David Cunliffe was dumb. The Taxpayers' Union have a challenge. You can say what you like about Colin Craig and gay people.
Just three quick comments on the political stories de jour (here, here and here), before I run off to bore the pants off 19-year-olds regarding the issues with establishing an entrenched, higher law Constitution in New Zealand.
First, wtf was Labour and David Cunliffe thinking?
When Labour decided to have its leadership primary (which was, I think, a valuable and successful innovation), could it not have given some thought to not only to making rules on how contestants would behave themselves publicly, but also how they'd raise the money to take part? Because politics costs money; everyone (and particularly political parties) knows this. And so if you know people are going to go out and try to get that money from somewhere, then you ought to have made sure that this fact wasn't going to come back to haunt you later on. Pretty simple, really.
And even if the Party didn't have explicit rules to say how the contestants could raise money for it, couldn't David Cunliffe have shown a modicum of common sense about the issue? I mean, how exactly did he think the terms "donations", "secret trusts" and "leadership race" were going to flow together in any future news story? And if he didn't think about that question at the time, then has he learnt nothing from the bruising fight over the Electoral Finance Act? Oh sure, Len Brown got away with running this ruse in the Auckland mayoral election race - but partly that's because John Banks' failing memory soaked up all the media attention, and partly it's because he wasn't running to lead a political party that pilloried its opponent so mercilessly for using the exact same tactics as you are.
So whilst it is good that Cunliffe is now recognising his "error of judgment" and trying to set matters right, it would be infinitely preferable if he could display some basic political competence (and consistency with principle) in the first place. Please.
Second, I am awaiting with baited breath the OUTRAGED press release from the Taxpayers' Union about the $1 million price tag attached to Wills, Kate and George's little jaunt around NZ. In particular, I'm really going to enjoy the searching analysis that will be applied to John Key's assertion that the "tremendous international coverage" the visit will receive represents "tremendous value for money". Because that work is being done, right? Right?
Third and finally, Colin Craig thinks a gay man's place is in the closet.
And that is all.