Paul Holmes wrote a short form playbook for smacking up Phil Goff. Why it has taken them this long to play some of them is beyond me:
When a Labour leader, who had been in Parliament at a senior level in the fourth Labour government in the 1980s, comes along in 2011 and condemns even a partial sale of state assets, the National leader should surely turn round and remind him that he sold the assets in the first place – and sold them so completely that New Zealanders no longer have control and have to endure the rapaciousness of privatised Telecom for 30 years.
When a Labour leader gets stuck into the government for our presence in Afghanistan, then a gentle reminder of who put our SAS in there needs to be forthcoming, surely.
…When Goff spoke of the nobility and wisdom of removing GST on fresh fruit and vegetables, he needed to be reminded that for more than 20 years he was one of the Labour group who said it wouldn’t work and would be too confusing.
When, as late as July this year, Labour were on the record as being opposed to any raising of the age of retirement, and when David Parker admitted on Q&A on Sunday morning that the movement of the superannuation age to 67 had been decided only a fortnight before, Key could have suggested the politics of desperation.
This is why Labour’s message isn’t resonating. People remember that Phil Goff was a staunch defender of the policies he now rails against.
