Esra Star
(1000+ posts)
Send PM |
Profile |
Ignore
|
Mon Aug-06-07 04:46 PM
Original message |
So, what's the feeling? Are we daring to believe that the voting |
|
populous will turf the "old and tricky" prick? It seems that everything that they do, blows back in their faces. It is still a worry, though, that apparently a majority consider Howard to be better on security. That seems to be the only thing. Unfortunately, that means that a security trick is now front and centre. What are the possibilities?
|
Matilda
(1000+ posts)
Send PM |
Profile |
Ignore
|
Mon Aug-06-07 09:08 PM
Response to Original message |
1. I strongly suspect that the Haneef farce was set up |
|
as a forerunner to the new anti-terrorism laws. The fact that the Haneef case has backfired hasn't made any difference to Howard but it remains to be seen what Labor will have to say. I don't think Rudd would dare to play down the dangers to national security, but it would be good if some of the more outrageous assaults on our liberty can be at least watered down.
I dare to hope that Rudd will just get over the line, although I don't think it will be the landslide that the polls are telling us, more's the pity. But I mix mostly with left-wingers in my work; Mr Matilda mixes with more right-wingers at work than I do, and he thinks Howard will just squeak in. Either way, Howard's finished, but I dream of him going down in a huge electoral defeat and being unceremoniously kicked out by his party. And I want to see Janette's face when it happens.
I can dream, can't I?
|
Esra Star
(1000+ posts)
Send PM |
Profile |
Ignore
|
Tue Aug-07-07 02:34 AM
Response to Reply #1 |
2. Yes, we can bask prematurely in some sort of victory. |
|
As if on cue, the little bastard has decided to defend democracy here in Queensland. The opportunistic pos will probably get clobbered again. He's desperate. I think he will just try scare tactics from here on in.
|
Matilda
(1000+ posts)
Send PM |
Profile |
Ignore
|
Tue Aug-07-07 08:14 PM
Response to Reply #2 |
3. I'm beginning to wonder if Howard is going stark, staring bonkers. |
|
It's our money he's throwing desperately at individual electorates, all the while claiming to be the best economic manager. And after today's interest rate rise, there was Mal Brough shrieking that it would have been even worse under Labor - this is truly a pathetic performance by any standards.
I'd like to think the electorate can see through all this, but then I recall that they were stupid in 2001, and even more stupid in 2004, and I wouldn't like to bet on anything this time around.
|
Esra Star
(1000+ posts)
Send PM |
Profile |
Ignore
|
Wed Aug-08-07 06:33 AM
Response to Reply #3 |
4. Well, the electorate is a gutless, heartless, soulless mob, but |
|
even they have a limit. Old tricky's goin down. :popcorn:
|
Matilda
(1000+ posts)
Send PM |
Profile |
Ignore
|
Wed Aug-08-07 08:18 AM
Response to Reply #4 |
5. You will enjoy this ... |
Esra Star
(1000+ posts)
Send PM |
Profile |
Ignore
|
Wed Aug-08-07 06:55 PM
Response to Reply #5 |
6. I remember clearly when John Howard was doing his best |
|
impersonation of chicken little. Now the axe is in the other's hands. The fact that he has been in the big house since 1975 means he should have an unbearable baggage load. Not to mention Ruddock, with all the personality of a dog's turd, just after you realise you stepped in it. Downer is still looking for WMD. I hope the press quiz him as to whether he's got any leads. Costello thinks he has personally created all our wealth. What a dickwit. Bob Ellis should have done better. Brough has the zeal of a southern baptist. I don't think he even knows he's in charge of stealing native title back yet. Kevin Andrews......the list goes on..... November Bring it on.
|
Matilda
(1000+ posts)
Send PM |
Profile |
Ignore
|
Wed Aug-08-07 07:42 PM
Response to Reply #6 |
7. Peter Beattie last night in interview gave October 6th. |
|
Of course, he's not in the PM's confidence (!), but it seems that senior Libs now want Howard to get it over with. The longer he waits, the more things are going wrong. Rudd's honeymoon has been going on since December, and it isn't over yet - not what they expected at all.
