The Australian election just became interesting.
In today’s GG Janet Albrechtsen has called for John Howard to step aside in order to let Peter Costello lead the coalition into the election campaign.
Mull over that for a few seconds.
Albrechtsen has always been one of Howard’s biggest fans. Just look at this gushing prose:
Under Howard it became cool to be a conservative.
(Middle-aged newspaper columnists are, of course, renowned for the accuracy of their cool-o-meters.)
Janet is arguing that for the Coalition to get a handle on Kevin07 they must ditch Howard for the “young and fresh” Costello. Albrechtsen’s column follows from Paul Kelly’s less-than-subtle hints on Wednesday that the Coalition was in need of generational change. In yesterday’s Crikey Christian Kerr suggested that Howard has received, or is about to, get the “tap on the shoulder” for the good of his party.
For months now pundits have conjectured that Howard will call the election after APEC. The theory being that he could gain momentum going into APEC, get a poll bounce from the meeting, which he could then ride through the campaign. Howard was supposed to be spending this week rubbing shoulders with world leaders and championing his climate change agenda to all the heavyweights of the region. Instead, senior columnists are writing articles questioning whether he is the right man to be running his party. This isn’t a good look, it certainly wasn’t in Howard’s APEC script.
Albrechtsen’s thesis that bringing in Costello will “change the media narrative” might have some truth to it, but I doubt that the narrative will go the way that Albrechtsen suggests. Both Kelly and Albrechtsen emphasize Howard’s “extraordinary economic success” and spin the line that the Coalition’s poor polls are not the result of their legislative track record but are rather due to the public’s perception that Howard lacks vision. This argument makes Howard’s image, as opposed to Government policy, the scapegoat for the Government’s poor poll performance.
Such a narrative assumes Costello (or whoever might replace Howard) can retain Government policy without it being seen as a burden. Personally, I doubt that Howard will want to gamble his leadership on such a dicey speculation and he will call the election as soon as possible in order to put an end to all the speculation. If Howard were to depart the scene now it would be seen as a massive admission of failure. The ALP will do everything it can to tie Costello to that failure. What’s more Costello doesn’t have the popularity, support, or campaign experience of Howard.
As Kelly noted on Wednesday the switch worked for the ALP in 1983, unfortunately for the Coalition Peter Costello is not Bob Hawke.
PS: You can check your voter enrolment status here - and don’t forget to remind everyone you know to make sure they’re enrolled, especially under 25s and anyone who’s moved house this year.
I thought Albrechtsen’s post was quite touching in a way. Not because of the Howard sycophancy, but because of the child-like naivety in the belief that (a) Costello would be so much more appealing to the electorate than John Howard and (b) that Costello would jump at the chance to lead the Coalition to an election where they will be exterminated.
The polls show that Costello is even more on the nose than Howard. Maybe, with time he would have grown into the job and we would have learnt to love him, but with the election due in two to three months the electorate is not going to get over their perception of him as a smirking bully-boy.
I doubt that Costello would want the job now. Why should Costello be Howard’s patsy? Why should Costello go down in history as the stop-gap prime-minister who led his party to the biggest defeat in electoral history? Why should he let Howard get out of jail free as the second only undefeated prime-minister?
No. It’s a desperation time at the Government Gazette. But it’s too late.
The Liberal Party would do best to give the leadership to Downer, again. No I’m serious. Why waste your best ammo (Costello and perhaps Turnbull) on a hopeless shot. Better to let a complete dud run the losing race, then afterwards everyone can point and say its his fault (not Howard’s policies). And Dolly has been all over the media recently, looking like he is angling for the job.
grace - I pretty much agree with what you are saying, but Albrechtsen was right in her article when she pointed out that packing it all in isn’t really such a great option for the Libs. If they lose there are no guarantees that even their best candidate could bring it home next time around. They need to go for broke now and worry about the fall-out when it happens.
That said, I’m not convinced that Costello is their best candidate for PM.
“The polls show that Costello is even more on the nose than Howard.”
