So in other words Belly, we have simply taken another step DOWN the ladder.

Here we go, it's yet another race to the bottom for us.

Whuppie!

Neither party seems to possess a drover’s dog.

It’s rather unfortunate that McKew is a woman. I mean, it makes it a mite difficult for the spin-doctors to explain away her exposé as a bad case of misogyny.

Whatever you may think of Rudd, he deserved better than the lying, scheming and backstabbing that (his loyal deputy) Gillard and (his old school chum) Swan dished out.

Rudd would probably have lost the 2010 election.
I found his press stops and his goody too shoes religious approach pitiful and annoying, particularly after is New York escapde.
Can anyone imagine Rudd coping with a hung parliament. Julia Gillard has done an excellent job in the most trying of circumstances.
Every politician thinks he or she has a Field Marshall's baton in their kit bags but most don't! Instead they have an inflated opinion of their own worth and the gift of the gab.
Even Rhodes Scholars in windbag subjects aren't much use. We need people capable of accurate assessments of situations and solve problems. In wartime those who showed they had those abilities were mostly science graduates, particularly in physics. Physics and Euclidean Geometry teach people to think clearly, even laterally.

Rainier,
In Belly's thread, he is talking about giving the rank and file members more say in party matters. In this case you are talking abouta party leader who is elected by the parliamentarians.

How else can they replace a leader that is not performing or does not work better with his fellow members? If some members want a leader replaced they have to quietly talk amongest themselves and lobby the others untill they have the numbers to call a leadership spill.

One can call it scheming or plotting but if the incumbent does not wish to retire, there is no other way.

In this particular case their replacement has turned out to be a bad choice and now appears to have made the party unelectable.

hey its nice to see old mates posting on this thread, thanks :)

my motive for posting this is that I'm trying to fathom the mood and thinkinng of the electorate i guess. McKew appears to put a lot emphasis on people not forgetting how Rudd was sacked, others not so much at all. I think Mckew's book will be the last of the long trail of revelations and there will be no more bomb shells. Rudd will no doubt be grumbling about his sacking for the rest of his life - not inlike a punch drunk boxer who lost his last fight and title. And for the record, I've got a personal interest in this because I was only a year or two behind Rudd and Swann at Nambour High and I'm still trying to understand how they both ended up in the Labor Party, at least the Labor party I knew back then. More on this soon.