. . of the award for being rude and interrupting goes to David Cunliffe in tonight’s TV1 leaders’ debate.
I wonder if Mike Hosking was too scared of being accused of bias to tell him to shut up?
The winner of the policy discussion was John Key.
The text poll gave the debate to the Prime Minister with 61%.
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Homepaddock 
DC couldn’t allow JK to get on a roll so interrupted often .. he had to but the ratings showed it didn’t work
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There’s an hour of my life I wont get back sigh……..
Fiscal headroom? – I wonder how many times Mr C used that phrase?
Arghhhhhhh…….
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The frankly Maoist bias of NZ’s supposedly-neutral state-owned media is nowhere better demonstrated in that TVNZ forced Key to participate this farce in the first place.
In terms of a rational debate, Key ripped Cunliffe’s head off his shoulders, dropped it into a mincer, and fed the rest of Cunliffe’s body through a woodchipper. That’s not the problem.
The problem is that making the leader of NZs only major party – a party with whom everyone from Colin Craig to Winston Peters to Hone Harawira want to be in coalition – enter into a debate with just one of the minor party leaders is a huge institutional bias in favour of that minor party – Labour.
Key should have refused to debate the leader of just one minor party; ideally he should have just done a Q&A with Hosking on his plans for the next three years.
Then – I dunno – some local TV or radio stations could let the “seven dwarfs” (Labour, Green, NZF, Conservaties, ACT, Maori, MANA) have an onanistic debate amongst themselves.
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Brilliant performance from Hosking.. he let DC dominate the
exchanges and thus destroy his likeability with his fluff.
The vast right wing conspiracy wins again!
JC
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People had to PAY to vote, hardly a genuine poll. Don’t get too excited about that result Homepaddock.
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Yeah right Angry Tory, Key should just do like North Korea and do away with elections altogether, this democracy with proportional representation, where even the unemployed get to vote, it’s all so beneath him.
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I agree RBG, just let those who have a job vote, no no, just those who earn over 80k, no no no, just those who earn over 80k and own a house, naa, get real, only those who earn over 150k, own a dairy farm and a pile of houses and are white, yep, that will fix it
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I thought Cunliffe did particularly well, though he had to use his voice to drown out Key at times. Key looked hesitant and unsure, but that could be a ploy – he’ll no doubt return more strongly in the next one, as he did last election. Key struck home no hitting lines that people will remember, but Cunliffe managed to get in some good ones – who would have missed, “John’s the past, we’re the future”.
That sort of thing gives Labour supporters a real boost and gets them into the booths ready to give their vote to the incoming Government.
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^ Are you joking?
Who would have missed David’s “hitting line”? Me for one and I watched the whole thing twice.
Why would Labour supporters need a “boost”, Robert? Maybe poll trends like this:
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11315586&ref=NZH_FBpage
Flick from National to Labour and back again. Now that’s entertaining!
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And then there was the Green Party, who were excluded from the debate despite polling more than double of the smaller parties and often being called the real opposition by the media. Russel and Metiria provided their own responses to the questions put to Cunliffe and Key and the answers given. https://www.greens.org.nz/greenroom
However I did think Cunliffe’s question to Key about how many lower cost houses had been built by National was a little like Key asking Goff to show him the money. No decent answer was provided both times.
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You watched the whole thing twice TraceyS! Why?
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Newspapers across the country report a win to Cunliffe.
Doesn’t matter though, it’s not the debates that have sunk National.
Judith Collins is torpedoing her party’s chances very effectively. Should have got rid of her when Oravida broke.
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Dave,
The “real opposition” is polling between 10-14% with insignificant change over the past 3 years. That’s not real opposition. You might think so, but I don’t.
The real opposition is a left coalition. Fascination to watch you distance yourself from Labour after that debate.
45,000 odd votes gave it to key, when labour desperately needs it, polling badly. I’m wondering if you behaviour is indicative of a distancing behaviour, because the Greens are also getting desperate?
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Cunliffe has taken a huge lift in the public’s perception from his performance. Key has lost ground because of his. The ‘Judith Collins’ question is troubling him greatly and the public is thinking, ‘the National party is turning on itself and that awful woman Collins is attacking the Prime Minister, sneakily and behind his back’. The vast majority of people want Collins sacked. This is poisoning Key’s chances of re-election. If he fires her now, people will know she was planning to topple him. If he doesn’t, voters will think him ineffective and won’t vote for him. Quite a show now, ain’t it!
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Mr E only three parties have constantly polled over 10% over the last three years, all other parties have dipped below the 5% threshold at some time. Most political commentators see the the Green Party as having a significant influence in Parliament. Polling provides an one indication of support but I know that in terms of membership, financial support and organizational capacity, the Green Party has never been stronger. I don’t see much evidence of desperation from the Greens, just lots of energy and activity on the ground, great discipline and a steady stream of solid policy.
In the end it will be the final vote that will determine who is correct and I am hoping good sense will prevail. 🙂
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And the winner…is Robert: First in conspiracy theorizing.
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Thanks Tracey. Conspiracy certainly is the theme of this election. The National Party conspired to use dirty methods to beat their opponents and that’s brought them to the brink of failure.
Good thing.
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The question hovering in the air is: did National have a ‘dirt-bomb’ primed to go off in Labour’s camp close to the election and will they, in light of their exposure as dirty players, still use it?
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First, Second AND Third to Robert. What a winner!!!
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Conspiracy theorist RG yet again misses the point. The dirt bomb primed to go off inside Liarbours camp was not Nationals doing. If there is one, it’ll be an inside job.
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[Deleted – off-topic. I took a very lenient approach to comments on this thread which weren’t exactly on-topic. But you now have both the soapbox and the resignation post to leave such comments which would be on-topic]
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