· by nzjanette.bsky.social ·17h ago · view on bsky.app ↗

Henry Cooke: Chris Penk shouldn’t have to leave politics altogether (thepost.co.nz)

OPINION: Far too many of our MPs now see politics as a mid-career pit-stop, not a calling.

This is weird, right? We're into day three of eulogies for Chris Penk. A man who's pro conversion therapy, anti bodily autonomy for women, and anti covid vaccines and mandates. He's an extremist whose views are well out of the mainstream. So what are we doing here?

#nzpol

18 comments — live from bluesky

dunnersmads.bsky.social · 6 · 16h ago

Emblematic of a divided National Party though, and useful to run that every day until the election.

nzjanette · 1 · 16h ago

Ah, that’s an angle I hadn’t thought of.

dunnersmads.bsky.social · 4 · 16h ago

Apparently all the caucus intended to present luxon an opportunity to resign but he preemptively arranged the meeting to thwart them.

𝕯𝖆𝖑𝖑𝖆𝖘™ · 17 · 16h ago

he's also one of the biggest troll farm operators in AoNZ

nzjanette · 2 · 16h ago

😬 I didn’t know that. He seems like a real charmer.

𝕯𝖆𝖑𝖑𝖆𝖘™ · 6 · 16h ago

oh god.. he was the driving force behind a lot of the Twitter shitfuckery.. I think one of the bigbrains did a deep dive into his network, but i forget who

D Jukic She/her · 3 · 6h ago

Penk was so nasty online and then I’d attend public meetings out west and he’d pretend to be this balanced, objective concerned politician. The contrast was like witnessing Jekyll and Hyde.

JessTerraformEarth 🌏 💚 🌈 💧 🏳️‍⚧️ 🇳🇿 · 14 · 17h ago

Mainstream media does second chances for Mainstream men?

nzjanette · 6 · 17h ago

Yeah. I guess his face fits.

Danielle, Petty Hate Machine · 4 · 17h ago

Also he makes jokes on social media

nzjanette · 3 · 17h ago

Argh. He must be a good bloke then.

Alan (not ekshully a B'Stard) · 33 · 17h ago

Really over this bullshit, his type are VASTLY overrepresented already, the National Party appointed one of them f'ing Health Minister. Ya know who really shouldn't have had to leave politics? Benjamin Doyle. And it's people with Penks "views", "opinions" and "LOLs" that push them out, REGULARLY.

nzjanette · 13 · 16h ago

Exactly. Doyle did absolutely nothing wrong and yet no one was writing paeans to them.

ignore me · 5 · 14h ago

Metiria Turei shouldn’t have had to leave national politics

Earl Mardle - Death Cult Govt - Squalour, poverty & Disease · 3 · 16h ago

Yet another of their terribly clever plans turning to shit because their entitlement blinds them to actually having to do the work He ran the numbers as Mr Tough Guy and when it came to the crunch they ducked for cover and left him dangling Couldn't be better Betrayal is their calling card

nzjanette · 4 · 16h ago

National caucus meetings are going to be so much fun for the rest of the term.

Dr Alma Rae · 2 · 15h ago

Right wing white man can do no wrong?

J.D Stevenson · 2 · 15h ago

Sounds like his natural home in NZFirst. I predict he’ll resurface on their list in 3 years

Simon O'Neill · 2 · 17h ago

The callous glee is exactly what the same people deride in the right. Penk was nowhere near as bad as the Nat old guard like Goldsmith, Upston etc and under a decent party leader had potential to be useful... If nothing else he tried to get rid of luxon abd didn't run away like the others...

Danielle, Petty Hate Machine · 10 · 15h ago

You appear not to know very much about Penk at all. He is a real scumbag

nzjanette · 6 · 15h ago

He really is. My hot take is that the new generation of sneaky fundies is actually worse than the old guard.

Too Long Covid 💚 · 0 · 4h ago

💯

Tam (she/her) · 1 · 16h ago

Are you referring to the OP as callous glee?