But that’s against the backdrop of the current players in place. I suspect that you would see a lot of poll colour and movement were Howard out of the leadership frame but - no-one knows for sure. I think what we do know is that Howard’s 11th hour departure would be totally uncharacteristic of Howard and whatever way you play it, it would be an act of utter political desperation. On the plus side, it would suck all the media oxygen away from the ALP and result in a wave of valedictorian nostalgia that would probably ensure that Howard hangs on to Bennelong - thus denying Rudd a seat.
By any rational reading, it’s much too late for this too happen but in the current context, rationality probably doesn’t have that much to do with it.
Et tu, Janet
The child-like naivety of Janet Albrechtsen, BAP calls it. Is she blind to think Costello looks “young and fresh”? I think she marks the beginning of psychological collapse of Howard supporters, fearful of facing a new world with no place for them. She will lose her rudder to steer by the change will be so great. Like the AWA’ed public servants who rode the Neo Con wave, gleefully. Remember when Keating lost in 1996, those who could not stomach serving a Howard government fled to serve the public in Labour states. But with the collapse of Howard where will they go? Like, where will Barbara Bennett go?
Wont happen.Far too late in the game.It would lead to total desimation at the election and would blacken Howards place in Liberal party history and his ego just could’nt accept that, plus Jannette would’nt let him
Are we forgetting (Janet certainly seems to be) that Costello is a spineless wimp who did not have the ticker to challenge Howard as he should have done last year./ Sure he may have lost but he could have gone to the back bench and done a Keating. Then he would have looked like a leader; a man with fire in his belly who was prepared to sacrifice his all for the job. Instead we have a smirking yes man who in the Howard biography says he was livid about the way Howard sprays money around in an election campaign. It’s happening again, most notably the Tasmanian Hospital and yet he says bugger all. Does Australia want some spineless Yes man getting the job by default?
The problem for the Government is that Rudd and his mob look like they won’t frighten the cattle and sound like they have fresh ideas .
They are getting ahead on youth, newness workplace relations and climate change. Hard to see how a Costello leadership team can turn that around.
Do people like Albrechtsen, Kelly and Bolt not see that people dislike Costello and there is not enough time to turn the perception around.
But as one who loves a bit of schadenfreud it is wonderful watching all the Howard mob stepping up to stab him. God they make the Labor right in NSW look like choir boys.
Let’s not forget that many such as Albrechtsen can see their meal ticket going down the tubes and so she is a little self interested here. All are climbing on the Costello bandwagon because while its wheels may be a bit dodgy it is the only conservative vehicle going.
Should we pity Howard and Janette?
Never.
I choked on my coffee reading her line about how it’s “cool to be conservative”. Yep, I’m feeling the funk, girlfriend. Ain’t nothing like chillin’ with Cheney, hangin’ with Howard in da hood; and Alex Downer? Child, he is the beast. Yo know what I’m sayin’? Janet, baby, your cool days are over, chile.
You can always trust a conservative to come up with the right answer…
…five years too late.
Abandon ship! Costello is as young and fresh and turd floating down the Yarra. Is there no limit to the GG’ers ability to attempt to write new realities?
Costello ‘young and fresh’? The woman’s an idiot.
But it’s a sign of how desperate the Libs are to cling to power. Because the abyss is opening in front of them. If they lose federally they’ll have no government base anywhere to get access to the media, set up inquiries, grandstand in parliament and so on. And we all know how pathetic the state party organisations are. At least the Nats would still have a natural constituency in the bush, or what’s left of it. The Libs would become the invisible party of Australian politics.
There’ll be a few Libs and their hangers-on who’ll do pretty much anything to prevent that happening. Watch for more amazing scenes in the coming weeks. And I hope Kevin Rudd has good security.
If Howard were to resign I would feel so empty inside. He does not deserve to go out on his terms. We must defeat him nationally and in his own seat so he must live in ignominy. Any other result is too good for him.
Has The Prince Murdock sent out word to the troops that Howard has to go,I know Bolta has said it now for a while, Kelly and Cuella have joined in, I will watch for the conversion of Ackerman and the rest of the NEWs Ltd singers.
Although the Liberal Party will take absolutely no notice of my opinion I am also of the view that for the good of the country they need to be soundly beaten with Howard at the helm. That will ensure they don’t try to have another go at right wing conservatism while people can still remember their current shambolic effort.
“And I hope Kevin Rudd has good security.”
