I'm both sad and happy to hear today's news. Very sad indeed for the country, which now loses the chance to have what could have been one of our very best PMs, but happy for him that he can now get out of the disgusting three-ring circus that is NZ's parliamentary politics.I'm bitterly disappointed for liberty in New Zealand because it's transparently clear that Brash was the only senior NZ politician who even respected the idea -- which, combined with his acumen and honesty was no doubt the reason he was both so unpopular with his colleagues and so close to winning the last election.
The best accolade to give him is that he was never a good politician. Honesty is not valued in a politician; what is wanted in politics in this place a is the ability to lie with a straight face, to stroke egos, to spin, and to smile as you put the knife in. Brash was never a good politician.
National have for a long time now just wanted "a good politician" for their leader -- which to his great credit Brash could never be -- and that's now exactly what they'll get: Whichever of the three front-runners gets the job on Monday, the new leader will be just another politician.
UPDATE: Michael Bassett says in an enlightening audio interview with Leighton Smith that "malice" from journalists, especially those from TV3, is what brought Brash down. "He has not always surrounded himself with the best advisers" is another obvious insight.
LINK: Statement on Don Brash's resignation - Scoop
Brash stands down - TVNZ
Don Brash: Speaking notes for media conference - National
Bassett comments on Brash resigning - Newstalk ZB [audio]
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RELATED: Politics-NZ, Politics-National
10 comments:
That sucks! Under Brash, National started to act like an opposition. Now they are going to regress back into mediocrity.
Bloody typical! Just when National have Labour on the ropes, they decide to punch their own lights out.
Brash was totally unsuited to politics at this level - he is a friend of the family's and my husband worked with him for many years. He always had political ambitions-- gave up his $400k job to go with it -- but was a disaster from start to finish, as we expected he would be.
Isn't the timing SPOOKY Peter? GOSH I WONDER IF HE SUPPORTED THE WATERFRONT STADIUM.
ACT just got its lifeline...
The man had integrity and PC summed it up perfectly.
"Whichever of the three front-runners gets the job on Monday, the new leader will be just another politician"
I am gutted. Brash is the only reason I am a member of National. The wet Tory faction within the party appears to be stronger than anticipated.
That said, this could be a blessing in disguise. If Brash returns to the finance portfolio, he will retain much of his power and influence without the added burden of leadership, and we could have our third great Minister of Finance of the last quarter century.
The bastards haven't beaten us yet. To quote some filthy socialists, we get knocked down, but we get up again. Roll on 2008.
Don Brash would still subscribe to the Free Radical PC? Don reads good ideas from Free Radical, where as John Key, I saw him at the foyer just outside the Engineering lecture theater where Al Gore, held his talk. So, it means that the National Party will adopt messiah Gore's man-made global warming message as a top policy.
falafulu, I suspect you're right about Key.
Watch the Nats move towards the centre and become no more than Labour Lite.
They don't have the courage or the integrity required to become a real alternative to Labour and anyone voting for them will simply get the same animal, different spots.
The electorate will fall for it though, and tell themselves they've voted for an alternative.
Kg you dummy! The Nat's are different - their colour is *blue* and Labour's colour is *red*.
See - different colours! Therefore - different!
I would like to see Judith Collins as leader. Perhaps the deputy position is the first step in the door.
The majority of people in NZ couldn't care less about liberty in NZ until the loss of it bits their backside.
Perhaps the real reason National came close to winning the last election was the tax cuts offered and Helen approaching her "use by" date.
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