Politicians: As crooked as a barrel of snakes

The issue of disclosing the name or names behind political donations is back in the spotlight. National appear to be doing an about-turn in regards to the topic of disclosing the names of those who donate, which is bound to incite a great debate over whether National are fulfilling the general "cut the PC crap"-type promises. Your Views asked: Should the source of political donations be more transparent?

Blerkie Dronks (Remuera)
What difference does it make, anyway? Each party is as bad as the other; all as crooked as a barrel of snakes.

Many comments allude to the classic stereotype of politicians as inherently evil and corrupt, but Blerkie Dronks dismisses the question entirely, effectively saying that political processes don't warrant critical thought as all politicians are liars.

Richard (Timaru)
Sounds like a well needed tidy up of the cock-up labour did, and fixing laws that have been badly written for a long time.

Lyall (Sandringham)
Richard (Timaru) please read the article. National are supporting the "Cock-up" that Labour did because Labour are saying they did not go far enough.
This is about National attempting to minimise disclosure and supporting the existing bill is better, to them, than extending the disclosure rules.
I can only assume that National has more to hide.

It's so interesting when the users critique each other's interpretation of events. Telling Richard to "read the article" is sure to make him pretty mad, especially as he seems pretty convinced of Labour's "cock-up" and National's job as Mister Fix-it. I'll keep an eye out for Richard's reply!

Jay (Swanson)
I am gobsmacked that a party (the National Party!) that campaigned with the utmost bitter intensity against a law which this newspaper branded anti-democratic (which it was never intended to be, but a charge which suited the Nats political aspirations and gave their friends in the Herald carte blanche to run with it) has been barely tweaked and the current mob in power now seem to think that Labour kinda got it right!
But what is equally amazing is the matter of fact way that the Herald reports this without any of the emotive hyberbolic language that it used in its descriptions of Labour's original bill. I guess with an international community looking on, and with a realisation that many countries have these kinds of laws, that they are not, after all, anti-democaratic, that it might be a tad "obvious" if the current government turned the table. Really "gets my goat."

As with many other mainstream news outlets, the NZ Herald has many faults (see Editing the Herald for a daily update of such weaknesses!). However, you've got to pat them on the back for allowing Your Views users to criticise their coverage, obviously the moderator didn't take great exception to Jay's comments. Mind you, the rules for Your Views do state that posts are subject to editing for 'length and clarity' so who knows the true extent of Jay's criticism, except perhaps Jay himself?