Key keeps bad company
My grandmother, who, believe it or not, would be 108 this year, always said that you could judge the character of a person by the company (s)he keeps. She always made an exception for politicians, because they would inevitably end up associating with the odd scoundrel by dint of being in politics. But she did say that party affiliation was far less important than who the politician associated with. Hence, I always reserved judgement on John Key, despite his association with the worst of the National Party’s 1990’s throwbacks.
Today’s Sunday Star Times begins to reveal who Key really relies on for advice and support. It’s not pretty. Crosby/Textor has one of the slimier reputations among conservative campaign strategy companies. This is the same crowd that Brash used in the 10 month lead up to the 2005 election. Key called them in the week he was elected leader in 2006. Bad call John. Textor is a long time tobacco lobbyist and was forced to pay A$80,000 to an Australian Labour candidate for push-polling shenanigans that cost her the election.
The detail of Textor’s advice to Key remains secret, but Crosby/Textor will be using essentially the same methods as for their clients in other countries. Their recent work in Britain particularly rings bells about what we’ve seen from Key and National.
Their influence can be seen in much of what Key has said and done since December 2006 and also in the way his public blunders or perceived `slipperiness’ have usually been in unplanned situations when he was unprepared and unscripted. Meanwhile his party has no final policy on industrial relations, ACC, education, KiwiSaver, Working for Families, Maori issues and health, only debating the issues of its choosing.
The techniques dig out feelings of prejudice, fear, selfishness and hostility and spread these ideas throughout society. The idea is that both the positive image building and attack lines will be repeated and repeated until they’re echoed by talkback hosts and political columnists and start to sound like truth. The branding of Clark as “out of touch”, for example, has gone from “embryonic” to widely repeated today.
But the techniques work much better when the public is unaware that professional manipulators are at work. This helps explain why John Key has kept his Aussie minders secret.
While I have absolutely no problem with politicians getting serious advice on campaigning and image management, Key’s choice of advisors reveals a cynical and dark side of his character that convinces me that he doesn’t have the character required to lead this country. Grandma’s folksy wisdom saw her safely through two world wars, the great depression and even the dawn of Rogernomics. I have no reason to doubt her advice today.
June 29th, 2008 at 4:24 pm
“The branding of Clark as “out of touchâ€?, for example, has gone from “embryonicâ€? to widely repeated today.”
Bit like the branding of John Key as slippery.
Maybe Sue Bradford could use these people expertise so as not to make the “murder is a bonus” blunder?
June 29th, 2008 at 4:53 pm
>>Key called them in the week he was elected leader in 2006. Bad call John.
Yeah, bad call. Imagine - only having 55% support in the polls, compared to Labours 29%, and the Greens 5-7%.
Terrible.
June 29th, 2008 at 4:56 pm
>>Meanwhile his party has no final policy on industrial relations, ACC, education, KiwiSaver, Working for Families, Maori issues and health, only debating the issues of its choosing.
Where are the Greens policies on same?
Typical selective lefty MSM….
June 29th, 2008 at 4:59 pm
>>doesn’t have the character required to lead this country.
Who would you suggest? Russel Norman and Sue Bradford?
June 29th, 2008 at 5:10 pm
Apparently, John Key’s nickname during his merchant bank/forex days was “the smiling assassin” and pretty it’s clear to do well in that game you have to be very smart, very smooth and very ruthless. Great training for a political leader - and the star-times article adds to this picture. I wonder if the electorate know what they’re in for should the national party take power after the election?
I predict a short honeymoon, followed by a some squealing - not least amongst the consultants, contractors and other hangers-on that bloat the bureaucracy I work in.
June 29th, 2008 at 5:22 pm
BP - for an exhaustive list of Green Party policies, built and supported by the membership rather than Aussie spin doctors, try here:
http://www.greens.org.nz/docs/policy/
And as for leadership, I’d choose our two co-leaders - Jeanette and Russel, and even Sue B over John Key in a minute. I understand what they believe in, who is behind them and what they would do should they be elected. Can we even remotely say this about John Key? No way.
