichwewaited, andwaited, for a coalition deal to be hammered out. A distraction from the hotel-hopping of our ...
International audiences are starting to discover what New Zealand already knew about After the Party.When After the Party aired in New Zealand last year, the response was fast and furious. In his preview for Rec Room, Duncan Greive said it was a “gritty, wrenching and highly confronting” series. By ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Shahram Akbarzadeh, Convenor of the Middle East Studies Forum (MESF), and Acting Director the Alfred Deakin Institute for Citizenship and Globalisation, Deakin University Iran’s leadership has been a direct beneficiary of the months-long war in Gaza. With every missile that Israel fires ...
Claire Mabey reviews the haunting and sexy debut novel from Sinéad Gleeson, who is about to touch down in Aotearoa for a string of live events.When Irish writer Sinéad Gleeson was in Aotearoa in 2018 with her spectacular collection of essays, Constellations, she told me she was working on ...
PNG Post-Courier Bougainville Affairs Minister Manasseh Makiba has described the Post-Courier’s front page story yesterday regarding a meeting between Bougainville and national government leaders as “sensationalised” and without substance. The Autonomous Bougainville Government (AGB) had warned it might use “other avenues to gain its independence” should the PNG government “continue ...
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Such a sweet idea, but Bernie appealed to the same educated white people that Hillary Clinton did. And look where that got us.
Democrats need a candidate for morans.
Wrong again AD.
Bernie would have won. And a real partnership between Bernie and Clinton would have definantly won.
Clearly you’re not a moran, otherwise you’d understand.
And here is the data.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/2016-election-poll-bernie-sanders-trump_us_58260f7ee4b0c4b63b0c6928?utm_hp_ref=bernie-sanders
Clinton and mates both within the DNC and the big dollar donors were pathologically unable to do partnership with anyone. That the DNC buried Bernie was proof alone of this.
That said, despite Bernie being a 74 year old communist in the land of the free, he would have impassioned the you enough to get him to the White House.
There was passion for Bernie, there was passion for Donald, but there was no passion for Hillary.
The DNC lost the election, rather than Donald winning the election
I think the Democrats need to stop treating the people as morons
1. Celebrity endorsements don’t appear to work
2. Ignoring your voting base doesn’t work
3. Calling potentially half the people in your country deplorables doesn’t work
4. Assuming you have the votes and not bothering to campaign doesn’t work
5. Assuming all women will for for a women is…actually quite sexist
It all works. Just not quite enough this time.
It may work, but it serves to cheapen the whole electoral process.
Which bit does?
When they go low, we go high?
All 1. to 5.
“When they go low, we go high?”
That’ll be the bit where Obama started spouting on about the KKK.
yeah right rightie
“Following Donald Trump’s win in the 2016 presidential race, the Ku Klux Klan has announced plans for a celebratory rally in North Carolina, an important swing state in which Trump ultimately received 51% of the vote.”
http://theslot.jezebel.com/ku-klux-klan-will-rally-in-north-carolina-to-celebrate-1788829381
You clearly don’t understand anything about the US election.
No. It’s because men hate women in power. Clearly.
“Half”
The only electoral cohort that came even close to “half” were those who abstained, or were prevented from voting by Republican voter suppression laws and direct intimidation. Clinton and the serial rapist shared the remainder – with her in front (just) – about 25% each.
chris73… treating people as morons is the MO of those – mostly the extreme right and morally compromised – who favour the slanderous and dirty politicking of Trump, and which is delightedly promoted by the click driven money-making media
How about all the Clinton supporters who continuously used tabloid sexual innuendo, sneer words and accusations of child rape against Donald Trump.
That’s not “slanderous and dirty politicking” in your books?
none of what you refer to made the slightest headline in any of the papers I read
the tabloid innuendo you refer to, was I assume encouraged by – the racist, mysogynistic, sexually abusive language that was actually recorded coming out Trump’s own mouth
Uh…which US dailies do you read
All the data available to date shows that Hillary voters had lower average incomes than Trump voters.
Trump did not win off the backs of the poor disenfranchised working class. He won off the backs of authoritarian middle class white people.
“Authoritarian middle class white people” from the rust-belt towns?
Clinton supporters are avoiding looking at the obvious. I did a post on this. A super majority of non-college educated whites, men and women, voted Donald J Trump.
Democrats have lost that white working class vote for now. If Trump does what he does right, Democrats will also lose much more of the black and Latino working class vote in 2020.
And a severe drop in turnout compared to the people who elected Obama in 2008 and 2012. Trump’s numbers were roughly the same as Romney’s.
