According to the Courier-Mail, which runs with some (well-timed) leaked Labor polling on Costello’s image, the debate between the Treasurers will be telecast today at 12.30pm on the ABC and also on Nine where the worm will be back.
Peter Martin has a good preview.
Update: My take on the debate is posted over at PollieGraph.
Further update: In other news, Richard Farmer also gives the debate to Swan and floats the intriguing idea that party strategists should watch the worm to hone some messages and themes for the next phase of the campaign. And for anyone who missed the debate, it’s being repeated on the ABC at 12.35am.
As I said on other thread, Swannie was nervy in his oepning statement. Three sips of water in his eight minutes and much voice breaking. Cossie is Cossie.
The worm is agin Tip.
“Peter Martin has a good preview.”
And his question was great.
Tip does not want to spend any money to fix services.
He just jumped up on his surfboard to show how us good he is at pipeing through a tsunami.
No knock out blows either way, and a draw is better for Swan than for Cossie. But Swan was oddly nervy again in closing statement but pretty good in the Q&As in the middle.
boring, awkward, lacklustre; so $weetie must’ve been given VERY firm riding instructions.
sweetie is costello & tip is swan? (is there something rong with their actual names? it is confusing for those who are unable to keep up with the parallel lexicon which is peculiar to this site)
Swan has to hold his own. Costello has to pull off something extraordinary.
Sounds like Swan won.
Here’s my take:
http://www.newmatilda.com/election07/index.php/2007/10/30/the-ties-have-it-round-two/
The Treasurers’ debate, in which, according to the Worm Costello lost slightly to Swan, is informative in what it tells us about J. Howard, not the other two. Both Costello and Swan performed creditably, if one tries to be objective about it. The real contrast is between the Costello and Howard demeanour.
Costello was calm, together. Contrast this with Howard on our TV screens, and Howard is desperate, terrified of losing all that power, status and kudos. etc. Jeannette must be really giving him a hard time. Will she stay with him in derfeat? I don’t think so.
Yeah, I had that sense too, Paul.
Mark,
No worries, mate.
I won’t go into the strange stories circulating in ALP and SA circles about why Jeannette really refused to live at the Lodge.
Keep in mind that anyone who actually watched this really IS a political tragic. What matters to the general electorate are the headlines and soundbites that come out of it, and on that note I thought this one was pretty good for Labor:
Mark, you have previously stated that “I’ve always said he (Mr Costello) is a dud” so it comes as no surprise you would say this, but aren’t you being a little subjective?
“The real contrast is between the Costello and Howard demeanour.
Costello was calm, together.”
Yes, Paul, but there was a rather telling aspect of $weetie’s character observable early on when worm whisperer Wayne fluffed a line, someting about “treasury secretary”.
Subprime’s first laugh was fine, then he had another burst(ok, a bit of gamesmanship) but it was his third laugh which continued after the folksy chuckle of the gallery had subsided that gave me pause.
It was the mocking laugh of a man comfortable with cruelty.
Enemy Combatant,
Its that mouth, you see. Totally agree with your point. It would never had occurred to me.
Tony, we’re all a little subjective, but since Costello has usually denigrated and demeaned Swan as hopeless and not up to it, matching it with him surely counts for something. And as I said in my PollieGraph post, I think Swan showed a fair bit of spunk in the question period.
gandhi,
If we’re all political tragics, which I freely admit to, so far as I’m concerned. what about those people who operate the Channel 9 Worm/ I thought I saw one of them on the audience of How to be a Millionaire last night, (after I switched from the 7.30 Report, of course. )
Paul Burns, don’t worry - I include myself in the “political tragic” category. But I’m hoping to “get a life” in another four weeks… maybe.
Loved the worm when Tip ($sweetie) Costello mentioned Workchoices (just once).
It plunged right down into lavaland…Crosby/Textor were right on the money when they advised that the word be expunged from the language.
Tip forgot, tut tut.
And yes Enemy Combatant, Costello’s raucous laugh, that went on a bit too long, was very telling. He was waiting for the backbench rabble to roar their appreciation, and forgot they were not there.
On points, it cancelled out Swan’s nerves.
Next.
Just take note of this one line from Wayne Swan, as reported in The Australian newspaper:
Mr Swan said that Australians wanted an economic plan “whether they sit around the boardroom table or the kitchen table’’.
Take away the other 99% of the debate today (all the boring ultra-cautious, middle-Australia targeted “economic conservatism”) and that leaves something that can actually be used as a starting point for confidently grasping the basics of economics.
So far, my basic understanding is this: that there needs to be greater focus on how the policy and politics of economics relates to “personal development”, as distinct from how it relates to shared, social aspirations - something that too often “mutates” into pork barrelling to buy votes and social engineering to control people’s lives - a charge I believe “both” conservatism and socialism has been guilty of, at different times.
I imagine you can develop an illustrative model that’s prefaced by the term “how the policy and politics of economics relates to personal development”. Not being an expert in modelling myself, I have a few ideas about how to do this, but don’t expect to have all the answers myself.
A basic understanding of Adam Smith (which, by the way, you can download from this week’s Counterpoint on ABC Radio National) will inform you that economics was never a specialised field of knowledge to begin with, yet perhaps it has become too much of one.
The economic scope of globalisation surely requires everybody to think in terms of a “personal economy”, not just a “national economy”, so it is at least an important concession made by Wayne Swan that he addresses distinct audiences (the boardroom table players and the kitchentable players), instead of addressing us all homogeneously as John Howard might like to - addressing us all as “aspirational nationalists”.
…From Justin
Paul -
Why the hell not?
Gossip, dammit, gossip.
So you are judging him the winner simply because he didn’t make a fool of himself?
That’s like saying the Eric the Eel guy who came last in the swimming at the olympics won because he didn’t drown.
No, he performed competently, Stephen. Swan is a smart guy. All this nonsense from Costello that he’s not intellectually equipped to be Treasurer is complete guff.
In other news, Richard Farmer also gives the debate to Swan and floats the intriguing idea that party strategists should watch the worm to hone some messages and themes for the next phase of the campaign. And for anyone who missed the debate, it’s being repeated on the ABC at 12.35am.
Good show by both who would be next treasurer boy , as a worm myself ,the man on the left of my channel 9 screen may have just won by a …..! yer.
My bad, the television newsclip has just shown Tip Costello using the phrase “our industrial relations system”, not “workchoices”. Got confused with later media commentary suggesting that he spoke wordchoices. Tut, tut.
And the worm plunged into the red…
Costello is a private school bully and a his performances are a pale shadow of Keating,Costello is a gutless coward and everyone knows it,hes fine as a front runner but we will see if he ends up opposition leader and see how long he hangs around.
If Howard loses there will be a spate of people bailing out as the Libs can dish it out but cant take it
I must confess that I was very concerned about Swans ability to perform well against Costello, given the latter is a formidable(smart arse) performer in Parliament.
After a very nervous start , in my opinion Swan performed admirably.And yet again we have to watch the unedifying performance of the man who would be PM behaving more like a stand up (whilst sitting down) comedian.
Pity that so many questions were left unanswered, particularly the on-going leadership of the Liberals IF and when Howard pulls the pin.
And I wanna know why Hyacinth wouldn’t live at the lodge. Do tell.
A Musical clue:-)
http://au.youtube.com/watch?v=RA-4F6l-jr4
The story on Howard has been doing the rounds for years. A staffer (now ex) so the story goes.
And where is Costello s daughter and rock group to see if the reflected is the same as the Meme and Genes!?