A Labour voter writes

I have been sent this e-mail, which speaks for itself. It was sent on Tuesday night. I have met the author once or twice (but not for some years) and can testify that he is absolutely who he says he is – this is not some National voter pretending to be a Labour supporter. I suspect he is not alone with his thoughts:

Dear Prime Minister,

Never in 43 years as a registered voter have I ever voted other than for Labour as I suspect was true of my father before me. However, the events of recent weeks in respect of Mr Peters have finally disillusioned me, and I shall not vote Labour again until the passage of time has cleansed the party of those members who are (in my opinion corruptly) responsible for the failure to act on deceit which was obvious to all. I have read and followed closely every piece of news I could find throughout this silly mess, and I have to say that the Labour Party’s position lacks all credibility.

You called for an election based on trust. I am sorry I can no longer extend that to you.

Even the wisest and most sober of media commentators have all but laughed out loud at the preposterous and self-serving rationalisations that have come from senior members of the party.

The hardest political decision of my life will be to vote National for the first time, but you have left me no choice. They now seem to me to be the least of a very poor bunch of evils.

yours in deep sorrow

xxxxx xxxxxx

Maybe National’s campaign slogan should be “Vote for the lesser evil” 🙂

More seriously, the e-mail gives an idea of how tough this decision must have been. The writer voted Labour in 1966, 1969, 1972, 1975, 1978, 1981, 1984, 1987, 1990, 1993, 1996, 1999, 2002 and 2005. That is a party loyalty few could match. But the condoning of Winston’s lies is just too much to ignore.

UPDATE: Deborah, who has voted for Labour in every election except her first, says she will not vote for Labour this time unless they rule out Peters:

I can’t vote for Labour knowing that might lead to the champion of hair splitting hypocrisy returning to government. …

I’ve been thinking more about this over lunch, and I think that what is upsetting me so much is that Labour is inviting me to be complicit in their “courageous corruption.” We all know pollies lie, but rarely is it so obvious, and so self-serving, as has been in the case of Winston Peters. It all stinks to high heaven, and then some. By not ruling him out, and still asking me to vote for them, at best Helen Clark and Labour are asking me to block my nose, to pretend that the stench isn’t there. But more realistically, they are asking me to buy the stink in order to have a Labour government. “That’s just what it costs,” they are telling me.

Quite simply, I refuse to pay the price. I will not collude in returning Winston Peters to influence in any government.

Hat Tip: Homepaddock