Maybe you should take a look at the queues of people who lined up at Trump rallies all throughout the country, take a look at the type of people they were, and get yourself a reality check.
How about you count and do a reality check?
New York Times – why Trump won: White working class votes
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/11/10/upshot/why-trump-won-working-class-whites.html
Bear in mind that white median household incomes in the USA are 70% higher than black median household incomes IIRC.
Most blacks voted Clinton, most whites voted Trump.
That skews Trump’s apparent income figures upwards.
Trump’s opportunity: consolidate his white working class appeal and extend it into the Latino and black working class. Entrench his support in the rustbelt/mid west states.
The Democratic Party long abandoned/long ignored the white non-degree qualified working class.
And this week a supermajority of them male and female turned their backs on Hillary Clinton and voted for Trump.
Bernie also appealed to white and black working class.
Democrats have abandoned them.
testing…Good morning all.
The issue is that the Democratic hierarchy and the DNC were intestinally incapable of accepting anyone else except Hillary Clinton, the ultimate status quo candidate in a change election year.
Unfortunately it had to take a pugnacious bully to upset the planned Establishment Coronation.
It’s also going to take a pugnacious bully to drain the Washington DC lobbyist/corporate bought swamp. So I think he’s right for the job.
Quiet possibly, but more likely, repurpose it into something much worse.
actually I’m sure someone said the deep state had probably endorsed trump at the last minute which is the main way he got over the line – so trump is as establishment as anyone else – of course he’s really just a better liar or maybe a glove puppet for putin and/or the deeeep staaate – hard to know – one thing we DO know is he is a disaster for the environment, of that we can be 100% certain.
My US friends say “Sure Trump is gonna clean house. But he’ll dirty it up just as fast with his own crew.”
There is little reason for optimism where Trump is concerned.
And my American friends (who have been saying for over a year now that a Trump victory was absolutely inevitable) are wildly optimistic about Trump being great for America.
Only time will tell us which group was on the money – tho my mates are one up on predicting the election result.
Dan Carlin said pretty much the same thing in his most recent podcast. And Cenk Uygur from the Young Turks.
Trump is beyond awful, but he is a result of Republican intransigence and Democrat refusal to take account of ordinary people, in their catering to the establishment.
50% of the USA didn’t vote, as their Government no longer represents them in any way shape or form.
Or – they were unable to get to a polling booth
http://www.gettyimages.co.nz/detail/video/people-wait-in-long-lines-for-voting-news-footage/622152102
http://www.colorlines.com/articles/long-early-voting-lines-illustrate-need-more-polling-places
Or knowing the long wait – just couldn’t be bothered.
Or maybe Clinton was a weak candidate too concerned with going to millionaires fundraisers in California and Martha’s Vineyard even in the last couple of months of the campaign.
Instead of doing extra community visits in Florida, North Carolina, Wisconsin and Michigan.
or maybe not – post truth politics entitles the loudmouth liars like trump especially when innocent ordinary people are scared and suffering – it’s just a bigger version of sensing murders – take advantage of people, make money, and run run away when the edifice begins to fall – which it will and sooner rather than later imo.
Of course, because you were so good at predicting a Trump victory, you now think you can predict a Trump Presidency.
Frankly I have no idea how his Presidency is going to go. But I know that it will not be typical and I am looking forward to it.
of course you are, you have been pimping support for him for a while now
That 50% figure is roughly the same as it always is, nothing special about this election.
That 50% figure is roughly the same as it always is, nothing special about this election.
There’s is something seriously wrong with a ‘democratic’ nation where only 50% of the population vote.
Yes. USA. USA. USA.
Actually the previous polls were around the 60% turnout – so your assessment is way off.
Around 10% less is significant.
I’m not convinced.
Trump got just a wee bit less vote than Romney or McCain, Clinton got a lot less than Obama. To me, that doesn’t make a wave of enthusiasm for Trump, it means there was just a lot less enthusiasm for Clinton. Most of the old tribal loyalties held, most of the Republican “never Trumpers” came home in the end. The few “never Trumpers” that held out were compensated by the few alt-right deplorables that no responsible political party should ever seek to attract.
When voting means going out and standing for hours in line, you need to be motivated to do it. That’s generally the experience in poorer parts of cities, not so much in wealthier suburbs or rural areas.
As I understand it, minorities in the primaries weren’t enthused by Bernie and generally went for Clinton. If they weren’t fired up in the primaries, why would they find a lot more enthusiasm in the general? Who really thinks those voters that found Trump’s brash siren song would have been more attracted to Bernie’s socialism? Remember socialism is still a dirty word to most older people in the US, and what little data we have suggests older people leaned Trump, younger people (who aren’t so negative about socialism) leaned Clinton.
