David Farrar correctly notes that left blogs have for the most part have ignored the Winston Peters donation scandal. And so far, that has included this blog. I have no ordinary desire to write about that man and his party, they disgust me enough that I feel dirty even mentioning their names.

If you lie with the dogs, you’re sure to catch fleas. Labour made their bed, they shouldn’t expect sympathy.

Now, Labour Party activists will tell me that they had no options after the 05 election. I don’t believe them. The Māori Party talked with the Labour Party after the election about coming to an arrangement, most likely support on confidence and supply.  It would have meant the Labour Party being humble, certainly, and the repeal of the Seabed and Foreshore Act. There would have been other things that were hard to swallow. The relations between Clark and Māori Party in the years previous, and the fact that Labour’s biggest donor Owen Glenn had also patronised the party by offering $250,000 in secret in return for a guarantee of support probably didn’t help.

So Labour instead chose to go with United Future and NZ First, and try and push their legislative agenda with help from across the benches. It must have seemed like a good idea at the time.