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Goff says he was joking

by Whaleoil on March 10, 2011

Phil Goff has said he was joking about calling for looters to be shot.

PHIL GOFF SAYS CALL TO SHOOT LOOTERS A JOKE QUAKE-GOFF  Mar 10th

Wellington, March 10 NZPA – Labour leader Phil Goff joked that the army should shoot looters stealing goods after the Christchurch earthquake in a
radio interview.

On radio station BFM on February 28, Mr Goff talked about meeting a man in Linwood whose sister was killed in the quake, whose house had been badly
damaged but then it was ransacked by looters.

“I saw the army out in the street and I thought court martial, firing squads you just can’t believe how low a small minority of people can get,” he told the radio station.

Right wing blogger David Farrar highlighted the comment on twitter.

“Interesting that Phil Goff on radio said that army should shoot looters. Wonder how his caucus feel about his law and order policy?” he wrote.

Mr Goff said it was clear he was joking.

“I was making the point that first of all I had absolute contempt for anybody who would exploit other people’s misery at a time like this but I was making a joke … It was obviously not intended to be taken seriously by anyone other than the most dim-witted National Party blogger.”

However he stood by another remark during the interview about setting looters to work with a shovel.

“I thought that people who were offending in that way … should be part of the effort to clean up and help others as a form of restorative justice rather than exploiting their fellow Cantabrians. They should be required to carry out a sentence where they had to put something back into the community.”

NZPA

Quite apart from Phil Goff claiming to be joking about a situation where a person had lost their family member to the quake he really is now asking us to believe the unbelievable.

He not only suggested that looter be court-martialed and shot but also that perhaps some could be “shackled to shovels” and put to work. That is quite different from suggesting as he claims that they “should be part of the effort to clean up and help others as a form of restorative justice”

Now bear in mind that it is Labour through Grant Robertson that have attacked Judith Collins for suggesting that criminals should go to court then be locked up for a very longtime with a cellmate. Phil Goff went further, he says he joked, about a situation where a family member has lost a family member and that looters should be court martialed and then shot but at the very least they should be shackled to a shovel. What Goff has suggested is of a magnitude far exceeding anything other than rabid bloggers like myself have suggested. For him to essentially deny that he said it by saying he was only joking just makes matters worse.

This is a law and order policy that only the Sensible Sentencing Trust could wish for in their wildest dreams.

Just so we can be aware of the context, I have now obtained the full audio and also details of the short part that Phil says he was joking about. It is clear in the entire interview that there is no joking about this serious situation.

Phil Goff Interview BFM

[http://www.95bfm.com/assets/sm/198778/3/PhilGoff28Feb2011 [dot] mp3]

It is clear that he isn’t joking. And even if he was he shouldn’t have been. Here is the short version…it certainly doesn’t sound like he is joking.

Phil Goff wants to shoot looters by whaleoil

Nope still can’t see it as joking. Grant Robertson and Phil Goff have some explaining to do.

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  • steve

    ““I thought that peo­ple who were offend­ing in that way … should be part of the effort to clean up and help oth­ers as a form of restora­tive jus­tice rather than exploit­ing their fel­low Cantabri­ans”
    Now where is your shovel Mr Goff? What’s that? Too busy digging your own hole?
    Keep digging Mister

  • orange

    Was he also joking about the blogger being “dim-witted”? How do we know when Phil Goff is joking and when he isn’t?

  • jabba

    he’s a hoot, that’s what he is

  • lance

    Why oh why do you do it Whale? Time and time again. Do you not realise that people – particularly Labour – do a great job of shafting themselves all you need to do is point it out. Instead you insist on misrepresenting people which impacts your credibility and lessens the effect.

    Pointing out Labours restorative/softly softly approach to justice and their attacks on Collins contrasted with this comment is great. Phil Gob is a doofus and he loves reminding everyone at every opportunity.

    But to suggest this comment wasn’t said in the heat of the moment and he actually believes looters should be executed is just dumb.

  • positan

    Actually, Goff WAS “joking – but only in the sense that Labour itself and its assembled fruitcakes are a complete and utter joke. Take the guy’s body language, seemingly he went to Labour’s smile school and appears in almost every TV interview wearing a face that’s usually completely at odds with the message he’s trying to convey. While smile school might’ve helped Clark transform the usual downward curl of her mouth into something nearer a straight line, Goff just looks and sounds goofy. Transparently, he doesn’t stand by his kneejerks – they’re just given for emotive effect when occasions so demand – so who’s ever going to take him seriously?

  • lance

    Quote from Whaleoil 9/3:
    What Goff has sug­gested is of a mag­ni­tude far exceed­ing any­thing other than rabid blog­gers like myself have sug­gested.