I have still never seen a good explanation of why the Dem elite were so enthusiastic about Clinton, to the extent that other credible candidates never even put their hands up. Were they simply so attracted by her experience and high approvals at the end of her State time that they underestimated how much the stains from previous smear campaigns would show? Particularly under sustained fresh attack from the right and far-left?
Is the lesson that “change” is always a powerful argument and that Clinton was “too experienced”? The argument that change is best brought by someone that thoroughly knows the existing system may be too difficult to get across. Maybe there’s a Goldilocks level of experience. Sanders, McCain, Romney, Kerry, Gore had all been in the system a long long time.
Lots of people on The Standard defended Clintons nomination as the Dem candidate. A big mistake IMO.
And the American people punished the Democrats by not only putting the White House, the Senate, the House, and 3 more state governorships in the Republican tally. They also de facto have given the Republicans control of the Supreme Court.
“When voting means going out and standing for hours in line, you need to be motivated to do it. That’s generally the experience in poorer parts of cities, not so much in wealthier suburbs or rural areas.”
Good points Andre. I too think that the lack of commitment to the democratic process – with the difficulty of voting and the complexity and gerrymandering of districts (particularly by the Republicans in 2010 with the REDMAP) – by the US in general, makes their promotion of world wide democracy laughable.
Until they can get their own house in order, they have no business trying to tell others.
A tiny green shoot of sanity.
http://www.slate.com/articles/business/moneybox/2016/11/maine_just_passed_ranked_choice_voting_bravo.html
Every poll showed that Trump supporters were more enthusiastic than Clinton supporters.
Trump supporters were willing to wait an entire day in line to hear Trump speak for 40 minutes.
And that enthusiasm gap made a difference at the polls.
To which I might add, a movement has to be built around something, and no movement can be built around Business As Usual.
During the presidential election campaign where, though it was virtually ignored by Clinton, who never properly never challenged Trump on this issue, Climate Change is one of defining issues between Trump* and the Democrats.
Because of this the Democratic Party couldn’t do better than coming out in support of Standing Rock, which is a movement that embodies the protection of the environment over corporate profit.
Bernie has done it. He has visited Standing Rock.
To regain any shred of credibility and to heal the rifts between the Party and the base. the Clintons the Gores and the other leading Democratic Party establishment figures need to visit Standing alongside Bernie Sanders. Otherwise the Democrats will continue to be riven with divisions that will make building a “grass-roots movement” nigh near impossible.
The American people need to see them standing there, alongside Bernie.
*(Notice I said “Trump” and not the Republicans. The reason. Even the establishment Republican Party insiders know that climate change represents a deadly near and present danger. [Not that they want to do anything about it that might affect Business As Usual])
What will happen in OUR election?
Will we have a Bernie Sanders?
A damn good question.
A better question might be, can Andrew LIttle transform himself into a Bernie Sanders?
There are signs that this could be possible.
Climate justice and social justice are closely entwined, both mean challenging the status quo. And one inevitably feeds into the other.
Andrew Little declared at the Green Party Conference that, A government he led would become a world leader on climate change.
And long time Labour Party insider Phil Goff as Mayor of New Zealand’s biggest city has just voted down deep sea oil drilling.
These are very hopeful moves for the Labour Party.
So the Auckland Council will have to cancel their scheduled deep sea drilling programme?
An even better question would be would the current Labour MPs allow him to, even if he could (which I doubt). Andrew Little to me is a genuine person making a good fist of a difficult job. But he’s not Bernie Sanders or Jeremy Corbyn.
By this standard even Bernie Sanders was not Bernie Sanders. (Who was blocked by the Democratic Party establishment.)
Andrew Little could do worse than to take a page out of Trump’s play book, who defied the whole Republican Party establishment, virtually telling them all to go to hell.
…can Andrew LIttle transform himself into a Bernie Sanders?
He is already more than half way there Jenny. He is saying exactly the same things as Bernie Sanders. Problem is: the msm are bypassing the message in order to concentrate on putting words into his mouth he never used, or misinterpreting (on purpose) words he did use. So his message is not getting through to the populace.
He continues to move around the country talking to people at every opportunity but that of course is not enough. How do you force the msm to play fair?
Trump them with lawyers.
Oops! Sorry Anne, I pasted this in the wrong place.
How do you force the msm to play fair?
Politics, like life, is not fair.
Words to live by:
http://www.lifebuzz.com/10-lessons-from-navy-seal/
Yes Jenny. I go along with that quote. It’s hard sometimes when your enemies (be they personal or political) are determined to cause you to fail but the answer is to never give up. It’s my past experience that it makes you are stronger person in the end.
