Read any left wing blog and or their mainstream media counterparts and you can’t fail to see they’re seriously worried at the continued failure of their attempts to lower John Key’s approval rating.
No matter what feeble scandal they dredge up or what more legitimate criticism they come up with its all water off a ducks back with the voters.
And the left are perplexed as to why this is happening. When the answer is staring them in the face, except they’re barred from seeing it because there is a breakdown in the power circuit between their eyes and their brain.
The two main reasons for the left’s ineffectiveness against Key are-
1) They haven’t managed to work out Key’s deflection strategy yet and,
2) The public largely agree with what Key is doing and they understand why he is doing it.
I’ll expand on item 2) first, as its less complex. John Key is a committed socialist/ progressive who is happy with NZ’s status quo. He’s admitted this himself on a number of occasions. He’s happy to roll along with the welfare state he inherited from Helen Clark, and he’s not driven by any wish to change it, only to manage it better than she did.
NZers on the whole, meaning from the biggest most useless bludger out there, to the most hard working small business man, and the big corporate cronyists, are all relatively happy with this state of affairs too.
That’s because they’re all getting their slice of the pie. The bludger gets the dole or other various handouts, the small businessman gets the grants, or allowances or whatever other euphemisms the govt uses for the dole to businesses, and the big corps get the regulated environment they need, designed to stifle growth of small businesses and thereby excuse the big corporations from the need to operate competitively.
All three share the same sentiment. They don’t want the boat rocked. No matter that their comfort is sustained by massive govt debt ($70 billion) and a budget deficit every year. No problem that $4 billion is spent each year paying the interest on that debt. They’re all doing OK. Not great, but who wants change and risk and all that? Lets just rock on with the Helen Clark / John Key plan.
The voters know that when John Key does something, like sell our heritage, our businesses, our land and our culture to Communist China, its OK because he’s having to do this to keep the socialist ship on the socialist cruise afloat.
That is the main point. The voters know that most of what John Key does on the economic front is predicated on sustaining the socialist model. Forget about down the track. Forget about Argentina. Venezuela. Greece. That’s all not really down to socialism, it was down to bad management of socialism. John won’t make those same mistakes.
So that’s why the left can’t touch him. He’s the sensible and heroic captain keeping the socialist ship afloat and on course. EOS.
Now to point 1), the deflection strategy. This comes from Key’s public relations advisory gurus and is basically a system to neuter any left wing attacks. (they only come from the left wing). First of all the attack is confronted. Either directly as a lie or misinformation, or with a smokescreen.
Things are then left for a while to percolate while the advisory gang watch and decide the next move. If the denials and smokescreens isn’t enough they go to phase two, which is a half baked concession that maybe there is something to be fixed and we’re looking at what we can do to fix it. This may even include a soft apology or an admission of guilt, whatever is needed to calm the situation further.
Phase three comes into play only if the two previous phases have failed, and is built around an admission that something is wrong and the govt needs to review legislation, pass new laws, whatever, to fix it.
So the attack is completely neutralised and peters out into lame whimpering from Labour or whoever. Want an example look at Auckland housing. First there’s nothing wrong. Then, well maybe there is something wrong, we’ll try and fix it. Today, as I write this, the talk is of land tax or something similar. See how it is done?
The whole scenario is driven by one concern, and that is to keep the Labour Party out of power and to stop them scoring even the slightest hit on National. Look at the record. Almost every attack has been successfully defused by this strategy.
The deflection strategy could also be called surrender. (at least in phase 3) But who the damn hell cares about that in the National Party anymore? In reality just the Labour Party of 2007. Leader most of all.
TrueblueNZ 
20 responses to “The real reason the left can’t lay a glove on John Key”
It is a sad thing, that our two main political parties occupy the same spot on the political spectrum and only disseminate from each other, by popularity and who can best manage the socialist state.
It is hard to see how things will change much, in the near future..
LikeLike
The tragedy is Key had the support and the momentum for change when he won the 2008 election.
Remember his pre-election rhetoric?
Global warming was a fraud. WFF was communism by stealth.
Just lies. Embraced it all once elected and has enthusiastically carried on with it since. Even the Maori stuff. Invited the Maori Party into coalition when he didn’t need to, thereby awarding them unnecessary status and extra financial support.
And its all been down hill from there whereby after 8 years of Helen Clark we have now had a further 8 years of Helen Key. 16 years of socialism. 16 years of apartheid. 16 years of debt and high taxes. 16 years of massive govt, increased regulation and increased spending.
Our culture and tradition sold out and even had the gall to attack our flag.
Cronyism and govt waste rife.
Key has revealed himself to be a self interested coward and he and his sycophants have destroyed the National party, the only real opposition to the left that once existed inNZ.
