Superb
February 25th, 2012 at 10:24 am by David Farrar
From Twitter.
Overnight polls have shown that only Kevin Rudd could beat Tony Abbott, but Rudd’s leadership style is so disliked that Gillard looks likely to beat him by a 2:1 margin. Basically many Labor MPs would rather lose their seats and lose government, than have Kevin Rudd as leader again.
Related posts:
- Thoughts on the Australian election result
- Rudd resigns
- A happy little vegemite
- Will Rudd be rolled?
February 25th, 2012 at 10:55 am
Not often the planets align to create beautiful solutions.
Vote:February 25th, 2012 at 10:58 am
Heh, love it David, my sister in law in Brisbane is saying that there is a lot of talk of Rudd supporters being deselected, and unless Gillard takes a lot of care a couple could pull the Samson option and bring the Labor government down.
It seems the Gillards so called Labor MPs are saying fuck the Labor voters what is best for us.
Vote:February 25th, 2012 at 11:00 am
I would not be surprised to see a third party win on Monday.
Vote:A real Union, Man Bill Shorten, who has very powerful Union backers in the Party.
February 25th, 2012 at 11:04 am
But Paulus isn’t this what the real argument is all about. Union control of the ALP. Unions that still live in the dark ages.
Vote:February 25th, 2012 at 11:08 am
Paulus Shorten would be a fool to even look at it at this stage, Labor voters are still pissed that the bloke they voted for as leader in the 2007 election was dumped in a coup.
Vote:Shorten is bloody dreaming if he believes he can beat Abbott .
February 25th, 2012 at 11:09 am
The ALP cannot provide stable Government as the various personalities cannot work together. They are headed for a crushing defeat which might come sooner than later. If Rudd accepts he will never lead the ALP again then he may resign from Parliament and may take one or two others with him. That means a General Election. It could be a very long time before there is another Federal Labour Government.
Vote:February 25th, 2012 at 11:15 am
Just because Rudd has better poll numbers now I doubt it means he will have a better chance to beat Abbot come the election. The public will get sick of all this drama and punish the party no matter what as whoever wins the destabilization will continue. Rudd will have a second go if he loses, regardless of promises made now, and none of Gillard’s supporters would accept it if she somehow lost.
Vote:February 25th, 2012 at 11:22 am
Politicians who forget the enemy is over there are fuc*wits. If you don’t like the leadership you either resign; convince people *quietly* to change; or you suck it up and keep going. This applied to certain caucus members of the Act Party from 2008-2011, who, if they had realised this, would not have been the cause of that party’s decline. It’s the same with Labor in Australia. Disunity and ill discipline should be treated bloody harshly IMHO – ideally by the agitator being thrown to the wolves.
Vote:February 25th, 2012 at 11:25 am
Political parties exist to win power, deliver on their policies and represent their voters.
By choosing Gillard, they choose to lose power, lose the ability to implement their policies, and they represent their voters in opposition.
As a centre-right voter, I’m cheering on the Liberals. But I’m puzzled that Kevin Rudd, though he reputedly has a better chance of winning govt should he become PM, is likely to lose the internal contest.
This means one or more of the following
1. The Labor Party failed abysmally in the first place making Rudd PM and Leader. Given he has such a loathsome personality they can’t bring themselves to vote for him as leader again, IE, they were irrational but are no longer irrational.
2. Labor would rather lose – IE, do the opposite of what they are there to do (win power and implement their policies), meaning they are acknowledging they are unfit for government. Losing on purpose is irrational behavior.
3. Labor are so confident that the public will not vote in Tony Abbott and the Liberals, that they can afford such unpleasant blood letting and infighting. This is irrational second guessing of the future given the current polling.
So, Labor were irrational, are irrational, and intend to be irrational.
Vote:February 25th, 2012 at 11:34 am
Who do they poll?
These people want to flood Australia with illegal immigrants and in addition to that Rudd believes in a big Australia. Then there is the industry killing carbon dioxide tax.
Labor must have a large constituency of no hopers.
Vote:February 25th, 2012 at 11:47 am
Overnight polls have shown that only Kevin Rudd could beat Tony Abbott,
I don’t think they’ve shown that. The Galaxy Poll has shown that Rudd will do better than Gillard, losing only six seats as opposed to the projected 14. However the Labour Party is a minority government with relying on three bought votes so they would still lose the election.
And that’s not counting that this would be a honeymoon bounce with the effect of the Liberals repeating Gillard attack lines yet to be seen.
Vote:February 25th, 2012 at 11:48 am
Pass the pop-corn. An arrogant and egotist against a bright-red socialist.
Vote:It’s a joy to see these chardonnay comrades fight and stab each other.
February 25th, 2012 at 11:58 am
The ALP has a weak leader and people in their caucus who think they would do better. Bicker at everybody while blaming everybody else for their situation.
Vote:Yes that does sound familiar.
February 25th, 2012 at 12:16 pm
“Labor must have a large constituency of no hopers.”
Surely, such constituencies are the very hallmark and elemental composition of every Labor/Labour party?
Vote:February 25th, 2012 at 12:35 pm
Ya gunna luv this then.
