The National Forum   Donate   Your Account   On Line Opinion   Forum   Blogs   Polling   About   
The Forum - On Line Opinion's article discussion area



Syndicate
RSS/XML


RSS 2.0

Main Articles General

Sign In      Register

The Forum > Article Comments > The case for Kevin > Comments

The case for Kevin : Comments

By Dilan Thampapillai, published 24/2/2012

It's not all about him because it's all about winning the next election.

  1. Pages:
  2. 1
  3. 2
  4. 3
  5. 4
  6. Page 5
  7. 6
  8. All
Have I got this right?

Is it all about the importance of NOT being Tony?

(With apologies to Oscar Wilde and "The Importance of being Ernest".)

Here is my understanding of the current situation:

--There are no great political, ideological, philosophical or policy differences between the Gillard and Rudd camps. They simply hate each other.

--The Gillard camp say they deposed Rudd in June 2010 because he was some kind of a psychopath. They nonetheless appointed this supposed "dysfunctional" and "chaotic" man to the post of foreign minister.

--The great Australian electorate, forgetting in what low esteem they held Rudd in June 2010, are now supposedly clamouring for his return.

--Rudd is selling himself as the man who can stop Tony Abbott becoming Prime Minster. The Gillard camp is saying they can do it without Rudd's help.

--The message coming from ALP politicians is "We know we're a bunch of rectal cavities but at least we're not Tony Abbott."

--The only smidgeon of comfort for ALP supporters is that, by a hairsbreadth, their party is not as dysfunctional as the Republican Party in the US. However that could still change.

--Eighteen months is a long time in politics and Tony Abbott may yet self-destruct but only a fool would bet a large sum on Tony Abbott NOT being prime minister by the end of 2013.

Is this a fair summary?
Posted by stevenlmeyer, Saturday, 25 February 2012 12:38:57 PM
Find out more about this user Recommend this comment for deletion Return to top of page Return to Forum Main Page Copy comment URL to clipboard
Good summary, but I don't think Monday's ballot will be a two way affair. No matter what happen's, Labor spin doctors will want it to demonstrate and be able to sell its cred as an internally democractic party. They know its not about Gillard or Rudd, but about the perception of the party over a longer period of time. They need to come away with at least a 45 % support for Labor, no matter who captain's the sinking ship.
Posted by Rainier, Saturday, 25 February 2012 4:18:39 PM
Find out more about this user Visit this user's webpage Recommend this comment for deletion Return to top of page Return to Forum Main Page Copy comment URL to clipboard
There have been suggestions that if Rudd was able to become Prime Minister again he would emulate Napoleon, who made a similar comeback.

The problem is that if Rudd did a Napoleon, Abbott would do a Duke of Wellington.
Posted by plerdsus, Saturday, 25 February 2012 5:49:04 PM
Find out more about this user Recommend this comment for deletion Return to top of page Return to Forum Main Page Copy comment URL to clipboard
I endorse everything Marilyn Shepherd said. Although Rudd is no major radical by any means, Gillard is infinitely more compliant to US and corporate media interests than he ever was or is ever likely to be.

And doesn't anyone find it suspicious that soooo many articles, interviews, broadcasts, editorials and op eds have all suddenly come out dancing exactly the same chorus line as the factions who dumped Rudd? Throughout the entire mainstream media, there is not even the minutest departure from what is shaping up to be a very stringently controlled script. And I just wonder who is controlling it.

For a contender with almost no chance of gaining a majority vote on Monday, why the character-assassination overkill? If the guy was even half as pathological as the supposed tell-all insider accounts of the last few days, why did his colleagues vote him in as leader in the first place? He'd been around a long time - long enough for his character traits to be well known to everyone who dealt with him.

There is something very fishy going on here. But what else is new?
Posted by Killarney, Saturday, 25 February 2012 5:55:43 PM
Find out more about this user Recommend this comment for deletion Return to top of page Return to Forum Main Page Copy comment URL to clipboard
Anyone else see Albanese's pathetic performance tonight? His tears were those of a very weak man fearing he would pick a 'loser' and consequently unwilling to commit himself either way until the very last. In order to avoid being associated with a losing candidate he essentially has had an each way bet, 'I will vote for Rudd but I still like Julia'

This whole things this is becoming an outrageous joke. The Labor party are acting like a group of emotionally incontinent schoolgirls, in tears and full of regret and recrimination over what someone said to someone else.

And lying silently, waiting for their opportunity to pick over the carcasses are Arbib, Shorten and Paul Howes, the faceless men who caused the whole debacle and who hope to discover rich pickings later on.
Posted by Atman, Saturday, 25 February 2012 9:38:38 PM
Find out more about this user Recommend this comment for deletion Return to top of page Return to Forum Main Page Copy comment URL to clipboard
Atman,

You may be right, but it is also possible that Albanese, a decent sort of bloke, knows bloody well that this will be the end of the Labor Party for at least a decade, and perhaps forever. It's quite okay to choke up at a funeral.

Arbib, Howes and Shorten may have the bones to pick over for a very long time to come, if that is their intention. Or they will have the huge task of re-building a party whose time may have passed, as its working-class base erodes away and moves to the Coalition, and its 'progressive' wing [have things sunk so low ?] joins the Greens.

'Party' is perhaps inappropriate:'wake' may be more relevant.
Posted by Loudmouth, Saturday, 25 February 2012 10:00:25 PM
Find out more about this user Recommend this comment for deletion Return to top of page Return to Forum Main Page Copy comment URL to clipboard
  1. Pages:
  2. 1
  3. 2
  4. 3
  5. 4
  6. Page 5
  7. 6
  8. All

About Us :: Search :: Discuss :: Feedback :: Legals :: Privacy