Blue Team Under Attack!

And they don't like it up 'em!

There must’ve been a few surprised looks in the leafy suburbs from Herald readers yesterday morning. The front page was not of their champion, Christopher Luxon, triumphantly delivering his speech to the faithful at the campaign launch.

It was of him. But triumphant is not the word that came to mind.

Image: Ben McKay/AAP.

Had old Granny* Herald seen the light, decided to think of the mokopuna, shifting their editorial allegiance away from the Blue team after all these years? Had Simon Wilson, the last remaining leftie in the building, staged a coup?

* For those unaware, this isn’t me being misogynist or ageist, “Granny” was long the nickname of the Herald. I can only assume because people found it reliable. Hard to imagine now.

No, the explanation was that the Council of Trade Unions (the CTU) had taken out the full page advertisement on the first Monday of the campaign. Perhaps those in the leafy suburbs read it as a steer to switch their votes to the Yellow team. That lovely young Mr Seymour seems committed to their cause.

We’ve seen this before. I remember back in 2014 if you opened the NZ Herald website it was so covered in messages for the Blue team that you couldn’t tell where the advertising ended and the editorials began. It didn’t help that they were nigh on identical to start with.

Groups that support the Red team, such as the unions, obviously have far less money to spend on advertising than the enormous investments the big end of town has made in the Blue and Yellow teams. So in terms of bang for their buck, this was quite a splash for the CTU’s cash! Funnily enough not everyone was impressed.

The Blue team were quick to paint themselves as the victims.

Is this the same team that complained about every action the government took during Covid, no matter what they did? The same team that set out to destroy people like Clare Curran and Poto Williams through bullying? The team that has constantly run negative attack ads full of disinformation and scare tactics?

The team that gave Aotearoa dirty politics?

Those guys? They’re the victims? It’s like someone finally stood up to a bully, who has then rolled on the ground crying that they’re the one being attacked.

Hello? Have the Blue Party actually seen the sort of garbage that people like Cameron Slater, the Taxpayer’s Union, Groundswell, and others, have been putting out about the Red team, and the Green team, for years? Not to mention their own efforts.

Would we have seen the same level of anger towards the government, and former Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern, post Covid if the Blue Team had not been pouring petrol on the fire, to score juvenile points? It’s hard to know for sure, but it certainly didn’t help.