Bryce Edwards

Bryce Edwards is a political analyst and writes the Daily Politics roundup for the Herald….apparently he is also known as Bruce:

They just keep on coming. When will it stop.  Read more »

So according to Shearer – those asking questions about his leadership like Duncan Garner, John Armstrong, Andrea Vance, Vernon Small, Tapu Misa are “basically people who are sitting in front of their computers giving their opinions“.

Good luck with the head in the sand approach Dave. It is bad enough that Bryce Edwards managed to scratch up 33 links to blogs and media talking about Shearer’s doomed leadership but now with comments like that he has ensured another day or two of bad headlines in the lead up to the conference.

We must be just days away from a 10 minute video from TV3 of all the umms and ahhs and re-cuts of questions from Shearer.

You don’t slag off media like that and get away with it.

With John Armstrong’s column and comments from Fran O’Sullivan (who was once famously described as a right-wing blogger by Helen Clark) I’d like to ask readers a series of questions.

1. Should I compile a Daily Politics post, with some short commentary on the issues of the day in competition to Bryce Edwards?

2. If yes, then what format/design/style/focus should it take…should it include a wide range of links like his…but with more balance etc?

3. Morning or Afternoon?

4. Would you subscribe to it, and/or sponsor it?

After all time is money, and to compile links and write a summary would consume a large amount of time that could otherwise be productive in smashing pinkos.

5. Volunteer to provide parts of the Daily Politics post as a contributor, flagging and identifying useful links both domestic and internationally?

I ask this question because Bryce has staff…university flunkies, clearly of the same political persuasion as him, compiling his links.

6. Include international politics? If so which countries…I’m thinking UK, Australia, Pacific and US mostly with interesting titbits  that pop up from time to time. I am finding the distinct lack of coverage of the US elections in our papers somewhat frustrating…and reporting on Fiji is dreadful universally by the MSM in New Zealand.

I welcome your collective wisdom.

John Armstrong has a hard hitting column on, actually, it is on left wing bloggers:

Here is a blunt message for a couple of old-school Aro Valley-style socialists:

Get off our backs. Stop behaving like a pair of tut-tutting old dowagers gossiping in the salons. In short, stop making blinkered, cheap-shot accusations of the kind you made this week – that the media who went with John Key to Vladivostok and Tokyo concentrated on trivia, interviewed their laptops and parroted Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet press releases. …

Do the likes of former Listener columnist and Greens propagandist Gordon Campbell and former Alliance staffer and now Otago University politics lecturer Bryce Edwards have the faintest idea of the difficulties, obstacles and logistics of reporting an overseas trip by a prime minister, especially one which incorporates a major international forum like Apec?

Does it occur to them to actually pick up the phone and try to talk to those journalists about what is happening and why things are being reported in a certain way?

Of course not. That would risk the facts getting in the way of, well … interviewing their laptops and having yet another ritual poke at the parliamentary press gallery.

To read their drivel while stuck in a Tokyo traffic jam with your deadline approaching faster than a Japanese bullet-train makes your heart sink. …

But never mind. The rules that apply to journalists in terms of accuracy do not apply to Campbell and his echo chamber Dr Edwards – who is not be confused with Dr Brian Edwards, another blogger, but a far more original one when it comes to ideas and analysis.

Bloggers can blog when they like at what length they wish. Admittedly, they are normally not being paid for the privilege. Journalists are. But on a trip like last week’s one, the hourly rate slumps drastically by virtue of the hours worked.

Few media representatives travelling with John Key would have got more than four or five hours’ sleep each night – probably less – because of the Prime Minister’s schedule, which ran from 6am (earlier if a flight was involved) until well into the evening.

Days were spent clambering on and off buses in 35C heat and 100 per cent humidity.

Time has to be found within that schedule to write news stories and other articles – but not just for the following day’s newspaper. News organisation’s websites have to fed – especially if there is “breaking” news.

Deadlines in Asia are punishing, as countries such as Japan are three hours behind New Zealand, meaning deadlines are effectively even tighter.

Then there is the no small matter of filing stories back home. Equipment breaks down, mobile phones that are supposed to be in harmony with Japan’s system turn out not to be.

