First Election Debate - what a debacle!

[donna]

Their eyes finally met over tax cuts. Both had entered the studio apparently oblivious to each other. There was no eye contact, no greeting.
The impasse isn't broken right through the opening statements and discussions about the brain drain, until the debate turns to tax cuts.
She makes the first serve, noting "John cares so much about the issues of families living on the average wage" that its tax cuts for them were only marginally better than Labour's.

Source

I watched the debate on TV1 last night. Geez it made the McCain and Obama & Biden and Palin debates look polite and respectful.

The moderator (Mark Sainsbury) was as much a novice as he didn't have control of the continuous 'butt in's'. The US Election debates allows each speaker the 2 mins to answer the question without interruption - so to provide the audience with their viewpoint.

Last night's debate was the opposite. John Key started the continuous flow of interruptions and Helen realising Mark was not going to stop it - joins in for good measure.

I hope the next debate is more professional with each speaker given their turn to respond without the heckling etc.

Just my 10 cents worth.

Cheers,

Donna

[essence]

Go here to see the public's comments about the debate.

Not sure who won.

[Marc]

As someone who hates people talking over you I thought John's performance was annoying to say the least.

I agree with Donna the moderator was crap and he should in fact be trained by our mods!!

Who won the debate? Not sure though I am starting to worry a bit about what National will get up to if they get in power. It sometimes comes back to the "devil you know" in times of global difficulties.

Cheers

Marc

[donna]

Sorry to break in on the group hug, Colin, but perhaps the moderator could have… well, moderated the debate and both Clark and Key could have acted like grown-ups. My partner’s response to their interjections and shouting over each other (just before he left the room) was considerably less generous — as well as unprintable on this blog.

I agree with this comment.

Umm I certainly did not think John Key won by 66% to 33%. Personally I thought he seemed weak and quite childish at times - some of his heckling was just plain embarrassing. By the way this comment does not mean I am supporting Labour - personally I just thought the debate was a 'bitch-fight' (sorry PT mods remove the 'b' word if it's unappropriate) and did not offer a lot of value to any undecided voters.

Actually if it acheived anything at all it may have persuaded some voters to opt for the other parties or not vote at all.

Cheers,

Donna

[HermanZ]

Last night's debate was the opposite. John Key started the continuous flow of interruptions and Helen realising Mark was not going to stop it - joins in for good measure.

Donna

Thats funny, (thru my Blue shades) I saw almost the complete opposite.

I hope the next debate is more professional with each speaker given their turn to respond without the heckling etc.

Agreed

HemanZ

[Heg]

A

I am starting to worry a bit about what National will get up to if they get in power. It sometimes comes back to the "devil you know" in times of global difficulties.

Cheers

Marc

I'm with you Marc. Initially I though Key was a good candidate but after last night I'm not sure at all. This happened in the UK when they voted Thatcher out. Everyone was fed up with the Tories. Labour won by a landslide but not long after everybody starts with the "we were better of with Thatcher" whinge......

[sudafrikan]

The problem was the Sainsbury moderator, he was not moderating, why was he there to moderate and getting paid for it and then decided not to do his job, its is a problem with all men who have moustaches they are lazy or untrustworthy look at Hitler for example. Maybe next time they use a proper moderator who can enforce disipline, thats the problem with this country there is not enough disipline, you dont disipline children when they are young they start stealing things like shoes from doorways then they progress to stealing tvs and dvds soon they are in jail covered in tattoos just because there was no disipline. The moustache Sainsbury is sending a bad message to youth and needs to be replaced for the good of society.

[princess]

I thought John did far better than his predecessor who was too polite to talk over Helen.

I missed the start but it was definitely Hell-en doing all the shouting and rudeness for the 30 minutes i did watch.

John's biggest weakness has been to not pounce on Labour's weaknesses - he did start to last night, to his credit.

But like many here, some of the minor parties may well be the winners this year.. but we always think / hope that don't we?

[Monkeyboy]

But like many here, some of the minor parties may well be the winners this year.. but we always think / hope that don't we?

And Winston Peters gets back in to parliament leaving National to choose between a coalition with NZ First or the Greens.

Woe is me, who do we vote for?

Blue and Green should not be seen. (to quote a fashion faux pas) and

Red and Green is no more than a frog in a blender.

[princess]

Act - focused on reducing crime, and some relevant ideas on tax
United Future - colourless but sensible
Maori - proposing work for dole to teach young people skills and keep them busy

Lots of options.

Nats and Tariana are a long bet but still on the cards!

[donna]

I spoke to a friend yesterday who has done very well in business (sold a bus. for $$m's) and typically you'd of thought he would be in the John Keys camp but not this time around. "The Nats need to sort out their leadership team" was his reply.

I think if JK does not get in this time around he will be off overseas to a Banking role maybe with JP Morgan or the like.

Cheers,

Donna

[Jumpin]

It is a worry that the system we have does not attract good people. Clark is certainly a master at electioneering, much more so than Key, and we the voters dont seem to see past that. Labour should have been out last time but when it came to it on election day, there was no viable alternative. This time I wonder if the same scenario is playing out. I detest the smug overbearing 'I know best' attitude of HC almost as much as I detest Cullen, but in reality, has John Key got the goods? He is a bit of a one man band, and his top team are a bit of a liability.
For me, at the end of the day, although Helen has shown herself to ber a consumate leader and master of NZ politics, I believe she is leading us the wrong way. She has had 9 years of unprecedented global growth, and still we have people queing at foodbanks. The social experiment has failed, lets give people back their personal responsibility.

[artemis]

Maori - proposing work for dole to teach young people skills and keep them busy

Actually work for the dole is not what the Maori Party is proposing for "our people". They want the government to create make-work jobs (their term) and pay proper wages. That is a very different kettle of fish. A new class of super-beneficiaries coming our way.

[princess]

ah intresting, i wondered where the hook was.

Still the mentality must improve when one has work to do - throughout the ages its been shown that when men especially don't get to achieve anything through their day, they get unstable, unhappy and angry. Isn' that what is happening in our so-called underclass?

[sudafrikan]

I agree the poor unemployed are lazy and more likely to committe crimes than a christian man in full employment who works hard, the lazy unemployed man more likely to beat up his wife because he has no pride in himself because he is empty he has nothing to show for his day his week his month his life so he takes out anger on those who he can win against those weaker than him. More benefits creates more crimes and more crimminals this is known fact and is the problem with this country that the peoples making the benefits to them do not understand this or they do understand but do not care because they care for power more than they do crime.