I seriously hope so to. I wouldn’t put it past them…
What she means of course is that the GG has in place the new “media narrative” to run with if $weetie were to take over.
I think they’ve been reading the leaked Crosby/Textor polling that was in Crikey yesterday. Ironic that Crosby/Textor’s findings that Howard is the problem are being used to knife him. But take Howard away, and as you say, mick, it wouldn’t be hard for Labor to paint it as all about him anyway. Because it is.
Anyway, practically speaking, the public are sick to death of the campaign that never ends. $weetie is no Bob Hawke. If he waited til, say, January, to establish some sort of differentiation, he’d be slaughtered.
The Blair/Brown comparison is interesting. I think it’s true that Labour policy wasn’t on the nose in the UK, Blair was. However Brown hasn’t stood still, from what I read. Particularly important is the effective withdrawal from Iraq (no matter what the British government say, look at the yells of anguish from the neocons in the US) and Brown’s humbler governing style. $weetie would be incapable of either. Blair was on the nose for quite different reasons to Howard, and $weetie is no Gordon Brown.
They’re partly trying to con themselves, I think. Nana is right - they can see their world imploding, and Phil is right too - they’re desparately trying to impose a new reality on it.
What will happen?
Dolly wouldn’t have the guts to tap Howard on the shoulder, and Janet very markedly points the figure at him. Howard will stay and will call the election going for a long campaign. But what will the government have to offer over 6 or 7 weeks? More and more and more hyperbolic negativity.
It would be funny if the GG tried to push Howard out, and got Dolly instead of $weetie.
All this might have worked six months ago. But then back then Howard was still a political genius and all the bounces (budget, APEC, NT, etc) were still waiting to happen. And no one in the Liberal party, least of all Dolly and $weetie had or have the guts to stand up to him.
If this falls in a heap, put another strike against the GG’s claims about how influential they are.
Paul Kelly will take it ok - he can wrap Rudd up in a ton of blather about “New Labour”, particularly now after the IR backflips. But Albrechtsen, Akerman, etc - their heads will explode. It is interesting to ponder what lies in weight for them (and Chris Mitchell) post-Howard.
Luvvies - seeing Howard-Light speaking in a foreign tongue was nauseating and will cost him votes. Aussie battlers do not want to see a potential PM Kow Tow to anyone. Maybe Rudd should be asking his friend to articulate (in English) what China is doing for Sudan these days.
I one was using poker parlance, one would have to say Howard is way too ‘pot committed’ to the election to jump out now.
Can anyone actually come up with a realstic permutation that gives the Government a better chance if Howard resigns? This crazy Julie Bishop rumour going around seems totally out-of-this-world.
“Has The Prince Murdock sent out word to the troops that Howard has to go,I know Bolta has said it now for a while, Kelly and Cuella have joined in, I will watch for the conversion of Ackerman and the rest of the NEWs Ltd singers.”
You betcha John. Just watch Kelly’s lips. He is Murdoch’s main man, the chief sock puppet, not the editorial writers at the GG, who can be relied upon to make fools of themselves regularly, without any direction, giving Murdoch plausible deniability on editorial control.
The press gallery watches Kelly because they know he is closest to the boss, and his turning is happening before our very eyes. The rest of the Oz pack will jump on board soon, qua Albrechtsen and Bolt, including the editorial writers, and by the time polling day rolls around, the line will be “sadly we say farewell to Howard, and we now cautiously suggest you vote for Rudd”. After all, that’s what the electorate is going to do anyway.
But not Ackerman, and probably not Chrissy Pearson. These two toads are too mired in their own sick hatreds to ever turn.
Trust the RWBB troll (note the irrelevance of the comment to the thread) to have such a razor sharp perspective.
Erm, “Kow Tow”-ing to Bush over the last few years? Who was that again?
So was Christian Kerr; that was the kite he was flying in Crikey, enjoying the sweet irony of it all considering the Downer/Howard history in the leadership role.
But as for Albrechtsen: I don’t believe she believes what she’s saying, not for a minute. The woman may have offensive and demented views but she is not a fool.
