More on the T-Bomb ...

Oh, we just love this! Patrick Gower from 3News opines:

Labour and Phil Goff got scared into defusing the Tizard bomb because of two right-wing bloggers.

That means Goff is scared of the blogs.

Yes, you heard me right: Goff's office (aka the 'Goffice') and the Labour Party hierarchy decided their Judith Tizard strategy because of what they read on Kiwiblog and Whaleoil.

That means Labour is scared of the blogs.

Let's repeat that last line; That means Labour is scared of the blogs.

WhaleOil and Kiwiblog get the credit and rightly so, but a number of members of the VRWC, ourselves included, climbed into Labour over this; and Labour caved in!

Gower goes on:

I am still in disbelief that this became such an issue that it led to the extraordinary scene of a list MP placed number 38 on the list issuing their decision on whether they return or not on live television.

I doubt we will ever see that again.

But Labour made all this happen. They bullied, poked, pushed and hurt Judith Tizard just so they didn't annoy the right wing blogs.

I know its fashionable to be down on 'the Tiz'. I know everyone is going to attack me for defending 'the Tiz'. But make no mistake here. I am saying: LAY. OFF. JUDITH. TIZARD.

Because its not like anyone in Labour is piping up. They have cut her loose and don't care about the decades of service she gave the party.

She is now nothing to Labour.

Bullying has been in the news a lot lately. The Tizard scenario reminds me of Judith in the playground getting ganged up on.

She sees her own family, Labour. She sees Goff - an older brother if you will let me extend the analogy. She expects their help. They are her flesh and blood after all. But instead, they turn a blind eye. They let her be hurt. It is humiliating for her.

Labour caved into pressure from the blogs. The right wing blogs effectively ran Labour's strategy on this. Labour has gone soft on this.

Now, this is not a partisan blogger/member of the VRWC writing this piece. These words are from Patrick Gower, formerly of the New Zealand Herald, and now a political reporter for 3News. This is a political insider, who gets stories from within the beltway, and from within the parties themselves.

But Patrick Gower is dead right; Labour allowed the blogs to dictate its agenda. Phil Goff tried to bluff and bluster his way out of the Darren Hughes story. He has given so many different, contradictory versions of how he handled the situation after he first learned of Hughes' late night antics that no-one believes any of them. His leadership through this issue has been appalling, and he has only retained the leadership of the Labour caucus because no-one else is prepared to take on the job before the election.

So; well done WhaleOil, and well done DPF. The T-Bomb stopped Phil Twyford from getting the Mt Albert nomination in 2009, and the ticking time-bomb has clearly played on the minds of Phil Goff and Andrew Little. The upshot of it all is that Labour has made an absolute mockery of MMP and of the Party List process. Anti-MMP campaigners will be delighted by the assistance that Labour has provided to their campaign.

And as Patrick Gower says, it's all happened because the Labour Party didn't have the gumption to stare down two right-wing bloggers.