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The Forum > General Discussion > Kevin Rudd a considered opinion

Kevin Rudd a considered opinion

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It has been said I am welded on to Rudd, just maybe that is not true.
In a forum now gone, called I think Australian politics I referred to him as Krudd.
I have changed my opinion of him, will vote for him while he leads my party.
But why.
Well so many who challenge my view seem to think I see him as the best there ever was.
No I See him against what we in the ALP have, Bill Shorten, one day if he wishes Paul Howe's Lindsy Tanner right now are my favorites.
Kim Beasley was is and always will be a great bloke, would have been a great prime minister but he never would have been elected.
If the thread gets a run I have much to say about Rudd, but look at the damage people like Latham and Crean did, the awful mess their self interest left my party in yes I like Kevin Rudd.
But could anyone who is not welded on conservative ever vote for Abbott?
Posted by Belly, Sunday, 9 May 2010 7:33:57 PM
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Yes Belly, I also vote for the least awful alternative. This is happening all over the West, parties no longer get voted in, it is the other that is voted out or considered the least favourable option.

I could not imagine what sort of Australia we would end up with Abbott as the leader with his conservative and retrograde attitudes about IR and bias towards big business. Labor is not much better and Rudd's housekeeping has been poor, but there are others better than him in the ALP.

We vote against rather than for - the sad reality of Australian politics.
Posted by pelican, Sunday, 9 May 2010 11:09:57 PM
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Very much so pelican.
No party can give me every thing I want.
But some real thinkers have charged me with un questioning support for Rudd.
I am in no way so silly.
Before getting my views of him across let me say clearly, letters from no less than John Howard are in my desk thanking me for supporting him on issues.
And that, without reserve, I see Abbott and those who put him in power as the worst enemy's of the Liberal party in my life.
Not a chance, EVER I could other than vote against them.
Rudd took a shambolic wasted divided party, oh Kim had made changes but it was a witch's cauldron boiling under the surface, and made it as whole as is possible.
Failures like Garrett came via the silly idea seats should be presented to stars, or for that matter a few failures of the union movement.
Not not like Shorten he truly is a star candidate and never a failure.
Rudd has many wins, clearly stopping the NSW rats from entering federal Parliament was one.
ETS? He must convince me he got it right not calling a DD election.
I am open to claims he did it to save money in an uncertain world but not because the world turned gutless.
Posted by Belly, Monday, 10 May 2010 5:44:08 AM
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I too have no particular party that represents my views anymore Belly.

But I do agree that an Abbott led Govt would have me moving to NZ.

Rudd represents the voice of moderation in the mix for mine.

The extremist, small town ideological (even theological) basis for the thinking of Abbott and his supporters could take this country back even further than the Howard Govt did.

I am still expecting a barrage of media from the big end of town that has already been Rudd bashing for quite some time now. Mistakes have been made by the Govt ,(not particularly by Kevin Rudd). The game itself has changed along the way, due to worldwide causes and local obstruction by the Senate has made dealing with it, difficult.

Another poster (on another subject) said I should look at media bias in 1974-75 as the best example. I see parallels here.

In 74 ? a Labor Senator died from Qld, allowing Joe Bjelke Petersen to hijack the balance of power, by appointing a ring in Senator named Fields. Fields voted against the Govt on every occasion inc supply bills, bringing on the dismissal.

The media had a field day then bashing a Govt that on winning Govt went through 2 elections in 3 yrs and still could not get it's important bills through parliament.

Rudd has gone full term (probably) otherwise his situation is not dissimilar to Whitlam's
in that his important bills are also on hold.

The media wants a change of Govt if you listen to Andrew Bolt and Co, and action man Abbott is their man. If Rudd loses this election and Tony Abbott gets to reign free, in away that his idol Bob Santamaria could never have, is proof enough that there is no god Belly.
Posted by thinker 2, Monday, 10 May 2010 12:21:44 PM
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The situation here is similar to that which exists in other developed countries, which can be summarised as "the people and the politicians have different agendas".

We are presently having a good chortle at the Poms, with their "well hung" Parliament - the perfect spotlight on the iniquities of first-past-the-post. They will have to become accustomed to coalition politics, we snigger, and wean themselves off the system where one party rules at any one time.

But we are no better off, unfortunately. We're hamstrung, not by first-past-the-post, but by compulsory voting and a strictly two-party system. (Incidentally, anyone suggesting that the "Coalition" party is actually a coalition of two separate entities, is kidding)

We are told that in a democracy, we can express our views at the ballot box. But that is absolutely, emphatically and demonstrably not the case.

We are allowed to vote for a Party, that may or may not represent some or all of our political leanings. But once we have voted for them, they are under absolutely no obligation to carry out all, or even any, of the commitments they made when they were asking for our vote.

So we end up voting for an image. I have to confess that I came very close to voting for Rudd last time around. (I managed to find an Independent, who was probably quite surprised that his support extended beyond his immediate family)

In retrospect, my leaning towards Rudd was based entirely upon the contrast between Rudd's public persona, and Howard's - one that I had gradually come to loathe and despise.

(Granted, this did come off a baseline thorough dislike of boring, jumped-up suburban solicitors.)

I suspect that many Americans felt the same way about Obama, and his contrast with whoever-it-was on the Republican side.

The Rudd-gloss is now gone. Some may even have forgotten the toad-like presence of the master of bottom-of-the-parrot-cage dog-whistling.

But what remains is an impossible choice, between the cowardly do-nothingness of Rudd, or the possibility of an excess of zeal from a wild-eyed seminarian with a madonna/whore complex.

Some democracy.
Posted by Pericles, Monday, 10 May 2010 1:46:04 PM
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well i have tried to maintain a position where i like to believe that Rudd and his ministers will learn important lessons from the mistakes they have made. Unfortunately this isn't looking real good at this time. It seems every few weeks another diaster comes to light making it real hard to find new arguments to support him.
Really the best thing they have going for them right now is Abbott and please a budget that shows they are not going to continue to pile up debt.
The public mood is shifting and fast so hold on we may well have a change if Abbott can hold it together and not say what he really thinks.
New Zealand is out though as no matter what, this is the best place to live i know of.
Posted by nairbe, Monday, 10 May 2010 2:34:57 PM
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