The GG’s Howard-faithful’s job is not to write what they believe, but to attempt to convince, lure and con the rest of us. (Witness that staggeringly sneaky thing of Dennis Shanahan’s about Rudd and China the other day, starting out all full of cautious approval and then administering a sucker punch somewhere around the fourth or fifth paragraph.)
It’s not that Albrechtsen really thinks Costello is ‘young and fresh’, it’s that she is tasked to make the readership believe that he is. Don’t underestimate how automatically many people still believe what they read ‘in the paper’.
This government has made it clear again and again that it thinks we’re all morons. Its pet hacks, and particularly La Albrechtsen (who fancies her own brains so very much), are persistent offenders in that regard.
With Costello in play, Rudd’s “Mini Howard” strategy might well go tits-up.
What grace said. It’s an interesting case study in the exaggeration of Murdoch’s power. He just wants to go with the winner, like he always does, so he can claim that he’s got some power. The underlings actually think they do, as Dr Cat suggests.
Yes, just a last minute ars*-covering exercise form the GG.
Its not a serious call - they’re panicking about how wrong they’ve had it all year.
Was Christian Kerr suggesting Downer would be stepping up?
Regardless, I agree with PAB. This is mind blowing naivety to think Costello is some sort of bright light ready to illuminate the electorate.
A Howard resignation now, after months of campaign-lite and affirmations of ‘I’ll be PM until the Party asks me to go’ will leave the electorate thinking, what a coward, cynical and sneaky. I don’t think he or Janette could live with that.
Since ‘96, it’s been Howard first, Liberal Party second. He’s used all the oxygen, sold off the lifeboats and publicly listed the prized cow.
I think he’ll stay on and hope for a climactic event before polling day.
Bring it on and let’s crush them for a generation.
Albrechtsen wouldn’t know what cool was if an industrial-sized freezer fell on her.
As for the Libs, the Kevin 07 election could be their final swansong. They really haven’t got the necessary talent and they haven’t had for a long time. Remember they had to go to yesterday’s man, Howard, to win against Keating, who was seriously on the nose with the electorate, and even Howard almost got done at the next election. Since 2001 the Libs have been surviving on the power of fear and the ineptitude of the ALP. They were only ever going to be short-term measures, and had the Libs used that time to reorganise and refresh by bringing in some new leadership talent then they may well have saved themselves. But now, we have almost the exact same leadership team that defeated Keating. Their idea of new talent is someone like Abbott, who is electorally divisive, or Turnbull, who makes Treasurer Smirk look positively humble. Neither have the electoral appeal to lead a party that must win the 70 or so seats to obtain government. Add to that they have lost power in all the states and really don’t look like ever winning them back despite some serious ineptitude from the ruling ALP governments. That means they’ve lost the only other talent pool they can draw upon. So basically the Libs are at the very least looking at an extremely long time in the wilderness and possibly the demise of the party completely. Maybe we’ll see an alternative party emerge from its ashes.
As for the speculated leadership change, about the only way the Libs could have any chance of maintaining power is if Howard tapped Rudd on the shoulder and whispered, ‘How’d you like to be Prime Minister a few months early? All you have to do is join the Liberal party.‘
Christian Kerr yesterday:
Kerr goes on to point out, however, that all past attempts to force Howard’s hand have failed.
And dont forget that both Howard and Costello occasionally make anti-media statements..and when it comes to being responsible both Howard and Costello are Australian citizens who cannot run away from failure,whereas, the tax department may need to now scrutinise what Murdoch is up to,because well no-one in Libs has to dance to The Australian and other Murdoch publishings..and he still has competitors overseas.
Apart from looking defeatist, and handing Bennelong to the ALP on a platter, a change of leadership now would fatally undermine “the team” and “experience” (brand new PM? Brand new treasurere?) narratives for the Libs.
Not that they’re worth jack, but they’re the best the governments got at this point.
So basically the Libs are at the very least looking at an extremely long time in the wilderness and possibly the demise of the party completely. Maybe we’ll see an alternative party emerge from its ashes.
Well, I hope there is a credible opposition party in the future. Otherwise, Labor might as well change its name to “Partido Ruddslidio Institucional”, and I want no part of that.
Blogocracy:
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So much for those who said Tim would never criticise GG columnists again.
