Rudd’s going nowhere, but Libs’ instability haunts
|
One of the many irritants in the Prime Minister’s life at the moment is the Julia Gillard-for-PM bandwagon (actually it’s more like a mini-wagon, but wagon trails have to start somewhere). Not because there is any realistic chance of Gillard unseating Kevin Rudd before this year’s election — there isn’t — but because of what it means for his, and Labor’s, electoral trajectory and stability. The fact that some dogs are barking about Gillard now is little more than a media beat-up. But that won’t be the case after this year’s election, unless Rudd is able to improve the government’s margin, which seems highly unlikely. At that point, which is only months away, there is every chance Rudd will be returned as PM with a reduced margin and a battered reputation inside his own party. That’s when the Gillard bandwagon will become a real bandwagon, and that’s when the Labor Party could start looking a lot like the Liberal Party during its bitter Costello-Howard imbroglio years. The only difference this time is that the contender, despite her gender, almost certainly has the cojones to complete the task. |
|
|
|
10 Comments
Well you shouldn’t use the obviously sexist ‘balls’ to refer to courage, nerve or overweening ambition, whatever you really mean.
It is more than a media beat-up.
Last Thursday in Question Time, Darren Cheeseman dropped his Freudian slip. He referred to Julia Gillard as “the prime minister”.
Hansard doctored the transcript by omitting the words “deputy prime minister,” from his first sentence and the word “prime” from his second sentence.
For a verbatim transcript, Hansard should have included the words which I have inserted (in upper case) as follows:
Nation Building and Jobs Plan
Mr CHEESEMAN (3.06 pm)—My question is to the DEPUTY PRIME MINISTER, Minister for Education, Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations and Minister for Social Inclusion.
Would the PRIME minister update the House on today’s labour force figures and the importance of and the recognition of investments the government is making to support jobs?
This is beat up plain and simple. It is in the media’s interest to make smoke where there is no fire. Move along.
Hey, here’s an idea how about we have 7 or 8 years of stable government and then see how it is panning out after that alright. Australia does not care.
Remember the last election when Julia was portrayed by the Libs and their media enablers as (gasp!) a socialist who worked for unions (horror!) and a fundamental danger to life as we know it?
Now some of those very same media enablers are driving the Draft Julia bandwagon. Wankers.
I think the right wing media are promoting Gillard as a rival to Rudd to destabalise Labor. If Gillard becomes leader the same media will return to casting her as socialist left, friend of the unions, etc.
John,
If Cheeseman’s slip is your excuse, then Lady Di married a different prince. Talk about grasping straws. Anyone who is slightly nervous about pubic speaking will make such slips — they are neither meaningful or indicative.
This bandwagon is a media beat-up that is a further attempt by the pro coalition press to further destabilise the govt. It is laughable.
Polling is interesting on this in a way — the media like to think she is on some meteoric rise, yet they want to bag her because of the perceived problems with the BER.
Pollsters questions are often leading, and even if people do not suspect Julia is gunning for the job, if they are asked the question they will answer it.
Heh heh heh…
Listen to all the Rudd-lovers squeal.
Crikey, I think there should be a way to distinguish between genuine internet ‘characters’ and sock puppets employed to advance the cause of their master.
A ‘genuine part’ symbol?
One for every year of participation(/faithful service)?
Gillard is the idol of the Australia media feminists……nothing more nothing less.
She has LITTLE support within the rank and file ALP, or the parliamentary party.
Gaza Gillard…all show no go….what a complete let down this dimwit has become.
As Lindsay Tannner says: she’s conservative careerist.
And in the pocket of the far right Aussie Zionists led by Albert Bomber Dadon.
Firstly, Hansard is able to be adjusted for slips of the tongue, et cetera: the rule is that the sense and meaning of the phrase be kept. So to call Ms Gillard the Prime Minister instead of Deputy Prime Minister would be adjusted, unless the rest of the context suggested something else. Otherwise Hansard would be full of ‘ums’, ‘ahs’, wrong names, accidental malapropism, and unreadable as a ‘verbatim’ document. (Paul Hasluck claimed that Billy McMahon used to change Hansard well out of the spirit of the law.) In other words, it would look like the ABC’s ‘accidental’ transcription of Kevin Rudd the other night.
Secondly, this happened under Howard too: the media is bored (Kev’s doing badly in the polls, but so is Tone): let’s find a disgruntled backbencher or branch member and commission some ‘what-if’ polling. Would Ms Gillard make a better PM than Mr Rudd? Who knows? Maybe one day we’ll find out. As Mr Abbott looks for ways out of his current predicament with dignity, his spin people look for ways to divert us from his disastrous performance (and even can’t do that anymore)… As Mr Howard and Mr Costello were diverted by this nonsense, so too will Mr Rudd and Ms Gillard.
And people wonder why our MSM is the joke of the free world.
Where there’s smoke there’s fire.