Earl Mardle - Death Cult Govt - Squalour, poverty & Disease · 2 · 16h ago

Difference being that it is punching up, not punching down while standing on the necks of the powerless

Kurt M · 1 · 5h ago

I really struggle with the idea that Penk was nowhere near as bad. He was one of the worst just better at public facing than Goldsmith, Upston etc.

Jason Kemp · 8 · 16h ago

I saw a video clip where Matthew Hooten names the 5 most senior ministers as the coup makers. Penk is a fall guy in a very safe seat. If any of this was real - Luxon needed to sack Bishop, Stanford, Brown, Mitchell & Willis. That would bring the government down but must be fun in cabinet meetings.

Simon O'Neill · 3 · 15h ago

Keeps reminding me of McPhail and Gadsby during the Muldoon years except these klowns are for real... If they had any integrity, they'd all resign and not run again. They're all too weak for that though...

Jason Kemp · 3 · 15h ago

I hope that has become more obvious to voters. I’m in Penks electorate. Only just got here but sucks that some voters here will vote for anyone in a Nats hat. There is a sign near by with a flag saying thanks on it. Not sure if that us the pr team or a real voter.

Simon O'Neill · 0 · 15h ago

Saw a pic of it, I'd say a supporter...

Jason Kemp · 1 · 4h ago

Does not surprise me. I know some supporters. I hope that they will vote differently this November. But a margin of 19,000 makes it one of the safest of seats. I'm hoping they also realise that half the cabinet wanted change but it only failed because none of them had more votes than the others.

nzjanette · 2 · 16h ago

So so messy.

nzjanette · 5 · 16h ago

I’m not gleeful - I’m confused by the tone of the coverage.

Nat Torkington · 8 · 16h ago

His media team are keeping him electable and virtuous in the eyes of the public so his next job (leader, lobbyist, exec) isn't jeopardised by incompetent treachery in his last.

Kev Lucky - Left of centre moderate. · 0 · 14h ago

I'm somewhat bemused that the powers that run rightr wing media think that whitewashing Penk for three days straight in a Wellington - based paper will benefit him at all. Ishould imagine that coalition enablers are seen as lower than slugs by a significant portion of local readers.

Anneleise · 8 · 16h ago

It's the dead cat part to cover Luxon is utterly unfit, even super conservative Penk had to accept Luxon's obsequious bad judgement increases our risk couldn't justify him staying in the role... noone wants to face up to that #NZPol

Brian Dixon 🌿🌐🎶 #ClimateAction 🔆 #ClimateJustice ☮️ · 14 · 16h ago

He's an Atlas sh!t.

Whatkonnerth · 1 · 2h ago

Thrown under the bus for attention deviation. What is all this taking attention away from?.....

McKeen Photos (I shoot people and things for money. And fun.) · 3 · 16h ago

Clicks! We are getting clicks and getting ad revenue!

Katya · 3 · 15h ago

It certainly doesn't say anything good about the journalists writing these puff pieces

Sophie these days · 13 · 16h ago

yeah just imagine if it was a brown woman who like cycle lanes. Penk's a freak and good riddance.

nzjanette · 3 · 16h ago

Exactly.

Andy · 2 · 5h ago

Good riddance. He wanted Abortion to remain a criminal offence. He doesn’t understand the concept - conservation land. Weirdo religious guy.

Kev Lucky - Left of centre moderate. · 0 · 14h ago

Henry Cooke trying to score brownie points by jumping on the rightwing bandwagon. Not sure what his standing is like at the Post, or whether they have 'preferred whitewashers' who get published on day 1 and 2.

PERFECTLY NORMAL · 0 · 5h ago

ANOTHER one

Zoë Irene 😷❤️🦈 · 0 · 4h ago

Why though 😩

Remain In Hell Without Despair · 0 · 1h ago

That's the neo-Alliance leader, lol. I'm beginning to suspect things about that party.