You’ve got to hand it to the conservatives – they have a very deep understanding of attack as the best form of defence.
I first noticed it last night on Lateline, in a snippet of Tony Abbott in Parliament attacking something as “Rudd mud”. Of course he wasn’t referring to his own recent writings or statements, but to something Kevin Rudd had said about Santo Santoro.
Now today we have Alexander Downer begging Labor to leave poor old Santo alone.
“Think about him as a human being. I think it is about time there is a bit more of that from the Labor Party. Santo Santoro is a human being. Does he have to be whipped and chastised more and more and more? He has resigned and I think the Labor Party should now start talking about something of substance.”
Something of substance?! Perhaps, rather than discussing ministerial responsibility and prime ministerial knowledge, they should start talking about your rich and privileged childhood, Alexander.
So talking about the insubstantial matter of a Cabinet member’s share dealings is now designated as “hurling mud” – a devaluation of the language, if ever I heard one.
To recap, this is in the context of a concerted effort by conservative opinionists in the past two weeks to label the real events of Kevin Rudd’s childhood – his father actually died, the family actually had to leave their home as a consequence – as a “self-serving narrative“. None of these opinionists show much evidence of thinking of him as a human being, an 11 year old human being at the time.
We can expect to see a lot more mud, in the form of accusations about Rudd’s past and “character” and it’s now clear we can expect to hear every Labor criticism of actual governmental actions dismissed as “mud-slinging”.
Added: Via a Gummo post, I read this article by Peter Costello biographer Shaun Carney which argues that the strategy is not to throw doubt on Rudd’s character in the minds of Australians so much as to throw Kevin Rudd’s mind into disarray.
Pfft. Downer wont be fooling anyone in punterland with that low-rent crap.
MAtter of fact, why dont the libs do themselves a favour and gag that idiot?
Much more out of him, and voters will start wodnering where they left those baseball bats in 1996.
These guys seems determined to turn an idle swing, born of boredom, into a fully-fledged electoral massacre.
As Ive always said: the Libs under Howard have been monumentally overrated. The incompetence of Beazley, and plenty of media wind-assistance is a big paert of the picture.
Now they’ve got half-credible opponents they’re falling apart at the seams.
I was a bit disappointed in the Mad Monk yesterday. He delivered the incredibly clever label “Rudd Mud” at full volume (who writes this stuff for him, give the guy a medal), but then fluffed his lines by calling Julia Gillard “Madam Muck”. Its “Lady Muck” Tony, with a very long pedigree. Although, perhaps he changed it to “Madam” because it’s so much more hilarious. Whatever, its brilliant, keep it up Tone…
Dolly’s performance on ABC’s Radio National this morning was breathtakingly
melodramatic. Fran Kelly waited while Dolly wept for Santoro – hasn’t he suffered enough, he’s resigned forRatty’sGod’s sake etc etc. Kelly then reminded Dolly that after Kelvin Thompson’s resignation, Dolly had called Thompson a grub.Well, said Dolly, you should’ve heard what he called me.
Fran Kelly said nothing – what can you say?
Petulant little gimp.
Im concerned about family values. Is this what sex-segregation at private schools is leading to? Downerism?
I mean, Downer is practically a neon sign saying “invade us! Australian manhood has been destroyed by teh crypto-gay, sao-passing private schooling agenda”
Check out Ratty’s uber-defensive repsonse to this one!
http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200703/s1877331.htm
This particular poll has really stung his arse…. He knows this label is the electoral kiss of death, if it sticks.
Lefty E, your viewpoint on private school manhood is interesting, though for an alternative perspective, talk to someone who has recently had to get down & face the forward pack of a private school scrum.
While the arrogant old coot is not dead and buried yet, at the rate these polls are appearing, they must have a demoralising effect upon the Libs.
I wouldn’t ignore Downer’s cant about “persecution” of Santoro. If I was in the ALP I would be leaving the wash-up to Daytradergate to the media and any interested authorities. I don’t think people like to see someone being kicked when he’s down. His offenses are still pretty technical at this stage and not something most ppl are likely to get too exerted over.
If the shit hits his fan, then new story. But until then, I’d play clean.
Im sure thats how the ALP will be playing it after the “Howard is arrogant” poll results, Wbb. Plus, thats the best currrent advice from West Wing as well.
Im expecting the All-Ords to recover now that santo is free to trade all day again.
