That is utter nonsense

Nor would I be blind to the fact that, overwhelmingly, the Canberra press gallery has until very recently been almost uniformly sycophantically supportive of Kevin Rudd. To suggest otherwise is truly the province of the “barking mad” or at least the seriously deluded!

Keane even decided I was barking mad for pointing out the rent seekers in the media - look at the coverage though. One or two sensible pieces about climate change by people on the ground like John Garnaut in China, the rest of it puerile nitpicking by the press galllery trying to turn the national interest into petty partisan politics as if they alone have another planet to live on.

It’s driving me nuts, but I am not barking mad as Keane claims.

And not much has dented his popularity in that time despite a persistent media campaign against Rudd that has included potshots from every angle as he struggles with the very serious problem of climate control-an election promise that it apears from surveys a majority of Aussies genuinely are concernmed about-and how to deliver on that promise and keep the multitude on competing interests happy. It will be the real test of his leadership and define his term as PM, not withstanding a media that seems to want the solution handed to them on a plate immediately and offer no positive or constructive alternatives, just criticism.

Nor did John Howard have to confront any of the very real problems this country is facing-he sailed in on an intense and hysterical hate for Paul Keating ( itself a result of a repeated media campaign of painting the man as “arrogant” until the term was parroted by every person in the street).This was borne out by the following election in which Howard lost the popular vote and the swag of seats he had picked up-to Kim Beazley.

Howard entered his term on a high with Australia in a good position economically-or has everyone all forgotten the great promise to create a “relaxed and comfortable‘“Australia, which in retrospect sounds as loopy as it was then to many of us and considering what has happened since.

Aside from Howard’s manipulating of awful events, 9/11 to take us into war, Siev X and the children overboard scandals etc-Howard had a dream run for the first years despite some of his ministers involved in frightful scandals that involved shocking cases of ignoring Howard’s own boastful Ministerial Standards hooey with Howard’s full backing until it became completely untenable for him to support them. They make Belinda Neal’s matter look like-well, as simple as a table seating argument. Contrast Howard’s ministerial disgraces over the ballyhoo we’ve been bored with over that matter for weeks on end.

There is a genuine feeling that Kevin Rudd having won a decisive victory and being a Labor PM must “prove” himself far more than a Coaltion PM has had to in the past. Fortunately in that respect-it just seems to help his popularity with the public who are increasingly ignoring the dimwitted closeted Canberra press gallery. And with an Opposition such as we have, we are fortunate to have a PM who is happy to declare his moral standards, even when at times it seems over the top ( as in the Henson matter).