Political Poll

[shadowninja 0]

Now that the tax cut policy is out there... we can make an informed judgement about which party's bribe we like the most.

[bimmer boy 21]

At the moment im liking Labours thing with no intrest on student loans so im in for that

[E30stz 0]

Brash has good intentions but bad policy choice, Helens got a new suit on, and is taking to much away.

[Grant 4]

I'm voting Labour, both party vote and candidate vote.

I'm a bit of a lefty (not the tree hugging vegetarian type mind you) though.

Cheers

Grant

Edited August 22, 2005 by Grant

[BMW POWER 2]

I think they are funny the way they argue.

[Guest Spargo]

National for both.

Cheers

Sam

[westy 614]

Reluctantly Labour.Best of a bad bunch.

[Carl 3]

Labour, things are decent as they are, no need to f**k with them...consistency and stability

[westy 614]

Exactly.

[Palazzo 475]

Probably National for both, unless Act perk up again and look worthy of a party vote. I don't like people interferring with my life and that's all Labour does. And benefits (sorry, tax relief) for people on $70k plus? Pleeeze.

[Dnz 0]

ACT.

I want to keep what I earn. I dont like the commie taxation, public everything approach.

That student loan labour thing is a huge mistake. People already use student allowances for interest. With labour you'll be paying tax to have others lend money to make interest on. I cant believe that tonight she honsetly believes everyone wouldnt get a loan. If money was free, ANYONE would put it somewhere to make interest on it.

National and Act are the only way to go. BMW = National, Lada=Labour

Plus helen clark is a bit of a man.

[westy 614]

T minus 1.09 and counting

[bravo 35]

I'm undecided but it won't be Labour. I hat e election year like the plague - all the puffing and postulating - and public debates?? Worst reality-tv series ever! Baiting each other and sh*t. damn! I want to know how you are going to run the country, not how good you are at dodging mud thrown by the opposition, or how good you are at throwing it!

f**king monkeys...

I'll vote, but I reckon we're f**ked either way to be quite honest.

[shadowninja 0]

I'll vote, but I reckon we're f**ked either way to be quite honest. 

How do you mean??

[David 0]

My wife & I both work, have no student loan, have no kids (and if we did we would not be allowed to smack them ) I am not gay, and she is not a prostitute.

So what can Labour do for us?

[*sic 1]

labour. reasons that aunty helen cant do f**k all but run the country with those looks.

she seriously has nz to her heart.. brash just seems to hold nz govt as a business transaction.. f**k that.

Brash just reminds me of those retards that i went to school with that loved economics and accounting.. i want a leader that has the best interests at heart (as much as they can be) and not just in it to say "Hey im Prime Minister"..

gogogo monkey one! LABOUR!

rock on with your badself Aunty Helen

[OLLIE 26]

red, black, black, black, red DAMN it's black i have to drink

in otherwords it's too early to tell.

i am agreeing with all of you and disagreeing with all of you at the sametime, good point sic about having the country at heart thats cool but in reality a country is a huge business and aunty f**kin helen made my jaw drop with her stupid e year tactics of interest free student loans! WTF

the whole point in having elections is to change, so whoever said kept it the same THATS JUST SILLY! we've had our gays, prosties, etc worked out now it's time for another party (national) to step in.

Government is so corrupt anyway, if all the MPs worked properly as a team they'd get twice as much done and come election year they'd all be like

"MEH"

speil!!!!

[Grant 4]

How do you mean??

I agree, what do you mean?

[Grant 4]

she seriously has nz to her heart.. brash just seems to hold nz govt as a business transaction.. f**k that.

Brash just reminds me of those retards that i went to school with that loved economics and accounting.. i want a leader that has the best interests at heart (as much as they can be) and not just in it to say "Hey im Prime Minister"..

Exactly, I couldn't agree more.

[topless 13]

My wife & I both work, have no student loan, have no kids (and if we did we would not be allowed to smack them ) I am not gay, and she is not a prostitute.

So what can Labour do for us?

Couldn't have put it better myself. Nothing to gain by voting Labour for my wife and myself.

The one thing that really didn't impress me and convinced me to actually vote against Labour was the honourable prime minister denying having anything to do with the decision to speed to get her to the rugby, and hanging those poor guys out to dry in court. I would have had some respect for her if she had stuck her hand up and taken the blame for it, but now..... :thumbsdown:

Forms the basis for a Tui ad... "yea... right !!!!!"

[Hartage 0]

I agree, Aunty Helen has Turned alot of the so called party faithful away with the total lack of interest in the drivers and court case they faced to get her to a rugby game. She did not even have the decency to go and defend them.

Meh, National can't do any worse than the Labour party have managed, can they?

Hate "E" year, too much S**T slinging in Public.

[Grant 4]

ACT.

You might as well not vote.

