Costello is to blame?? I don’t think so!

I’ve thought very poorly of Costello all along. I’d love to be able to blame him for the Libs’ debacle.

But the opposite is true. His resignation and self-removal was the best thing that he ever did (:>|…….and a damn good thing for the party as well.

He was most definitely NOT the right person to lead the Libs! I can’t see that they would have settled down at all or been more likely to win the next election with Costalotello at the helm.

Of all the ridiculous things to blame a politician for that beats it. Costello wasn't hungry enough for power and wished to leave. Good for him! Too many politicians stay in safe seats long after they have passed their useby dates. The problem is the Coalition itself. Dinosaurs like Wilson Tuckey and Minchin who deny climate change and the Nationals whose interests the Libs don't serve. Bob Katter was a National who faced that reality and switched to being an independent. There is need for an intelligent opposition, and the Coalition should be replaced by it.

What a silly article.

Perhaps Costello wanted a change of scenery.

Perhaps Costello was tired of federal politics.

Perhaps Costello simply didn't want the leadership anymore. But the undertone of this article suggests that he should put aside all personal desires, family commitments and hopes and aspirations in order to lead a political party he doesn't want to lead.

Maybe we should blame Howard for placing all his eggs in the one basket?

It is crystal clear, even from an article stating a contrary view, that the blame lies firmly with John Howard.

He should have stepped aside much, much earlier, to give his successor ample time to settle into the job. He failed to do this, lost the election, lost his own seat, and then proceeded to hold up the poison chalice, saying "Ok Peter, now you can have it".

I have no particular liking for Costello, and I think he too would probably have led the party to defeat.

But to blame him for the current debâcle is simply not plausible.

Pericles
Absolument!

You took the words right out of my mouth.

If they were that dependent of the politics of personality then they deserved to be in that situation.

What's wrong with just having viable policies and promoting them?

Costello wasn't the Messiah - he was just a naughty boy.

Crises? What crises?

That was last week, when we had a Liberal Party leader who was the darling of the press, which should dhave been a dead giveaway that he was in the wrong party - that behaviour by our media usually is reserved for ALP royaly.

So confidant in their man, they thought the ETS was a given and then were so bitter in defeat - that's true isn't it, they are not just the opposition to the government, but to the press, who all know the government is right and thus, should not be questioned.

Now we have Tony Abbott, a man who, regardless of what you think of him is a leader of a political party, not some autocratic CEO of a financial organisation.

The press got it wrong, so wrong with Joe Hockey, their next favourite, dear me they try to form political opinion in this country and miss by a mile.

Peter Costello? He's always been a non player in the leadership stakes, a good performer, but not a leader. Yes, I agree with Pericles as well, PM Howard missed the moment to pass the baton.

We're past it all now anyway, I do remember the ALP having 3 leaders in 2 years as well, was that described as the ALP tearing itself apart, no, of course not - that sort of hysterical comment is only made about conservatives.

Scott, you have to let go the hate at some stage, it starts to look odd after a while - but I guess you'll just move on to hating Tony Abbott, oh well everyone needs a hobby.

odo, you might be correct about abbott, but i very much doubt it.

first of all, the liberals will now have to come up with a climate policy and "do nothing" won't cut it. abbott has ruled out the ets, he's ruled out a carbon tax. what he's left with is smoke and mirrors.

secondly, though abbott has integrity, he's pretty nasty and pretty right wing. he's not just catholic in name, he's catholic in practice. he'll please the liberal right, but i don't see he'll please much of anybody else. definitely he's a hard sell for women.

so, i think abbott will either be true to himself, and inevitably piss people off. or, he'll tone himself down and become a no-man. my guess is he'll be the liberals' version of mark latham.

Ludwig,
I reckon Howard should have stepped aside after his first term as a winner,it was all down hill from there. By the time we got to the Tampa, and core and non core promises,I glad that I hadn't voted for him after his initial term.

You initially voted for Howard, Examinator!! Eeergh!

Um, no I don’t think Howard should have handed the leadership over to Costello at any time. I just can’t see any merit at all in him being leader. For all Howard’s foibles (and I don’t include the Tampa incident as one of those), I reckon Costello would have been a whole lot more fault-ridden.

Bushbasher, I think you're wrong.

The coalition only needs to come up with a climate solution, if it's politically necessary, like PM Howard did, though he didn't believe in it. The coalition will no longer have to do anything for something that is nothing to do with man. They can "do nothing", because the whole scientific fallacy is falling apart, and politically he can oppose it and win. You may disagree.

I disagree that Abbott is so unpopular, that's a typical left wing attitude which is just as typically tinted by hatred for the right. Yes Tony is of the right, and the tide may be turning since alot of people are getting sick of the slimy and tricky way the ALP run things, so soon too. The constant bullying and press management may please the left and the luvvies, but doesn't fool everyone all the time.

If you want to see someone piss people off, then just tune into the ever more frequent rants of our PM as he slags off at the population. Calling skeptics loons and accusing them of not having their childern's interests at heart may be fun in the halls of parliament, but he's just alienated a big part of the Australian population which will not forgive him his arrogant ways.

PM Howard never ever called Australians names, say what you like but PM Rudd has just done so much damage to himself, and some say PM Howard was guilty of hubris, I ask you - consider these rants of your dear leader?

You need a big dose of thick skin to listen to the PM rant and call you names and then go vote for him and his big taxes again, good on you Kev, we don't need to do much, just stand in the way and you'll do it all yourself.

