Gutter Crawling

Back on the 16th when the Fairfax poll showed National 5% ahead of Labour I predicted Labour would soon roll out Mallard to say something outrageous. And they have.

I have already blogged about the hypocrisy of Labour inventing claims about foreign funding when they have boasted about receiving $500,000 from someone who has not lived here for decades.

But the real issue here is whether the media are going to be poodles for Labour here? It should be unthinkable that just because Mallard foams at the mouth and says something outrageous that they take it seriously. If anything they should turn on Mallard and demand he front up with evidence. I also find it incredible that none of the media seem to think it is pertinent to mention that $500,000 donation to Labour when reporting on Mallard’s muck raking? This NZPA story just repeats Mallard’s claims and National’s rejections which is what Mallard wanted.

Incidentally I have had occasion through previous employments to have observed some of National’s fund-raising. People would be surprised by how much money is raised just by lots of people donating relatively modest amounts. If 50,000 people donate $100 each that is $500,000. I can not and would not ever reveal details of fund-raising, but I will say that I doubt there has ever been a time in the last 15 years when more people were willing to support National financially. Labour is the party that is far more reliant on large donations (unions and corporates) than National, in my opinion.

And as proof of National’s home-grown fund-raising, here’s a photo of Mark, Corrine and I at a recent black-tie fund-raiser.