Strong language from John Armstrong in this morning's NZ Herald. We agree fully
In the wake of the Prime Minister slipping and falling while going walkabout in a Christchurch shopping mall, those of unkind mind have noted the same thing happened to John Howard in the lead-up to last year's Australian election.
Both Prime Ministers quickly recovered their poise. But Howard, of course, went on to lose. If the same fate befalls Helen Clark next Saturday, then this week may have been the turning point in the 2008 election.
That will have nothing to do with Clark tumbling flat on her face. But Labour did trip itself up this week, the cynicism and arrogance of power coming back to bite it with a vengeance. That was most obvious in Labour's latest attempt to dredge up something, anything, in John Key's foreign exchange dealing past which might make voters question whether National's leader has the integrity worthy of a prime minister.
