Comments on: Road to Nowhere II

By: Mark

Mark — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 05:49:00 +0000

Linked to that on a new post:

http://larvatusprodeo.net/2009/11/24/d-day-for-the-liberals-and-the-governments-cprs-giveaway/

By: Leinad

Leinad — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 05:43:27 +0000

gah.

http://blogs.crikey.com.au/thestump/2009/11/24/turnbulls-torment-robb-turns-on-his-leader/

going by A. Crabb on twitter there was a lot of nervous list-checking and whispered convos with Hockey.

By: Leinad

Leinad — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 05:40:37 +0000

This may now be academic.

By: Howard Cunningham

Howard Cunningham — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 03:34:30 +0000

One of Malcolm’s biggest problems is he is convinced he is much, much smarter than everyone else. That is why he couldn’t sit by and let Brendan Nelson go to an unwinnable election, and why he wouldn’t make a good minister for a significant period of time. He’d want to be leader.

By: Paul Burns

Paul Burns — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 02:23:17 +0000

Sam@22,
Yeah, but Malcolm wouldn’t want that, Sam. He’d want to be leader.

By: Sam

Sam — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 02:13:43 +0000

Paul 21, I didn’t say that he would or could or should become leader of the Labor Party. Every man has his limitations, and Malcolm’s have been clearly exposed. He is not a leader. That is obvious.

But I do think he could make a good cabinet minister in Rudd’s government. I think he could have the imagination and smarts to be be a good industry minister, for instance. Much better than that space waster, Kim Carr, in any case.

By: Paul Burns

Paul Burns — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 02:02:17 +0000

Sam@19,
Nobody in the ALP would want Malcolm. By joining the Libs he sort of ratted on his republican principles. Besides, his leadership ambitions would somewhat unsettle a whole heap of much more promising ministers on the Labor side.
Malcolm actually isn’t a very good leader for a political party. Challenging people to dump you if they won’t go along with your personal beliefs as he did on CC was not a smart political move within the Opposition, as much as I applaud it. Godwin Gretch/Utegate was political stupidity of the highest order. And, while there are serious questions to be asked about how detainees in Indonesia and on Xmas Island are being treated, Malcolm seems too stupid to go beyond the Howard trope of “We ain’t never gonna let ‘em in this country because – well, they’re the wrong skin colour” subtext.
Leadership material? Bunkum.

By: Katz

Katz — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 01:55:59 +0000

I believe that Abbott has enough self-knowledge to concede to himself that he is a deeply divisive figure in Australian politics.

Therefore, I believe, Abbott knows that if he were to become Liberal parliamentary leader the party would be reduced to a small, right-wing rump.

I think it can be argued that Abbott understands that the best hope for his tendency within conservative politics is to be a ginger group within a party with broad electoral appeal.

The problem for the Libs is that they have no one who promises to be a vote-winner who can simultaneously prevent the party’s factions from tearing each other apart.

I’ve been saying it for some time but there has never been a riper moment since 1947 for a major institutional overhaul of non-Labor politics in Australia.

I expect to see a “Progressive Party” and/or a “Values Party” come into existence soon after the next federal election.

By: Sam

Sam — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 01:50:14 +0000

Turnbull will win in the party room on the ETS because, while there are some kamikazes in the parliamentary Liberal Party, they are a minority.

But he is a dead leader walking and will go soon. Rudd should offer him a place in the Cabinet if he switches to the Labor party. He’s make a better minister than half the Cabinet.

I reckon he’d retain the seat of Wentworth. He is one of them. Labor of Liberal, it doesn’t matter.

By: Chade

Chade — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 01:49:41 +0000

If Kevin Andrews really is throwing his hat into the ring… lulz are forthcoming.