I am posting about the same as I always have on this subject.
Hope we all do as the election approaches and that we remain free to have differing opinions.
Some quite wrongly think I am no longer a Labor supporter and yes voter.
Rest!
I will die as both and with pride.
My stance is a demand no more filth.
That word does not cover my views on Sussex Street its sponsor ship of Gillard and of the *NSW FILTH*
I want my party to be trusted again.
But we are in kneeling to the wishes of the few, left greens looneys, chasing ten voters away, for every dill we gain.
END seats in the house for the boys,*only the very best are good enough*
If never having got your hands dirty and wearing a suit are party requirements let us know!
So we can leave and start a new party not a coffee shop for NSW FILTH.
Some out there right now can re build our party if its current owners let him or her get a foot in the door, Anthony Albanese, John Faulkner our party needs you.

It's a bit late in the day but what might have been the effect of the Prime Minister trying to organise a "Men for Gillard" campaign ? i.e. if she and McTiernan and the unions had really put some thought and work into it ?

And if she had had the sense to keep away from a "Women for Gillard" campaign, who knows ? Why on earth does she shoot from the hip so often, putting no thought into something ? 'Captain's pick', eight-month election campaign, her Royal Tour of Sydney's west (has she been out there since ?) - why is everything so dumb-@rse ?

As somebody noted in The Australia, a month or so ago, when a party makes so many disastrous decisions, you have to wonder if its senior management is secretly working for the opposition.

Of course not, but the effects have been the same.

Joe

Gillard has not got the skill Loudmouth to run a market stall, even if she was selling things at half price.
Some in my party are not impressed by the talking heads telling us she is one tough old bird.
That is one of her biggest faults.
She lacks a leaders skill to hear good ideas from her team and re-brand them, if her ego needs that,but use them.
Men of my generation, right or wrong, never wanted controlling women.
And Gillard better fills our mind as one of the less nice mothers in law we had or knew.
Yes close to the election, and yes we should have got rid of her months ago.
But in acting we save seats, plenty of them, but my thoughts go to what if?
What if we change and put the polling on its head.
Will Liberals look closer at Turnbull.

Ok Belly, so let's assume that Gilard steps aside, and Rudd steps up.

I have no doubt labor's numbers will soar, however, seriously, what difference do you think it will make to the way this wayward party are performing.

Do you think Rudd would be king, or would he simply be another puppet?

More importantly, what do you think the people will think.

After all, it was Rudd who started the rot in the first place, so do you think the people will forgive and forget?

My thoughts are that even if he does become leader next week, that his party will still be defeated in September, and I'm not sure he would want to be the PM that lost the election, especially when he could slip into the top job with ease post election.

At best, all he and labor could hope for would be to retain a few more seats.

Meanwhile, we await YET ANOTHER week of speculation rather than expecting the most out of the last sitting week for this term.

Hi Belly & Butch,

Labor can't lose a single seat and still retain government.

Can Labor win Craig Thomson's seat ? No.

Will they regain every seat from which a current Labor member is retiring ? No.

Can they retain every seat in Western Sydney ? No.

Tasmania ? No.

Queensland ? No.

Western Australia ? No.

So no, whoever takes the poisoned chalice will lead the party to utter defeat in September. And then have the job, IF they win their own seat, of re-building a shattered party.

What could have been ....

I'd agree with that summation, Joe. Rudd is simply playing with the heads of the people who screwed him. I'm not even convinced he'll take the leadership if offered it after the election or that he won't resign his seat. It's not as if he needs the work and without him they'd lose any by-election, which would underline his point nicely.

The elephant in the room is the female white collar workforce. I suggested elsewhere that Gillard may be playing a long game to create the conditions for the Party to become essentially a women's group. There won't be any significant male support after the election and her future requires a sympathetic political support base, since nobody else will touch her with a barge pole. She got sacked from the only real job (such as it was) she ever had for being on the take and she's got a large team of detectives breathing down her neck over he involvement in that fraud.

She needs friends in high places, not just an old bloke in Qld who's scared of what she knows and who's power base is dwindling daily as men desert his union in droves. The only group that has any time for her at all is "progressive" white collar women.