June 29th, 2008 at 5:48 pm
“And as for leadership, I’d choose our two co-leaders - Jeanette and Russel, and even Sue B over John Key in a minute. I understand what they believe in, who is behind them and what they would do should they be elected”
When you feel like it how about letting the rest of us know who is behind them, as from what we can see Norman is a committed communist and an unbelievably arrogant man while your next co leader shares the same traits as Norman, she is also a proven liar.
The good thing is that John Key will be your next PM and thankfully Norman and Bradford will never reach that position.
June 29th, 2008 at 6:11 pm
I was wondering when this would break. I didn’t know the details, but John Key, Gerry Brownlee and others in the National caucus have been repeating the mantra “explaining is losing” for a while now. It even slipped out in question time a few weeks ago. It’s straight from Karl Rove. Given the evidence we’ve seen today, it’s likely a strategy that Crosby Textor have given to National. And it speaks utter contempt for democracy and every right thinking person in the country.
“explaining is losing”
At least the vultures in the press gallery will have no excuses after the election, and their feigning ignorance over the lack of revealed policy of National will ring hollow.
June 29th, 2008 at 8:01 pm
Crosby-Textor are slippery, very slippery!
But we need to be careful, very careful - don’t want to end up in this situation! This is no ordinary PR firm - watch this space!
All will be revealed in due course, but given their propensity to take legal action, and greater ability to fund it than I have, it’s necessary to make sure the facts backing the allegations are correct, and that takes some time.
Personally, I think John Key would do well to be rid of them.
But georgedarroch is correct - their strategy advice to National will be to give as little policy detail as possible, and if under pressure and you have to lie, make it a big one! Remember John Howards and the Tempa refugees, supposedly throwing their kids overboard.
Who do you think came up with that idea?
June 29th, 2008 at 8:20 pm
Key and his propagandists have been “swift boating” Helen Clark for two years while carefully avoiding saying what National would do if elected.
That is deeply cynical. We don’t want to reward US Republican-style campaigns here. The other aspect of this sort of campaign is that it can’t work without at least some active support from people in the media like Fox News.
The NZ Herald and the Fairfax dailies in the major centres stand out as daily newspapers who are determined to not say anything god about this government. They turned the light bulb issue into a nanny-state attack on dimmer switches instead of an excellent move to save us from building 3 Project Aquas (3 x 520Mw is equivalent to 20% of the 6.5Gw used each day, today) and saving power users $500 million on their power bills.
While dimmer switches were being saved, they ignored the numbers on the dole falling to a 30 year low.
Its now up to us to oppose and reject the imposition of US-style corruption of our politics by these essentially dishonest unprincipled people. They also want to get rid of MMP…..the only real obstacle to them being able to utterly rape this country as Bush and his cronies have done to the US since 2001.
June 29th, 2008 at 8:28 pm
BluePeter said (quoting frog): >>Meanwhile his party has no final policy on industrial relations, ACC, education, KiwiSaver, Working for Families, Maori issues and health, only debating the issues of its choosing.
Where are the Greens policies on same?
On the Greens’ website, BP. Link from
http://www.greens.org.nz/docs/policy.
Sure, there will be some refinements still to come, but the bulk of it is there, and the principle of it will not change.
Unlike National, where Crosby-Textor seem to make the policy to dog-whistle public opinion and Key then announces it (or doesn’t, as the case may be,, at least with the Greens, the members make policy on the basis of principle.
That may hurt the Green sometimes, becasue on occasion it may be unpopular, but at least it is honestly derived from Green charter principles and membership opinion, rather than the creation of an Aussie PR firm.
June 29th, 2008 at 9:07 pm
BP and BB have anything to say on the subject of the post? No one has done anything illegal here, but if we see “negative rumour and innuendo…in tabloid newspapers” or any parallels to
…we can only expect that someone is being spun up to their eyeballs by what looks to be a very disreputable company, albeit a pretty skilled one.
Funny (but expected) how people from both side of the spectrum (BP and OutinFronthave accused the MSM of being biased!
