Winston Peters no sleeping dog
Willie Jackson’s Opinion
Friday, 18th November, 2011
It seems that the stars are aligning for politics comeback king Winston Peters with only one week to go to the election.
He's poised to break the 5 percent barrier which would cause huge embarrassment for the country's political journalists, most of whom had written him off.
Winston's allegation that the media's treatment of him is disgusting is right on the mark.
No politician has had to deal with what he's experienced.
Last weekend the Sunday Herald was urging voters not to support Winston. One can expect more of that as the fourth estate rallies to keep him out of Parliament.
In 2008 the media were baying for his blood. In fact the opposition against him was extraordinary.
Winston didn't exactly help himself when he infuriated the media with the infamous "No" sign and refused to acknowledge donations that were given to the party.
When caught out by the privileges committee, instead of being contrite, he continued to deny any wrongdoing and blamed the media for everything.
It's strange that such a brilliant politician chose to defend the indefensible which eventually led to his demise.
Along the way he fought a battle royal with the media and still ended up with more than 4 percent of the vote.
He was then declared dead by his enemies and we were told by the media that we were finally free of the country's most corrupt politician. On both accounts, they were wrong.
The hypocrisy around Winston is hard to fathom. While it's true that he stuffed up in 2008 over donations, I hardly think it makes him a liar, a crook and New Zealand's most corrupt politician.
I believe he's one of our most principled politicians and that's from someone who's never voted for him, never will and thinks he talks a lot of nonsense about Maori issues.
Corruption and lying is what the National government did to us between 1975 and 1984 when it froze workers' wages, or what the 1984 Labour government did when it betrayed its supporters over its devotion to the evils of Rogernomics.
Or it's about Act and National trying to convince us that the market can work for ordinary people and that selling assets is the way forward. That's what corruption is.
These politicians drastically changed Kiwis' lives for the worse.
Winston Peters never did that. Okay, he might have had a bit of memory loss over donations. But in the greater scheme of things, so what?
Who fought the big boys and corrupt captains of industry over the wine box? Who defends
It's time for the media to back off and give Winston Peters one more chance.
Next: Shearer's the man