To Campbell’s credit, he does do his own digging. He is also a regular attendee at the Prime Minister’s weekly press conference. His blog is one of the more valuable. But he does have a blind spot with regards to the press gallery.

The rapidly growing influence of Edwards’ blog was initially down to its being an exhaustive wrap-up of all of the day’s political news. It is now starting to develop a much more political dynamic that is unlikely to please National.

Edwards’ blog is the extreme example of the fact that most blogsites rely on the mainstream media for their information and then use that information to criticise the media for not stressing something enough or deliberately hiding it.

Unlike the mainstream media, the blogs are not subject to accuracy or taste – and sometimes even the law.

It is the ultimate parasitical relationship. And it will not change until the media start charging for use of their material.

He is mostly taking issue with the left wing bias and cant of Bryce Edwards who has a Political Daily column in the Herald and NBR….but is mostly written from the perspective of his dark red view of the world and certainly the compilation of links is mostly a who’s who of left wing and far left wing links. Pretty much the only right wing, and I use the term loosely, blog links he uses are to Kiwiblog.

I pretty much don;t read Bryce’s emails or columns anymore such is the predicatbility of his slant and tirades against the government and in that I agree with John Armstrong.

However there is a symbiotic relationship with bloggers and journalists. As I said on Fran O’Sullivan’s Facebook when discussing this:

In general I agree with JA but then again politicians don’t invite bloggers on their trips so we have to rely on the MSM…likewise we can’t join the gallery either because we aren’t “proper” journalists…it is a closed shop worse than the Maritime Union in the ports of Auckland.

Politicians and journalists use bloggers relentlessly, they talk to us and use our digging to supplement their stories, often without attribution and certainly without payment. If the MSM wants to charge for news then they best source it themselves rather than pick things of my Twitter stream  or my posts.

In most instances though I am not providing news and do not even pretend to to claim that…I provide commentary, a view, a contrast to the subtle and sometimes overt views of journalists and other commentators…I have developed an audience and I have nurtured a base…I have had to because unlike journalists who take home a nice salary I have to struggle for every bit of coin I can come across.

Bryce Edwards must believe like the rest of us now that David Shearer made up the “backstory” of the “guy on the roof” as he has compared this mythical character to Joe the Plumber and the Mondeo Man.  Edwards also reminds us of previous back stories.

New Zealand Labour has (so far): ‘guy sitting at his kitchen table in West Auckland doing his GST return’, ‘Rangitikei truck driver’, and now  ‘neighbour of sickness beneficiary painting his roof’.

David Shearer’s roof painting incarnation broke one of the basic rules of this (quite old and worn) political strategy. The negative attack on beneficiaries was actually audible to all – particularly Labour’s activist base – and as a result it has backfired badly. The neighbour has been forgotten and the focus has gone onto the beneficiary.

And that is where Shearer’s problems started.  He has created the “guy on the roof” to attack beneficiaries and many are Labour voters.  The centre vote do not mind holding beneficiaries to account as Paula Bennett has worked out but Labour’s left are running riot.  When Cactus Kate from the economic far right  applauded and highlighted the speech ten days ago as not unlike something Roger Douglas and Richard Prebble produced in their prime with ACT, Shearer should have known he would be upsetting his own foot soldier members.  As represented collectively and in comment threads on The St(r)andard and when Gordon Campbell put the boot in.

Last year before the election, I was chatting to a guy in my electorate who had just got home from work. In the middle of the conversation, he stopped and pointed across the road to his neighbour.

Once again I call on a real journalist to do their job and demand Shearer pass details to them so they can interview the specific man that spoke to Shearer and investigate the alleged beneficiary fraudster.  It is now a matter of Shearer’s credibility as he has reused and recycled this “guy on the roof” for some time now as not a general class of person but an individual, Rufus Paynter.

We all know he cannot breach either the privacy of the neighbour or the “guy on the roof” as it is all a fabrication.

It is hugely ironic that Labour is making leadership an issue in the lead up to the budget on Thursday.

I say ironic because Labour appears bereft of leadership.

With the Bill Liu/Shane Jones cash for citizenship affair making its way through court and the political beltway it can;t have been a surprise to labour that this was going to cause problems.

