Thursday, September 4, 2008

A closer race than expected - by some

Interesting to see the electoral race tighten up (NZ Herald) as the weeks pass. Here is a wee pie chart, using a "gadget", published via a very simple Google Docs spreadsheet. Try clicking on the labels and see what happens to the pie. :-)

4 comments:

  1. What a cool pie chart. Clicking on the slices for percentages are good,too.
    Expect the slices on the left to enlarge as the inducements roll out.
    The dishonest and corrupt labels will not affect Labour voting come Election time.

    ReplyDelete
  2. It so much the inducements that will win the votes. It will be the growing understanding by more voters that they do not really want to vote for National after all. You refer to dishonesty and corruption from Labour, but they don't hold a candle to National, really. I know Nat supporters like to overlook the much greater risks attached to voting for National, but hey are there whether one chooses to acknowledge them or not.

    For example, National would have had us involved in the invasion of Iraq. The stated motivation for doing so (Power and Mapp) was the desire to win a fee trade agreement with the US. National have toned that down, but you know wha they would have done had they been in power. The reality is that National is the party that would have - and still will - whore the lives of Kiwis for better business deals. What THAT says about a party's values and ethics simply can't be ignored. As imperfect as Labour might be, they did not and never would engage in a war for money profits.

    More recently, National are still deniers on the climate change front. In their hearts, many if not most of the senior MPs just don't buy it. Fine. But the evidence is clear enough for those who want to look at it and a vote for National on this issue would be stupid.

    The overall picture, bearing the candid comments and conversations of senior National MPs in mind, is that National's entire approach to policy in this election is a sham, cloaking the real intentions in sheeps clothing in order to not scare the voters.

    But those real intentions - what they would actually like to do if they could - are not acceptable to most voters and have already been rejected several times. One is left wondering how dumb National are to not get the message. But they appear to be that dumb.

    A dishonesty goes, running a sham election campaign like that is about is major as it gets. Fraud on an epic scale.

    I know you don't like Labour nd have your little list of things that you think make Labour unelectable. But when it comes to whoring the lives of your citizens for cash and conducting an election campaign based on deception, concealing your real intentions, National is obviously - BY FAR - the more dishonest and corrupt.

    Add to that the policy announcements that are mostly "me, too" policies that propose - as solutions - the same things the government is already doing. This strategy relies on voters not actually knowing what is already underway.

    The National Party preference for PPPs is a recipe for corruption. In the US, Australia and Canada, PPPs have become synonymous with political patronage and crony capitalism.....funded in the end at taxpayer expense when the gran ideological claims for more efficiency and accountability dissolve into the reality of duck-shoving costs back to the public purse, incompetent management and cost overruns the taxpayer had to guarantee. It's a recipe for corruption unlike any we have seen to date in New Zealand.

    Sorry, Anon. On the dishonest and corrupt scale the I use, National is out in front and can't see anyone behind when they look back.

    The pie chart is cool, eh.

    ReplyDelete
  3. But Labour is electable. And Labour will lead a coalition Government after the Elections. National will never hold the reins of power again. Most of the points you make will carry weight with voters, and my point about labels for Labour is valid too. National is incapable of recognising how others see them, and what is really important to people who are not interested in reading about politics, or listening to politics on the radio. Most people are neither interested nor care about what politicians think about anything. National thinks voters hang onto their every utterance. Labour is a whole lot smarter than they are credited for.
    Yes, very cool piechart and I expect the slices to change as I suggested, as do you.

    ReplyDelete
  4. anon: OK. Understood and I agree. Thanks for the comment. :-)

    ReplyDelete

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