Rudderless

[lasty]

Ever since the failure of Copenhagen Rudd is nowhere to be seen.
Had the outcome become different he would bathing in the glory.
With a high turnover of his staff, do we have a PM who has mental issues?
Unless he doesn't get his own way a dummy spit occurs.
Abbott being dubbed the mad monk will know exactly how to push Rudds buttons.
Forget climate change or illegal boaties the debate will be in 2010 will be who is more mentally stable.
My money is on the mad monk to get under Rudds skin and leave him with a Latham like explosion.

 

[Fishbulb]

I've had my suspicions re Rudd's mental state. There's definitely something rotten in Denmark.

I still don't understand his popularity. How does a shifty, and manipulative little fella like that get away with it? It actually mystifies me, and I think about it at night....

 

[Smurf1976]

I still don't understand his popularity. How does a shifty, and manipulative little fella like that get away with it? It actually mystifies me, and I think about it at night....

Socialism and inflation. Hand out lots of $ and people will vote for you.

It's much the same as how Howard remained popular at the hands of a credit-fuelled boom in asset prices.

In both cases, the proverbial chickens come home to roost eventually and there's a rather huge mess to clean up. But history shows that people like the inflationary process in its early stages so it's a no brainer to go down that track if you want to win an election or two.

But ultimately, now we're stuck with ridiculously expensive houses, huge private debts and mounting government debt. It doesn't work in the long term.

 

[Purple XS2]

I've had my suspicions re Rudd's mental state. There's definitely something rotten in Denmark.

One could question the P.M's judgement, his morals or his ego, but I would suggest it's misguided to doubt either his sanity or his temperament.

I still don't understand his popularity. How does a shifty, and manipulative little fella like that get away with it? It actually mystifies me, and I think about it at night....

Rudd's popularity has a lot to do with his opposition and his predecessor. Party discipline helps. A lot.

His weakness is his glibness. I don't doubt he'll be glib and smarmy till the cows come home, but eventually the public will get sick of it (I gather some already are ).

 

[noco]

I've had my suspicions re Rudd's mental state. There's definitely something rotten in Denmark.

I still don't understand his popularity. How does a shifty, and manipulative little fella like that get away with it? It actually mystifies me, and I think about it at night....

Rudd gets his popularity from control of the media especially the ABC. The pollsters also assist him by taking polls in strong Labor held seats which gives him a favourable result and voters like to be on the winning side when it comes to election time.

I have never recieved a phone call from any of the pollsters and I don't anyone who has!!!1

 

[prawn_86]

I have never recieved a phone call from any of the pollsters and I don't anyone who has!!!1

I have once, i accepted just out of interest, and its a poorly constructed survey to be honest. Im in North Adelaide, not sure what seat/party etc its under

You have to answer each question as a yes or no, there is no 'pass' or 'dont care' option, meaning it always skews the results.

 

[Julia]

I've had my suspicions re Rudd's mental state. There's definitely something rotten in Denmark.

I still don't understand his popularity. How does a shifty, and manipulative little fella like that get away with it? It actually mystifies me, and I think about it at night....

As Smurf has suggested, money in people's pockets is everything. So far they're still looking at the nice plasma tv they bought.

Rudd's popularity has a lot to do with his opposition and his predecessor. Party discipline helps. A lot.

Yes. When the respondents to polls are asked which party they prefer, they can't help but consider the rabble that has comprised the Coalition in recent months, and apply that cliche "if they can't run their own Party, then they can't run the country".
If Tony Abbott can summon up some party unity and attack Rudd, Wong & Co where they simply have no answers, there could be some change in public sentiment.

His weakness is his glibness. I don't doubt he'll be glib and smarmy till the cows come home, but eventually the public will get sick of it (I gather some already are ).

Yep. And this glibness (which usually actually says nothing) will be more obvious in the face of Mr Abbott's, um, very plain speaking.

I have once, i accepted just out of interest, and its a poorly constructed survey to be honest. Im in North Adelaide, not sure what seat/party etc its under

You have to answer each question as a yes or no, there is no 'pass' or 'dont care' option, meaning it always skews the results.

Prawn, it will depend on who is doing the polling. What you describe sounds very poor. I've answered one for Qld State government and opposition a few years ago and it was well designed, quite fair and not push polling at all.

 

[prawn_86]

Prawn, it will depend on who is doing the polling. What you describe sounds very poor. I've answered one for Qld State government and opposition a few years ago and it was well designed, quite fair and not push polling at all.

Mine was an AC Nielsen poll and a lot of the questions only had the 2 major parties as the only answers.

Like "Which party do you think has better health care" i couldnt answer neither, both, or another party, i had to choose one of the 2.

No wonder the polls are always skewed/wrong

 

[Julia]

Mine was an AC Nielsen poll and a lot of the questions only had the 2 major parties as the only answers.

Like "Which party do you think has better health care" i couldnt answer neither, both, or another party, i had to choose one of the 2.

No wonder the polls are always skewed/wrong

OK, I see. I guess all they are interested in is the difference between the major parties, rather than whether you think they both are crap, so the questions will be designed to find this out.

When they are collating the responses, they would find it impossible to include all sorts of more general responses, such as perhaps "well, I don't think either of them are great, but if Labor were to include XXX policy from the Greens, and if the Coalition were to drop their XXX policy, then I might vote for them" etc etc.