June 29th, 2008 at 9:08 pm
“…we can only expect” - I mean ’suspect’.
June 29th, 2008 at 9:17 pm
Politicians use spin doctors? Quick, someone call Reuters!
Meanwhile, I notice the Green adverts appearing in our papers talk a green game, but curiously make no mention of the dominant social(ist) agenda. Or Bradford.
Is greenwashing honest?
June 29th, 2008 at 9:22 pm
Outinfront
“They also want to get rid of MMP”
What happens if the people vote it out?, or is that another referendum you want to deny us?
You may well find that the coming election sees and overwhelming rejection of MMP, what would you do then?
June 29th, 2008 at 9:43 pm
This policy is pretty amusing. Not very “smart”, is it.
“To recognise that investment in the arts and crafts is a socially and commercially sound proposition.”
Eh? Having been a semi-pro musician in my youth, I can assure you that investment in the arts is rarely a sound commercial decision. Being “socially sound” is debatable, as 95% of anything is usually cr@p, and this is especially true in the creative arts.
The economic policy, if it can be called that, is pure puffery. All rhetoric, light on detail.
“We can correct that imbalance by restoring New Zealand production of many things that we can make just as well here. ”
We have record low unemployment, and you’re going to make be on a benefit more attractive. Therefore, we’ll have to shift labour from things we are good at, to things we are rubbish at.
I could go on, and on….
It really is total nonsense. What planet are you lot on?
June 29th, 2008 at 9:44 pm
C’mon outinfront, they never said ‘get rid of MMP’ - the reality is there are other voting systems out there beyond those two.
The coming election/s will probably see the rejection of all minor parties when their leaders leave, except for the Greens and Maori Party. Will be an interesting situation for National to be in, and may be why they floated the idea of exploring other options (which is fine, don’t see why anyone would have a problem with that idea, unless it’s the bonkers FPP system).
June 29th, 2008 at 9:45 pm
You really think that’s the point of the story BP?
June 29th, 2008 at 9:48 pm
I would not be so smug about the Greens future Stephen.
June 29th, 2008 at 9:51 pm
If anyone was wondering what the hell Hager is basing all this
…on (as it is newer than his book) and I certainly was until a minute ago, looks like a repeat screening of sorts:
http://nz.news.yahoo.com/080629/3/6fkv.html
June 29th, 2008 at 9:55 pm
I’m not smug BB, I’m realistic - you think I’m wrong? The minor parties I was talking about depend on votes in one particular electorate seat to keep them in parliament. The Greens depend on countrywide support, so their support is not so dependent on one personality or the issues in one electorate. The Greens support also seems to be pretty stable a few points above 5%.
June 29th, 2008 at 10:00 pm
Try to use an explanation that does not include the revealing of Russel Norman’s hidden communist agenda and subsequent Green polling plunge too…
BP, regarding your 9-17 point, it will depend on whether the Greens go ‘hard’ on ‘green’ policies this time round or settle for Labour giving them a few of their minor not-so-’green’ policies. The ‘green’ policies are probably still at the top of the wish list, like they (probably) were last election, just that Labour didn’t really want them, so look what we got…
June 29th, 2008 at 10:41 pm
BluePeter Says:
June 29th, 2008 at 9:17 pm
> Politicians use spin doctors? Quick, someone call Reuters!
Of course politicians use spin doctors. The news here was that John Key is using a particular spin doctor that he specifically denied using, so:
1. he was being dishonest, and
2. he is using a particular spindoctor who he figures voters don’t want to see him using, or he wouldn’t have denied it.
June 29th, 2008 at 11:24 pm
“Meanwhile his party has no final policy on industrial relations, ACC, education, KiwiSaver, Working for Families, Maori issues and health, only debating the issues of its choosing.”
I suspect that the reason for the lack of policy from the National Party is two fold, neither of which are particularly bad in my opinion
Reason One: The Labour Party has been very good at stealing other parties popular policies and passing them off as their own over the years; while for you guys, it might be alright, for a party that is sick of being in Opposition, it would be stupid to announce policy, only to see your enemies announce the same thing and get votes.
