Corrupt vs Cancerous

The NZ Herald Digipoll is fascinating. Not for the party vote figures (which have National well ahead) but for the question of whether people agree with Labour being called corrupt, and Helen Clark calling Don Brash cancerous.

52% say Dr Brash was right to call Labour corrupt, with only 38% disagreeing. This should ring massive warning bells to all Labour MPs (esp as even 30% of those voting Labour agree with the corrupt tag). Not that I am in the habit of giving friendly advice to Labour but for the love of God just follow what the Greens have done and say “As much as we disagree with the Auditor-General, we will pay back any money he declares was not appropriate to pay from The Parliamentary Service”. This will get rid of the corruption stench overmight – well that plus finding a new candidate for Mangere.

Most NZers are fair minded. They will not judge Labour corrupt off the original decision to fund the pledge card from their parliamentary budget. It’s the refusal to pay it back which brings the corrupt tag with it. The electoral over-spend was also corrupt but that can now never be determined in court.

As for Helen calling Don Brash “corrosive and cancerous”, my insitinct when I heard it was a blunder of massive proportions. And in the poll 74% of voters say the comment was “not okay”. The PM has forgotten the difference between language hard-core partisan activists will agree with, and language which resonates with most NZers.