If National wins ...

[neopoleII]

just watched the nicky hager piece on tv,
all i got from it was "show me the money"
most folks who spend a little bit of time "just before an election" to study the issues
will make a reasonably sound vote according to their life and needs.
this books release "just" on voting time is nothing but cannon fodder for the masses,
and cash for hager.

personally i think he is a great guy and investigative journalist....
trouble is...... he also wants to make a profit, and has no problem using the election season to maximize that profit.

if the book came out 6 months ago ..... good....... 6 months from now ...... good.
but a few weeks from election?
and the other point is........ the poor folks in otara e tel arent going to buy the book........
but left wing media can now "use" the book as propaganda in nation wide media...... focused toward poor non readers to push the anti right view point.

just another tool to be abused by politics and media.... left and right.

the really sad thing I think about is..... our hard fought democracy and the right to vote,
and not being influenced or subjected to propaganda..... is becoming less of a scared right.
and yet..... the modern form of propaganda either left or right seems to be totally acceptable!

and the majority of kiwis will probably be influenced by untruths or twisted facts or neighbours and friends opinions.

oh well, ..... if the goal is to get from a to b and we bounce of the left and right walls a few times then i guess we are going
in the right direction.

[Sgt Pepper]

I presume Crosby Textor are an advertising agency or similar. Of course a political party of any size will use PR advice as no doubt Labour will. Is that some sort of crime or something?

No problem about PR advice, quite legitimate. However these e-mail revelations concerning John Keys press secretary in frequent contact/ strategy in collusion with Cameron Slater is really surprising. If John Key wants to salvage something out of this toxic swamp he needs to consider firing him ASAP . I am no fan of the PM but I am really surprised he would be stupid enough to be involved in this.
I have a feeling this is going to get real bad, real fast.

[elZorro]

No problem about PR advice, quite legitimate. However these e-mail revelations concerning John Keys press secretary in frequent contact/ strategy in collusion with Cameron Slater is really surprising. If John Key wants to salvage something out of this toxic swamp he needs to consider firing him ASAP . I am no fan of the PM but I am really surprised he would be stupid enough to be involved in this.
I have a feeling this is going to get real bad, real fast.

Yep, I do too, this could change the shape of the election SP. The polls from now on are going to be a lot more enjoyable for the lefties.

Just goes to show, anything you write and post on a webpage (or even email) you'd better be prepared to see it publicly.

FP, for your information, Crosby-Textor are no ordinary PR firm. They are the best at what they do, they charge heaps, they have worked on UK elections and won them against all odds. Same in Aussie, their home base. They are staunchly liberal in their leaning, brutal with it. They'd never work for Labour in a million years. They have helped National stay in power (Brash got them in first), but work at a higher level than Slater's blog. There might be some tie-up in an overview though.

[slimwin]

I have a feeling there will revelations Labour has been doing the same. It may even be Cameron Slater that releases it...

And I still wouldn't care. What is it people don't understand about politics? One politician calling the other dishonest is just what they do and two faced.

[neopoleII]

""However these e-mail revelations concerning John Keys press secretary in frequent contact/ strategy in collusion with Cameron Slater is really surprising""

when KDC gets email tapped, its perceived as "wrong doing" by the government,
when the private emails from top level national party members and an internet savvy blogger get "intercepted" and published in a book.....
all is good??

to hack top level government emails is a bit beyond most folks.......
so who did it? and why?
the sad thing is ...... no ones seems to care about the illegal hacking of government staff...... "just show us the dirt!!!!"

lol

Im truly surprised that the contents of the book are deemed to be legal.

[fungus pudding]

Yep, I do too, this could change the shape of the election SP. The polls from now on are going to be a lot more enjoyable for the lefties.

Just goes to show, anything you write and post on a webpage (or even email) you'd better be prepared to see it publicly.

FP, for your information, Crosby-Textor are no ordinary PR firm. They are the best at what they do, they charge heaps, they have worked on UK elections and won them against all odds. Same in Aussie, their home base. They are staunchly liberal in their leaning, brutal with it. They'd never work for Labour in a million years. They have helped National stay in power (Brash got them in first), but work at a higher level than Slater's blog. There might be some tie-up in an overview though.

What on earth is wrong with using the best?? Or using someone with similar leanings? e.g. Brian Edwards media training Labour pollies? Seems fair enough to me. I wouldn't get carried away with Nicky Hagar. I've heard him burbling on before. He's just another form of Ian Wishart - both conspiracy theorists. I wouldn't read anything either of them wrote. But if he gives Slater a pummelling, that's good, cos he's a horrible bustard.

[Sgt Pepper]

Neopole
None of this is good, including the email from CS to John Key Press Secretary about people in quake damaged houses, describing them in crude disgusting language. Truly awful stuff. As I said John Key had better get rid of him ASAP

[blackcap]

All this has done is created a great big free advertisement for whaleoil.co.nz. Cameron Slater et al will be loving this.

[elZorro]

All this has done is created a great big free advertisement for whaleoil.co.nz. Cameron Slater et al will be loving this.

Not so sure. He's fairly brutal even on TV. I agree with FP on this. What's he like when emailing? I'll see tomorrow.

After having put up a few hoardings and fixing them afterwards recently, I think it's a real shame if people deface them, but we have backups. Some makeovers are a lot cleverer than others.

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Natio...=photos_stream

[elZorro]

There has been nearly half an hour of non-stop coverage about Nicky Hager's book (Dirty Politics) on TV1 this morning. Steven Joyce looked very uneasy in the start of his interview, but warmed up to some good bluster. David Cunliffe was perfect, almost a statesman. He made a telling comment: how much did John Key know about what was going on (in an office two doors away from him)?

Most National's electorate MPs and candidates have been careful to associate themselves with pictures of John Key, on hoardings and on websites. This might prove to be damaging to their chances. John Key will have to front to TV interviews sometime today.

This is a story that has legs, and I'd expect the first print run of the book to sell out within days.

I know another dirty trick the National Party's supporters have been working on, but it's not a major force on election results as far as I can tell. It also has to do with social and web media. In this case, Labour party people have their suspicions about what is going on, but don't have any proof. Like Cameron Slater's blog, the control of this supposedly non-partisan apparatus is firmly in National hands.