However, much of the post does do the whole “let’s stay on the safe side” thing that you get in the MSM:
Nope. He’s in trouble in many “safe seats”. The Libs just upped the number of “marginal seats” which receive funding from head office to 40.
Bet each way anyone?
Howard’s not going anywhere. Anyone who thinks that he is completely misreads the character of the man. Howard never, never, never gives in on anything. Never has. Never will. he could be tapped on the shoulder, punched on the shoulder, or have a circular saw put through his shoulder. It won’t make a bit of difference.
Only Jeanette could persuade Howard to resign, and she is more pig headed than he is.
Costello is not going to challenge Howard. He doesn’t have the cojones, and it would be a bloodbath.
Howard’s personal popularity is still quite high, according to the polls. If the Liberals hare insane enough to commit rat-icide 5 weeks before an election they will be wiped out and unelectable for 15 years.
Nearly time to start making the JH pinata for the election eve party.
Indeed. Do we really want a Federal Labor government which combines the qualities of 3rd/4th term NSW Labor, 2nd term Goss Queensland Labor and 3rd/4th term Beattie Queensland Labor?
And I tend to agree with Spiros. Think of Howard’s role in resisting the “inevitable” republic in 1998-99, despite much blather about how he would, or should, do the statespersonlike progressive conservative thing and shepherd the transition to a “safe” republican model.
Six months ago not challenging Howard may have been gutless; now it’s just sensible
Howard wont quit, if he did it would be the biggest “squib” in Australian political history.
“Well, I hope there is a credible opposition party in the future.”
I don’t.
Let the Liberals be in opposition for ever.
Howard won’t go early. He would have to suffer the opprobrium of Keating going on the 7.30 Report and branding him a political coward. His pride couldn’t bear it. His last throw of the dice was the Bush endorsement, and APEC. The Chaser has turned APEc into a national embarrassment. Their Ben Laden stunt is probably the only overseas coverage its got. And Rudd’s one-upped by speaking in Chinese to Chaiurman Hu. The Libs were the only ones in the room not clapping at the end of it, and I don’t think it did him any harm. Rather I reckon most Australians appreciated his cheek and are getting to like the larrikin in him.
Kim wrote:
Kim,
Do you seriously believe Murdoch will get rid of his hard right columnists (Albrechtsen, Bolt, Akerman etc.) should Howard lose the election?
If so, what do you base that on because I have my doubts?
Dream on - won’t happen.
What are they going to write about, delrio? Endless laments for the lost Howard years, claims that Oz is “roolly still coolly conservative”? Note that Bolt has cleverly positioned himself for a Rudd win (and some may not have missed his claim earlier this year that he hadn’t been asked to run for a Labor seat!). They’re going to want to curry favour with the new gov’t and how can Akerman, Pearson and Albrechtsen make the switch? I reckon a lot of heat will go out of the “culture wars” as soon as JHo is blasted out of Kirribilli.
As a number of commenters have said, Kelly’s the one to watch in terms of what Murdoch’s line is.
In short, it’s not known as the Government Gazette for nothing. Remember how they used to laud Keating before they turned on him (when it became obvious he was on the way out)?
Don’t forget, Murdoch attended a Hillary fundraiser in NYC.
Kim I really do wonder if Rudd won’t be just as much the conservative as John Howard. They could end up singing paeans of praise to him for picking up the torch for their conservative cause.
He won’t be conservative in the same way, GregM, though he will be. He’ll have little interest in most of the “moral issues” and he sure won’t be doing the elites v. populist thing that they get most of their mileage out of.
It’s easy. If Rudd wins, the GG just re-spins the narrative as:
‘Australia has endorsed John Howard by voting for a younger version of the same. While opinion polls always pointed to a comprehensive Labor victory, tellingly they said that most people were happy with the direction in which the country was heading. So Rudd has a mandate only to continue the reforms that Howard pursued.’
You can bank on it. Those whores and reptiles at News Limited will write that the sky is pink if their master’s voice decrees it so.
J-Ho has finally achieved a little notoriety in the USA.
He is Page 3 in SFO Chronicle, and New York Times - with pic - in Sep 5th. Sadly though, for him and for us, the tenor of the articles is “Look! There’s a leader somwhere in the developed world that still believes the sojourn in Iraq was a bonzer idea - and is chuffed to admit it publically”. He looks well pleased with himself too.