“I don’t have anything to be arrogant about, not at the moment politically, nothing at all,” the PM said, from LeftyE link.
Howard as usual misses the point completely. The poll was not talking to his political position ‘of the moment’. His typical state of denial..this time of general arrogance…maybe just what is pissing off focus groups. Mr Robb needs to sit down with him and have a heart to heart. John H is looking more and more like a rabbit caught in a spotlight.
I’m quietly impressed by the ALP’s low key response as the Coalition embarass themselves. KR has been pointing to policy day in, day out. And JG’s parliamentary attitude is almost Queensberry rules.
The Mad Monk and Dollar Sweets set a very low bar on Parliamentary attack at the commencement of Morals-gate, and the ALP would struggle to match them.
So yeah, for once, Dolly’s advice is sage. What a March it’s been! Dollar Sweets kicks the own goals, and Dolly gives the ALP useful advice. Trickle down effect from Howard’s o/s photo op trips – loss of party control. Maybe he does want to retire after all….
It was only a matter of time before the electorate stared to be able to ‘read’ the cunning old grifter’s stunts. 2004 was the election they will be sorry they didn’t lose. There is such a thing as being careful what you wish for, and the absence of senate control over a ruling Party only encourage overreach and mistakes. The ‘economy’ that has been such a centrepiece of the gambit to date, has multiple meanings depending on where you live, how you earn your money, and where you think you will end up once the music stops.
‘Workchoices’ was an unforced error, the kind of thing that governments do when they believe they have a ‘once in a generation’ chance to remake the zeitgeist. Unfortunately it concentrated people’s minds on a number of things that do not play well for the government. Many people have been campaignig hard since their reelection in 2004, and the polls say all the hard work is paying off. This is good, because virture shoud be rewarded and error punished. Have I got that Right?
Suz,
I reckon the Libs will quietly drop the Mudd on Rudd campaign over the next week or so because it’s been a disaster and pursuing it can only hurt them.
The punters don’t like smear tactics and the first couple of weeks’ worth blew-up in their faces spectacularly, costing them two ministers. Their plummeting polularity in the polls only increased.
No. They’ll get on with pushing what they think are their strong suits: The Economy and National Security. Indeed, Howard’s already started: Look at the trip to Afghanistan.
The problem is that neither issue is any longer the “winner” it once was for them.
The public is vastly unimpressed with the Iraq War and has concluded, correctly I believe, that our involvement in that war has increased, not lessened, the chances of terrorist attacks in Australia or against Australian interests overseas.
Howard’s going to have a devil of a job convincing the punters that he’s made them safer.
As for the Economy, with housing affordability at an all-time low, interest rates and petrol prices on the way-up and Workchoices (the gift that just keeps-on giving) kicking people in the pay-packet, he’s no better placed.
No. The Libs are in real strife, and they know it.
The delicious irony is that its all their own doing.
Downer defies belief. This is him on Insiders on 11 March:
This was, by the way, during an interview in which the main topic was the tragic plane crash in Yogyakarta. He quickly snapped out of ‘sensitive, compassionate foreign minister’ mode to take up his attack dog role.
I can’t fathom the level of hypocrisy here.
“His offenses are still pretty technical at this stage and not something most ppl are likely to get too exerted over.”
Or maybe just the ‘tip of the iceberg’ wbb. The below case looks very hard not to follow up on when a broader position of, jobs for pals, might be mounted against other figures of dubious influence.
“It was reported earlier this year that a long-time Liberal Party friend of Senator Santoro boasted of “hitting the jackpot” after scoring a lucrative government handout for a $15.5million nursing home venture. Russell Egan Jr, a Brisbane Liberal branch chairman, secured 94 taxpayer-funded bed licences for a yet-to-be built nursing home on vacant land on the Gold Coast.”
From here…
http://canberra.yourguide.com.au/detail.asp?class=news&subclass=political&story_id=567578&category=Political
I don’t think people like to see someone being kicked when he’s down.
wbb, I see your point but I don’t think pursuing Howard over the ministerial code of conduct is a case of kicking Santoro when he’s down.
John Howard
He has shone as Head Prefect. Contrary, to my advice, his decision to return to the School to complete a second year of Matriculation has proven to be a wise one. Though perhaps never one of the most popular boys, his near contemporaries and his juniors have come to respect his clever approach to the challenges associated with School life. I am happy to be proven wrong.
