TV3 Debate

The TV3 debate was a good one for Goff. He didn't end up being subjected to a "show me the money" moment and consistently performed better than John Key throughout the debate. There was one exception to this great performance and that was on the question of Winston.

Labour is stuck in a bind with Winston because they really don't like him. While he is not that much less trustworthy than the regular politician a lot of people hate him particularly those in the middle who used to be his voters and turned away is disgust. However unlike National the Labour Party is not petty and does not rule people out just because they dislike them. Hone is obviously an impossible person to work with in Government and while National managed it to a degree this time it was a disaster. Hone won't even want to be in Government because he wants to build a movement and that takes time in opposition. When it comes time for Mana to be in Government they will probably change leader or have a dominant co-leader other than Hone to make them an acceptable coalition partner.

If political parties can find something in common they should work with them. While Winston is certainly one to deceive the public his stance on coalition is what Government should be like. Political parties should vote for the policies they support not what they can get the best cabinet position from and Labour should not be afraid to work with him nor should National who also have a lot in common with Winston. There is no good way to answer the coalition question but no however and because Key wants win outright he will say no. If Key finds himself in a position after the election where he can't form Government without Winston he will go talk to him. After all what would be worse electoral poison for National? A Government dependent on the Maori Party or one dependent on New Zealand First? I suspect the former.

One of the funniest parts of the debate was the worm. Goff clearly lost on the worm during discussions over coalition partners. However for the rest of it he was on fire actually going off the chart when discussing poverty for it to plummet to negative when Key next spoke. The only thing funnier than it is seeing Kiwiblog and Whaleoil trying to track down the members of the "clearly biased" audience. Their lead so far is John Kingi someone who actually resigned from their Labour Party membership last year not exactly likely to be Goff's biggest fan.