Politics is all about perception and the perception of his last time on the ninth floor was bad for three reasons. 

Crime - they were too soft. 

Spending - too much waste.

And debt - too much with nothing to show for it.

All of this fed into the cost-of-living crisis.

Basically, Labour was too loose on the purse strings and the gangs, too harsh on businesses and middle New Zealand. 

Yesterday, Hipkins stood up in the Parliament and argued for shorter sentences for some MPs after gun-gesture-gate. 

Arguing for a reduced sentence from 21 days to 1 day was ill-advised. 

No matter where you sit on the actual debate, politically for Chippy in the eyes of the middle voter, it was a bad move. 

Arguing for a 95% discount on sentencing just plays into a narrative they ought to avoid like the plague. 

That was strike three. 

Strike two came earlier in the day on debt. 

He refused to commit to the debt ceiling of 50% of GDP. 

It's the sacred threshold Treasury warns we shouldn't cross. 

It's the same threshold even Grant Robertson said we shouldn't cross. 

The same threshold even ol' Barb from accounts said we shouldn't cross a day earlier. 

So now National can run around till the election screaming "debt monster" till their blue in the face and won't be wrong until he commits otherwise. 

Strike one came courtesy of the Greens last week. 

The mad-hatter alternative budget... the plan so toxic it'd kill growth like roundup on your weeds. 

Chippy first said he hadn't read it, which nobody believed. Then he said he'd read it and wouldn't rule anything out. So, he might allow some or all of the roundup to be sprayed on our economic prosperity. 

Then he says some of the stuff was bad, some was okay, but not committing to anything. 

Obviously, this is the high tide mark on a Green party negotiating position post-election and most of won't actually happen.

In the same way the privileges committee thing is not that big of a deal to most voters. 

But politics is about perception. And perception is reality.

It's three own goals in a week. Three strikes for Chippy. 

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