I agree that one should vote for a good local representative - all politics is local, after all. For instance, as a formerly rusted-on Labor voter, it pained me that the Liberal incumbent at the 07 election was a decent gent who really worked hard for his constituents, while his Labor opponent was frankly a dill who got shoved into a difficult seat to meet gender quotas. Which made it a crying shame that she squeaked in solely on Green preferences.

To date, her greatest achievement seems to have been being able to nod *and* frown whenever her mug peeked over Rudd's shoulder during Question Time.

In *theory*, yes, a member should represent their constituents. In *reality*, and this is doubly so for Labor members who are rigidly locked into party solidarity, most of them follow the leader.

I wouldn't actually blame Rudd himself for the 'Kevin07' nonsense - there would have been an army of pollsters, marketers and campaign managers behind that one. But I do agree that Australian voters have the right to be hurt and betrayed that their choice has been so ruthlessly abrogated by the faceless men.

Another nudge left. When will you wake up Australia. After all your freedom and peace are gone. Mix that mud,krac, stomp that hay, krac, make those bricks, krac.

Missing The Obvious

by Rich Deem

Lone Ranger and Tonto

The Lone Ranger and Tonto are camping in the desert,
set up their tent, and are sleeping. Some hours later,
The Lone Ranger wakes his faithful friend.
"Tonto look up,and tell me what you see."
Tonto replies " Me see millions of stars."
"What does that tell you?" asks the Lone Ranger.
Tonto ponders for a minute.
"Astronomically speaking, it tells me that there are
millions of galaxies and potentially billions of planets.
Astrologically, it tells me Saturn is in Leo.
Time wise, it appears to be about approximately a quarter
past three.
Theologically, it's evident the Lord is all powerful,
and we are small and insignificant.
Meteorologically, we will have a beautiful day tomorrow.
What it tell you Kemo Sabi?"
The Lone Ranger is silent for a moment, then speaks
" Tonto, you dumb hoss, someone has stolen our tent."

Thank you Joanne for your post. I feel the same way in that I want to thank Kevin Rudd for his service as Prime Minister. Overall, I think he has done a great job and he gave everything he had in the service of our country.

Well done Mr. Rudd! As someone who voted for you as PM, I am sorry to see you no longer as PM.

I think Rudd's downfall was brought about by two major factors - the 'presidential' style of his ascension to the ALP leadership and thence to winning the 2007 election, and his about-face on climate change.

His government's abandonment of its commitment to implement measures to reduce greenhouse emissions made a lie of Rudd's hyperbolic 'greatest moral issue of our time' claim, and it was from that point that his personal popularity in the polls began its freefall. It's ironic that it was precisely his 'presidential' posturing that meant he personally embodied the betrayal that those who voted for him felt at his refusal to negotiate on the CPRS and its ultimate shelving.

I've commented elsewhere about the shallowness of personality politics in Australia, and I think we've just seen where 'presidentialism' leads.

gdog: >>The majority of people who voted for the Labor Party and the Leader Kevin Rudd gave him their support so that he could tackle the issue of climate change.<<

Climate change is certainly a political issue, but not a core voter issue in the suburbs, except for those who have a penchant for positive causes and they tend to reside closer to the CBD.

Kevie only has himself to blame for this one. for he clean forgot
the fundamantals of politics.

As they say when it comes to taxation, if you are going to try
and pluck the goose, do it with minimal hissing from the goose
and avoid it biting you. Kevie totally misjudged the mining tax
situation and its bitten him in his arse.

For of course it was ALP MPs who overwhelmingly went against him
in the end, the numbers stacked so against him, that he did not
even test the vote.

Too many of those MPs come from marginal seats in Qld and WA, they
knew that the mining tax would cost them their seat at the next
election. So they acted out of self interest to preserve their
skin, as people do. Rudd had stupidly painted himself into a
corner on this one and acted more like a dictator then a leader
of a democratic party. Rather then consulting with leaders of
the mining industry and business community, he tried to lecture
them.

Power does go to peoples head sometimes, such as this case.

So he really did get what he deserved, for he had lost touch
with the real world out there.

Ok, so some bleating hearts will shed some tears, but politics
is more realistic then that.