Now that’s gone we’re totally screwed. Badly need a new party and a new PM. One that understands govt’s true role is to provide a legal framework for law enforcement and otherwise to get the damn hell out of our lives.
The people voting for and supporting Key/ Clark are only sending this country further down the tube, and one day we will bottom out and only then will they realise what they have done.
LikeLike
Have you seen the new State funded union movement.
Its called the Labour Department and comes complete with a chief executive who has a pony tail.
The problem is that they have the power of the State behind them.
Between the state funded union and personal liability for Health and Safety, you would have to have rocks in your head to want to employ anybody.
LikeLike
You forget the “GFC” – the welfare west’s birds coming home to roost. Key could have – should have – everybody sure was telling him – that he needed to hit hard and fast and fix NZ.
He should have started by cancelling the traitor Cullen’s “Guarantee Scheme” overnight. no more coverage. South Canty Finance goes to the wall. GOOD. Then kill the quangos: KiwiRail high above them. Then follow even the UK Tories – permanent salary freeze in real terms for all government workers (yes including teachers, doctors, etc etc)
and then the big one – that even Dave Cameron only slowly started in on.
– FULL Privatisations of the schools
– FULL Privations of the hospitals
– Immediate termination of all benefits, especially including the super
– CAPPED TAX so no family pays more than say $10,000 in tax.
– Unilaterally revert back to FPP with a country quota and urban property quota — so no Labour or left government could ever be elected again,
Key could have done all this. He had the mandate. He had the majority. He had the circumstances – that will never be better in our lifetimes.
He just didn’t have the guts.
LikeLike
Well said that man
LikeLike
An excellent post Red. All true and very tragic.
The biggest problem of course is that all of this slowly but surely demoralizes those among us that have to pay for the growing army of feral bludgers and fake treaty claims. Many Kiwis will just fuck off because they will not put up with it.
But then Key doesn’t care because we are being replaced by immigrants who will gladly make up the difference. That is where the damage is being done and it is our grandchildren that will miss out. Kiwis that pay real tax from genuine export led productivity are dwindling in number and of course Key will sail off when he is ready leaving a seriously damaged society.
Nothing will change in NZ until there is a strong third party on the right. It can be done and Trump is proving how for the silent majority. We exist in NZ too but we are too apathetic and comfy as you say – right now – to do much about it. Nor do we have a leader worth supporting. The time will come.
LikeLike
Let me sum it up for you KC.
Have a plan B,C, D, E, and F
My preference to to be TAX negative, take more from the system than I pay in. Do my part to bring the system down from within.
Then when the party is over, pack my bags and move on.
LikeLike
But then Key doesn’t care because we are being replaced by immigrants who will gladly make up the difference
The immigrants come from China – a capitalist country. Starting a business in China is easy. There’s no company and no individual tax to speak of. There are no regulations, you can drink, drive and smoke what you want when you want. And above all there is no welfare.
Those immigrants don’t vote for communism. As soon as there is a “centre-left” party in NZ it should wipe out the Communist National Party and everyone else too!
LikeLike
Nothing will change in NZ until there is a strong third party on the right
No: nothing will change in NZ until there is a strong second party on the right. on the right, and to the right of National.
But then again, the Australian Labour party, the UK Labour party, hell the NZ Labour party of 2008 are to the right of National today.
Hilary Clinton and Bernie Sanders are both to the right of ACT.
LikeLike
You’re right about Key and his detractors of course, Red, but you also need to factor in that, thanks to Helen Clark, the hard-left rump (the Labour party) is a circus – particularly in Parliament.
For a decade, Clark deployed her ruthless efficiency to dispatching from the Labour ranks anybody who could conceivably have presented a challenge to her dictatorship. The result, even 8 years later, is that the Labour party caucus comprises know-nothing nobodies, union hacks and other assorted half-wits and morons. That was perfectly fine with Clark, however, because for her it was never party but philosophy. She was thus quite happy to hand the country over to a Key-led National Party, knowing full well that he is without ideological foundation and would be quite content to continue her Fabian plot (I’ve often wondered how they engineered Dr Brash’s hasty exit from the leadership).
Absent anybody in Parliament who can land a punch, the left have only their collaborators in the media (old and new), all of whom are so ideologically blind and partisan they can’t see Key is a Red in a light-blue suit. Given the fact they’re all semi-literate Orcs to begin with, it’s no surprise they can’t touch him despite his manifest weaknesses.
Which leaves the “right”. The Conservatives have imploded, for better or worse. David Seymour seems like a pretty good electorate MP with many of the right ideas, but is only there are Key’s guest and will never bite the hand that feeds. And Winston is about as much of a Conservative as Donald Trump (although I acknowledge at least Winston’s hair is his own).
Against this backdrop, is it any wonder Key can get away with pretty-much whatever he likes?
