McAlmanac wrote:Costello on Lateline is going to extraordinary lengths to destroy Rudd. He has his full smirk and smarminess on display. Tony Jones has his left wing bias right out there on his sleeve. It's quite spirited television.
Politics has suddenly gotten as dirty as it gets - at precisely the time that Howard is under pressure. What a surprise.
How can anyone (regardless of your politics) ever take Costello seriously after last year's leadership debacle. The man was shown up for the spineless simpering little wimp that he is.
"They got Burton suits, ha, you think it's funny,turning rebellion into money"
"the little deccicated coconut is under pressure" classic Keating comment about Howard. Missed Tony Jones Vs Costello but i could imagine him gettin Jones heckles up.
Dont want to have a big rant about dirty liberal tricks but ill sum this whole Burke smear saga in 3 words
POT - KETTLE - BLACK
F#*k You Howard ur a disgrace to this country, the sooner u go the better off we will all be. I could never be ashamed of being Australian but sometimes u bring me to the edge.
The main fear for me at the moment with Howard is the factor of him leading us into an American direction. I feel we're being forced to become another smaller version of America, Howard always at the feet of Bush annoys me, I know there our allies.. but there's a line and Howard seems to cross it.
I want to see a leader who's not going to kiss the feet and take the beliefs of another country.. it seems somewhere along the way.. someone forgot to remind him we're our own country!
I do like Rudd.. but can see he does have his faults. But i don't see him as a man which is going to kiss the feet of another leader because of what he can offer us.
[quote="McAlmanac]Unfortunately, the average punter doesn't give a hoot about those things. In this "what's in it for me" society, there is this an overwhelming pre-occupation with interest rates. More and more, people vote with their hip pockets, so incumbent governments (who have the added weapon of pork barrelling) have an advantage.
Having said that, there seems to be something different this time. People are starting to see through Howard [/quote]
Been the same in the last three lead ups has'nt it? Labour have a surge in the polls six months out & the socially aware go into hysterics banging away on their keyboards in glee, just check out any message board or letters to the ed in the papers at the moment, might as well not even bother with the election, just hand the baton over.
Your first line is on the nail Mc. When push comes to shove, Mr & Mrs swinging voter will be standing in their cardboard Coral, pencil in hand, & the final thought before handing out their 1's 2's & 3's will be ''should I be worried about David Hicks being force fed non Halal meals or will I book the quotes for the new extension?'', ''will the arts community get their just funding or should I sign up the kids in a decent school?''
While the economy's good the opposition is gunna have to pull out some pretty strong economic policies to pull this one off*.
As I have said twice before on this thread...Oppositions don't win elections, governments lose them...
At the end of the day, like it or not, the economy has been very stable in the last 10 years, unemployment is at a low (despite the recent job losses at Holden) and interest rates are still very low (compared to the 17% that was prevalent when Labour governed the country. At the moment the government is in a stron position to NOT lose.
You can get on here and rant and rave about how much of a wanker Howard and Costello are but the reality is that people don't give a shit about children overboard or Peter Reith's phone bill. They care about the hip pocket. If the Labor government are any chance in this election they need to start digging some dirt. They had a great opportunity during the AWB scandal and blew it.
Couldn't agree more with the last two posters. The electorate doesn't really give a stuff about so-called moral issues. I think Bill Clinton said before he was elected " It's about the economy stupid !" Mr Rudd will not be too badly damaged by the latest so-called "scandal" he will still be a very strong opponent for JWH. The federal budget is coming up before the next election I have a feeling I'm going to be "looked after"
To use a football expression, Labor well and truly dropped the ball on Telstra, which was an issue that could have made some gains for them in the eyes of the above voters, allbeit in regional areas.
Joyce crossed the floor and voted for the sale of Telstra with all of these promises about services being improved in regional areas, not two months later Telstra are ripping public phones out of suburban and regional areas.
Labor should have made alot more noise about that and used the opportunity to pick off National party voters, they didnt and let it slide.
Labor need to find issues that the average voter finds important. Interest Rates will dominate the upcomming election, Labor need to have policies to show people that on that issue, they are clearly a better choice than Liberal if they seriously want to win this year.
