I felt cheated this morning. No Dennis Shanahan explaining the mysteries of Newspoll’s latest ups and down
Dennis Shanahan
Who broke it?: anatomy of a scoop
The Oz’s latest marketing claims are a good starting point for Crikey’s semi-regular feature on the anatomy of a news story.
Political snippets: A day of shame for the Australian Reserve Bank.
Australia has its first ever prosecution under foreign bribery legislation.
Political snippets: The Australian poles apart on Newspoll
I guess when people look at opinion polls several years before an election they see what they want to see.
Dennis Shanahan discovers his fake Twitter identity
It looks like Oz pundit Dennis Shanahan has discovered his Twitter spoof account — and he’s worried it could completely derail this year’s election coverage. Chill, Shan: it’s only got 15 followers.
What do the SA/Tas results mean for Brumby and Rudd? Zilch.
Australia’s anointed political commentariat have been desperate to drain as much analytical mileage from the state election results as possible.
The fear that dare not speak its name: Tony Abbott as leader of Australia?
It’s the fear being whispered in inner city bars and cafes, can Tony Abbott really become Australia’s next PM? asks Ben Eltham. The Coalition is making Labor feel uncomfortable, but Labor die hards shouldn’t panic yet.
Guy Rundle: The Oz has been sipping Abbott’s kool-aid
The Australian’s commentators were out in force this morning to announce the return of the Abbott through the city gates — shouting heahs and hosannas, with Dennis Shanahan back in his happy place.
Boat people have had the Rudd government lost for words
The Government is clearly rattled. Oddly, though, it hasn’t been rattled by the Coalition, which has its own problems on asylum seekers. It seems more scared by what might happen on the issue rather than what has happened.
Who dudded Dutton?
Was Peter Dutton’s preselection loss the result of a vindictive Nats agenda? Or, an attack on Malcolm Turnbull’s leadership? The real political plot is in the minds of News Ltd journos, writes Bernard Keane.
Political economy: climate change
Malcolm Turnbull is putting his leadership on the line by putting the hard word on MPs to back him or can him. Can he negotiate the dreaded ETS? asks Henry Thornton.
Crikey Says: Dear diary: by Kevin Rudd
So what exactly does PM Kevin Rudd think of Brendan Nelson quitting and forcing a byelection? Luckily, Crikey has access to Rudd’s diary, thanks to The Oz…
Turnbull’s leadership is clawing back to terminal
It’s a long way from Page 1 to Page 4 of The Australian.
It’s Malcolm Turnbull Jim, but not as we know him
Bernard Keane went to bed in a universe in which Malcolm Turnbull’s leadership was damaged, but not terminal, and awoke in one in which he was about to be deposed by “senior Liberals”, “within days”. It’s like a bad episode of Star Trek.
Political snippets: Turnbull in serious trouble — even The Oz withdraws support
When a Liberal leader loses Dennis Shanahan as a supporter we can safely assume he really is doing badly.
The Peter Costello Food Pyramid
Warning: this cartoon may contain traces of Peter Costello…
Welfare and the working family: someone do something
The elevation of Simon and Sonya Dorries of Brisbane to national fame is an elegant example of how utterly skewed political debate has become, writes Bernard Keane.










Larvartus Prodeo / Monday, 15 February 2010
From Shanahan to Grattan, Australia’s pundits have turned into “commentariat-bots”, says Mark Bahnisch, constructing a political narrative based on their own random musings instead of hard data.