LikeLike
”… can get away with pretty-much whatever he likes?”
Only because we let him. That’s democracy for you.
LikeLike
FUCK “Democracy”. The people who own the country aught to govern it — there’s all the democracy you need right there.
Real changes, real reforms in NZ have never ever come about due to “democracy”
No-one voted for Rogernomics. No-one voted for Euthanasia.
Key should have just armed the cops, and gone in hard after the leftists, the unionists, the terrorists — not just in parliament, but in the county as well. Privatise the schools overnight and you don’t need many teachers, and no unionist teachers. Privatise the hospitals and you don’t need many doctors, sure as not union doctors. Terminate company taxes and WFF, and go to a flat tax rate and you don’t need IRD. Put in an Independent Commission Against Corruption and it’s illegal to be a unionists or a leftist or a enviro-terrorist! All Labour/Green/NZF MPs and party members should have had their “civil rights” revoked at once.
Above all: by 1 July 2010 Key could have asked for an enabling act and would have got it.
The 2011 election should have been postponed, we could have had an FPP election say in 2013 where the only two parties would have been National and ACT.
We know what needs to be done to fix NZ. Key (not Seymour for that matter) has anywhere near the guts.
LikeLike
your fucking mental you are….
LikeLike
Comments like this will get you banned. Either add to the argument or don’t bother commenting.
LikeLike
Nope. There are actually lots of competent people in Labour (OK mostly from the Roger Douglas faction the most prominent of whom was his housing minister — Helen Clark). Goff will be a competent mayor for Auckland, better than either of the so-called right-wingers. It’s not his fault that Rodney Hyde fucked over the super-city, when everyone told Rodney to return to a ratepayer franchise! After all: who is any good in National. Crusher Collins, Trasher Tolley, Basher Bennet? What-the-Hekia? Coleman? Brownlee? Nik Smith? OK – Jami-Lee Ross, who is unranked.
Little may be boring but he is at least competent (as was Goff). King, Robertson, Chipkins, Parker, Shearer — they’d do no worse than the current National cabinet of non-entities.
The reason Labour/Green/NZF can’t get any traction is a very simple one: National is as far left as it is humanly possible to be and not bankrupt the country overnight. There is nowhere for them to go.
Under Goff, Labour’s election policies were pretty much to the RIGHT of National. Hell, even Cunliffe had policies to the RIGHT of National. Go and look at the manifesto. No crony capitalism. No bailouts to unionised smelters or other unionist jobs. Cutting super. Hell even Commie Cullen’s KiwiSTEALER was far more right-wing than anything Key has done.
The only space for another party in NZ is to the RIGHT of Key. When Labour campaigns on stopping Stephen Joyce’s handouts, on the pointless “Roads of National Significance”, on not bypassing Pharmac to fund the latest spurious miracle cancer-treatment, on not building sheep farms in the Saudi desert, on not having dinner with you Chinese business mates, all those are critiques of Key from the RIGHT
that’s because it is simply not possible to criticise the current government from the left.
LikeLike
Rodney Hide tried hard to gag Sir Roger Douglas’s submission to the super city but as usual the old codger would not play ball. If his legislation model was in place now we would not be talking about housing bubbles, rates blowouts and incompetent Councillors and we most certainly would not have a Maori Statutory Board.
Hide did not have the gonads when it counted. Key and his Agenda 21 legislation won the day and will no doubt be implemented around the country. Unless someone of influence can stop it.
LikeLike
I hadn’t read Roger’s submission – I have now.
Pretty good, especially where it talks about ratepayers rather than residents – that is the most important thing to fix.
But really, the whole idea of local democracy is what the Aussies call a “furphy”; a joke and a totally pointless waste of money. I guess – for cities – it makes sense to have an old-fashioned “city corporation” – a private corporation that presumably is established by the major businesses and property-owners. But I don’t see why we need anything more than that!
Pools, Rubbish, Water, Busses, Trains, Recycling, Advertising, Concert Halls, Conference Centres – neither local nor central government has ANY rational for any of this
Neither even for police & courts: remember that in NZ today, almost all effective “policing” and “dispute resolution” is conducted completely privately.
LikeLike
I’ve often wondered how they engineered Dr Brash’s hasty exit from the leadership
electoral fraud. Labour didn’t expect to win the 2005 election and if there had been an unbiased count, they would have lost.
LikeLike
Do we need a new party to the right of Key? Or do we in fact need to pull a Turnbull-Abbott coup in reverse and install a new party leader who is actually a right winger?
LikeLike
We need neither. We need to return to real democracy — FPP with taxpayer franchise and a property qualification — and an independent commission against corruption to wipe out leftism from NZ. Permanently. Think Taiwan in the 40s, Korea in the 50s, Indonesia in the 60s.
LikeLike