Key laughs off attack ad

i think the question is... not can we trust national in the hard times ahead but can we really trust labour. who has not saved for thee hard times ahead, who led us into 10 years of deficits, who promised tax cut every election and only gave them on the fourth, to proberly say actually we can't afford this after all next year. labour.lets not remind anyone who felt the need for airbrushed pictures

go labour!!!!! helen is hot

Can you trust the woman in the picture? Who is that woman as it sure is not Helen Clark!!!! Signs of despiration are showing, Helen must be all for america, with her take in their dirty politics

Darrell: You sir, are the one who needs to get his head out of the sand. When I stated that 'John Key will say whatever he needs to in order to win' ... I was also deliberate in stating that 'politicians will promise the earth' Now, last time I looked, Helen Clark is a politician is she not? The point I make is that it's almost an unspoken political convention over many years for the leaders of BOTH major parties to do what they can to win in election year. I accept that as part of the game. However, what I am not willing to accept, for now, is that Key is some sort of deeply-principled politician who has fought hard for his convictions since becoming a National guy. Again, too many flip-flops for me to buy into that one.

Remember, Key was in lockstep with Brash when it came to the platform National built its 2005 campaign upon ... (Kiwi not Iwi/one law for all etc) ... till the party's political minders finally woke up to the fact that MMP is actually about making friends, not alienating them.

When National finally woke up to the realisation that they had to ditch their right-wing conservatism under Brash for the sake of a more centrist approach, they then understood that they needed to give Don the flick so that Key could be installed as the travelling salesman who could sell these new methods. That's why I stand by my suggestion that Key is simply a product of his political minders, rather than a person who actually takes a stand on issues because he believes them.

I give credit to Key and National's advisers more than anything.

A country that relies so heavily on export is greatly affected by the state of the international economy. Labour has saved through the good times to help ride out the bad times- economists always knew this recession was coming. Our economy could never sustain the growth of the past few years- things had to slow down at some point. I maintain that the country would be in a far worse state if we had of been National led for the past 9 years. I don't love Labour, but I do believe the are the far lesser of the 2 evils.

Michael: Well done, Captain Obvious - my question still stands. Ordinarily, I may have commended you on your quick-witted retort, but as you no doubt realise, rhetorical questions should stand alone for one to contemplate, rather than to evoke a response. That said, your own question in reply simply leads me to ponder where you have been for the last three terms and/or nine years? This Prime Minister wasn't returned to office (twice) by accident! I'd suggest that three consecutive terms for Labour and Helen Clark - given our MMP environment - speaks for itself.

"Our economy is bad, (the entire worlds economy is bad- not just NZ!) but no where near as bad as it would be if we were under a National government!"

"NZ always always goes down the drain when..."

Jen, our economy tanking has not come overnight and had already started before the financial crisis of the last couple of months. This has been in the works for years, and we cannot blame anyone else or any country other than ours. Nine years of Labour government and we find ourselves in a recession. No, there is no excuse for that.

Mine played perfectly. You should contact your ISP, or upgrade your connection.

Idiots. The student allowance isn't a bribe. It's not being implemented until 2011. It's as much a bribe to students as the plunket policies are to elderly people with no children. Think about it. You can use your brains, right?

how about two pictures of Helen? one with and one without photoshop!