Phil Goff certainly has known about it for all the time he was a minister, and leader of the opposition. He would have been hoping and praying it didn;t come to court while he was leader.

Shane Jones has certainly known about it, he was even called to give evidence on Monday. So it is somewhat bemusing to watch Labour, Shearer and Jones claim that they know nothing except what Shane Jones has told us and he has told us he can’t remember much as it was 4 years ago.

Let’s hope he was more forthcoming with evidence in the court room than he has been so far with the general public.

Given that this case can have been no surprise to labour, after all it involves Shane Jones and David Cunliffe but also other Labour names including their fundraisers, you have to wonder why David Shearer has been caught flat-footed and stumble mouthed over the whole issue.

It just shows how politically out of touch Labour’s leadership has been for some time.

Bryce Edwards though sums up Shearer’s dilemma he created for himself:

Quickly accumulating unwanted baggage is a reality for most travellers. On his journey towards the Beehive’s 9th floor David Shearer, the “non-politician” elected with no political baggage, is quickly getting weighed down.

Shearer’s office, along with Government politicians, are no doubt poring over the Labour Leader’s previous statements about political corruption in light of the daily revelations about Shane Jones’ involvement with William Yan (aka Bill Liu), currently on trial in Auckland. Revelations in court yesterday show the link goes further than just Jones, as Shane Phillips (also known as Shane Te Pou), a professional Labour Party fundraiser, had close links with Mr Yan, taking Yan on a trip to Hawke’s Bay which included a visit with then Labour Internal Affairs minister Rick Barker. His brother also worked in Shane Jones’ office.

David Shearer unwisely tied his leadership to a now meaningless statement about avoiding “gotcha” politics. No sooner had he uttered those fateful words, he was jumping in boots and all playing “gotcha” politics like a pro. That lack of political nous and leadership displayed right there will see David Shearer forever marginlised and mumble-mouthed when it comes to ethics. But if you are going to call others to account then you must also hold your own to account.

David Shearer has painted himself into a corner and bizarrely he chose the paint and the brush. He must live with that and start to show some of the reputed leadership skills he was supposed to bring to the job.

If he fails in this most basic of tasks, then he is dog tucker and labour crisi of leadership will continue.

TV3

Bryce Edwards doesn’t think that David Shearer has long left as leader. No doubt he will be branded a class traitor again:

A political commentator believes a Labour leadership challenge could be brewing on the back of poor poll results.

The 3 News-Reid Research poll found that the Labour Party is failing to halt the Prime Minister’s popularity.

National’s snagged 49.8 percent of the vote, up 2.3 percent with Labour lagging behind, unchanged on 29.4 percent.

Political commentator Dr Bryce Edwards says Labour leader David Shearer will be concerned that his party is failing to gain traction in the polls.

“I think right from the start David Shearer was given really only a short amount of time to turn the party around, or else he would be challenged.

“He will start worrying about whether that challenge will be coming quite soon.”

Labour were a walking PR disaster area in 2011. In compiling my Redux series for 2011 I am gob-smacked by how many cock-ups they managed and a great many of them by their strategist Trevor Mallard.

Today a list of the Top 30 PR disasters in New Zealand has been released and when you look at it you can see why Labour lost in 2011.

4. Darren Hughes. In early March the police receive a complaint from an 18-year-old male. The incident is reported to be of a sexual nature and alleged to have occurred at Labour Party deputy leader Annette King’s home, where Hughes lived. Witnesses report seeing the complainant outside and naked that morning. Although Labour Leader Phil Goff knows about the police complaint for two weeks he takes no action and his office tells the media that no Labour MP is involved in any such complaint to Police. During this time both Darren Hughes and Annette King participate in a debate performed in front of the entire press gallery with the moot “Politics is a grubby business.” After being grilled by the media Phil Goff then admits Darren Hughes is at the centre of the Police investigation but defends Hughes stating it is a matter for the Police. He then refuses to accept Darren Hugh’s resignation (but changes his mind later on). Labour Party President Andrew Little only finds out about the matter when it hits the news headlines.