Blaming the media is a mug’s game. This is 2016. We have many other channels to use, like Facebook, Twitter and party websites.
Traditionally blaming the media has been quixotic, however dishonest they were. But the media are no longer monolithic – they are increasingly vulnerable and may perhaps be brought into more of a semblance of neutrality.
They know – no-one better – that their clickbait cynicism and bias is losing them their market share. There are fewer cushy outcomes for laid-off journalists every day.
Stuart, it is my view that ‘the people’ don’t actually want neutrality. The most popular news network in the US is Fox, who are openly pro-right. Their main competition, CNN and MSNBC, are both pro-left. The MSM are losing market share to alternative news delivery, such as blogs, virtually all of which have a declared bias. The days of a neutral media are, in my opinion, long gone.
Friend of mine did some research on this – taught a group of journos at three papers a quality metric for reporting – timeliness, accuracy, balance, depth & so on. Lifted their circulation by 70%.
It’s like comedy and tragedy – people don’t want the mental effort of serious drama – but they remember and prefer serious over cheap ‘entertainment’.
There’s no point in following invented news – truth is stranger than fiction so ultimately made-up stuff is boring.
Fox succeeds because things like Murdoch’s influence prevent real journalism from competing. The truth does not serve Murdoch’s neo-liberal ends – so he gradually destroys the validity of his business. It’s almost Grecian.
– where has Little attacked the conduct of the banks and the financial sector?
– where has Little attacked the effect of neoliberalism and free trade policies?
– where has Little attacked the obscene wealth of the mega-rich?
– where has Little advocated for increased taxes on millionaires and corporations?
– where are the crowds of thousands following Little around to hear him speak?
Sorry Anne, Little ain’t no Bernie Sanders.
( Will we have a Bernie Sanders? )
I don’t think there’s a snowballs chance in hell. The Labour party IMOP no longer represent the left.
The clock is ticking for neo liberalism bulshit progressives.
The question is do the ‘morans’ rebel first…and deliver us a big pile of crap like Trump or whatever Fascists are climbing to power in Europe.
Or do we, the Leftists or Progressives, or even Centrists…take the initiative, ‘grow some’, turn on our supposedly benevolent, lesser of two Evils, overlords…and deliver candidates of REAL DEEP STRUCTURAL CHANGE TO THE WHOLE ECONOMIC MODEL>
Turn Labour Left.
And vote for the Left wing candidate who doesn’t scream in horror at being labeled a Socialist or any related label.
(or keep to our bubble and sit around like stunned mullets when Trump or Brexit or whatever-next rolls in to town)
“Or do we, the Leftists or Progressives, or even Centrists…take the initiative, ‘grow some’, turn on our supposedly benevolent, lesser of two Evils, overlords…and deliver candidates of REAL DEEP STRUCTURAL CHANGE TO THE WHOLE ECONOMIC MODEL>”
I’d back that, had enough of a government and it’s more of the same year in year out, the system is not working, is it? anyone here think the western political system in it’s current formats working?
Yes Siobhan, but it won’t happen with this bunch of neolib labour MPs. I think we are banging our head against a brick wall around here telling Labour time and time again to mend its ways. Many of the commentators here cannot see the need for a change in direction.
“Morans” = ordinary people who see that the current arrangements are definitely not working for them and their children’s future.
Who can see that no one in the establishment, or current political parties, want to know.
Who see that the only way to change BAU is to chose someone outside the tweedledee and tweedledum establishment.
No matter how repugnant.
Not “morans” but entirely logical people.
The same will happen in New Zealand, unless we get alternatives that differ, in reality not rhetoric, from the current “take of your leg and still take of your leg but use some anesthetic” alternatives. ( Nod to D Cunliff).
Obama’s cowardly, pathetic attempts to curry favour with the extreme right only earned him contempt from all sides. Look at the following two photographs. The first shows him with Raoul Castro….
http://static.dnaindia.com/sites/default/files/styles/half/public/2016/03/22/440677-castro-with-obama-pti.jpg?itok=hD0rfW1T
The second shows him shaking hands with Donald Trump….
http://i2.cdn.cnn.com/cnnnext/dam/assets/161110130731-08-obama-trump-1110-large-169.jpg
Why did he fear to be seen shaking hands like a man with Castro? Because he was imagining what Fox News would do with the footage. It’s a perfect example of the sort of vacillation that has made the last eight years such a wasted opportunity and a disappointment.