As I have said twice before on this thread...Oppositions don't win elections, governments lose them...
At the end of the day, like it or not, the economy has been very stable in the last 10 years, unemployment is at a low (despite the recent job losses at Holden) and interest rates are still very low (compared to the 17% that was prevalent when Labour governed the country. At the moment the government is in a stron position to NOT lose.
You can get on here and rant and rave about how much of a wanker Howard and Costello are but the reality is that people don't give a shit about children overboard or Peter Reith's phone bill. They care about the hip pocket. If the Labor government are any chance in this election they need to start digging some dirt. They had a great opportunity during the AWB scandal and blew it.
Exactly. Just as they don't give a sh*t if Kevin Rudd had a dinner with Brian Burke. Brian who? The majority of Australians are saying.
"They got Burton suits, ha, you think it's funny,turning rebellion into money"
I don't give a rat's anal passage who says what about anyone. I'm looking forward to the chance to boot Howard out as soon as humanly possible. **** off, Howard!
Sojourner wrote: When it is broken down, most minor party preferences go to the Liberal party not Labor.
Incorrect. Most second preference votes split abut 60/40 Labor's way.
mick wrote:The federal budget is coming up before the next election I have a feeling I'm going to be "looked after"
Given the Reserve Board's recent comments about the only pressure on interest rates being upwards I suspect you won't be 'looked after' quite as well as you're accustomed to. The Howard/Costello/Downer Axis of Evil will be terrified of handing out millions of bribes only for the Reserve Board to put interest rates up as a result of the inflationary pressures they've created.
Interesting times ahead for the Liberal Party. If they don't win the next Federal Election they're going to be in strife for a long, long time.
'People are not stupid. They know when they are being conned. And two reserves teams operating in a League competition will reduce it to a farce, a competition without a soul.'
Dissident wrote:[I think that poll was done just before, or as, the "affair" came out.
Newspoll is conducted on Friday and Saturday, so three to four days after the Burke affair was pounced upon by a hysterically desperate Governemt.
'People are not stupid. They know when they are being conned. And two reserves teams operating in a League competition will reduce it to a farce, a competition without a soul.'
mick wrote:As I have said before and the polls bear it out. The vast majority of the electorate are disinterested in "moral" issues. The hip pocket rules OK!
I think u will be left dissapointed after the election mate. Howard doesnt have his intrest rates record to stand on anymore, so how can he say the average Oz family will be better of after the election? the war in Iraq is a disgrace, the David Hicks atrocity of justice, the whole Burke saga will blow over quickly with minor damage to Rudd, AWB, Telstra. Labor have plenty of fuel in the tank the burn the Libs this time.
So in advance ill say sucked in to you and u greedy Lib lovers. Its time for the evil eyebrowed cowardly lil man to drift off into retirement with his multi million dollar pension. Good riddance to a disgrace of a Prime minister. He has tarnished our Peaceful, semi nuetral image forever.
By the end of next year te 3 amigos careers will be over
Blair is leaving in disgrace, Bush's republicans will be booted and Bush already is a lame duck president.
And Rudd will be the next Prime minister of Australia.
mick wrote:As I have said before and the polls bear it out. The vast majority of the electorate are disinterested in "moral" issues. The hip pocket rules OK!
I'll repeat it for you Mick.
topsywaldron wrote:Given the Reserve Board's recent comments about the only pressure on interest rates being upwards I suspect you won't be 'looked after' quite as well as you're accustomed to. The Howard/Costello/Downer Axis of Evil will be terrified of handing out millions of bribes only for the Reserve Board to put interest rates up as a result of the inflationary pressures they've created.
'People are not stupid. They know when they are being conned. And two reserves teams operating in a League competition will reduce it to a farce, a competition without a soul.'
lizbeff eaglez wrote:Labor have plenty of fuel in the tank the burn the Libs this time.
They have always had plenty of fuel, this is politics FFS. In the last 10 years the Labor party, have never had anyone who knows how to light a fire...
If you want to blame anyone for the so called atrocities of the current government, blame the incompetence of the opposition party who for 10 years has been too piss weak to be able to knock the government out of office.
He has tarnished our Peaceful, semi nuetral image forever.