Comments on: Quote of the day, start as you mean to go on edition

By: izogi

izogi — Wed, 30 Jan 2013 22:28:25 +0000

Vernon Small must have heard/read a different speech from Danyl (and most other commentators I've seen): "Chalk up the first round of the political year to National. Not just because John Key's "state of the nation" speech delivered some actual news, in the shape of a revamped apprenticeship scheme (albeit using recycled money), against a rhetoric-heavy but news-lite offering from David Shearer."

By: bob

bob — Wed, 30 Jan 2013 09:42:11 +0000

@ Ataahua – now you mention it, Statler & Waldorf kinda does encapsulate Key & Shearer, doesn’t it? They both look down on the peasants from on high, watching but doing nothing to contribute, then mumble something, then laugh as if what they said is incredibly funny.

@ Pascal’s Bookie – agreed. Cunliffe has even had to do the humiliating backdown-in-advance for next Feb’s vote, just to show his ‘loyalty’. Spotted, shot, gutted & his pelt is being tanned as we speak. But if it makes Waldorf look good…

By: flynn_the_cat

flynn_the_cat — Wed, 30 Jan 2013 04:23:06 +0000

I’m confused. If the roads will be gone, how will I be able to spend ages in a traffic jam? and what if I don’t listen to radio? For that matter, what if I’m in a bus? Will the roads come back for me, or do buses never get in traffic jams?

By: Pascal's bookie

Pascal's bookie — Wed, 30 Jan 2013 02:55:11 +0000

But Key fluffed the line, and said “see” instead of “hear”, so the joke doesn’t work.

Doesn’t work anyway, Cunliffe was spotted a mile off and shot before he crossed the border.

By: Ataahua

Ataahua — Wed, 30 Jan 2013 02:48:55 +0000

the MumbleBlurt Twins.

You’ve got me thinking of Statler and Waldorf commenting from the theatre box, but with socks stuffed in their mouths.

By: TerryB

TerryB — Wed, 30 Jan 2013 01:50:49 +0000

Key has his finger on the pulse of his constituency.

As an average Kiwi who drives a 2012 SLK55 AMG, rapid bach access and traffic-jam avoidance are pretty high are pretty high on my list of ‘Things The Government Needs To Fix Fucking Pronto’.

Gold!

By: Steve (@nza1)

Steve (@nza1) — Wed, 30 Jan 2013 01:14:04 +0000

In that single quote, Key has managed to sound like Both: 1. A raging lunatic…and 2. A barefaced liar…at the SAME TIME! What a masterful performer our PM is.

By: bob

bob — Wed, 30 Jan 2013 01:13:07 +0000

Words fail me. Reminds me of the time I chatted to the then GM of Tranz Metro Auckland, who ran the urban trains. I wanted them to run weekend trains (hard to believe, but back then in the 90s there were no Saturday or Sunday services). Like Key, he insisted we were lucky that the tracks had not been ripped up. I struggled to explain that would not happen, because the profitable freight trains used those same tracks, but it was waaaay over his head. Sounds like Key may have had the same guru teaching him…

Reassuring that the country is in such a safe pair of hands. Key and Shearer – the MumbleBlurt Twins.

By: Psycho Milt

Psycho Milt — Wed, 30 Jan 2013 00:16:05 +0000

…each trying to outdo the other’s incoherence.

Two masters of their field of expertise, evenly matched – it’s going to be an awesome spectacle.

By: sammy 2.0

sammy 2.0 — Wed, 30 Jan 2013 00:00:28 +0000

It doesn’t matter what the PM really said in Parliament, there’s always good old John Armstrong to report what Key *should* have said …

“Key advised his Opposition counterpart to get Cunliffe a bell to put around his neck. At least Shearer would hear Cunliffe coming the next time the latter planned a coup.”

But Key fluffed the line, and said “see” instead of “hear”, so the joke doesn’t work. Never mind, Armstrong (or his sub-editor?) thinks it’s his job to correct and invent, not report.

I suppose we shouldn’t be too hard on the Gallery. It must be tough trying to extract usable quotes from Key and Shearer, each trying to outdo the other’s incoherence.