Reason Two: National does not want to peak too early. Remember when Winston had his big speech on Asian immigration back in early 1996 - he peaked very quickly, and the NZ First vote dropped right back when the then National Government changed the immigration rules. Had Winston given that speech in June or July 1996, then he might have been Leader of the Opposition, if not PM.
June 29th, 2008 at 11:32 pm
Kahikatea: he’s supposed to be dishonest he’s a politician!!!!!
June 29th, 2008 at 11:42 pm
people in glasses…….
June 30th, 2008 at 12:16 am
Oh, this is just to good and it’s going to get better.
While researching our “Smiling Assassin� and recent NZ political history (I like to know who makes the important decisions in the country I live in) I came across a lady called Ruth Richardson.
While I’m sure you know her and the role she played in the early 90ies as I am sure you know about her role as one of Brash’s advisors I didn’t and after having spoken to a well informed friend of mine (our landlady and seriously well of but who hated Ruth’s politics never the less) I decided to check her out.
I wondered what she was up to these days because snakes like that don’t slither back under their rocks. They tend to slither to the next place were they can do some more damage. Well, I found her: She is on the board of advisors of a nice little think thank based in Sidney called CIS or the Council for Independent Studies.
The board reads like the who’s who of the big corporate entities who have their eyes on New Zealand’s resources. Rio Tinto, Exxon, Big Australian mining companies, JP Morgan, Deutche bank (who now own the US department of the Bankers trust, the bank John Key used to work for) you name it it’s there.
I like websites of all these organisations because quit often you can find out al kinds of connections.
So when I read Nicky’s article in the ST I just thought I’d mozy on over to Cosby and Textor’s official website and check out who they were. Well, that was interesting.
The board only consists of three people:
Lynton Crosby AO
Managing Director & Co-Founder
Mark Textor
Managing Director & Co-Founder
These two I would have expected to be on the board but
the third one was to say the least unexpected but than again being of my persuasion it shouldn’t have surprised me in the least.
The third person was a man by the name of Robert Champion de Crespigny, AC
As the Chairman no less. Now this is interesting because guess what: Robert Champion de Crespigny, a mining mogul also sits on the board of directors of yep you got it in one; the board of the Council for Independent Studies, very cozy with our own Ruthie Baby.
I always wondered if Slippery John got his cues from Ruth and the old National guard and this certainly points to that, wouldn’t you say.
What is even more interesting is the fact that the Crespigny lives in England. What does a man who lives in England have to do with the politics of New Zealand I wonder.
So I thought why don’t I google Robert Champion de Crespigny and combine the search with the name Merrill Lynch and uh oh, it turns out that the Crespigny sits on several boards with Merrill Lynch big wigs.
If there were any doubts that John Key was groomed by corporate interests you can abandon them now because as far as busting is concerned it doesn’t get any better than this. LOL
These are some of the sites:
Crosby and Textor: http://www.crosbytextor.com/About_Board.htm
CIS: http://www.cis.org.au/aboutcis/board_dir.html
The Mineral securities board: http://www.mineralsecurities.com.au/directors.asp
Business Advisory Forum of the Said business school: http://www.sbs.ox.ac.uk/corporate/baf/
Oh, did I mention that Ruth Richardson is a member of the mont Pelerin society: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mont_Pelerin_Society
Read this nice article about The society and CIS. http://www.pdfdownload.org/pdf2html/pdf2html.php?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww. cecaust.com.au%2Fpubs%2Fpdfs%2FSection3b.pdf&images=yes
By the way JP Morgan opened a bank in New Zealand on the 1th of Oktober 2007. It would only provide wholesale financing and have no retail outlets. I guess they knew something we didn’t.
http://aotearoaawiderperspective.wordpress.com/2007/10/01/new-bank-reg istered-in-new-zealand/
June 30th, 2008 at 12:17 am
I posted an article I think it may have gone in the spam filter due to the amount of links. Could someone please check?
June 30th, 2008 at 3:09 am
Ah, the ‘guilt by association’ game. I’m quite surprised to find you guys playing that particular card, given your well-documented communist affiliations.
June 30th, 2008 at 8:12 am
This particular story has by all accounts been hidden and denied, by National/Key. Different, yeah?
June 30th, 2008 at 8:40 am
Duncan Bayne said: Ah, the ‘guilt by association’ game. I’m quite surprised to find you guys playing that particular card, given your well-documented communist affiliations.
Trevor Louden sees a red under every bed, so I wouldn’t get too excited about what appears on the New Zeal blog. Social justice is a Green charter principle, so of course Jeanette will collaborate with others who have a commitment to social justice, and is quite open about it.
This is quite different from the “neither confirm nor deny” approach being taken by National re whether Crosby/Textor are contracted as Key’s advisors.
June 30th, 2008 at 9:12 am
More importantly, does Hager have any evidence?
After reading the article all I could conclude is supposition and generalisation. No evidence was presented. Maybe there is more to the story but suspect that there is a real risk of people in glass houses shouldn’t throw stones morality tale for all the political parties. Labour has used significant amounts of spin doctoring advice in the past. Possibly the only party that hasn’t taken outside advice would be NZ First. And that would be because what would be the point to trying to give advice to someone who presents a view of having all the answers.
At best a minor indescretion, probably sensible to take external advice and get the temperature of what works and doesn’t work in other countries. Evidence of anything - probably that Nicky really needs some time in the sunshine, a cup of tea, and notice that the spy satellites are not monitoring him personally.
Quite rightly the news focussed on bad weather throughout the country (was a great weekend for stomping out in the rain), the tennis (always good to cheer NZ success) and the sham election in Zimbabwe.
Reality is not such a scary place. Most of the time people are just trying to make the world a better place in little ways, quietly and without a lot of publicity.
Ps people (including myself) should go easy oon name calling the green party communists because of youthful indescrestions by some members. If you weren’t an activist when you where young you had no heart. If you weren’t a conservative/realist by the time your 30, you either had a privileged upbringing (which most Green MPs did have) or never had to deal with the public.
June 30th, 2008 at 9:18 am
WWHS, like I said, looks to be the same source(s) as the last election:
http://stuff.co.nz/4601505a10.html
http://nz.news.yahoo.com/080629/3/6fkv.html
This story is interesting because it defines a set of tactics that are likely to be used, not the fact that National has a PR company.
June 30th, 2008 at 9:43 am
StephenR - will largely agree with you. That said, I’d like to be paid $10,000 for telling John Key the obvious (which he probably already knew). This election is your to lose, don’t play labours game (including releasing significant policy before the election is called - and the main reason for not doing that is beacuse most of the public has a short attention span), don’t respond to labours continuous baiting (and i’d add some commentators/writers from this blog to that) - which means stay focussed (a Graham Henry statement to the AB’s), stay on message, avoid side distractions - mostly by not having knee jerk responses - the blogoshere and talkback will do that happily all by themselves.
I don’t think we will see any tactics from Oz, the US or elsewhere in NZ. Were too small and that style of politics just doesn’t resonate with the NZ public.
Gee where have I read this before - Try any book on strategy.
Sigh - I sure I must have better things to do than grizzle about this. Actually I do.
June 30th, 2008 at 9:56 am
“Actually I do.” Who doesn’t, it’s a weekday!
“stay on message” though…we got that last time with Brash saying “this election is about tax cuts” every time the media asked him about something he didn’t really feel like talking about. Might get that again this time, who knows?
June 30th, 2008 at 11:00 am
“The Smiling Assassin”. To get confirming insight into John Key’s character read the book: “Liar’s Poker” by Michael Lewis (1989. Hodder & Stoughton) telling of his experiences as a share floor trader with Salomon Brothers during the 1987 Wall St boom and crash. The film: “Enron: the smartest guys in the room” shows that those participants also had similar mentalities to the ones described by Lewis.