And of course this:
“Barack Obama, forty-forth president of the United States, called the operation against Osama bin Laden “the most important single day of my presidency.””
http://time.com/84553/osama-bin-laden-situation-room/
Thanks Chris. What a hero he was, sitting in that “situation room” with the grave and heroic expression of a true warrior. I wonder if he gathered his cast of heroes around the “situation room” like that every time they killed someone with a drone….
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2016/jul/01/obama-drones-strikes-civilian-deaths
https://theintercept.com/drone-papers/
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/world/news/article.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=11746846
History has repeated.. and we said it would NEVER happen again.
warning offensive content.
Anne, the MSM would sit up and take notice, as if given an electric shock. If Andrew Little joined Phil Goff in declaring that a Labour led Government would, “from day one”*, send the deep sea oil drillers and seabed miners packing.
That would be being a true Labour party. Something the “don’t scare the horses” Labour caucus would fight tooth and nail.
It is the sort of thing that is really required to fight AGW.
Labour, and the US democrats, were both to much part of the establishment to do it.
Now they have Trump to push against instead of a Government which pretended it was on the side of stopping AGW, but in reality continued to subsidise and fight wars to support big oil, we may see some real hard activism against climate change in the USA.
The Democrats may even use it as a point of difference against the Repugs. LOL.
*(to borrow a Trumpism)
https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/770568584443539456
http://edition.cnn.com/2016/02/24/politics/donald-trump-day-one/index.html
“The First Day Project”
http://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=Donald+TRump+I+will+from+day+one&view=detail&mid=0B7DFB16D2A3D91C4C690B7DFB16D2A3D91C4C69&FORM=VIRE
Invite Bernie to come to NZ to compete at the next elections. He’d probably beat the useless choices we will have.
No, Bernie would not have won. Because Mike Bloomberg would have run as a spoiler.
http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2016/11/11/would-bernie-have-won-um-bloomberg.html
This is probably better advice.
http://www.slate.com/blogs/the_slatest/2016/11/11/the_democrats_ran_hillary_because_it_was_her_turn_bad_move.html
The disaster that Obama/Clinton has been for the Democratic Party
At least 870 Democratic elected legislators and leaders lost since 2008.
10% loss in Senate seats.
19% and 20% loss in House and legislature seats.
36% loss in state governors.
The US Democratic Party has taken a body blow.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2016/11/10/the-decimation-of-the-democratic-party-visualized/
yes the rise of the conservative right is depressing, but don’t assume that this is a “body blow” to Democrats…. despite all the slanderous lies and conspiracy theories about Obama and Hillary, he won two elections and Hillary won the popular vote
I predict that things will change drastically over the next 4 years from the Republicans’ and Trump’s reign and their regressive, illiberal, self-destructive politics…
and the real ‘body blow’ will be to American society and the many many poor and minority groups who will suffer the fallout
While giving Republicans control of all the branches of US government, as well as 33 of the 48 state governorships.
I see this election result as a massive repudiation of Obama’s legacy (which is going to be promptly dismantled next year).
Obama and Clinton do not deserve a pass mark. Especially Clinton who lost states that the Dems had won for 30 years.
CV – you see it your way and I see it mine
imo you have waged a bitter relentless attack on Clinton, Obama, Democrats, the Left and anyone who expresses disgust for the slanderous lies and prejudice-feeding awfulness of Trump
I see the massive majority of Black, Hispanic and minority group voters who voted for Hillary over Trump (including the majority of all Americans who voted) as a sign that liberal, progessive and decent values are alive and well in the the US.
I am also convinced that the Republicans got their support from the hatred machine they created that blamed Democrats, Clintons and Obama for every real or perceived problem or threat to their way of life.
Now that the Republicans have control of everything and fail to make things better, maybe we’ll see a complete reversal in those statistics in 4 years time
What slanderous lies about Hillary? Whitewater? Qatar and the Saudis investing in the Clinton Global Initiative? The “suicide” of so many people who have posed a threat to the Clinton crime family?
Richard, statements like “Clinton crime factory” are exactly what I meant by “slanderous lies”
– and lets be very clear, the entire Republican machine has generated multiple unfounded and disproven politically motivated accusations about Hillary Clinton over the past 20 years
Your utter disrespect for Hillary Clinton means you can’t even begin to see that Trump is in a league of his own when it comes to dissembling, hiding the truth and outright lying.
The rate, volume, putrescence and malevolence of what Trump has said about his opponents over the past few months make him completely untrustworthy and unfit to be given any kind of responsibility for governing on behalf of all Americans.
Trump has fed the seething hatreds of many Repubicans, his lack of transparency regarding his tax returns is instructive, his lies about his dealings with Russia, his illegal use of his ‘charities’, the slanderous and relentless birther conspiracy which he fostered. And I haven’t even started on Trump University fraud…