What makes you think politics is rational? Politicians appeal to emotions. It's not so much a slide towards Rudd but away from Howard. I'd wait a while before making sweeping generalisations. Calling an election tends to pull up the polls for the incumbent. Oh yeah, polls aren't rational either.

What an extraordinary load of arrogant irrational drivel.
The Tories are born to rule OK.

Howard's "capacity to best connect to working australians" is summed up by Workchoices. amazingly dumb article by another liberal shill. felicity wasn't available?

Its the polls, no its the media, no its Rudd, no its aliens from mars. When will the Liberal Party realise it is them?

What a blow-hard. Like most Tories, Ariel believes people are only being rational when they vote for his lot. When they contemplate an alternative they immediately become a panic-stricken mob.

Memo to Jonathon: The Labor Party are the natural reformers of Australian politics - the first Hawke cabinet was the most intellectually formidable government in Australian history. Together, Hawke and Keating opened the Australian economy to the world and laid the foundations for the 17 years of continuous economic growth that Howard now claims credit for.

What the people are craving is a return to centralism in Australian politics. People are sick and tired of the scapegoating of minorities, the wedge politics and the culture wars that attempt to make enemies of anyone who reads books or who entertains a view of the world that encompasses other things than making money.

In this context, your faux hysterical claims about looming socialism are yet another sign of the vicious, born-to-rule mentality which afflicts the dwindling band of radical right-wing supporters for a prime minister well past his use by date.

Answer this question, Ariel. If even his own ministers have no faith in him, how rational would it be for the electorate to plump for another term of Howard?

An excellent analysis - the media is baying for change and allowing the ALP a dream run.
Rudd has shown himself to be arrogant, incompetent and inexperienced and the media utters not a word.
If John Howard stepped down the media would immediately brand him a coward and say "all is now lost".
No Ruawake and others the problem is not the Coalition - the problem is the media and a Leader of the Opposition who is terrified of letting his team have too much to say.
The ALP has unionists and staffers all over the place - and noone is saying a word for fear of people realising just who might be in control.
Be afraid, be very afraid? Yes, the ALP will be able to wreck the economy and the workplace within weeks of an election and the damage they will do in three years will be irreparable. This is an election the Coalition may lose. If it does then Australia will lose far more. It may be though that the media will be more to blame than the electorate.
Noone is reminding the electorate that Rudd agreed that there were WMDs in Iraq and, behind the scenes, was agreeable to sending troops there. And if we are to pull out of Irag then we should also pull out of Afghanistan, East Timor - and the UN.