And the Result is;
http://screencast.com/t/iGakABD6
Vote:February 25th, 2012 at 12:37 pm
kowtow
Public opinion is not worth a s…t. It is the caucus who decide, and that will be what the faceless Union men/womwn tell them to do.
Vote:February 25th, 2012 at 12:40 pm
I don’t follow Australian politics too closely, but I find myself having more sympathy with Gillard than with Rudd. It seems he is an egomaniac out for revenge, with little regard for anything else.
If Rudd really wants to let the people decide, then he should force an election, after which Labor can sort out its shit in opposition.
Vote:February 25th, 2012 at 12:44 pm
Heh, the picture reminds me of something similar in the 80′s: Reagan and Thatcher, Gone with the Wind. The tag line was great, ‘She promised to follow him to the end of the world. He promised to organise it”. Good times.
Vote:February 25th, 2012 at 1:09 pm
Gillard looks like she is wearing a beret though, because of the way she has been cut out.
Vote:February 25th, 2012 at 1:40 pm
Tim Blair gets brutal, and this one did not even require photoshopping – It’s time to play the music
The amazing thing is that the Muppet on the left really does remind one of Rudd.
Vote:February 25th, 2012 at 4:12 pm
I love how the media talk the legs off this issue, just like they did when our own socialists were ripping each other apart. I guess some Ozzies get all hot and bothered about these quarreling politicians but I suspect many couldn’t give a fat rat’s arse about any of these sorry individuals. I do hope these leftie two bobs destroy the Australian Labour Party, they do the Ozzies no favours and provide our gormless leaders with another pitiful excuse to tax the crap out of us, ETS bullshit.
Vote:February 25th, 2012 at 4:15 pm
Don’t you like sheep cows4me?
Vote:February 25th, 2012 at 4:17 pm
I see there is a movie out called ‘We need to talk about Kevin.’
How uncanny that actress Tilda Swinton looks so like Julia Gillard.
http://www.awardsdaily.com/2011/10/exquisite-poster-for-we-need-to-talk-about-kevin/
Vote:February 25th, 2012 at 4:39 pm
Whas’s bad for the ALP is good for Australia.
cheers
David Prosser
Vote:February 25th, 2012 at 5:43 pm
Love sheep Johnboy, especially with roast veges, gravy and mint sauce. Other then that they are animals of diminished intelligence and the cause of many a stiff back and sore muscles.
Vote:February 25th, 2012 at 6:57 pm
Joihnboys stiff bit is not his back when it cums to his ewe’s.
Vote:February 25th, 2012 at 10:53 pm
Gillard has handled the situation with professionalism and that shows great leadership under pressure. However, the people of Australia dislike her politics if not her personality (and that’s the reality of Australians, they’re a weird bunch if you ask me). Gillard can not lead Labour to government again. That much is relatively certain unless a miracle happens.
RUDD on the other hand has everything going for him with the opinion polls. At one stage he also earned the confidence of the Australian people by being elected Prime Minister. We have to bear in mind that members of the constituency did not pull RUDD from office, his party colleagues did.
The pragmatic view is for RUDD to be given a second chance. Progressive politics is all about having the mandate to implement your “progressive” politics in government (as much as I oppose progressive politics the best thing to do would be to opt for the candidate most likely to return Labour to the government benches again).
Vote:February 26th, 2012 at 12:01 pm
Rudd only won last time becuase it was Labours turn. The Aussies had tired of John Howard and he refused to allow a succession.
Rudd will never win again especially now so many have seen his other side and when it comes to a campaign the Libs will demonize his giving away so much money. By then the unemployment will be kicking in again much worse than before.
Chickens coming home to roost.
Watch and see.
Vote:February 27th, 2012 at 12:59 pm
In all my years observing politics in the English speaking world its hard to imagine a bigger clusterfark than this circular ALP firing squad – perhaps the Kim Campbell new Conservatives walkout post Mulroney in Canada? Kevid Rudd was such a nasty peice of work as PM that reportedly his own Dept of PM and Cabinet employees assigned to the PM’s office had an average shelf life of only 6 month so caustic was Rudd to work for and these are the permanent staff who are paid to deal with the outsized egos of Prime Ministers as their job. Former Liberal Foreign Minister (and hopeful Party leader) Alexander Downer remarked in a famous essay he penned in The Spectator (http://www.spectator.co.uk/print/australia/6086928/meet-the-real-kevin-rudd.thtml) at the time of the Gillard coup about a drink he had with a senior Queensland ALP official who said “Mate, one day the Australian public will grow to hate Kevin Rudd as much as I do”. As Downer said back in June 2010 “that time has come”. It would appear that Rudd’s colleagues in the ALP, unlike the Australian voters recently polled, have NOT forgotten and will choose the poisonous policies of Gillard over the poisonous personality of Rudd.
As someone who has worked alongside top level political advisors through the political crisis that was the late 80′s post Rogernomics warfare inside the NZ Labour Party, I can tell you there are NO good political options for the ALP in this fiasco until the party is electorally purged by Aussie voters. As a centre right supporter all I can say is pass the popcorn and sit back and enjoy the ride!
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