Abbott's questioning has a broader target than mere beliefs. He has 'kicked' Rudd's heartland not his head.

Rudd should respond to Abbott's ideas...only if it's devoid of 'play the man' antics.

Rudd needs enunciate the Labor Party policy details of his proposed Iraqi withdrawal. They were recently speculated about in 'The Australian'. Once those details are more widely known in public arena Abbott's article will seem prophetic.

Generally the electorate believe Rudd will withdraw all troops from Iraq...sooner rather than later. That perception's been portrayed in the media.
If I recall correctly, as speculated in the mentioned article, Rudd's position on a withdrawal from Iraq, is that we will withdraw some ground troops and leave some there. Withdrawal will only occur with close liasion with the Yanks. We'll leave our naval force in the Gulf and if necessary we'll leave all our forces to complete their current tour and the next...if the Yanks want us to stay.

A comment in the article was telling. 'Rudd's policy would satisfy most of the factions in his party'. Sure it would, but he'd cop flack from every other quarter for the withdrawal 'you'd have when you ain't having a withdrawal'.

If the speculation is true then that case supports Abbott's contention Rudd tries to be all things to all people. However it's not because of his desire to be popular but from a desire to 'cement' his faction ridden Labor Party.
I think Howard's latest attack was accidental, but it has resulted in Rudd losing momentum. It also exposed the very weakness, targetted by Abbott. If Rudd, as he expects, 'comes back to the field' and as this aspect of his performance is continually targetted then very serious doubts will arise. In voters minds, his ability to carry the policy he attempts to project will be questioned and as people start examining details of his policies those doubts will magnify.

Re personal attacks, who's forgotten the 'liar' attacks over our entry into Iraq, the AWB attack's and the Nuclear Power related assault on John Howard's integrity. Many posters here have short memories.

I used to think that Bornhoffen was a yoghurt but now I realise that it was a simile for the philosophy of a well known cleric who had great insight and intuition during the Nazi Holocaust of WWII. It was a more serious culture when we consider the heroic story of Dietrich Bonhoeffer.

http://members.aol.com/baronvanc/christia.htm

I first heard of this man in the book by Heinz Heger called "the Man with a Pink Triangle". This autobiography about a homosexual "capo" trying to survive in Flossenburg a dreaded concentration camp. Perhaps not nearly as bad as Daccau where 20,000 homosexual were killed in North Sea hypothermia experiments. In all the humiliation and atrocities, they witnessed the hanging of "the priest".

According to Heger, he looked up to the dark cloudy sky and just as he was about to be executed, one spot of light shone right on his face. He was then hanged.

Apart from preaching tolerance this heroic icon preached "walking the walk" more than "talking the talk".

This is something politicians are just not capable of doing. For Rudd to claim that he follows Bonhoeffer, he risks being branded a hypocrite just as much as Abbot.

We don't agree on many things but David has a point. If you wave the Christian flag, you either nail your colours on the post, or you take a more modest approach, in the name of Bonhoeffer, and keep it personal rather than make it a public circus.

Some things are best left sacred.

Tony Abott's performance is an aborration. We can only pray that the voters of his seat will rid his face from ours for the sake of Australian dignity.

I guess Christians would like their dignity back too.

All the Labor ludites are waxing lyrical about their golden haired Messiah Kevin,however it takes a skilled,intelligent team with talent to pull it off.Other than Kev,there is nothing but a lamentable abyss of disgruntled Howard haters who don't have enough brains to realise that they are also part of the problem.

In nearly every Labor state with their Union agenda's we are seeing both social and economic decay.NSW is a classic example.How will Federal Labor be any different with far less talent than the Hawke/Keating eras?Keating left us with an $80 billion deficit and an economy in ruins.This deficit was almost 14% of GDP.We also had double digit inflation and unemployment.Oh how the memories are so short.History does repeat itself.Labor will again stuff the economy and the Coalition will again have to fix it.

Labor,the so called champion of the poor hurt them the most.They premote rights and victim status over responsibility and work ethic.

The Coalition should have not had such an easy ride and we are all the poorer for it.

No doubt Rex you would be proud of the sexualisation of young kids as done in the Netherlands. Many are happy to show kids of 4 or 5 years old perverted sexual acts including sodomy. I am sure that most citizens in Australia would love this. It is also in the Netherlands that Paedophiles want the age of consent dropped to 12 years of age. The Netherlands might be able to boast that they have taught 10 year olds how to wear condoms even if kids are being abused and losing their innocence at a much younger age.

Annoying stupor! Feeble, weak ineffectual, worthless and obtuse.

No wonder we are in trouble!

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sharkfin said: "Whatever happened to separation of church and state. People with strong religious persuasions of any kind should not be allowed to stand for government."

Isn't that inherently discriminatory? The day religious observers are barred from participating in the debates about the values that underpin our society will the day Western democracy as we know it ceases to exist. Christian-based political parties currently form government in a number of staunchly secular European countries e.g. the Christian Democrats in Germany, the Christian Democratic Appeal in the Netherlands. Nobody is seriously arguing that these parties cross the line between church and state.