Peter Costello has portrayed himself as being betrayed by the percieved Judas in his party,however there were many times in which he could have challenged for leadership and elected not to do so,for fear of failure.

Peter at the moment has a prime opportunity to prove his worth and take up the leadership of the Liberal Party.

We know you have the intellect and the experience Peter,but do you have the courage and resolve of John Howard to keep coming back and realise something that is worth more than the Rudd Hollywood glitz of image without substance?

Oh please Arjay. Over the last few years you and I have been very much onside on this forum. But…

“We know you have the intellect and the experience Peter…”

Costalotello has not demonstrated much intellect at all, despite his eleven years of opportunity to be right in the national spotlight. He has shown himself to be very narrowly focussed indeed.

Woe betide us if this twit was to become the leader of the opposition. He’d have the almost immediate effect of enhancing KRudd’s image!

If I had to choose between Nelson, Turnbull and haveoneformumonefordadandoneforthecountry COSTusallahellofalotELLO, I’d choose Nelson, hands down!

Ludwig ,Brendan Nelson is a likeable person ,but that does not mean he will be a good leader.I think he is a tad weak.Perhaps he will grow into a stronger leader like John Howard.I met John Howard back in 1995,he was a very humble articulate person.He was not a person full of his own self importance.

John Howard by virtue of his humility,grew in stature in both judgement and leadership.I've never met Peter Costello ,but I like his humour but find his personality elusive.Perhaps that is why the women dislike him.Malcolm Turnbull seems strong but I'm not sure about his philosophical position.

We the electorate can assume too much,since intelligent pollies that exhibit fidelity,grow and change with the pressures of responsibility.

Peter Costello and Malcom Turnbull may not be the people who suit our individual ideologies,but the proof of the pudding is in their good judgement which benefits our common humanity.Image and personality come a poor second.

I always got the feeling that, under his mask of chief kicker of Labor heads in Parliament, Costello was pretty intelligent. The problem is that he did not have the leadership or political courage to go with it. I remember when he had to make the decision on whether or not Woodside could be taken over by Shell, that he went out of his way to tell this to electorate as if wanting credit for his efforts. It was clear he was auditioning for PM. I thought this actually showed his weakness, as we already had a PM who was routinely making these types of difficult political decisions without strings attached.

So Arjay's question, "We know you have the intellect and the experience Peter,but do you have the courage and resolve of John Howard to keep coming back and realise something that is worth more than the Rudd Hollywood glitz of image without substance?" is pretty much right on the money in my view.

When I pondered over Costello, it sometimes evoked an image of a teenager lying around in a beanbag with a remote in his hand. Don't know why, but I think it was telling me that he was more interested in having a nice and comfortable life. My guess is that he won't come back as the leader of the Opposition. As was said on Insiders this morning, it's a thankless job where people don't defer to the position like they did to him when he was Treasurer.

As for Nelson, he looks like a nice guy but not like a leader. If there's one thing the Australian electorate likes in a leader, it's strength of conviction. For that reason, I think Turnbull will be the next PM if he's still around when the Labor Government drops from office.

Arjay, likeability [likeableness?] has got a hell of a lot to do with being a good leader. Nelson has this way ahead of Costello or Turdball…ooow I mean, Turnbull.

.

“When I pondered over Costello, it sometimes evoked an image of a teenager lying around in a beanbag with a remote in his hand.”

Interesting RobP. My impression was similar; that he was a lazy drongo, quite often out of it and bleary-eyed in parliament or when conscious, smirking lasciviously.

There is no one who has turned me off more so than Costello in the last decade or so.

You cannot write Peter Costello off that easy.There is an elusiveness there in regards to personality but wouldn't call him lazy.You don't get to become treasurer via sloth,no matter how smart people think you are.

We want a no nonsense leader that does not get sucked into UN machinations and has a healthy sceptism about AGW and the nebulus practise of carbon trading.CT is not measureable.People breathe it out,cows expel methane etc.Like Dr David Evans says,you just make
stuff up.It is like angels dancing on the head of a pin.It is open to rorting and creates unnecessary poverty.

Kevin Rudd cannot see any of these dangers,because he is too busy grooming his image for the world stage.

I'm just waiting for him to release a book like Mark Latham's. He'll never be leader, he didn't have the balls to go after Howard, and everybody knows he's weak and gullible now.

I remember him as a little dog barking from behind a big fence.

Well, it seems there are a lot of people who think that Peter Costello has not the courage and grit of John Howard.

Will he always be remembered as the pretender to the throne who spat the dummy and couldn't rise the the occasion?

Costello is also one who made a big show of attending (and speaking at) the Hillsong conference. The last thing I want in a coalition leader is more of the christain right.

My feeling is that it's convenient for Turnbull not to be leader during Kevin07's early period. It's still relatively easy for Kevin and Wayne (where is Julia these days?) to blame the coalition for everything, whoever is coalition leader during this period has a tough balancing act to do. Mud flung now may stick long term. Once Kevin and Wayne have trully stuffed things up a new opposition leader may look like to be a fresh alternative.

R0bert

Peter Costello was once described to me by one of his fellow ministers, as the funniest man in Parliament. Trouble is that he does not show much of this side to the public who, by all accounts, perceive him as smug,self-righteous and out of touch with the electorate.

The trouble with any of the contenders to the leadership is that they are all of the same Conservative 'growth at all costs' mold. The ALP is also thus tainted but hopefully will place more emphasis on social justice issues like homelessness (jury is still out on that one given the recent failure towards pensioners/carers).

Brendan Nelson is a 'nice' person but comes across as weak, but I wonder if he really is? It would not be surprising to see him come into his own in the future once he is used to wearing the leadership suit.

Maybe Peter Costello has some lucrative offers festering in the private sector. Who knows, he may not wish to pursue leadership again and follow in Downer's footsteps out of political life.

Pelican, Costalotello IS the funniest man in parliament. I mean, the joke that he would make a good PM, in line with what Australia really needs, is extremely entertaining!

Even though he and just-as-smug-faced Turnbull are way ahead of Nelson as preferred Libs leader, I don’t think either of them would dare take it on at this point in time, with the Libs being so far behind in the polls. So hopefully Nelson, who is clearly the best choice of the three IMO, will have a fair bit more time to develop his leadership style and appeal to the membership and the wider community.

I'm with you Ludwig. :)