Jessica Rudd was excellent on Q & A last night. She seemed to be the only one not full of their own self importance. The others were atrocious. For someone often critical of Labour I found Jessica to be dignified. Kevin and Theresa certainly did something right.

Well said runner and I congratulate you for seeing past political allegiances. I felt the same about her performance and no matter what some might think about her Kevin Rudd's capabilities as PM, she is strongly protective of her father's experience.

Jessica was refreshingly open and appears to be a very well adjusted young adult.

Well done Mr and Mrs Rudd.

I met her once and was left with nothing but positive thoughts ... and some that should be left for confession ... well, would be if I was Catholic.

She was VERY polite, understanding, and patient, in a rather frantic moment - for various reasons.

Thanks Pelican. We agree on something. Jessica just seem to stand out far above the others who should of hung their boots up along time ago or received spankings as kids to teach them a few manners. The leftist political commentator along with the guy from the uni were absolutely atrocious and came across totally full of themselves. The 3 Independents appear very humble compared with that mob and that is saying something.

Dear runner,

I totally agree with you about Jessica Rudd.

She's a credit to her parents and obviously
is very proud of her father and his accomplishments.
A pity that as Malcolm Fraser pointed out - the previous
PM's achievements did not get enough publicity.
Perhaps then history would have been different, and we'd
have a stable government, with less fear of a
recession and job losses on the horizon.

Foxy

I am pretty sure Labour would of been returned had Rudd not been knifed but we will never really know for sure. I think we are in for a rough time no matter who is in power over the next few years.

runner, I agree with you and good for you for taking the trouble to raise a special thread.

What a pleasure it is to encounter a thread where discussion can be had without the personal attacks.

Regardng Rudd, I think that team play could have gone a long way towards balancing his weaknesses, but that doesn't seem to be the fashion any more.

Foxy, You might remember I criticised Mr Fraser in another thread a little while ago, however I am coming to realise that my assessment of him was severe and the positive changes he has made personally are deep, not superficial as I wrongly supposed. You were right of course.

Good thread runner.

Yes Jessica was impressive. And she's very spunky as well! ( :>)

Dear runner,

I agree with you, it doesn't look too
good at present for what's around the
corner politically. Still, fingers-crossed
that we'll end up with something decent.
I only hope that whoever gets in - the
others won't block things but will work
for the good of the country not their party.

Dear Cornflower,

Thanks for your kind words.
Because as you well know I don't
always get it right. I've learned a great
deal from you, and I now try to give more
thought to what I post because in the past
it sometimes has come out the wrong way,
and what I said was misunderstood.
Anyway, I enjoy reading your posts, and
you're right - it is great having a thread
where there's no personal attacks in sight!

What the hell has Jessica Rudd got to do with anything? Who decided to put her on Q&A, and what was the motive. I do not give a tinkers cuss for Jessica, or give kudos to her "loving good parents".

It is a continuation of the Labor show, where the politicians do not kiss babies; instead they offer theirs up to us to kiss. Crass, undignified, relationship abuse for power, remember it is all about power not lovely Jessy Rudd, simpletons.

On the other hand it is great to see youth coming forward, especially where they can express themselves politely and succinctly and with both eyes wide open.

Jessica didn't do as many do, assume that all of the right is on one side and try to howl down perceived opposition - who are often just ordinary people trying to express their view too. That was refreshing.

Cornflower and Foxy, I apologize for bringing opposition to the thread. I read the subject matter and immediately responded, only to read your comments about finally having a thread free of abuse after I posted. Simpleton is not a personal attack I use it as a descriptive, sorry girls.

Cornflower:>>On the other hand it is great to see youth coming forward, especially where they can express themselves politely and succinctly and with both eyes wide open.<<

Cornflower if she was not Jessy Rudd she would not be there. She was briefed, packaged and delivered via the ABC and the Labor Right. Speak to the kid next door at least there are no puppeteers pulling the strings.

Dear SOG,

I may be wrong, but I think that Jessica Rudd
was invited on "Q and A," because of her
recently published book, which supposedly is
fiction, but apparently it hits rather close
to home, (about a PM being deposed by a female
opponent) which she wrote prior to the events
in Canberra. Considering what did happen, she
made an interesting guest, and the public were
free to ask her all sorts of questions.

I tend to agree with Cornflower, Jessica didn't take
sides and answered quite objectively, I thought.
She didn't strike me as the type of person who'd
allow anyone to manipulate her.

Foxy you are correct in all you say, but I am correct when I said that Labors marketing spinners were directly involved in her appearance on the ABC.

The negative way that the Labor electorate took Kev's right wing daggering is evident, especially in QLD, a local lad you see. So one of the possible strategies in waiting is to resurrect Kev somewhere down the track if Julia fails, it is not inconceivable if there is a root and branch shake up. So towards humanising Kev again to at least retain his seat, and even to perhaps be waiting in the wings for winds of change the spinners view opportunities such as Jessica a vehicle to get positive sentiments about Kev in the electorate by wash off.

