LOL You only have to compare Gough Whitlam with Kevin707, the ruddy fool whose cavalier destruction of the Pacific Solution created the successful business model for criminal people smugglers.

Or with the victim-playing Julia Whatsherbloodyname (you know, the disloyal one with the shirt full of Sheffield steel and the $2million bungalow) who blamed everyone but herself for her stuff-ups.

We are talking about a passion for international travel and absolute minimum time at home aren't we?

Because the three, Whitlam, Rudd and Whatsherbloodyname were all severely flawed as leaders and what does it matter anyway when the faceless men and womyn of the factions dictate policy anyhow?

otb,

Name one political leader on either side of politics
who wasn't flawed. What a nonsensical argument.

And talking about faction control. The Coalition is made
up of two Parties (Liberal and National) each with their
own agendas and back-room puppet masters who dictate to
both. And if you pay attention to the news you do hear
of the referrals to the factions on both sides.

On the surface there is the Abbott faction and the Turnbull
faction and there are others trying to establish their own
factions. That's the way the game of politics appears to
be played in this country. Pointing fingers at only one
side of politics merely indicates your own bias.

Now Foxy's spin diminishes the undemocratic influence of the factions that bedevil all Labor leaders, past and present. Good luck with that!

Willie Shorten aka 'Whatever She Says' would be living on borrowed time after the factions have set him up to do another 'Whatever She Says'. -This time for the 'Captain's Pick' senator from the Northern Territory who really should be appearing in the Parliament herself to emphatically deny the allegations being made against her.

Apparently the 'Captain's Pick' has more value to the factions than Willie Shorten. Willie is set up to take the fall. It was a 'hospital pass' that the factions have thrown him and he is about to be buried head first in the proverbial.

Will the factions go with the scheming Tanya Plibersek who is sorting through her handbag right now for a suitably long knife?

As one of the notorious Handbag Kit Squad, Tanya knows how to put them in low and high (mainly low though), so Willie Shorten may well be shortened tout de suite and both ends.

otb,

Good luck with what?

Give it a rest old chap you're beginning to
sound demented!

On the memorial service for Gough, it was well done, very respectful and attended by the broad spectrum of society. As for the comments by the 'Usual Suspects' in the peanut gallery (elsewhere on the forum) I would expect nothing less. It is interesting to note how society treats the loss of a true progressive like Gough Whitlam, and what will be said and done when one of "theirs" cashes in his chips. How old is Murdoch 83? One of the key players in the Whitlam years. Kerr got dispatched without much fanfare, Fraser has earned respect since, should get a decent send off, when the time comes. As for Rups well, who knows.

http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/the-lines-broken-malcolm-fraser-mourns-his-friend-gough-whitlam-20141021-119a5d.html

Dear Paul,

I watched bits and pieces of the Memorial Service on
TV. It was extremely moving and the thousands who
turned up and were not able to get seats inside -
showed clearly how highly Gough Whitlam is
held by most Australians. The detractors on this forum
don't matter. They are irrelevant in the general scheme
of things and will eventually end up on the dung heap of
history where they belong as will the non-entities they
support.