Not sure if LA Times got his name right this time.
Sigh.
I suspect the conservatives will react the way their counterparts did in 1972 when Whitlam was elected, viz this is all a terrible mistake, the ignorant mob didn’t mean it, and we have to find a way to reverse the decision. Control of the senate will let them engage in all kinds of bastardry until next June. If they can hold together for three years they’ll move heaven and earth and play every dirty trick they can to make Rudd’s a one-term government. However as I noted earlier, they’ll have the job ahead of them without friendly state governments.
If Janet was serious she’d be endorsing an Abbott and Costello leadership team.
Abbott could flick the switch to perspirational nationalism. Running around the marginals in a frenzy of giveaways: hair shirts and free hospitals.
Yaa - bert for PM.
We should remember too that Janet and friends are looking at their ABC board positions going up in smoke…..and Pearson at SBS no doubt.
Chris Mayer:
The ‘crazy Julie Bishop rumour’ is just that — started on Bolta’s blog by a regular on OzElection2007.info looking to do a bit of a sh!t-stir. Beware however - stare at those eyes too long and you might feel strangely compelled to vote for her!
No Lib state governments … if the lights are switched on in Oct/Nov/Dec/Jan(!) there will be no furniture left for the cockroaches to scurry under. I’m talking both MSM columnists and staffers. I suspect that Rudd and his minions will have long memories too — “cuddly non-threatening Kevin07″ is a face reserved only for voters methinks.
Yeah, just because Rudd might be on the right of the Labor Party, there’s no comfort in store for “conservatives” from the Tory tribe.
He has form on this issue. As Goss’s chief public servant after 1989 he inflicted condign retribution on the National Party placemen (and they were just about all men) in the top ranks of the Queensland public service.
And that will be the sweetest victory of all Phil.
It would be the mother of all hospital passes.
Howard resign?
Nope.
Howard has locked himself in the cockpit. Not even his hijacker accomplices can get at him.
And now the hijackers in the cabin are beginning to doubt Howard’s veracity when he had assured them that he’d land the plane safely, that his extremism was only bluff.
The hijackers look out the windows and see skyscrapers almost touching the wingtips…
If Howard can’t win he’s going to take everyone with him.
You know stuff like this has just got to drive rattys pals absolutely nutty. Is it just me or has Rudd managed to upstage the PM over the past few days. A lot of leadership is looking the goods and Rudd has done the business during APEC.
Alex, I was thinking along similar lines, albeit cricket ones:
Might have to scratch the last one.
The rationally-challenged Janet must be kidding. Smugello is unelectable. Television has become his greatest enemy. I guess he can’t help his looks, but when he grins it always come across as a grimace. and he’s not even a great treasurer, With China panting to buy everything we can dig out of the ground and loading up the nations coffers in the process, even the proverbial drover’s dog could have run the economy.
Well and they weren’t even all National party placement, Paul. Ask Brian.
The Real Switch:
Taking a deep draught of red cordial, cough, cough, and going with it that a rudd win is a foregone conclusion, splutter…
IYHO, what, if any, constituted the “handshake” moment ( referring to the Latham-Howard meeting at the radio station) of the “campaign”, wherein the fates descended, the eventual result was sealed?
I’m thinking it was Downer on lateline this week, looking a bit ashen, going off about Kev telling Business he had it in the bag.
Whether Lexie was telling porkies or not is beside the point, the Real Switch it threw was in the minds of Business.
All Lexie did was wake them up to the fact of the polls, that Kev probably is gonna conquer, and they had better give up on King Canute, adjust their plans and attitudes accordingly for the new era.
I never thought I’d say this, but
Thanks Lexie
Down and Out of Sà i Gòn:
Well, I hope there is a credible opposition party in the future.
As do I. If the Libs die I suspect we’ll see a lot of their support moving to Family First though. We may also see the emergence of an alternate liberal conservative party, especially with the probable Democrat demise.
Just because we’ve had a two party system for 100 years (if you count the Libs/Nats as a single party) doesn’t mean we’ll have it for another 100.
