Roundup: Hair-pulling draws attention to New Zealand PM's judgment

New Zealand Prime Minister John Key's popularity has persisted at record high levels over three general elections and a series of challenges, but hair- pulling might be his worst mistake yet.

Critics from across the political spectrum united Wednesday in questioning his judgment after he was criticized for persistently pulling a woman's hair at one of his favorite Auckland cafes.

The woman, a waitress, wrote anonymously in a left-wing blog of feeling "powerless and frustrated" over a succession of visits by Key, his wife Bronagh and their squad of security personnel.

She wrote how she openly expressed her unhappiness with Key repeatedly pulling her ponytail before finally threatening to hit the prime minister if he did it again.

On the next visit, the millionaire political leader returned with two bottles of his own brand red wine, apologized and left before the woman could tell him she didn't like red wine, but she kept the bottles to photograph as proof of the incident.

The accusations have become headline news across the New Zealand and overseas media and Key admitted the incident in a video interview screened by 3 News.

Asked why he'd apologized, he replied, "At that point, I realized she'd taken offense because it was all in the context of a bit of banter that was going on."

His attempt to portray his actions as "fun and games" backfired disastrously with a video from a news program quickly emerging of Key stroking the long blond ponytail of a young girl in the street.

Opposition politicians were quick to criticize Key's actions as abuse of power.

National Council of Women chief executive Sue McCabe penned an open letter to Key, telling him he had "crossed the line" regardless of how well intentioned he was.

The Service and Food Workers Union issued a statement, calling the prime minister's hair tugging "completely unacceptable" and part of "a pattern of disrespect and inappropriate behavior."

Last week, an opinion poll had Key's center-right National Party sitting on a respectable 49 percent support after more than six years in office.

This month alone he has overseen a controversial military deployment to Iraq, a worsening housing crisis that has put the government at odds with its central bank, and an ongoing plunge in the price of dairy prices, New Zealand's biggest export commodity.

But the ponytail saga has ignited dissatisfaction even among Key's admirers and those on the same end of the political spectrum.

Political editor of the New Zealand Herald newspaper, Audrey Young, wrote that the international attention given to the ponytail tugging was the first time she had been embarrassed by Key as New Zealand's prime minister.

"It is one of those stories that denigrates him and his office, " wrote Young.

And right-wing political commentator Matthew Hooton wrote an opinion piece for the state-owned Radio New Zealand, saying the reports would "accelerate a process where the fuel of public popularity that drives (Key) is withdrawn."

"Prime ministers can be hated by huge proportions of the population and survive, but they cannot become laughing stocks," wrote Hooton. "That's the unmanageable risk faced by Mr. Key." Endi