Posted by Blogger Name. Category:
David Cunliffe
,
Donghua Liu
,
John Key
,
Karma Bus
,
Labour Party
,
Political donations
,
Southland Times
They're generally very common-sense folk in the deep south of New Zealand, although there are a few exceptions. But we don't believe that editor of the Southland Times is one of those exceptions.
The newspaper published an excellent editorial on Saturday. Under the headline A mess of his own making the editorial opines:
There's a Watergate-era poster of Richard Nixon as a wee boy, looking back over his own shoulder and complaining: Somebody poohed my pants.
David Cunliffe is scarcely more plausible as he tries to represent himself as the victim of a Government smear campaign.
He is conspicuously besmirched, all right, but however much the Government may have benefited from the process, enjoyed it, and perhaps even at prime ministerial level taken Bonaparte's advice not to interrupt an opponent when he's making a mistake, none of this changes the fact the Government's role was, at very worst, peripheral to the self-inflicted damage.
Cunliffe was guilty of the same offences he had loftily criticised. His accusations against Maurice Williamson for meddling with a police investigation into Donghua Liu, a party donor, turned rancid when it emerged that he had himself written in support of Liu on a residency matter, which he initially denied. And Liu had donated to Labour as well as National.
The Southland Times leader writer is dead right; these wounds to David Cunliffe's credibility are entirely self-inflicted. Having ridden in on his high horse over the links that National MP's had with Mr Liu, he has to suck up the ignominy of Labour being donkey-deep with the Chinese businessman as well.
The editorial continues, dismissing Mr Cunliffe's deflections:
Now he talks darkly of the Government managing the release of this - less face it, entirely accurate - information about his own follies.
This was a case of "playing politics" he said, and people were starting to realise he was the victim of a "political beat-up".
So here we have a politician complaining that rival politicians have been playing politics in response to his own political recriminations. Does he mean to astonish us?
Cunliffe has tried to persuade people about distinction between advocating for Liu's residency and simply doing the MP thing of drumming his fingers to prevent any unnecessarily delays in the way it was processed.
It's debateable whether the public would see the distinction as especially compelling - quite apart from the similarities with the Williamson case. And Williamson lost his Cabinet position over that one.
David Cunliffe is grasping at straws. Instead of lashing out at National, he should be looking far closer to home as the source of all his woes. Those declarations of undying loyalty he received last week may well have been delivered with forked tongues. That's the difficulty a leader who was picked by less than a third of his caucus has.
Labour has attacked the Government relentlessly over donations from the business community; John Key's rich mates. That Labour has been undone by a businessman around whom their attacks were centred is rich in irony.
The Karma Bus has rolled into town. Even the eminently sensible folk of the deep south (with a few exceptions) can see that.