Rudd’s positioning Labor as the new Liberal Party, leaving the nominal Libs to occupy the extremist conservative part of the spectrum. At the other end, genuine social progressives and the hard left will abandon Labor in increasing numbers once they realise its true nature and they stop worrying about the Tories getting back in. But if Rudd can occupy the middle 60% with the rest split between two hostile groups who are incapable of uniting in an effective opposition, why shouldn’t he stay in power for a very long time?
Howard might squib and quit, he might? It is doubtful however.
He can either squib and sneak away from the house fire or he can stay and publicly go up in flames. Either way, its going to be very ugly (I’m happy to say).
The Liberals are their own worst enemy. They built a straw icon to represent them this last 11 years. Howard became the Liberal brand. He became the Liberal party itself. According to the party Howard WAS the Government, his fellow cabinet members were merely court jesters useful at parroting praises but little else. Try as I might, I can’t think of a single sensible thing that Downer has uttered in over a decade in the job. I’m sure that he must have at some stage, if only by accident?
The media commentariat are not as stupid as some would have them to be either. They know that they are talking complete batshite and have been for years. Anybody who has watched the Canberra press gallery twist and turn in trying to explain away what is simply facking obvious - Howard is a dead duck and has been ever since he brought in Work Choices. He, and the Liberal Party have been cruelly penetrated by their own ideology. And, I think that they forgot to lube up first.
As for Janet Albrechtsen, she has had her snout in the trough and good luck to her. By being a tout for the conservatives she got her ass on the ABC board even though she spectacularly failed to win a job with the ABC as a journalist. But Janet, sadly, the party is over.
Paul Kelly will survive. He has the knack of performing dignified backflips with twist and pike. A couple of weeks before Howard brought in his panicky work choices “safety net”, Kelly crafted a ponderous piece saying that John Howard would be a lunatic to backdown on IR legislation, or even to tinker with the thing. Johnnie’s IR legislation was the duck’s gutz exactly as it was. If Howard were to change even a single comma then the world would end. When Howard did reform Work Choices with little bits of blue paper our friend, Mr Kelly thought JWH a genius of extraordinary perception and ability. See, anybody that shameless will be able to blather on through 20 different governments at least.
A Morgan Poll is out. 60-40
Costello would be to the Coalition as Latham was to Labour, only worse.
Speaking of Switches:
Trevor Cook does great rumour:
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“Lindsay Tanner might be appointed Treasurer if labor wins….the relationship between Swan and Rudd prior to Rudd’s successful leadership challenge last year was poisonous to say the least. The second reason is geographical and commercial. Both Rudd and Swan are Queenslanders. While Queensland, like WA, is booming, Australia’s economic centre of gravity is still in the nation’s south-east corner. Very few national companies have their headquarters outside Sydney or Melbourne. I can’t remember a time when neither the PM nor the Treasurer were from either NSW or Victoria. If Swan does become treasurer that will be a significant change in Australian political history in itself”
I’ve always found it difficult to believe that the nation would put a qlder in the top job, putting qlders in the 2 top jobs is frankly unbelievable.
“…Poisonous to say the least…”, ha ha ha.
I heard Swannie has been practicing for his Bus Drivers Licence, Lexxie’s providing the bus.
Skribe - Krudd wouldn’t have to change any of his views or policies, he’d fit perfectly. Trouble is, he could be beaten by a real Labor leader, say a young, able bloodnut lawyer with real IR experience, able to appeal to the majority of the electorate (women by at least 2-3%, someone with a sense of humour and personality.
Now is there anyone like that in Labor.. hmmm
Kim wrote:
Come on, Kim. They only lauded Keating for his economic agenda not his cultural one.
The paper was still essentially right wing. During the Howard years it’s moved even further to the right.
I suspect Murdoch’s hard right columnists will continue to preach the anti-multicultural, anti-indigenous, anti-anything that’s deemed progressive line, regardless of who’s in power. That’s why I think Albrechtsen, Akerman, etc will retain their jobs. I don’t like their chances of retaining their positions at the ABC though.
There is a great story that once Goss gained power, Rudd, as his head of staff, arranged for the more egregious Joh supporters amongst the Queensland public service to be put on ’special projects’ at a former leprosorium out in the Brisbane boondocks…
‘Condign retribution’ indeed.