June 30th, 2008 at 11:35 am
Is this the best you guys can do?
Key is a big meanie, once worked as a trader and uses a PR firm who succeeded in getting Boris elected?
June 30th, 2008 at 11:45 am
Personally don’t give a toss about the other stuff, just interesting that Key/National picked that particular PR firm, with their history and all. Dunno about travellrev and michaela though.
June 30th, 2008 at 12:03 pm
I don’t think you can completely judge a person’s character by their job.
My employer is a former investment banker and actually previously worked with John Key in London. In contrast to popular perceptions, investment bankers aren’t in general, greedy little gnomes gleefully looking at how they can rip people off. They’re just normal people trying to make money for themselves and their companies like everyone else.
June 30th, 2008 at 1:55 pm
Agree with SleepyTreeHugger
A bit like a comment I have made about money in some earlier posts. Money itself is amoral - it is people who make the moral choices. Something very important when discussing the dismal science (its all about the incentives on people). Have meet some really nice investment bankers who put a lot of time into community groups and philanthrophy. Have meet some prats. Have meet some people in advocate groups who I wouldn’t trust ever. Have also meet some of the most caring giving people also.
Less operating on prejudice and more thinking that people get involved because they care about the nation and want the best for people might help people bridge some of there differences which they currently cosider as being to big.
June 30th, 2008 at 2:51 pm
One of my best friends is a banker with a top job at ING who would not get out of bed for deals less then 50 million Euro. She is a vegetarian Zen Buddhist with a work from home husband and two wonderful kits. I would trust her with my last nickel and have shared many a pleasant holiday in a small farmers chateau in the Dordogne with her and her banker parents.
You can be a banker and hold on to your integrity.
So to be critical or inquisitive about what the Smiling Assassin is up to is not a judgement on the banking world in general.
It is his career and what banks he has been involved in that make him suspect. Picking a PR company with C/Ts credentials for nasty character assassination (no pun intended) smear campaigns and the stifling of healthy debate which is the live blood of a Democracy does not bode well.
Especially since National and John Kay have been attempting to bully the media into not printing information about the them.
He has worked for some of the most despicable and corrupt banks in the world The bankers trust and Merrill Lynch. He has been involved in currency raids such as the NZ dollar in 87 and in the Asian currency crisis in 97. He has been the head of the European department for Bonds and Derivatives products developed by the bankers trust and currently causing the sub prime crisis. Additionally he has made it to international head of the global division for Foreign exchange for Merrill Lynch from 1999 until march 2001. He was an upon invitation advisor of the privately owned Federal reserve of New York. This is not a position you get if you are not completely and utterly devoid of conscience and integrity.
I wouldn’t be surprised if he got that top job as a reward for the role Merrill Lynch played in one of the biggest hedge funds to loot the Asian countries and by extension the damage done to New Zealand.
It was in his role as specialist in south Asian countries that made him attractive to Merrill Lynch after all.
June 30th, 2008 at 2:56 pm
George Soros raided the pound, “the man who broke the Bank of England.” and made about a billion dollars. Quite the philanthropist though - is he “devoid of conscience and integrity” too? Granted he didn’t actually seem to be *working* for anyone…
June 30th, 2008 at 3:11 pm
travellerev - Merrill Lynch is a very large organisation so is ING and there has been some less than good press for ING over teh years. This happens for all organisations - people do dumb things, what matters is then how people deal with the dumb thing done.
By all accounts staff and clients who have worked with John Key give him glowing reports. Not having meet him I can’t say anything, but there is no evidence of him having broken any laws of this country or any other.
Look the blogosphere like talkback loves to demoise people, whether they are left or right - because this sphere is operating on emotional response rather than evidence, reason or rationality.
This was historically the approach adopted by marxist ideology - it was al about the dialetic - you shift the conversation or language of the conversation to a platform that you control and thereby you argument wins.
Historical evidence shows that over time this produces bad outcomes (devastated Soviet Union, rise of autocracy etc).
