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Friday, August 12, 2022

Mike Hosking: Another shabby week in the world of politics


Is the biggest winner out of the Sam Uffindell drama the Government?

Think of all the things they would have dreaded being talked about while we busied ourselves on the cock up that was essentially a two-fold mistake.

Mistake one: the lack of up-front honesty in putting it out there from day one. Select him, I have no problem with it, what you did as a kid should not be a life sentence.

But it was always going to get discovered Uffindell himself said so, so front foot it.

Mistake two: the idiots in the selection process, including the Party President, should have told the right people. And the right people is not a flunky in the leaders office, it’s the leader themselves.

Those simple things would have avoided all this.

This is a story of immaturity, hopefully left behind 20 years ago.

And yet by weeks end, it's exercised us all more than it ever should. And oh, the irony, in a week when the poll for TVNZ confirmed the other polls this year.

National and ACT at 48 percent are the next government. Compare that to the Labour-Green combo at 42 percent, and the Prime Minister at record low personal popularity.

The issue of Three Waters. The Auditor General's report was not really covered. The economy, the inflation, the debt, the local elections with no candidates, and the firearms laws that will change nothing.

The Three Strikes abolition that further cements the Government's position as soft on crime. We can't forget the one or two shootings and ram raids rounding out another violent week. Plus, let us not forget the free passes on NCEA, because it's all been a bit tough.

On Uffindell, don't get me wrong, I spent as much time on it as anyone else.

For a while, it was a proper story needing proper answers. But, yet again, too much of the media got obsessed about it and let themselves down and displayed yet again their clear distaste for anything National Party.

And they love anything that even begins to sniff of personal tragedy. It turned by yesterday with the flat nonsense into character assassination. The media might at some point like to look at itself and wonder why its reputation is the way it is.

As for Uffindell, I don’t like what I saw of him when he was a kid. But I don’t condemn him forever. And I hate the way we look to destroy people who clearly have grown up and want to contribute to the betterment of the country.

Ultimately then by Friday morning, a shabby week. And if the Government are the winners, we also have an awful lot of losers.

Mike Hosking is a New Zealand television and radio broadcaster. He currently hosts The Mike Hosking Breakfast show on NewstalkZB on weekday mornings.

4 comments:

Phil said...

The Politik site and Barry Soper have both mentioned that the media sat on the Uffindell story for 2 months. The media waited to create maximum damage and clear evidence that we are turning into a sinister country with the media acting as an agency of the Labour Party.

Anonymous said...

What’s worse mike is that the national party stood him down. What sort of message does that send to the public that they’re too gutless, flaky and shallow to stand by their man when he is suffering a deliberate character assassination by the media.

Kiwialan said...

Mike, the mainstream media in this Country have proven time and time again how corrupt and dishonest they are. Zero coverage on many subjects that are very important to all Kiwis such as He Puapua , the total myth of the partnership between the Crown and stone age tribes, Aotearoa was a make -up name when S Percy Smith used it in his Kupe novel but the pathetic lot in Parliament and the MSM are forcibly trying to use it as our Country's name, 3 Waters etc, etc. BUT they use front page headlines to assassinate the character of a bloke who has done very well in life. If he was from the left side of the tracks and a different colour the MSM would be singing his praises on how he turned his life around and made good. The utter hypocrisy sickens me. Sam made a mistake not front footing the issue but to destroy his political ambitions and bring disgrace to he and his family is way beyond the consequence of the action. Politics in this Country is like watching amateur hour. Kiwialan.

Sven said...

The national party still stand for nothing, they are a hollow shell with the right sounds coming out but nothing else.