Foxy what Jessy is or what Jessy does is irrelevant as long as you think her presentation was personable and positive, unlike poor Kev when the dog would not come to him on sixty minutes. I would have shot the mongrel, and you can wager that the dog is usually all over Kev, but the negative that incident attached gave Kev s naturally bureaucratic persona a covering of ice and the positive that Jessy generates can only bring positive kudos to the parents if you believe environment moulds character. She was used, it worked, Pelican identified a positive aspect and complimented the parenting, see Kev can't be all bad. Spin dressed as lamb dear Foxy.

sonofgloin
I cannot see how Jessica Rudd's appearance had anything to do with Labor pulling any strings at the ABC. The ABC has been particularly harsh on the ALP of late even with Julia Gillard making comments about her interview with Kerry O'Brien being detrimental to her campaign. Senator Mark Arbib did not even turn up to the previous Q&A which is not surprising as he tends to have foot in mouth disease but that had nothing to do with the ABC.

Jessica Rudd has recently written a book and yes she is the daughter of an ex-PM which all adds to the package and I can see why the ABC would include her in the hope of some audience questions and comments from others on the panel - nothing like a good bit of television argy bargy.

If you had read my many negative comments about Mr Rudd's PM'ship you will see that I can hardly be listed as a supporter.

We all love a good conspiracy but I don't think this was one of them.

pelican:>> We all love a good conspiracy but I don't think this was one of them.Posted by pelican,<<

Perhaps you are correct pelican, who knows. I have become jaded, but could you blame me with the undignified, power at any cost mentality of our politicians, let alone the spin doctors they rely on to direct them.

Dear SOG,

You're not jaded, but just like the rest of us,
I think we all expect more from our pollies
than what we've been getting of late.
These past few weeks have been hard to take,
but I still hope that things will turn out
decently for the country.

I just wish that they'd not attack or threaten
each other so publicly, it's not a good look.

No worries SOG I too am a bit jaded and try not to be too cynical but usually I fail. :)

Firstly Kevin Rudd could make a comeback if just this time he truly shows to be a federalist and not a con-federalist! And Jessica needs to accept reality and not just stalk about what she consider the best of her fathers conduct.
As a CONSTITUTIONALIST I would wish all those posting comments first understood what the constitution really stands for.
See also my website http://www.schorel-hlavka.com and my blog at http://www.scribdd.com/InspectorRiakti (various correspondences to the Governor-General included) and you may just learn that who forms government got absolutely nothing to do with the INDPENDENTS, Greens, etc, because the Governor-General alone determines who shall be commissioned regardless of any majority in the House of Representatives.
E. Barton was commissioned to form a government on 26 December 1900, before the federation existed, and so no Parliament either. Learn what the constitution stands for and you all might just realise you are all conned.
Currently there is not a single Member of the House of Representatives as they are all Members of the House of Representatives designate!
Parliament is to vote on bills not to decide who forms government. That is the job of the Governor-General exercising prerogative powers!

Mr Gerrit H Schorel-Hlavka, regardless I am not happy with the result.

Neither am I and I view the governor-General betrayed us, the people, by not warning them to stop their rot and that she will not be dictated how to exercise her prerogative powers. As such, to me, she appears to be thick in with Julia Gillard to allow her to be "told".
The Framers of the Constitution debated that if there was to be an Australian governor-General then if the G-G had to be appointed or elected and they held that it was better not to have a Governor-General by the Australian government as it could result to inappropriate interference and also that the G-G was the legal-link to the British Crown and without it there was none. Well we now have witnesses the government hijacked this as and so aided by the High Court of Australia and this means we are used like dirt by all of them and they trample upon our constitutional rights.
What is the worth of a constitution if politicans can disregard it? We must therefore safeguard the constitution against abuses and misuses and hold those offencing against it legally responsible.

Mr Gerrit, I do not believe that we "simple" Aussies are a litigious bunch; it takes an ongoing marketing campaign to motivate us to demand our rights. What we accept as a fete de complete would have the citizens of other nations protesting in the streets and making representations to the self serving bastards that govern us.

The media is bought off and given terms of reference when it comes to what they can and do incite us with. I was a teen when we signed the Lima Protocol and I could not fathom even as a teen that Aussie politicians in one foul swoop signed our sovereignty and manufacturing rights away, it was treason. But sign they did, both sides of politics agreeing to let the legislations be put in place. I would suggest only one in ten thousand know of the act or of the agreement that has changed the economy and culture of this stupid country in thirty short years, one generation.

Mr Gerrit, I know I have not addressed your exampled treason upon our constitution but I agree fully with you. The problem is you see it I see it but 22 million do not, simply because the media are told to keep away from it, or they bury it as a five liner on page 64. We are being "flocked" and the media is the sheep dog, but given the "simplistic" reasoning ability of the average Aussie right now, as exampled by the election result, we are in real trouble and they can do anything they want to us.

Mr Gerrit, I just looked at your web site, how many votes did you get and how many did that snake Anthony Carbines get.