"Julia Gillard's campaign to portray Tony Abbott as a misogynist does not appear to be working in crucial western Sydney electorates where women clearly prefer the Opposition Leader to the Prime Minister, according to a new Fairfax poll. In the four electorates polled - Blaxland, Chifley, McMahon and Werriwa - roughly 20 per cent of people rated Ms Gillard's performance as ''good'' or ''very good'', while about 60 per cent rated her ''poor'' or ''very poor''. The poll predicts a rout for Labor in western Sydney, with ratings of Mr Abbott's performance as ''good'' and ''very good'' about double those of Ms Gillard in each of the four Labor heartland seats."

http://www.smh.com.au/opinion/political-news/women-voters-turning-from-gillard-20130302-2fd24.html#ixzz2MX54ePfi

In my opinion, Gillard has shot her bolt early. Her accusation of Abbott's sexism was so extreme and vitriolic that it had painted a very negative image of Abbott in Australian's mind. The scrutiny over the subsequent months showed clearly that the vitriolic outburst by Gillard was unfounded, and that this was yet another lie perpetrated by Labor.

I believe that further accusations along this line, and others, will simply fall unheeded as the messenger is not to be trusted.

Oh phoowey!

Are people really going to vote according to some perception of Abbott as being sexist or of Gillard as having launching an overcooked criticism of sexism against him?

Surely not!

Surely people are a little bit more broad-minded than that.

Surely they are! ( :>|

.

.

Aren't they ?? ??

Luddy old mate, get with the strength.

"Everybody" KNOWS Gillard lies. 60% of the population would not believe her if she said white was white. When you get to that stage, there is no return.

Haz, it is with some perturbation that I find myself not fitting within your definition of “everybody”!

So um. Do you actually prefer Abbot / Libs to Gillard / Labs then? Or are you equally condemnatory of him / them?

>>"Everybody" KNOWS Gillard lies.<<

Well, yes: she's a politician. Along with lawyers it is a trait they're famous for. Gillard lies and Abbott lies and Krudd lies and O'Barrel lies and even St. Malcolm lies.

But it's the differences and not the similarities between politicians that wins or loses them votes. What is different about Gillard than Abbott that will see him win the election?

Cheers,

Tony

Last year we all endured a political debate mired in
the personal, the trivial, and so often, the
downright nasty. Yet beyond the grounds of Parliament
House, the desire is for a debate about real issues
and real plans.

No wonder many people are disgusted by the current
state of politics in this country.
When regressive ideas, imparted by divisive scare
tactics, aided and abetted by toxic mouth pieces
has been the norm.
Some seek to be PM by destruction, in the
absence of any policy, reform agenda or vision,
reducing complex issues to inane slogans
and negative rhetoric,
thus lowering the national debate.
Is it any
wonder that voters are frustrated.

Predicting the future is at the best of times a
risky business. Historically, we've learned with election
results that what was predicted did not always happen.
And in this case as far as Western Sydney is concerned -
to use an old adage:

"The enemy isn't conservatism,
The enemy isn't liberalism.
The enemy is bulls--t."

And who knows, whoever sings a ballad of economic
security, job creation, and secure borders, may
just win Western Sydney over.