Labour has no dirt on National
Posted on Tuesday, March 21, 2006 at 8:17 AM | Permalink
John Armstrong in the NZ Herald today writes:
It is understandable she has not sacked him completely. He is one of Labour's brightest stars. Neither does she want to bring his political career to an abrupt halt.
She obviously feels that would be unfair and inconsistent given the leniency shown to Mr Benson-Pope.
Yet, keeping Mr Parker after retaining Mr Benson-Pope risks exponentially increasing the political cost incurred by Labour.
Recognising the dilemma, she yesterday sought to paint Mr Parker as an honourable person who had made a mistake. She then attacked Investigate magazine and Rodney Hide as if Mr Parker's predicament was somehow all their fault. She then dropped another hint that Labour might retaliate in kind to what were "smear" campaigns against its ministers.
If any event were to trigger Labour to follow through on its repeated threats to release dirt, surely it would be the resignation of another minister - especially when Rodney Hide is involved. But nothing has happened and the only conclusion can be that Labour is bluffing.
It is understandable she has not sacked him completely. He is one of Labour's brightest stars. Neither does she want to bring his political career to an abrupt halt.
She obviously feels that would be unfair and inconsistent given the leniency shown to Mr Benson-Pope.
Yet, keeping Mr Parker after retaining Mr Benson-Pope risks exponentially increasing the political cost incurred by Labour.
Recognising the dilemma, she yesterday sought to paint Mr Parker as an honourable person who had made a mistake. She then attacked Investigate magazine and Rodney Hide as if Mr Parker's predicament was somehow all their fault. She then dropped another hint that Labour might retaliate in kind to what were "smear" campaigns against its ministers.
If any event were to trigger Labour to follow through on its repeated threats to release dirt, surely it would be the resignation of another minister - especially when Rodney Hide is involved. But nothing has happened and the only conclusion can be that Labour is bluffing.