Rudd is a consummate media operator. A term of government will help us to see if he is more than that.
I base my comments on the whole Mandarin-speaking thingo.
Remember, this week is the first time since Rudd was elected opposition leader that we have seen him in full bilingual flight. It’s almost as though he was “saving it up” for maximum impact now in APEC week, in the shadow of the election.
If we’d all got used to seeing Rudd nattering on in Mandarin by now, it wouldn’t have grabbed the headlines like it did this week.
I wonder how many Mandarin-speaking Aussie battlers of the Bennelong electorate caught Rudd’s tete a tete with President Hu on the evening news?
I reckon between 500-1000 Bennelong votes swung against Howard on that 5 seconds of prime time news coverage.
And how p****d would you be at the news coverage of APEC if you were the government? The prime time TV news has been nothing but images of buses lined up across the Bridge while Howard and Bush have lunch on the back of a massive motor yacht, Sydneysiders whingeing about security, shots of security fences, Chaser antics, and Rudd speaking Mandarin to President Hu. The $35bn gas deal and the uranium deal got 30 seconds coverage and a yawn.
It’s not just Janet, the whole of the MSM have turned.
Personally, I think there’s real substance to Rudd behind all his media spin - but we’ll have to wait to see the proof.
Is APEC the most expensive suicide note in history?
Well the the band at the WA LIberal Party 2005 State Election Campaign launch played as thethe Opposition leader Colin Barnett entered the room “Suicide is Painless - the theme from MASH.
Seemed rather prophetic
In short, I think we’re all agreed. The Coalition is on the high road to nowhere. N
Nothing’s going to save them and, speaking for myself, there’s no way that the little Crodent is going to escape by resigning because I’ve got a truckload of baseball bats just waiting for election day.
We’ll deal with Rudd later but, as things stand, this pack of scummy lying toads are going to have to take their lumps. I can’t wait.
Another tale I heard is that some of them were sent to an office with only the Courier Mail and a pencil in the room to aid in their search of a new job. I hope Barbara Bennett has her own pencil sharpener!
…and really, what’s Janet got aginst Johnny? [link]
Downer’s out there doing his best to put the final nails in the Howard coffin.
Did you see his response to Rudds’ Mandarin speech?
Dolly at his cringe-making best.
Don’t underestimate the power of a resurgent centre in the culture wars. The Libs have undermined, ridiculed, starved, overworked, degraded, bullied, terrorise and generally whacked anyone who understands words of more than two syllables. Batshit reactionary rubbish has passed for our description of society and history for a decade.
We have the most extraordinary boards in the public broacasters. Tertiary education with smoke coming out windows. A collection of clowns masquerading as the nation’s public intellectuals in the Murdoch stable. Cheats, liars, fools and fuckwits all of them. They have fatally compromised the walls between news, editorial and commentary.
And now, we are back. Renewed, confident, supported, energised.
Watch the ALP enact its electoral promise of an independent system to appoint boards to the ABC and SBS. Then watch them purge the lot. Tell me again, what happened to the eunuchs in the Forbidden City?
No, that’s not right, delrio. The Oz was a supporter of the two Rs that mattered back then - reconciliation and the republic (which they championed until 99). Go to a library if you don’t believe me!
On the other hand, that was the SDB/Liberal alliance dream of the early 80s in Britain, and in a different way, Blair’s dream.
The electoral system is a big barrier to that sort of thing. Yes, you could be in power for a long time, but sooner or later a hard right Liberal Party will wake up to itself and move back to the centre. And in the HoR there’s still very few viable options for the left. Unless the Labor Left left.
That was beautiful.
David’s midnight comment, I meant.
The Pirate Queen is, of course, always beautiful.
Thanks, Dr Cat!
Kim, I think you’re right and it really goes to the point of these so-called independent analysts being less concerned with independent opinion and more concerned with sucking up to the sources of power.
But now with everything online the poor dears can’t actually escape scrutiny.
The not so subtle changing of tune over the past few months has been hilarious. With the Shamahams, Albrechtsons, Kellys etc etc etc being exposed as having no garments, they now demand that Costello become the haberdasher-in-chief and dispense exclusive Italian fashions to
Shamaham, Albrechtson, and Kellyall.