Now what evidence did Nicky Hager present. Nicky said all political parties use PR, Nicky personally does not like C/T. Therefore according to Nicky no one should work with C/T. Nicky gives no information on who labour uses or who the greens use - so in terms of journalism there is no balance, just opinion - so again we are back to the dialetic. Nicky constructs an argument only he can win.
travellerev - your argument is the same construct i.e. i think Merril Lynch is despicable and corrupt therefore John Key is evil and corrupt. Sigh I hold greater hope for humanity and our leaders than this. I will give Labour the benefit of the dubt and say there actions over the last 9 years have been done through the best of intentions, some of it has even been good.
Time to leave the dialetic in the past and move into today and the future to make the world and NZ a healthier, happier, wealthier and environmentally sound place.
June 30th, 2008 at 3:31 pm
Seems the “neither confirm nor deny” response isn’t unique to the Nats:
http://www.spinwatch.org/content/view/135/8/
SpinWatch: “And Mark Textor?�
Tory: “I can’t tell you anything about Mark Textor,�
SpinWatch: “Why not?�
Tory: “ Because its not policy to do so,�
SpinWatch: “Is he working for the Tories?�
Tory: “I can’t say anything about it.�
SpinWatch: “You can’t say anything about it? - Can I take your name?
Tory: “No�
SpinWatch: “That’s not very helpful. Is there any reason why you are not being helpful?
Tory: “I am not saying any more�
June 30th, 2008 at 3:42 pm
WWHS,
I hear were you’re coming from but from what I know about Nicky Hager he will not write these things without a proper source. I don know that he is religious about protecting his sources as all good Journalists should be.
He guards his reputation jealously because doing the kind of journalism he does his integrity is all he has.
Finding out about techniques used by C/T and the figures behind them make me highly suspicious whatever Nicky’s own opinion is or not.
From what I have heard Helen Clark hates Nicky with a vengeance too because of disclosures made by him so he seems to be capable to get up the noses of left and right.
Have you read my first comment? Click on the links and find out for your self.
With regards to the banks John Key has worked for.
I don’t want to write in more detail here because I am working on a post on the subject for my own blog, suffice to say that although the banks he worked for were indeed huge but he has worked in key areas were nasty stuff happened so to give him a free pass would be naive. If bankers on the level were John Key worked call you “Smiling Assassin” you must be bloody good and ruthless at what you’re doing.
If you put everything together. Nasty banks and key positions, secretly hiring nasty secretive PR companies from the moment you are the leader, trying to bully news papers into silence or retraction and refusal to publicise your policies so they can be scrutinised by the people you propose to lead conveys a pattern of secrecy, deceit and disrespect for the electorate and I for one get a nasty feeling when I get treated like that.
Is Labour up front about everything? Hell no, I’m sure they’ve got their skeletons in the wardrobe. Anyone who wants that kind of power does. I don’t particularly like politicians period.
But I do know that worldwide we are heading for a perfect storm and I would prefer the government to be in the hands of people with experience and who understand that we all have to get through it one way or another not just the privileged few and have a proven track record in protecting just that shared destiny.
Somehow I don’t think that John Key who only launched his career a few years ago and doesn’t seem to have the faintest idea what he is on about half the time is that person.
June 30th, 2008 at 4:38 pm
“George Soros raided the pound, “the man who broke the Bank of England.â€? and made about a billion dollars. Quite the philanthropist though - is he “devoid of conscience and integrityâ€? too? Granted he didn’t actually seem to be *working* for anyone…”
I’d trust George Soros even less than I’d trust John Key. He’s one dude with a inflated sense of his own importance and delusions of granduer.
http://www.feasta.org/documents/feastareview/sorosreview.htm
June 30th, 2008 at 7:40 pm
Has a pretty open record - through his actions - of what he stands for though.
June 30th, 2008 at 11:55 pm
Granny was spot on.
All we need is another bout of Ruthanasia in trousers.
July 1st, 2008 at 2:16 pm
Toad,
So is it just your opinion that communists advance the cause of ’social justice’ or is that (as has long been suspected) official Green policy?