His valedictory address on “The Price of Truth” gave us all something to ponder.
Alexander Downer
Alexander would do better were he to resist the temptation of associating with the hearties. It is clear that he enjoys their company, but their antics are sometimes a little rough for a person of Alexander’s interests and avocations. I believe he learned a valuable life lesson when he went smoking with them behind the tackle room and then informed on them to his House Master. No one likes a snitch, Alexander.
He performed yeoman service in the Theatrical Wardrobe. Perhaps the germ of a satisfying career?
“I don’t think people like to see someone being kicked when he’s down.”
Perhaps we could rephrase that, viz:
I don’t think people like to see someone other than John Howard being kicked when he’s down.
I noticed that too DM. I was busy admonishing myself for harsh judgments and not seeing the underlying humanity in someone I’d assumed to be a complete toolbag and then, yeah back to the comforting certainties of life.
Ag,
Listening to Dolly on the radio this morning had me laughing out loud – the breath-taking hypocrisy combined with the school-yard antics – “but he was even worserer Miss” – were pathetic. If that is the best the Libs can roll out at the moment, they are surely done for.
That’s my guess, but to clarify, I personally love it.
Steve at pub said:
And how many of them were poached from other schools for their rugby prowess?
I’m not begrudging those nice Island boys a scholarship at a fancy private school, but they are not representative of the entire student body.
Yesterday’s Advertiser mentioned this new website http://kevinruddlies.com/lies/kevin.htm
Welcome to election year in the internet age I guess.
Interesting link. Any guesses what kind of “group” is responsible for it? Clearly one that takes a keen interest in the the detail of politics.
I think people DO like to see other people being kicked while they are down, and having mud slung on/at them. It takes their minds of the the mud filled depths they inhabit.
Sadly, whilst we enjoy it, we feel guilty for enjoying it, a guilt that we too-readily transfer into contempt for those doing the kicking and slinging.
I mean OFF, of course.
From Obby’s weird little link:
Notes.
Point 1 is a circular argument. “Rudd is a liar because he is a liar”.
Point 2 is both a circular argument and repetitious of Point 1
Point 3 is simply circular.
Point 4 may mean that Rudd is mistaken and illogical, but it doesn’t mean that Rudd is dishonest and insincere.
Comment.
Oh dear, the Liberal Shills of Adelaide received an appalling grounding in clear thinking
Observa your link is, indeed, interesting.
Though hardly an original idea. Stolen from Mango.
Now what about …..’Dolly Downer is a Big Fibber’ website?
It is notable that Observa’s referred website contains this statement:
“This site is operated privately by an independent group who wish to remain anonymous. It is NOT authorised by, affiliated with, or funded by, the Liberal Party of Australia (or any other political party).”
How does this sit with section 328 of the Electoral Act, making anonymous electoral advertising illegal, I wonder?
at least Santoro resigned – dopey Kelvin has gone to ground, closed his electorate office and is clinging on tho his perks while the people of Wills are left with a dud to represent them.
It wasn’t my weird little link Katz, but mentioned on Page 4 of Yesterday’s Advertiser under a one column article by Mark Kenny titled “Website to attack leader’s reputation”
Whether it’s based in Adelaide or not is anyone’s guess, but it had a predecessor in a similar site about Howard at the last election as I recall.(Is that still running?) Perhaps Rudd should be flattered like Howard that the blogosphere is beginning to collect his purported career lies and contradictions in one place. It might be a good omen for the new Howard with Hair.
The John Howard Lies website (www.howardlies.com) is no longer live – but has been archived by the NLA:
http://pandora.nla.gov.au/tep/43234
The pics of Rudd on the site linked to by observa are nowhere near as funny as the one of Howard on this one …
Obby, a very coalition-esque response – post a link, deny responsibility for link while link in question remains plain for all to see.
The only thing you can’t do is “resign with a heavy heart” and accept tributes from your fellow commenters.
It’s not just the coalition who have the jitters.
Watch out. I think reports on Howard’s demise are greatly exaggerated.
Howard always likes to come from behind as the underdog. It is the most powerful position from a PR perspective, and consolidates wavering voters behind him. Look at his closing media line in 2004 “please don’t kick us to make a protest, it will really hurt and could cost us government”.
Having said that, playing the underdog while the attack dogs are loose and snapping is incongruent, but what you get away with is all in the timing. Downer seems to be able to combine both roles and somehow get away with it.