    Quote from Whaleoil 23/2 from a post entitled can ‘Mappy use live rounds on these bastards.’
    I reckon the anser is to gut shoot them, let them bleed out and put it on Youtube. It will only take one or two and there will be no loot­ers left in Christchurch.

    Quite clearly what PG suggested didn’t far exceed any of your suggestions. In fact you go quite a bit further. Now I can leave it up to people to decide if you are a liar or not. If I go on to say that everything you say is a lie or that you believe looters should be tortured for 6 months before being burnt alive it weakens my position and credibility.

    • http://whaleoil.gotcha.co.nz Whaleoil

      Lance you cock..I am not the Leader of the Opposition, nor am I complaining about what Judith Collins said. If you can’t see the rank hypocrisy in Phil Goff and the opposition complaining about what Judith Collins saying and at the same time advocating shooting looter then you are seriously deranged.

      For what its worth I am glad that Phil Goff has at last got some sensible law and order policies.

      On the other hand if what you think I said was terrible then by the same token surely you must think that what Phil Goff said was equally as bad if not worse given his position in society as a presumptive leader fo the nation?

    • cadwallader

      Why get wound up? Goof has finally come up with something close to a good idea! He is so dim-witted he has now decided to retract it.

  • whafe

    lance – what is more frightening reading your mutterings is that you obviously rate the oxygen thief that Goff is. I pity you………

    The main point here is that it is typical of Labour to poke shit, when in fact they are guilty of what they are poking shit at… Go figure, pretty fuck wittish is it not?

    Your thoughts lance?

  • reid

    er lance, last I heard Cam isn’t the Leader of Her Majesty’s Loyal Opposition so he doesn’t have to hold to the same standard as Goff does and also, I’m not sure Cam ever referred to anything he’d ever said about it in these last two posts, let alone denied he said it. So what’s your fucking problem?

  • devlsadvocate

    “….you just can’t believe how low a small minor­ity of peo­ple can get,” he told the radio station.”

    Them minorities, heh.

    (Man, taking shit out of context is fun).

  • abjv

    Phil says highly complimentary things about the rest of his front bench. Is he joking there too?

    I wonder want the distressed brother thinks about a suggestion to deal to looters being hilarious.

    Phil – you seriously need to talk to (sack) your media advisors. They are as inept as those ‘assisting’ the Tony Vietch’s and Martin Devlin’s of this world. The correct answer here was ‘heat of the moment, my fury at the nature of some people, I reflected on it later, understand why some feel that way…. “. Show some spine, personality, get rid of that uniform blandness and plethotra of mid-grey that surrounds you.

    Phil – are your media advisors in the employ of mr little from New Plymouth?

  • peterwn

    Was Hen Clark joking when she once said she would like to zap Trevor Mallard with a Taser?

  • http://keepingstock.blogspot.com/ inventory2

    When will the left-wing bloggers such as the ones quoted in the post below vilify Goff like they vilified Judith Collins?

    http://keepingstock.blogspot.com/2011/03/of-looters-cellmates-and-firing-squads.html

    I won’t be holding my breath.

  • Pingback: Phil Goff gets something right | milfordmullah

  • harpoon666

    Bonus Asshole of the Week Award

    http://thejackalman.blogspot.com/2011/03/bonus-asshole-of-week-award.html

    Now we all know Whaleoil is a bit of a twat at the best of times, but once in a while he really outdoes himself. The last moronic outbursts are to do with looters in Christchurch. After getting on his high horse to say…

    • http://whaleoil.gotcha.co.nz Whaleoil

      Oh that is hilarious…an award from an anonymous coward who tried to sue Farrar and hasn’t got the gumption to try to sue me for publishing his email.

      Fuck off dickhead.

      Glad to see you think that Phil Goff plays at the level of bloggers and that is just fine by you.

  • lulu

    Oooooooo! The jackal! The big scary … hang on a minute.. some anonymous fuckwit!
    So let me get this straight, Slater saying what he said justifies what Goof said? No.
    Ok… Slater’s blog negates the stupidity of Goof and his response? No.
    Harpon 666 and Jackal, what Slater says doesn’t make what Goof said right. It doesn’t make Slater a hypocrite. Slater’s discipline extends to his relationship with his blogging audience. The match up you make only works if Goof’s target audience is the same as Slater’s. Oh hang on… its not. Goof is the leader of the oposition and hoping to be PM. His chance of being leader of this country are as good as Slater’s and that is where the comparisons end.

    • http://whaleoil.gotcha.co.nz Whaleoil

      Jackal? More like Jack-Ass, bet he doesn’t have the nuts to try and sue me.

  • whafe

    harpoon666 – you lefty pinko fuck stick…… You lefties make me puke….