Jun. 24th, 2010
After the event...
Jun. 24th, 2010 08:09 pmAnd now that I'm not having to pay much closer attention to things like epimyoepithelial carcinomas, I thought I should skim the news services and have a look about what's being said about Prime Minister Gillard and her hapless predecessor (he who must not be named?).
Paul Kelly argues that Labor's leadership challenge "rewrites all the rules" There is no greater political fall in Labor history - within 12 months Rudd has gone from being master of his domain to a sudden execution. He has nobody to blame but himself.
More like seven months, and yes; he does have nobody to blame but himself. He might have tried pinning the blame on the late-twenty to early-thirtysomethings he gathered around himself to act as his advisers, but then the blame would still reflect on him for preferring such youthful know-nothings to the huge pool of experience he had in Cabinet and back-bench. He seems to have raised the one man band to an art form.
The next election will be fought between Gillard and Tony Abbott, a contest few would have imagined a year ago.
Amen to that, too. A year ago we were still talking about Costello coming off the back-bench to take Rudd on. Now Costello is gone, and may have made a bad mistake in doing so.
Meanwhile, the new Prime Minister and the Opposition Leader have locked swords...
BARELY an hour after Julia Gillard was sworn in, Tony Abbott greeted the new Prime Minister with a withering attack on her "ugly" ascent to the top job. The Opposition Leader questioned the legitimacy of her position, which he said was delivered by the “political assassination” of Kevin Rudd by trade union leaders and faction bosses.
Her position is perfectly legitimate, thank you very much, and I feel for the first time that Tony Abbott's over-reached himself. I have nothing but contempt for the power-brokers who have brought this about - I think many of them mindless scum who are drunk with lust for power - but either this or an election was necessary. And we're probably getting the latter too, before very long, because...
Ms Gillard acknowledged she had not been elected prime minister by the Australian people and “in the coming months” promised to ask the Governor-General to call an election.
On the other hand, the new Prime Minister doesn't make herself look any better with unsubstantiated scaremongering like this:
“I love this country and I was not going to sit idly by and watch an incoming opposition cut health, cut education and smash rights at work.”
That's your opinion, Prime Minister; I've heard differently.
I have tried finding her speech at the Labor Party website. I got a blank page. When I get it, I'll parse it.
I have some concerns, but she's far, far better than what came before her. If we were going to have a Labor government at all, we should have had her all along.
At least now I can contemplate voting Labor again. I always ask myself, when I'm standing in the booth, "Hang on; should I be voting for the other side?" With the Pusillanimous Worm in charge, the answer was always going to be no. That's no longer the case, which is good for the democratic process.
Paul Kelly argues that Labor's leadership challenge "rewrites all the rules" There is no greater political fall in Labor history - within 12 months Rudd has gone from being master of his domain to a sudden execution. He has nobody to blame but himself.
More like seven months, and yes; he does have nobody to blame but himself. He might have tried pinning the blame on the late-twenty to early-thirtysomethings he gathered around himself to act as his advisers, but then the blame would still reflect on him for preferring such youthful know-nothings to the huge pool of experience he had in Cabinet and back-bench. He seems to have raised the one man band to an art form.
The next election will be fought between Gillard and Tony Abbott, a contest few would have imagined a year ago.
Amen to that, too. A year ago we were still talking about Costello coming off the back-bench to take Rudd on. Now Costello is gone, and may have made a bad mistake in doing so.
Meanwhile, the new Prime Minister and the Opposition Leader have locked swords...
BARELY an hour after Julia Gillard was sworn in, Tony Abbott greeted the new Prime Minister with a withering attack on her "ugly" ascent to the top job. The Opposition Leader questioned the legitimacy of her position, which he said was delivered by the “political assassination” of Kevin Rudd by trade union leaders and faction bosses.
Her position is perfectly legitimate, thank you very much, and I feel for the first time that Tony Abbott's over-reached himself. I have nothing but contempt for the power-brokers who have brought this about - I think many of them mindless scum who are drunk with lust for power - but either this or an election was necessary. And we're probably getting the latter too, before very long, because...
Ms Gillard acknowledged she had not been elected prime minister by the Australian people and “in the coming months” promised to ask the Governor-General to call an election.
On the other hand, the new Prime Minister doesn't make herself look any better with unsubstantiated scaremongering like this:
“I love this country and I was not going to sit idly by and watch an incoming opposition cut health, cut education and smash rights at work.”
That's your opinion, Prime Minister; I've heard differently.
I have tried finding her speech at the Labor Party website. I got a blank page. When I get it, I'll parse it.
I have some concerns, but she's far, far better than what came before her. If we were going to have a Labor government at all, we should have had her all along.
At least now I can contemplate voting Labor again. I always ask myself, when I'm standing in the booth, "Hang on; should I be voting for the other side?" With the Pusillanimous Worm in charge, the answer was always going to be no. That's no longer the case, which is good for the democratic process.
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