The goverment’s current strategy seems to be go through rounds of attacks followed by grovelling. Which demographic are they seeking to influence?
It aint over till its over.
Despite his denials of wrong doing and his carefully worded responsibility avoidance rhetoric many observers would say that Downer has never been properly held accountable for his culpability and incompetence in the AWB Affair. But it is clear that continuous criticism from the ALP and the media over the last couple of years has been really telling at a personal level. The rosy cheeks, dishevelled looks and whiny tone are symptomatic of someone not dealing with his personal demons very well.
Really, the pathetic comments on Thomson and Rudd are those of someone striking out against a perceived tormentor.
The robust defence of Santoro and pleas to stop pursuing him over “legitimate” political issues is simply a substitute for Downer and his self pity.
While you might cut Downer some personal slack for the recent loss of DFAT staff in the Garuda plane crash, it is time for Downer to pull himself together.
However, if you can’t stand the heat anymore Alexander, get out of the kitchen!
A quick whois lookup of the domain revealed the following:
http://www.whois.net/whois_new.cgi?d=kevinruddlies&tld=com
Note that it is hosted in the US, and that the contact details of the registrant aren’t listed, only the hosting company.
Very Dodgy indeed.
Frank, registering in the US suggests that the owners know they might be in breach of section 328 and are trying to avoid any prosecution in an Australian court (although I think the 2002 Gutnick defamation decision is against them).
At the very least, it suggests close links to the US repugs – perhaps Howard’s computer savvy son, who I assume is still working for Bush, is stepping up to the plate on behalf of his father.
Here are the Hosting Guidelines for brinkster.com, who host the site.
http://www.brinkster.com/Aboutus/DedicatedHostingGuidelines.aspx
methinks a polite email to the company may be in order
hmm, I’m still being moderated on this thread.
Let’s face it, both Labor and the conservatives agree on far more than they disagree on. So when push comes to shove, both sides have to descend into mud-slinging and personal invective to able to distinguish themselves from the other side. OK, there might be subtle differences between how they go about it and what they actually do, but in the end, both major parties are playing the same game by the same rules. What is that old saying? No matter who you vote for, a politician still winds up being elected.
Cheers…
Dolly’s audio whinge here, thanks to Crikey
http://www.crikey.com.au/Media/audio/Downer-86ea4721-694a-4d8b-ab21-0316705c6000.mp3
The RuddLies site reminds me of something similar that popped up against Steve Bracks in last year’s Victorian election. As many of you may be aware, that little enterprise blew up in the face of the Libs when not only did they place a link to it on the Liberals Victoria site, but even gave the authorising address as their Exhibition Street bunker.
My money is that someone has tried to steer around the various witch’s hats of the Electoral Act to pull a similar stunt this time – except that they employed a far less competent author, and still manage to paint a giant political cross-hair on the damned thing!
It’s probably meant to look amateurish so it looks like it was put up by a concerned citizen or something rather than the Liberal Party.
Geez, that is a grubby little site. I doubt that it will be remotely successful given its whole style.
“Obby, a very coalition-esque response – post a link, deny responsibility for link while link in question remains plain for all to see.”
Jeez, considering it was on page 4 of virtually this State’s newspaper, I didn’t exactly think it was the world’s best kept secret and might be of some interest to commenters here, as distinct from over at Tim Blair’s perhaps? Anyway Frank’s delvings show that it’s now impossible to stop these sorts of sites, which now makes a total mockery of our election advertising laws and a damn good reason to scrap such pointless red tape and the public servants that service and pretend to police it.
Obby old lad, that was a stab at humour.
I treated your link to News Ltd with the same gravity i do all your links to New Ltd.
Lighten up feller. The new dawn is upon us…
Once again Bill Leak nails it:
Perfect, just perfect.
Ooops, sorry, here’s the [link]
I’ve added a piece to the original post above, about this article by Peter Costello biographer Shaun Carney which argues that the strategy is not to throw doubt on Rudd’s character in the minds of Australians so much as to throw Kevin Rudd’s mind into disarray.
Watch the Libs seize on this story…..
http://www.news.com.au/perthnow/story/0,21598,21427993-5005361,00.html
They (the meeja with some able assistance from the political Parties) go through the whole family tree nowadays don’t they? Peter Costello’s bother Tim has been contrasted with him the same way Rudd’s brother will be, particularly when it’s obvious some of their political views and life directions are at variance.