John Key has finally spoken up about Paul Henry's racist comments this morning. But did he condemn them and stand up unequivocally for the rights of all New Zealanders? Yeah, right:
Prime Minister John Key says Breakfast host Paul Henry's comments about Governor-General Sir Anand Satyanand were "just plain wrong" but they won't stop him from appearing on the show again next week.And that's John Key in a nutshell for you: too afraid of the rednecks even to condemn an outright racist. What a chickenshit. A decent man would say clearly that Henry's comments were racist and intolerable, and refuse to appear on any show he hosted (hell, a decent man would have said it at the time, rather than flipping it off with a joke). But our infinitely flexible Prime Minister is clearly not a decent man.[...]
The Prime Minister wouldn't comment on whether he thought the comments were racist, nor whether disciplinary action should be taken against Mr Henry.
By refusing to condemn Henry's racism, Key is effectively condoning it. I expect better from a New Zealand Prime Minister.