“The business community in Melbourne has been hugely disappointed by Turnbull’s performance to date,” said a senior Melbourne business source.
“His failure to develop any sort of consistent message has to be addressed quickly.”
The unspoken view at the function was that Mr Costello must wait around for a time when Mr Turnbull’s leadership falls.
The source said the atmosphere among Liberals in Victoria resembled that in July or August this year, when Brendan Nelson’s leadership was in a terminal state, and Mr Costello was under pressure to stay on to lead the party.
However, Mr Costello — whose office declined to comment — has not told even close supporters what his intentions are.
16 Responses to “A very Costello Christmas”
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The Messiah complex strikes again.
Does he have another book coming out?
Becoming Liberal leader would curtail Peter Costello’s ambitions to be the film reviewer for The Age.
<a href=”http://www.theage.com.au/opinion/hoist-on-its-own-grand-ambition-20081209-6uxw.html
..we defy augury.
There is special providence
in the fall of a sparrow.
If it be now, ’tis not to come;
if it be not to come, it will be now;
if it be not now, yet it will come —
the readiness is all…
…oh, never mind Horatio!
Oh god, not this nonsense again.
Is there NOTHING else to report in this country? No dramatic reform of education? No emissions trading scheme? No major financial reform?
But no, we have to go through this Costello soap opera again and again and again. At least The Australian reports on policy, sometimes: but only on the Bill of Rights, and only in a ‘crazy coot’ kinda way.
Black Mage, you took the exact words right out of my mouth. Fingers. Whatever.
I was also going to make a Christmas joke about tired old chestnuts, but I think that would really only work in the northern hemisphere.
Hamlet unplugged
To breathe or not to breathe
That is the arsehole
Werther tis sorrower in the hind
To Kroger the slings and Gerbils
Of outrageous fortune
Or by pressing down hard on them
End them
Wot, 200 silvertails get together to honour the great man yet none of them wants to offer Pete a CEO-level job? Other than the one Turnbull is designated pinch hitter for?
Says one of his past supporters.
‘Yeah, fuck that guy. Our next leader.’
Oh brave new world, that has such people in it!
The native hue of resolution
Is sicklied o’er with the pale cast of thought;
And enterprises of great pitch and moment,
With this regard, their currents turn awry,
And lose the name of action.
Nought’s had, all’s spent,
Where our desire is got without content.
Not only that.Apparently Malcolm has 12 front-benchers, apparently all of the RWDB variety, eager to knife him in the back because he’s moving the party too far to “teh left”. Maybe that explains the rubbish about Costello.
MOST UNAPPEALING STRIPTEASE IN AUSTRALIAN HISTORY
“This has been the longest political striptease in history. But he won’t be able to play his cute little games by early in the new year. He needs to show his hand”
His hand ???? Isn’t his hand otherwise occupied?
Never a dagger
But a softer sword
In this my
Flabby hand doth dwell.
Never raised in anger,
Now stroked and
Petted well.
Ham(fisted)let
Got to feel sorry for Turnbull. He has no mastery over his party. He should have the authority to go through the backbench like a dose of salts and get rid of all the Howard deadwood. They contribute nothing except blind allegiance to the old man in Wollstonecraft who put them there and who, by all accounts, still rings them to ensure they are keeping the faith and worshipping his legacy.
Turnbull is only there because the people with whom he disagrees most, the Minchin-led faction allow him to be. He has no constituency in the party room. Having Wilson Tuckey, the biggest nong ever to grace a parliamentary seat, lecturing Turnbul on how to behave (secret ballots in the party room.WTF?) must be galling for Malcolm. He should be able to ring Tuckey up and tell him he will be seeking someone else for his seat but he can’t. He should be telling that grey wraith, Phillip Ruddock, the dementor of Ryde, to go so he can put up a candidate who at least has a pulse.
Costello?????? WTF??? God Libs get over it. He is a spineless jellyfish. Always has been.
Last week when he had a chance in the Sydney Morning Herald to give a considered view of how he would be acting in these times of economic crisis, he did a film review of Australia and took it to task for alleged factual inadequacies.
Sort of like criticising the band on the Titanic for its playing skills as the water lapped around their feet.
Just confirmed that as a treasurer he bludged on the resources boom and did nothing constructive. When the game goes bad he has no clues.
The Libs today look like they did in the 80s with the Howard Peacock factions engaged in an internecine war which, while fascinating for the media, did nothing about getting them elected.
If the Libs think Costello is the answer start asking different questions.
Turnbul could well have the answers but they would be unpalatable to the old Howard brigade who want to fight all the old issues asylum seekers, work choices and climate change denial.
Rudd and Julia must love it.
Costello? Why would Australia vote for a man, who as Treasurer, did nothing to head off the economic crisis that we find ourselves in right now, and probably did an awful lot to cause it?
He is lucky that he stayed on given the current mess his mates in the financial markets have made. Without a strong contract (and even with one) he may have been a very early and high profile casualty
“However, Mr Costello — whose office declined to comment — has not told even close supporters what his intentions are.”
What bollocks is this? I thought he said when the book came out that he’s not a candidate?