|
Esra Star
(1000+ posts)
Send PM |
Profile |
Ignore
|
Wed Aug-08-07 08:43 PM
Response to Reply #7 |
8. Do you mean August 6th? |
|
I don't want to get ahead of myself here, but I think it's the real deal. I get that mostly from the Libs. They're sweating. The icing would be if "old & tricky" took a long walk on a short jetty.
|
Matilda
(1000+ posts)
Send PM |
Profile |
Ignore
|
Thu Aug-09-07 03:38 AM
Response to Reply #8 |
9. The lead time to an election from the date it's called |
|
is a minimum of 33 and a maximum of 68 days after the Parliament is dissolved. It appears that the pressure is one Howard to announce the election in September, for an early October date. He wanted to go as long as possible into the term (he has until January), but the things are so bad the Libs want to go sooner rather than later.
It puts Howard in a very awkward spot - it means that he would have to announce the election before the APEC conference, and that's going to make him a lame duck leader at a time when he wants to be posing as a world leader. But with things going from bad to worse, it could mean the difference between a tight election or a landslide for Labor. So he might want to hold off until after APEC, but it doesn't seem as if he can put it off much longer than that.
|
Esra Star
(1000+ posts)
Send PM |
Profile |
Ignore
|
Thu Aug-09-07 06:31 AM
Response to Reply #9 |
10. Sorry, I thought you were telling me the date of the Beattie interview. |
|
I get it now, Beattie reckons October. I guess the press will just start that annoying "will he/won't he call it" dance they do. :popcorn:
|
SweetLeftFoot
(905 posts)
Send PM |
Profile |
Ignore
|
Fri Aug-10-07 07:42 AM
Response to Reply #1 |
|
Is how Rudd will be any different on what matters.
Still, he has got his official Murdoch seal of approval so he should win.
|
Matilda
(1000+ posts)
Send PM |
Profile |
Ignore
|
Fri Aug-10-07 10:53 PM
Response to Reply #11 |
12. Not different enough, if this week is anything to go by. |
|
Two important bills went through Parliament this week - the Northern Territory Takeover Bill (my title), and the Crime Legislation Amendment Bill (the one that allows the police to raid your house while you're not there and not have to inform you for six months). Not a peep out of Labor about either.
Of course they don't have the numbers in the Lower House, and would need the support of Joyce and Fielding in the Senate to defeat any legislation, and that was never likely on these two bills, but Labor didn't even go down fighting.
Both bills are morally objectionable, both are overkill, and both erode our rights and freedom. Both make the state more than ever Big Brother, and yet Labor rolled over without a squeak in protest.
Of course, I want Howard to go, and only Rudd can do it, but I hope and pray for a Greens-dominated Senate after the election, because otherwise we're lost.
|
SweetLeftFoot
(905 posts)
Send PM |
Profile |
Ignore
|
Sat Aug-11-07 04:23 AM
Response to Reply #12 |
|
Even though I don't think the Aussie Greens are as politically evolved as some other Green movements, I agree we need them having the balance of power in the Senate.
But do enough seats go up this time round?
|
Matilda
(1000+ posts)
Send PM |
Profile |
Ignore
|
Sat Aug-11-07 10:45 PM
Response to Reply #13 |
14. It will probably come down to preferences. |
|
According to all the experts, it's impossible for Labor to win a working Senate majority this time around, but if they give preferences to the Greens, they have a chance of breaking the Coalition's control (which they have courtesy of Steve Fielding, who won on Labor preferences).
I haven't yet found an unbiased look at all the possible shifts that could take place - Andrew Green from the ABC is always very good, but he doesn't seem to have put up anything yet.
The Democrats holding on wouldn't be all bad, as they generally tend to vote more to the left these days, but ever since Meg Lees gave us the GST, they've been out of favour. I would think Andrew Bartlett would hold his seat, but I know nothing about who is standing to replace Natasha Stott-Despoja, and what his/her chances would be. There are other new Democrat candidates standing in other states, but I don't know how they will go.
Unfortunately, no matter what happens, the Coalition will still control the Senate until July 2008.
|
DU
AdBot (1000+ posts) |
Sat May 04th 2024, 01:35 PM
Response to Original message |