8. Phil Goff and the numbers. During The Press debate and in interviews on both Q&A and The Nation Labour Party Leader Phil Goff bumbles the numbers and fails to respond to questions with accurate figures that are the very basis of his party’s policy proposals.

13. Darien Fenton. Labour MP Darien Fenton launches a personal attack on Mad Butcher founder and philanthropist Sir Peter Leitch because he said something positive about Prime Minister John Key. She says that because he is “sucking up to John Key” and is a “sycophant” she is never going near him again and will be boycotting Mad Butcher stores. She then goes on to say she won’t buy anything from people who support Tories. After Darien Fenton apologies for her public outburst, Labour MP Louisa Wall quickly negates the apology by justifying her colleague’s attack on Sir Peter Leitch by stating:”We would have assumed Sir Peter was a working-class champion…if you look at what the National Government has done, it has taken workers’ rights backwards.”

25. Ruth Dyson. Labour MP Ruth Dyson uses tax payer’s money for a private trip for her and her husband to Ethiopia. She then agrees to refund the $16,000 once the media question her about it – stating she planned to refund the money all along.

26. Trevor Mallard. Labour MP and Election Campaign Manager Trevor Mallard accuses political strategist Matthew Hooton, Kiwiblog owner David Farrar, Minister of Finance Bill English and the PSA of apparently paying for Otago University political analyst Dr Bryce Edwards to make attacks against the Labour Party. The attack is launched after some political data showed Labour was down in the polls. Labour MP Clare Curran then joins the conspiracy theory adding that the young Nats and ‘non-Labour left’ are suspiciously ‘cosy’ with the academic Dr Bryce Edwards.

27. Carmel Sepuloni. Labour MP Carmel Sepuloni insults National MP Paula Bennett after she thinks she has won the Waitakere seat off National. However, five days later once the special votes are counted Paula Bennett wins back the seat for National leaving Carmel with egg on her face.

Heh, I caused a fair few of those.

We need to have a slightly different voting method here. Because of the large choice and the fact that blogs do cover things slightly differently you may vote for two blogs.

Pick your top 2.

Nominations were from the comments, plus my own picks of Red Alert and Bryce Edward’s blog Liberation.

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Labour’s inept campaign strategist, Trevor Mallard, is strangely silent on Twitter these days. After spending months telling caucus that Labour would win the campaign with social media he is now deathly quiet.

When Mallard is quiet then something is being plotted.

Fellow MP Trevor Mallard was unwilling to say who he backed. Asked whether the Labour number nine had any future leadership aspirations, he said: “You never know.”

That is quite a movement from his previous statements rejecting outright the leadership of Labour. Bryce Edwards thinks that Mallard could be a good caretaker leader though:

Edwards agrees the party has to get back to its roots. Mallard’s best days are over, but he would be a good caretaker leader, he says: “The party could use his mongrel, street-fighting sense to bring the party back to something that isn’t totally media-managed and scripted. At present it reeks of being a party of middle-income people and careerists.”

Michael Wood, the man who wanted ban penis-lollies, would have something to say about a resurgent Trevor Mallard though:

List candidate and Goff campaign manager Michael Wood, who at 32 on the list also missed out, is another one to watch, the source says. “They have to find spaces for these people. They have to ease people out of the party. They need to pick people solely on their ability.” Fenton, Ruth Dyson, Rajen Prasad and Trevor Mallard all need to go, he says.

For once I am in agreement with Michael Wood, Mallard needs to go.

UPDATE: I have received and email from Michael Wood who says those weren’t his words. I have re-read the passage and It may well be my poor comprehension.

Here is what Michael had to say:

None of those comments were mine, in fact there isn’t a single comment from me in the entire article. The comments are all from the source referred to throughout the article. The way that the para is written is slightly confusing so I can see how a genuine mis-reading of it could occur.

You may have a genuine view that I am an idiot, but I can assure you that I have a strong policy of not publicly calling for the heads of senior party MPs who I like and respect. In fact, on the basis that I am the narcissistic, careerist lickspittle you seem to think I am, you’d have to concede that a comment like that would be an unlikely act of self-immolation.

Michael might not think Mallard has to go, I how differ from the opinion, and am prepared to say so.