Costello seen the writing on the wall long age. He was to far in front to be bothered with such a gathering. He stayed on the back bench long enough to see what was on offer else where.
The libs have a do nothing attitude toward climate change.
To clean up the air we breath is mandatory.
Business only sees what it may cost them, to clean up their act, rather than doing something to help them self.
I think Turnbull will end up changing lanes, and become a labour man, he has to many brains to stay where he is. He showed his courage by sticking to his advanced thoughts. Only one vote in it.

>>But to blame him for the current debâcle is simply not plausible.<<

There are two sides to every argument. One could well blame Costello for acting like the perennial bridesmaid and not stepping up to the plate, going after the job and taking the political heat and responsibility that comes with it. Howard probably thought that, seeing as though he did a lot of the hard yards over the decades, he was the one that deserved whatever political dividend he got. Why should Costello have automatically shared in that? This is just the natural end product that you'd expect in a Party of the individualist.

Costello did not want to be a loosing leader, [then loose the job] & thought the libs would loose the next election. He wanted someone else to do that, & outfoxed himself, to that end. I don't think we've much lost too much.

Yes, Desmond, Turnbull, with the arrogance of a dimwitted fool, should move to the other camp. He would find another of his species, right there at the top.

With any luck, they just may eliminate eachother. That would be poetic justice.

Half a "mo". That would probably mean another of Labor's runs with some fool woman in the job.

Ruddy's bad enough, but a Helen Clarke would be even worse. With the lefts record of lady leaders, you'd think they would stop, [while they are behind], but it appears not.

Labor, excelent at lying, slogans, & electioning, hopeless at government.

Costello, not too bad at the war, hopless at winning the pease

Did you see the result sof the by elections in two Liberal blue ribbon seats?

Seats the idiot left wing press said would fall now that Tony Abbott leads the Liberals, now that the ETS has been sent down, now that Copenhagen will not see PM Rudd wearing Australia's economy as a trophy?

What a whalloping the Greens got, justly deserved, Clive Hamilton and some no name in Sydney got trounced. The ALP too gutless to stand a candidate, especially when they called the liberals gutless when they didn't stand a candidate against the ALP in their homeland? Hypocrits, where is the howling of the press now?

I laugh and laugh at the ignorant press trying to form public opinion, do you feel powerless, you should.

All the focussed hatred on Tony Abbott and the Liberals now that darling Turnbull is gone, and isn't he a poor loser.

What an excellant result.

As the media arm of the ALP you all should feel like the fools you are. Oh for some objective jouralism in Australia, if only we had a few more conservative journalists instead of the conga line of ALP suck ups, the Age the ABCLP, the Sydney Moaning Heart, etc

Party being torn apart - you wish!

Crikey odo, I’d hardly call it a walloping for the Greens in either Bradfield or Higgins.

As for the rest of your post, I think it is rather overstated. We can’t really attribute too much to the Liberal leadership change and infighting in terms of the outcomes in these two seats, can we?

I somehow think that the fact that Labor didn’t run candidates in either seat was just a slightly bigger factor!

Fair suck of the sauce bottle, Ludwig, if the Liberals had lost the seats, it would have been clear indication that the new leadership, the ETS voted down, etc would have been to blame. Don't give that crap now that it didn't matter, what utter rubbish, you shuold just admit you all got it wrong.

The left wing media, ABCLP was baying and barracking against the liberal candidates. Jon Faine on the morning ABCLP has constantly paid out on the Lib cabdidate while Clive Hamilton had guest spots morning and night to comment on all green and ETS matters .. no offers there of balance at all.

The ABCLP online ran photos of Clive Hamilton as they announced, the Libs were fortunate to keep the seat, that report is now gone in favour of reality, but it was clear last night that the darlings at the ABCLP were dissappointed their man didn't get up.

Why didn't the ALP run candidates? In PM Rudd's words, Gutless?

Oh of course, Clive Haliton, Green is a de facto ALP person, yes?

The worm is turning, the belief that the people of Australia all believed the rubbish about man made climate change, appears to be not correct, and the flailing begins - I expect the PM will give Australians abnother serve, which is just great - come on Kev, alienate some more of the community with your vitriol.

The days of being able to dismiss skeptics has gone, finally the skepticism has been revealed to be well founded, and the hysterical end of the world beliefs to be just that, hysterical rantings of people in denial that the climate will change regardless of what we do or don't do - taxes aside of course!

Oh speaking of hilarious, the ALP demanding that anyone eelse produce policies, what a joke, they didn't have any before the last election except, what Pm Howard said, and theitr only other policies, where against what PM (MOS) Howard said .. do you they think the community is so stupid that they don't remember?

Hubris anyone? Kev?

“…if the Liberals had lost the seats, it would have been clear indication that the new leadership, the ETS voted down, etc would have been to blame”

Not necessarily, Odo. People could have voted the Libs down because they saw them as a hopeless bunch of eternally infighting fools. The ETS may not have been a major factor. Anyway, that is all hypothetical now.

“Why didn't the ALP run candidates?”

Good question. They presumably thought that they didn’t have a chance of winning. But that is no excuse. Surely they should feel obligated to put up candidates in EVERY seat at every election and by-election if they possibly can. It does not reflect well on them at all.

Abbott has been critical of Labor for not putting up a contest in these two seats. I have to agree.

“Oh of course, Clive Haliton, Green is a de facto ALP person, yes?”

Clive Hamilton is greener than the Greens! He’s a real sustainability advocate.... which would make him very different from Labor!

I’m sure he’ll be back, and into federal political circles before too long, which will be a very good thing IMO.