NX-Files

This article is so weird – at least from a New Zealand perspective. Rudd & Turnbull poll higher than the leaders of their respective parties.
http://news.ninemsn.com.au/national/8223388/rudd-turnbull-beat-their-leaders-in-poll?ocid=MSNToolbar100

To recap – Gillard replaced Rudd as Prime Minister when his polling slipped. And the same goes for Abbott; he replaced Turnbull when his numbers took a dive. Since then there has been a general election where Gillard was elected as PM (by the skin of her teeth), and Abbott is currently out polling the government by quite a comfortable margin. Given the public has seemingly validated the two leaders, why are their predecessors out polling them?
I'm sure political junkies could analysis this to no end, but I think my gut feeling sums up the situation nicely – all the leaders are equally unappealing.

If you managed to merge Turnball and Abbott into one person, you might get someone decent i.e. a socially liberal, monarchist who's neutral on climate change. On their own, I don't like either.

As for Rudd vs Gillard, the same applies. If you combined Rudd's humanity with Gillard's modesty you might get someone more likeable.

I'm just pleased that in New Zealand, the choice is easy. John Key leaves them for dead.

TVNZ's coverage of this story is predictably negative. http://goo.gl/9vGor

And worse still, they interview the twat from the 'Dog and Lemon' guide for
comment. I'm know my cars, & the guide is a lemon itself.

I supported Labour when they brought the Beemers, & I support National
upgrading them. In fact I'm rather surprised they've take so long given the
new models been out for a while.

1. The 730d is efficient on fuel, and is a quality car.
2. Government Ministers rack up a huge number of kms, so they need
something reliable with minimal maintenance requirements.
3. Status. Members of Parliament need something prestigious.
4. The old stock will be sold to off-set the cost of the new cars. Plus
the Beemers have good residual value.
5. Accounting. The old fleet was due for retirement.

Yeah, sure the initial cost is expensive. But given the Beemer's low
running cost & good residuals, the total cost for run the cars over three
years probably wouldn't be too different compared to a cheaper alternative.

Besides, the cost is nothing compared to the money the National govt is
saving us. Budget spend is down from $2.2 billion a year under Cullen, to a
spend of $800 million.

I look forward to see the new model BMW 730d out and about.

Lo and behold today I discover Kiwiblog now has a mobile version. http://m.kiwiblog.co.nz/. Sweet as.

Ironically I recently updated my mobile which has a decent mobile browser which could actually handle the full site. But nonetheless, I welcome the low-bandwidth version.

On the topic of Kiwiblog, when it comes to good humour Kiwiblog pwns TheStandard.org.nz any day of the week. Case in point is this post by DPF (http://www.kiwiblog.co.nz/2011/02/00.html). A good laugh can also be found in the comments section.

By comparison TheStandard.org.nz is seriously dour, like most leftie blogs. The psychology behind why the traditional left are so humourless is worth researching.

I watched the raw footage of Tony Abbott's much criticised conversation with a US general where he said 'shit happens'.

Tone & demeanour is everything. It was obviously to me that Abbott was referring to the perils of war.

Yet, lefties everywhere are insinuating he was referring to the loss of Australian life. I think you'd have to be pretty cynical to draw that conclusion.

A common practice among lefties is to villainise their opponents to almost cartoon-like dimensions. I'm not saying the right doesn't do this, but the left really take the cake. Even political debates are villanised i.e. the 'evil' rich & the downtrodden poor. Climate change accepters vs deniers, supports of anti-smacking & child beaters.

The hard-left are quick to use the words like hate, racist, and greedy to describe opposition – as if their arguments aren't strong enough to stand on their own. A rather convenient way of dismissing an opponent's arguments is to reduce them to something akin to evil. It's also selfish and egotistical to cast yourself in the role of the heroic crusader.

I find it ironic the left go to such extremes given their PC proclivities.

I'm interested to see whether this characterisation of Tony Abbott backfires.

UPDATE:

 
As a centre-right, classic lib kinda guy I'm neither a Sarah Palin supporter nor detractor. 
 
However, my opinion of her has changed somewhat after watching her Tucson response video on her Youtube channel: http://www.youtube.com/user/SarahPalinAK.
 
She will never be president.  It's not that I didn't agree with what she said, it's that it didn't need to be said.  Plus her delivery was frankly, weird. 
 
Sarah Palin does have an important role to play for the Republican Party though: to act as a lightening rod for left-wing critics.  The hysteria she manages to extract from holier than thou left-wingers is actually very unappealing to the general public and works in the Republican Party's favour.  She is, after all, a likeable and attractive mother of five children.
 
 

 
TheStandard.org.nz is not a political forum, but an eco chamber for loony left.  I've been commenting there recently.
David Farrar knows well enough to not engage TheStandard.org.nz in political debate because doing so is like pushing the preverbal up hill. 
 
Recently the blog has been particularly toxic.  Today they defend the brutal Somali pirates & yesterday they claimed Jared Lee Loughner carried out his shooting in Tucson because he's a member of the Tea Party.  Even if he was a Tea Party member (which he's not), he is first and foremost a complete nut.
 
But I must resist the urge to comment because it's pointless.
 
While the blog may act as a rallying call for the far left loonies (which is their objective I suspect), it's actually detrimental to the moderate centre-left.  And they're only going to get shriller in election year.  So keep it up TheStandard.org.nz.  The average punter will feel comparatively right-wing after they contrasting their views with TheStandard.org.nz & will run into the arms of the Nats. 



 

 
TheStandard.org.nz are very encouraged by the Horizon Poll, which shows the Nats down by about 10% compared to other polls (40%).  The Horizon Poll differs from other polls by including undecided voters.
 
As a political layman it's audacious of me to think I can challenge TheStandard.org.nz's political analyse.  After all many of the authors have worked in parliament before so you'd think they'd be on a higher plane of political thought. 
But here goes - I think the TheStandard.org.nz's analyse is wrong for the following reasons:
 

1. Voter turn out is ~80% mark.  I don't have any evidence but I suspect the majority of the ~20% whom don't vote are undecided. 

2. The Greens almost always poll higher than their election result indicating a high proportion of non-voters are in fact Green.  The other explanation is that people tell pollsters they'll vote Green because it gives them a fuzzy, warm feeling while ticking the blue or red box at the ballet. 

3. The TVNZ and TV3 polls weren't too far off the mark at the last election so should be given prominence over the newbie Horizon Poll.

4. I know there is bad blood between Winston Peters & some of the Nats, but it's rather presumptuous to presume that Winston would pick an unpopular Mr Goff to form a government over the popular Mr Key.  In fact Peter's formbook shows he takes the path of less resistance.

5. The Horizon Poll maybe actually good for the Nats because it helps to prevent complacency in the centre-right camp.  Also, the prospect of a Goff-Peters govt may scare centre-left voters into the arms of the moderate Mr Key.
 

 

"I am NOT the prime minister. I am a dude from America, who is more awesome
than the prime minister".

If you ever needed a reminder of Helen Clark's political brand – listen to the interview linked below.
 
She ducks and dives Kathryn Ryan's questions complete with trademark simulated laugh. 
 

http://podcast.radionz.co.nz/ntn/ntn-20101222-0908-WikiLeaks_cables-048.mp3