What were they thinking? Why did four of Labour's most politically astute MPs - Phil Goff, Annette King, Clayton Cosgrove and Kris Faafoi - not foresee how awful it would look for senior party figures to be seen hobnobbing with SkyCity executives in the company's corporate box at Eden Park last Saturday night?
Those MPs have since tried to rationalise their acceptance of SkyCity's hospitality by saying they had used the invitation to remind their hosts of Labour's trenchant opposition to last month's deal between the gaming company and John Key's Government.
In debating the merits or otherwise of the construction of a world-class convention centre in Auckland in return for SkyCity getting more pokies and a lengthy extension of its casino licence, the MPs may have persuaded themselves that they were simply mixing business with pleasure.
No one else is going to buy that line, however.
Whatever argument the MPs might have mounted would have been completely undermined by their "supping from the gambler's cup" - as National's Tony Ryall delicately put it while twisting the knife in Parliament on Wednesday.
The consequent perception is that Labour says one thing and does another. And, as oft-stated, perception is everything in politics.
Armstrong is absolutely correct here. Labour should have had the political initiative this week but has instead ended the week on the back foot because of the perception that some of its senior MP's words and actions are not always in synch.
Worse for Labour is that this issue has raised fresh questions over David Shearer's leadership. Shearer's management of this issue has been woeful, and if he can't manage a caucus of just 33 MP's (himself included), you'd have to question whether he has the skills to run a government.
But wait; there's more! The rest of Armstrong's lengthy column is worth a read too as he suggests that Labour might have to climb down from its SkyCity high horse due to simple realities like jobs noting that "Labour's stance on the convention centre runs counter to one of the three fundamental policy themes the party intends to hammer going into election year - namely helping to create jobs.".
It's a good read on a bleak Saturday morning, and should provide Mr Shearer with plenty of food for thought, and perhaps have him reaching for the antacids.
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