An entire week after the election, which is a long time in politics, and the media are still picking over the bones while not really reporting the news. If anything their criticism of David Cunliffe for not publicly committing Hara-Kiri has increased. The collective howling in today's NZ Herald in particular makes it pretty obvious that they're still taking their cues from National party attack bloggers like David Farrar and Cameron Slater.
Here's a little tweet by Bill Ralston that nicely sums up their collective mentality:
Of course the media have transferred their own lust for another sacrifice onto the Labour party, who aren't doing themselves many favours by playing along. With the biased media franticly flailing about and using any nuance to attack Labour, any contest for the leadership still needs to be run on Labour's terms and result in a positive outcome.
The second target on the list, Kim Dotcom, has also come under increased pressure, but for what reason isn't clear. Perhaps the right wing still fears that a resurgent Internet party will one day tip the balance?
It seems odd that people who are essentially capitalists are criticizing others for being paid or having money, especially because it was only through the financial backing National received that Key has retained power, not because of National's policy agenda that is clearly lacking in any real substance. However, it's more likely that they're simply attempting to further undermine the entrepreneurs credibility to try and counter any future court decisions that go in his favour.
The third target down their list, Hone Harawira, still has a reasonable chance of regaining his seat at the next election, provided he stands. Three years of further cuts and social policy failure is going to leave the good people of Te Tai Tokera wondering why they didn't support MANA this time round. Sure, there may be a few who changed their votes because of a slight change in policy direction, but the main reason Harawira lost his seat was because of media bias, mistakes during campaigning and disunity within the left wing.
Watching Kelvin Davis actively campaign with National's propagandists was particularly disconcerting. Because of such occurrences, there's no question that the size of no-mans-land between political parties on the left, that invariably share the same goals, has increased.
This is in fact the main reason for National's success, particularly vote splitting and actively campaigning to undermine candidates standing on similar platforms. You very rarely see such things from within National, as anybody who even thinks about questioning the leader and the regimes agenda is given the dirty politics treatment.
While the right wing are still baying for blood, Labour and the wider left must move to develop a strategy to ensure their policies gain traction with all New Zealanders.
Those with ulterior motives must not be allowed to side-track such an important dialog, which must be able to cut through the dirty politics disease that continues to poison our democracy.
Here's a little tweet by Bill Ralston that nicely sums up their collective mentality:
@barrysoper Take up position in 3.2 Barry and wait for the blood to leak down the corridor.
— Bill Ralston (@BillyRalston) September 23, 2014
Of course the media have transferred their own lust for another sacrifice onto the Labour party, who aren't doing themselves many favours by playing along. With the biased media franticly flailing about and using any nuance to attack Labour, any contest for the leadership still needs to be run on Labour's terms and result in a positive outcome.
The second target on the list, Kim Dotcom, has also come under increased pressure, but for what reason isn't clear. Perhaps the right wing still fears that a resurgent Internet party will one day tip the balance?
It seems odd that people who are essentially capitalists are criticizing others for being paid or having money, especially because it was only through the financial backing National received that Key has retained power, not because of National's policy agenda that is clearly lacking in any real substance. However, it's more likely that they're simply attempting to further undermine the entrepreneurs credibility to try and counter any future court decisions that go in his favour.
The third target down their list, Hone Harawira, still has a reasonable chance of regaining his seat at the next election, provided he stands. Three years of further cuts and social policy failure is going to leave the good people of Te Tai Tokera wondering why they didn't support MANA this time round. Sure, there may be a few who changed their votes because of a slight change in policy direction, but the main reason Harawira lost his seat was because of media bias, mistakes during campaigning and disunity within the left wing.
Watching Kelvin Davis actively campaign with National's propagandists was particularly disconcerting. Because of such occurrences, there's no question that the size of no-mans-land between political parties on the left, that invariably share the same goals, has increased.
While the right wing are still baying for blood, Labour and the wider left must move to develop a strategy to ensure their policies gain traction with all New Zealanders.
Those with ulterior motives must not be allowed to side-track such an important dialog, which must be able to cut through the dirty politics disease that continues to poison our democracy.
