Possum has compared Tony Abbott’s polling with Mark Latham’s at the start of his leadership, and found:
So while Abbott and Latham have some similarities in their early polling performance, Abbott was literally miles behind where Latham was at a comparable time.
Isn’t the Abbott/Latham comparison erroneous?
Although I can see the similar styles, the fact is the Latham was far more unknown in the electorate when he became Opposition Leader.
I would contend this means that Latham was capable of much bigger highs AND much bigger lows in the opinion polls.
If the ALP make a dent into Abbott’s “popularity” it will be a slow burn, as many have already made their minds up about him.
Latham came in when the electorate had had enough of Howard and when Latham was relatively unknown. So the comparison is a bit questionable. This doesn’t mean that Labor can sit back, dig its heels in on CPRS and assume that they are going to win.
Labor will look a lot better if it has acheived more before the next election.
Tony didn’t go for the great big, dirty, hand cruncher on Kev, when they met yesterday, if that means anything.
Yeah, he was too buggered after all that cycling in front of the TV cameras before the sun came up. The big event of the political year will be Kevin Rudd plucking a hair out of Tony’s chest to disconcert him just before he goes on air being caught on camera.
Or – Tony Abbott shaving his chest and having it waxed so he can appeal to gay voters.
@4 – male body hair depilation has a lot of admirers outside the gay community now, Paul! Waxing for men’s been big among straight kids for quite some time!
Tony would need to buy bulk wax.
Round where I live, there are lots of shopfronts offering discounts on permanent laser hair removal.
Will they just please zap Tones in one go?
Joe2 said:
It means he’s not as confident as Latham was.
Mark @5 “Waxing for men’s been big among straight kids for quite some time!”
That sounds like a line Borat could have said! Except he would have said “for mans”, not “for men’s”!
I was into waxing as a kid 60yrs ago..But that was end-to-end footy.
How would the electorate react to a waxed Tony?
Sounds like you guys are all secretly jealous of Abbott’s good body. By the way, by not going for the hand cruncher on Rudd shows he is more confident than Latham – not the other way around.
Oh Suzy I’m not secretlyjealous.
Glad you went for that piccie of you with the bandana, adrian. I just looks fetching. Jealous, smellous, Suzy.
Yeah I thought that the bandana was the perfect touch, but strangely enough I got no offers. Maybe it was the colour.
Tony is winning the media war. Just heard a sound bite on Triple J’s hack where he questions how Rudd can make financial decisions when
Awesome. You don’t even need to try to catch Rudd in a gotcha moment now. Just state what your opponent doesn’t know in your opinion and bingo! Your sound bite goes out and people are left wondering why Rudd is so out of touch.
The important question is does he know the price of yoghurt and how much culture it has. Can Tone answer that question?
Suzy @ 13,
No. Not at all. I’m trying to find a truly nauseous gut-churning image that’s highly uncomplimentary and spreads and spreads all over the intertubes.
Maybe we should have a comprtition?
tssk @ 17 – I’d guess that Abbott’s comment was referring to a recent Rudd interview where he was asked about how much the ETS would increase the cost of bread. There was some argument with the interviewer about how much a loaf bread actually cost.
Abbott may be repressed and nerdy, but y’all know i think he’s cute.
I shall spare you the abbott poligoth re-link, google it if you wish.
Personally i was never a fan of body hair, though i think the whole male waxing thing has gone so far that hetro guys and girls could take somethng away from the ‘bear’ culture.
http://archive.salon.com/opinion/sullivan/2003/08/01/bears/
“Bears ..resist the squeaky clean and feminized version of manhood that appears in most gay magazines and even pornography. Take a look at the Advocate and Out and you will barely find a man over 30 with a gut or a hairy chest anywhere. But that’s what most men — including gay men — end up like! Bears in this sense represent the maturation of gay male culture. For the first time, we have a critical mass of older generations of gay men who have always been out but who don’t identify with the boyishness and effeminacy of the old-school gay subculture.”
just sayin’
@ 17, Abbott trying to frame Rudd as some kind of patrician George Bush Sr?
Oooh, our Tony is exactly the guy to pull that off.
All he has to do is delete every single mention of Costello’s dig about ‘dismissive attitude to economic’, scrub every Australian mind afresh. That’s when the Monk can go in for the kill with his Clinton-sized talents…
Nickws, I saw the budgie smugglers, and I don’t think they hold Clinton-sized talent …
DI(nr) @23, By jove, I think you have it there, David.
After his recent interview on the 7:30 Report, I’d been wondering where Tone kept his brains.
It explains a lot of his other preoccupations…
I went to school with Latham (Hurlstone Agricultural).
Very aloof, distant fellow. Can’t remember even speaking to him.
Walking past me and my decadent mates one day, as solitary as ever, I asked: “Who is that guy?”.
“Mark Latham.”, someone said, “He’s going to be Prime Minister one day”.
ROFL, Elise.
CMMC (25). You should have broken the ice by going up to him and shaking his hand.
But then again…
Elise @24, plenty of room in the smugglers to accommodate the ‘bot brain, in fact there’s possibly too much space. I suppose he could always add a bookcase or a sofa.
I cannot understand why Mr. Latham’s hand shake concerns s many people. Long before Mr. Latham came on the scene, I felt sorry for anyone Mr. Howard shook hands with. The way he gripped the other persons hand, pumping the hand up and down was sight to see. I am sure many others felt the same way.
fehowarth, I think most people are concerned about that particular handshake because Latham looked like he was about to deck Howard. (I don’t blame him, but it was counterproductive to have it displayed on national TV.)
DI(nr) @30, and there we all were, thinking what a fine impression Latham’s handshake would have on Dubya, who as we know was an idol for Latham.
…something or other about a “conga line of suckholes”, wasn’t it?
To think that we never got to see THAT handshake displayed on national TV here and in the US? Such a pity.
That handshake was blown up oout of all proportion though. Given the media leanings of the day I”m sure if it had been Howard who squeezed to hard and Latham who winced there would have been a lot of ‘narrative’ about the strength and mettle of Howard and the weakness of Latham.