We've all seen Paula Bennett's arrogance on display whereby she has a dismissive attitude towards important issues, but usually this is directed against left wing politicians.When Bennett claimed there wasn't a problem with child poverty in New Zealand because the government wasn't measuring poverty properly being one good example.
As is the case with most arrogant people, Bennett cannot control herself properly when confronted. She instead turns on the person questioning her or the government, no matter how reasonable such questioning might be.
That's exactly what happened at a meeting with party faithful in Napier last Wednesday, with Stuff reporting:
Paula Bennett offends Napier
Napier's deputy mayor says Local Government Minister Paula Bennett has angrily rejected local concerns over council amalgamations - an issue she says could cost National its Napier seat.
Faye White raised the concerns at a meeting of party faithful in Napier yesterday, attended by Bennett and Finance Minister Bill English, prompting what she described as a "superior" reaction from Bennett.
Actually, what Paula Bennett is displaying is a bad case of narcissistic personality disorder. Such a disorder is often very damaging to relationships and group dynamics whereby the Narcissist will believe they're right no matter what.
Faye White has simply experienced what the left wing has been putting up with for a very long time, Paula Bennett's narcissism.
"I was trying to send a signal to the minister... that you shouldn't ignore the fact that amalgamation is an issue in Napier [and] that the Labour candidate Stuart Nash is doing a very strong campaign on that issue, amongst other issues."
That's the bit Bennett would have hated! Just the mere mention of Stuart Nash's name would be enough to ensure a dismissive response from the Minister.
"What I was trying to highlight was that it is an issue that National Party people in Napier who are anti-amalgamation are having a conflict with their vote [about] and I'm signalling it's bigger than what she realises."
Bennett responded "very angrily", and was "probably a bit putting down really, being a bit superior".
"She made the comment [that] you're letting your anger stop you from being who you want to be."
She told the meeting she hoped there would be a "level of maturity" about what they wanted from the region.
Bennett is basically calling the people who dare question her authority childish and irrational. This mentality fits perfectly with the four traits of narcissism: leadership/authority, superiority/arrogance, self-absorption/self-admiration, and exploitativeness/entitlement.
White, who said she was a National Party supporter and had worked on Chris Tremain's campaign team in the past two elections, said Bennett had "over-reacted".
[...]
She said National voters were considering splitting their vote, backing Nash in the seat and National with their party vote as a result.
This could be a real problem for National being that Napier is a two horse race between Labour MP Stuart Nash and National MP Chris Tremain.
With a strong campaign there's a chance that Nash will take Napier, especially if Paula Bennett and her narcissism keeps turning blue voters red.
