On Saturday I wrote:
Another politician who has had a strong year is Andrew Little. The Labour president and EPMU head doesn't present as the stereotypical "angry unionist", but instead looks to be moderate and centrist. He's been in the news a lot, firstly with the Chris Carter debacle and then over Pike River, and hasn't put a foot wrong. He looks to be future PM material, and may be in the running to be Labour leader in 2011/2012 when (as I suspect) Phil Goff steps down.Then the moderate and centrist Little decided to call a sitting Labour MP a "lightweight" and expressed pleasure that the MP was not running again. More the actions of an "angry unionist".
Look, this blog is my personal ego trip and I can't afford to look bad in it. Let's just pretend that what I actually said was this:
Another politician who has had a strong year (although he could still ruin things for himself, because the year isn't over) is Andrew Little. The Labour president and EPMU head doesn't present as the stereotypical "angry unionist" (except that he does sometimes), but instead looks to be moderate and centrist, apart from those times when he comes over as an angry unionist. He's been in the news a lot, firstly with the Chris Carter debacle and then over Pike River, and hasn't put a foot wrong, but probably will in the next 48 hours. I would have said that he looks to be future PM material, and may be in the running to be Labour leader in 2011/2012 when (as I suspect) Phil Goff steps down. Unfortunately, due to my Solomon-like wisdom, I predict he will make an absolute arse of himself within the next few days, which will raise serious questions about his abilities. And when that happens, remember where you heard it first.
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Another Labour politician smelling of poo is Phil Goff. He's just been massacred in the latest TV3 poll.Goff hasn't done anything wrong, but he is up against the Key phenomenon. John Key is so jovial and nice that anyone who goes against him just ends up looking like a meanie. If Goff had the stature of, say, an Ed Hillary or a Richie McCaw he might have a chance. Perhaps the only question remaining is whether they roll him before the election, or whether he goes in 2011 after Labour's likely defeat.
It is with posts like this one that I realise you have a) never met Andrew Little and b) know absolutely nothing about the Labour Party.
ReplyDeleteYou're right that I don't know Andrew Little. My comments on him are based on how he presents in the media. I don't need to know the man to comment on how he is perceived, and how his spat with George Hawkins will be viewed by those who aren't Labour insiders.
ReplyDeleteI await with trepidation and enthusiasm your explanation of what I got wrong when discussing the Labour Party.
I have to say that it was refreshing to hear Andrew Little being honest about his opinion of George Hawkins. We don't see enough of that from politicians.
ReplyDeleteI think it is an opinion that would be shared by most people who have had anything to do with Hawkins over his long but unspectacular Parliamentary career.
Scott, bitching because a plain spoken party president tells it how it is about the need to get rid of a fossilised M.P. with an over-weaning sense of his own importance is pretty ironic, given that you consistently complain about the disingenuity of our politicians.
ReplyDeleteWhat makes you comments doubly ironic is you couple it with the observation of Goff's complete ineffectiveness in combatting Key. Now, I happen to agree with you - Goff is useless, largely because he agrees with a lot of the right wing drift of this government and that means he continues to make bad decisions that undermine the effectiveness of the opposition. I happen to think Little's directness of message and plain spokenness combined with his impeccable credentials in looking out for ordinary New Zealanders would perfectly expose the big lie that is the very heart of Key's P.R. success. The fact that the ultimate hollow man, David Farrar, spends so much time attacking Little should tell you all you need to know about how much they feel threatened by him.
You can't have it both ways - if you are going crtiticse politicians for being strong and plain speaking then don't pretend to be surprised when they are mealy mouthed and full of bullshit.
Scott, bitching because a plain spoken party president tells it how it is about the need to get rid of a fossilised M.P. with an over-weaning sense of his own importance is pretty ironic, given that you consistently complain about the disingenuity of our politicians.
ReplyDeleteWell I do complain a lot, don’t I? I try to be more positive, but just can’t do it, especially when our politicians are involved. However, while I may express dismay towards our politicians and their weasel words, I don’t think I’ve ever advocated for party members to be fighting amongst themselves in public. When ACT did it I slammed them, and when Chris Carter attacked the Labour leadership I wrote scathingly about Carter’s actions. You may disagree, but I don’t think I’m being inconsistent. I expect politicians not to mislead the public or lie to them, but they are entitled to keep to themselves what goes on within their organisations at a local level. Andrew Little didn’t have to say anything publicly about the Manurewa tussle other than “it was a difficult battle and we have had some robust debates, but we’re moving on”. But the fact that the Labour Party president spoke to the media slamming a still-sitting Labour MP will now give a lot of people already out for Labour further ammunition to fire at the party.
What makes you comments doubly ironic is you couple it with the observation of Goff's complete ineffectiveness in combatting Key. Now, I happen to agree with you - Goff is useless, largely because he agrees with a lot of the right wing drift of this government and that means he continues to make bad decisions that undermine the effectiveness of the opposition. I happen to think Little's directness of message and plain spokenness combined with his impeccable credentials in looking out for ordinary New Zealanders would perfectly expose the big lie that is the very heart of Key's P.R. success. The fact that the ultimate hollow man, David Farrar, spends so much time attacking Little should tell you all you need to know about how much they feel threatened by him.
You can't have it both ways - if you are going criticise politicians for being strong and plain speaking then don't pretend to be surprised when they are mealy mouthed and full of bullshit.
I don’t actually think this incident is fatal to Little’s chances as leader. For all we know his speaking out may be the first indication of a potential challenge for the leadership. But the timing is questionable. Labour were savaged in the TV3 poll that came out a few days ago, so having a very public battle playing out between prominent Labour figures might well lead voters to conclude that the party hierarchy really hasn’t a clue.
Of course, Little’s actions make perfect sense if his aim was to destabilise Phil Goff and the right of the party.
Today offered us a classic example of how Goff's right wing inclinations have skewed his political antenna. Where was Goff today? In the house, getting dumped on by a media (on TV One at least) that seemed bent on portraying Pansy Wong as the sad victim of a bullying opposition.
ReplyDeleteIt seems to me the political was not in Wellington, it was in Greymouth and any decent left wing politican would have known that. The minute he heard Helen Kelly was meeting with a newly formed group representing the dead miner's families Goff should have headed down there to hammer the message the Labour wouldn't abandon it's workers. The bonus of being on the ground when Pike River went into receivership, to be seen comforting crying workers and ramming home the message that Key and big business have abandoned the dead and their families on Xmas is what is called "making your own luck".
I think that this is exactly the sort of thing Andrew Little might do; it is demonstrably something Goff does not.
Sanctuary, I think you're probably right. The public don't care about Pansy Wong, and there's a peception building in the media that she has been bullied out of office. It doesn't help that none of the evidence produced by Labour has been damnng or compelling, and that the Auditor General doesn't see a problem.
ReplyDeleteThe big news story today was Pike River, and I haven't yet heard anything from Goff on that topic. Perhaps when you've been in the beltway for too long you lose perspective. Labour MPs will probably be patting each other on the backs for a job well done, but in the real world nobody cares.