You and the other 3 ACT voters in the country are just wasting their votes.

The whole election is really a two horse race, so to make your vote count you have to realistically vote Labour or National.

However it appears (unfortunately) that NZ First and the Greens will get in excess of 5% each, and will have some form of representation.

Whatever happens, it will be an interesting election this year, much more interesting that it has been the last few.

All in all, I don't feel that the two main parties are too different in their overall direction, with Labour being only slightly left of centre, and National only slightly right, whilst I would like to see labour win this election and maintain the balance of power, I don't think the country is in dire straights should National win. However, I still don't think that Don Brash is a suitable leader for the National party, but they really have no-one else, to me it is a pity that Bill English was a tad too young to become leader when he did, as I think he had good long term potential.

As for Helen Clark, sure she is no supermodel, but I think that she is a good leader, and has governed the country well over the past two electoral terms.

DNZ, interesting you comment that BMW = National and Lada = Labour? Is that a reference to where the cars come from..i.e Lada being from Russia's Socialist past, and BMW being from a traditionally right winged Germany...if so, you should have a renewed look at this as Germeny is now a rather left of centre democracy, whereas in recent history capitalism has run amok in Russia.

I would have thought that Lada was more akin to ACT, unreliable, badly put together, never going to make it in the long run, relies on using other companies 5 year old ideas, whereas to me the BMW brand is more akin to Labour than any other party, that being well established, stable, predictable and airing on the side of the conservative.

I am struggling to pick a car brand, that to me would represent National...maybe Alfa Romeo, well established, relies on traditional following, on the face of it dynamic and a little self centred....not the best example probably, but the best I could think off on short notice.

Right, must go to work now.

Cheers

Grant

[bravo 35]

What do I mean? I mean that I have no confidence in the current majority parties. If I could place a vote of no confidence in the government this year I would. I don't think either have well-thought-out policies - they are in the most part as described in the thread description - bribes.

Helen Clarke is NOT a good leader - she tramples on our foreign trade agreements, muddles with our defence force, lies, cheats and then leaves her staff to hang. She always seems to get herself into strife and then lies to get out of it - blatantly - and when she is caught just refuses to make comment. I know she does not have a monoploy on this behaviour in parliament, but she seems to pull some right doozies.

So no she is NOT a good leader - what she is is a good administrator- she has the bookwork and parliament running like clockwork - but she has no vision, no integrity and no clue.

Brash is a pain in my arse - I do agree that the country should be run like a business as long as that doesn't mean leaving the marginalised groups in our population out to dry because it is to hard or hurts the bottom line. Brash just loves to grandstand, bt he lacks substance.

Like I said - we're f**ked both ways - damned if you do damned if you don't scenario.

And Grant you are positively wrong about not voting for a small party. It may be a two horse race, but under MMP (especially when the polls are so close for the majority parties) a coalition is inevitable. So what you do is pick the majority party you tolerate the most, then look at its possible coalition partners, review their policies and vote for the party that is making a stand for things you place value in. That way you get the majority party you hate least and they get your minority party as a thorn in their side being nice and vocal for the policies that matter to you. It won't always work, but if enough people did that, we MAY get a semi-sensible government.

Now I am not an MMP advocate - and I don't like the fragmentation of parties in parliament, but that is the system we are lumped with folks, so may as well work it to your benefit.

And to end - my mother always told me never to discuss politics or religion as everyone has a different opinion and will not agree. Maybe I should have listened to her - only the flaming or lack thereof will let me decide.

[Carl 3]

What scares me is if Don becomes "our" representative then he'll go running off overseas ruining the good reputation of our country that has been built up mainly by Labour governments.

You can't trust politicians but Don would have to be the least must trustworthy guy in the bunch. The man can't make decisions and when he does he backtracks on them, and changes his statement, and generally isn't consistent at all.

I like the centre, I would rather National be lead by Peter Dunn or someone who ppl actually like, but as Grant says it's a two horse race and you have to vote sensibly to keep out the person you don't want in government.

[Jazzbass 1]

I'm still undecided.

My wife and I bring in a decent combined income, no kids at home anymore, no student loans, no HPs etc and therefore Labour is offering us a total of nothing. National on the other hand is offering us a decent chunk of money per week.

I loathe Labour's social engineering of NZ into a nanny state and all the PC bullshit just pisses me off so much (I work in the education sector - 'nuff said). OTOH, I can't imagine Brash running my country and I don't want Winnie anywhere near any decisions of importance - imo he's a political embarassment.

If there was a way I could vote to totally eliminate the loonies (Greens and NZF etc), I'd be in like a shot...

bravomikewhiskey is right - people tend to get pissed off if you have a different opinion to them, so discussions on politics are pretty much a lose-lose and I generally avoid them, although this one seems fairly civilised - so far :thumb: