Never has the Prime Ministership of Australia been contested by such a pair of abject, craven, weak-kneed, whey-faced, chicken-hearted, lily-livered, jelly-bellied milksops. And what a lead up to the so-called Great Debate: The Wimp versus The Wuss, says Mungo MacCallum.
Articles by Mungo MacCallum 
Mungo MacCallum: The Wimp v the Wuss
Mungo MacCallum: Mungo: it appears we’re voting on personality rather than policy
First, Julia Gillard has to be elected, and to do that she has to give us reasons to vote for her. What exactly (or even approximately) is the election actually about? Most voters are confused.
Mungo MacCallum: Mungo: Timor solution a stuffed-up version of whatever it takes
Timor Leste is a horribly cynical choice, and still would be even if the negotiations had been sensibly handled and the government and populace had shown themselves willing.
Mungo MacCallum: Mungo: The fix is in, thanks to Gillard’s populist adhockery
Gillard is offering not leadership but populism, not vision but adhockery, not policy but fixes: whatever it takes. She has had her boost in the polls, and that, for the moment, is all that really matters.
Mungo: who’s really to blame for Rudd’s demise?
Kevin Rudd was knifed repeatedly and by many, says Mungo MacCallum. Who could have guessed that there were so many killers lurking in the wings of Parliament House?
Mungo MacCallum: Rudd and Abbbot a case of double disillusion
It will take a mighty effort indeed in his second term if Kevin Rudd is ever to recapture that first rapture of the heady Kevin07 days. And Tony Abbott will need to mature considerably if he is to be given a second chance.
Mungo MacCallum: It’s time, Kevin, to pull your finger out
If Rudd was also some kind of a loose cannon, what was the point of keeping him? Rudd might be a bit of a letdown, but the alternative is still unconvincing.
Mungo MacCallum: A politician is an arse upon which everything has sat except a man
The government is in diabolical trouble. No one gets Rudd’s mining tax and Tony Abbott is now a possibility of becoming PM. Whoever you vote for, a politician always gets in, so why bother?
Mungo MacCallum: Mungo: New ‘Bronwyn’ takes some heat from Rudd’s amateurs
There are times, and this is one of them, when Rudd and his troops look like a bunch of amateurs. The only thing that saves them is that their opponents look even sillier.
Mungo MacCallum: Australia’s road to recovery: falling arse-first into surplus
The first reaction to the Budget was ho, and the second was hum — which was exactly the way Kevin Rudd and Wayne Swan wanted it. The headline they were hoping for might have read: “Very quiet Budget, not many hurt.”
Mungo MacCallum: When Rudd goes, it will be kicking and screaming
The weirdest news story of the week has been Kevin Rudd’s promise that, if re-elected this year, he will serve out the full three years of his next term. Well golly gosh and stuff me up a dead bear’s bum. Did anyone seriously imagine otherwise?
Mungo MacCallum: On tax and the ETS, Rudd tainted by cowardice
Kevin Rudd’s tax response is good policy and good politics. But because it has come at a time when the government is perceived to be running scared, it will get less credit than it deserves.
Mungo MacCallum: Mungo: Rudd slowly shedding Dr Jekyll image in favour of Hyde
We are still getting glimpses of the old Kevin ‘07, the avuncular figure who won the nation’s trust a mere three years ago. But it is a safe bet that in the weeks ahead we will see rather less of Mr Nice Guy.
Mungo MacCallum: Health debate shows up unfinished job of federation
The Great Health and Hospitals War has been a pretty unedifying affair. But it has had one useful outcome: even the staunchest conservatives are now having second thoughts on reserving so much power for the states.
Mungo MacCallum: Rudd, despite handing out health biscuits, has hard calls to make
Kevin Rudd has finally admitted what everyone else realised some time ago: fixing the health system is going to cost a huge amount of money and it’s no good pretending otherwise.
Mungo MacCallum: Asylum seeking — the rhetoric is hotting up
The refugee rhetoric is hotting up in much the same way as it did in the weeks before the 2001 election, the Tampa election, the children overboard election, the race election.
Mungo MacCallum: Crazy-brave populist Abbott needs a bit of the Oxford about him
The Mad Monk’s career has always been a series of dilemmas and contradictions, but decades after abandoning the seminary for the soapbox, Abbott remains torn between the sacred and the secular.
Mungo MacCallum: Debating Abbott, Rudd’s on a hiding to nothing
The results in South Australia and Tasmania were hardly what Kevin Rudd would have chosen; but in the end the damage was more psychological than psephological.
Mungo MacCallum: Much to criticise in Abbott’s policies, but he deserves some sympathy
Tony Abbott’s parental leave policy may be a disaster, but not for the reasons being trumpeted by the government and the media. He is being pilloried not for a matter of substance, but for having the courage to defy one of Australia’s more mindless political shibboleths.
Mungo MacCallum: Heard the one about the PM, the masochist and the sadist?
After predicting — and almost begging for — a severe whacking in the opinion polls, Kevin Rudd got off with the lightest of slaps on the wrist.
Mungo MacCallum: Rudd spies an election year bonus in ASIO
Terrorism, we were warned portentously, had emerged as a permanent feature of Australia’s security environment. Well, in an election year it would, wouldn’t it? Our pollies love to get patriotic when elections swing around.
Mungo MacCallum: Here’s the Goss — Abbott may struggle to win the media war
By saying the government’s $250m rebate to TV networks looks like a bribe, Tony Abbott has opened up a new front bin the media wars. Will the high risk strategy of aligning himself with the Pay TV media moguls work?
Mungo MacCallum: Should Abbott have been sacked? Yes, if you apply Abbott’s logic on Garrett
There is no doubt that the insulation plan was something of a shemozzle. It was basically a good idea, but rushing it out on a massive scale as part of the economic stimulus package meant that there was not adequate preparation.