Polls are just designed to provide a clear result between the two parties, not really find out what people are unhappy about.

Didn't you have a view about whether Labor or the Coalition had better health policies?

 

[noirua]

Ever since the failure of Copenhagen Rudd is nowhere to be seen.
Had the outcome become different he would bathing in the glory.
With a high turnover of his staff, do we have a PM who has mental issues?
Unless he doesn't get his own way a dummy spit occurs.
Abbott being dubbed the mad monk will know exactly how to push Rudds buttons.
Forget climate change or illegal boaties the debate will be in 2010 will be who is more mentally stable.
My money is on the mad monk to get under Rudds skin and leave him with a Latham like explosion.

Good old Mr Rudd is spending his time making statements in interviews in the UK, Europe and the States. He is repeating and repeating the need to cut down on the burning of fossil fuels; whilst at the same time knowing the coal ports in Australia are being expanded, especially Newcastle, and he seems to be being quite two-faced about it - MAYBE HE HAS A PLAN. Also slamming people in Australia for all living along the coast as erosion increases.

Mr Rudd does sound quite impressive and is now a leading light abroad, very interesting in fact.

 

[condog]

The guy is an absolute ken doll with perfect hair and scuptured speeches....everything about him smells of a complete lack integrity

His constant and persistant use of colloquilisms makes me sick and his economic mis managment is even worse... Why does he turn into a complete fake once elected......when he used to do his stints on sunrise he was a genuine person who spoke genuinely and reasoanbly honestly (by politician standards)

I work in a place that recieved a significant amount of Rudd money and it has been completley wasted....because every place recieved it at once the building costs are 3 times what they would normally be...then there the plasma cheques, his fiddling and ruining of the Super changes.....the inept and thank god failed ETS scheme......his rebadging of workchoices under national awards

Where are our new roads, public transport, better hosiptals.....the guy has spent more money then all recent prime ministers combined and what do we have to show for it.....has your life significantly improved....

Modified but close to how As Will Anderson puts it; I thought we elected Kevin Rudd not Harvey ##$@!## Norman....... He wanted us to buy big screens with the stimulus package so the poor @#@#$!@ have something to watch when they lose thier !@#$!@#$@ jobs!

 

[Fishbulb]

The guy is an absolute ken doll with perfect hair and scuptured speeches....everything about him smells of a complete lack integrity

His constant and persistant use of colloquilisms makes me sick and his economic mis managment is even worse... Why does he turn into a complete fake once elected......when he used to do his stints on sunrise he was a genuine person who spoke genuinely and reasoanbly honestly (by politician standards)

I work in a place that recieved a significant amount of Rudd money and it has been completley wasted....because every place recieved it at once the building costs are 3 times what they would normally be...then there the plasma cheques, his fiddling and ruining of the Super changes.....the inept and thank god failed ETS scheme......his rebadging of workchoices under national awards

Where are our new roads, public transport, better hosiptals.....the guy has spent more money then all recent prime ministers combined and what do we have to show for it.....has your life significantly improved....

Modified but close to how As Will Anderson puts it; I thought we elected Kevin Rudd not Harvey ##$@!## Norman....... He wanted us to buy big screens with the stimulus package so the poor @#@#$!@ have something to watch when they lose thier !@#$!@#$@ jobs!

And, as Julia and others have noted, therein lies his popularity I guess. And perhaps, therein lies his genius. That it's not really about hospitals and public transport, those things are perhaps nothing more than political footballs to kick about and score points from.
But the population will love you if you give them a new telly. And of course, if this cynical viewpoint is the case, then it speaks volumes about us as a people.

On the other hand, maybe I know nothing about what real politics is.

 

[noirua]

Where are our new roads, public transport, better hosiptals.....the guy has spent more money then all recent prime ministers combined and what do we have to show for it.....has your life significantly improved....

Modified but close to how As Will Anderson puts it; I thought we elected Kevin Rudd not Harvey ##$@!## Norman....... He wanted us to buy big screens with the stimulus package so the poor @#@#$!@ have something to watch when they lose thier !@#$!@#$@ jobs!

I think there may be some new roads here, on the other hand ...: http://www.ozroads.com.au/
I would like some circular freeways to go round and round on to save having to come back. Then we could build some small towns just off the circular freeways to save Mr Rudd's worries about erosion near the beach dwellings.
I'm not certain what to put in the middle of the circular freeways, "answers on a postcard".

 

[noco]

I think there may be some new roads here, on the other hand ...: http://www.ozroads.com.au/
I would like some circular freeways to go round and round on to save having to come back. Then we could build some small towns just off the circular freeways to save Mr Rudd's worries about erosion near the beach dwellings.
I'm not certain what to put in the middle of the circular freeways, "answers on a postcard".

Yes new roads that were surveyed, planned and budgeted for, before Rudd was elected in 2007.

Let's not be eluuded about Rudd taking credit for some of this infrastucture. New highways just don't happen overnight.

 

[Smurf1976]

Where are our new roads, public transport, better hosiptals.....the guy has spent more money then all recent prime ministers combined and what do we have to show for it...

Indeed. If we're going to spend money then surely it would make more sense, from a long term national perspective, to be putting it into transport, water, energy (especially renewables given Rudd's apparent concern about coal and CO2), hospitals and so on rather than blowing it on Chinese TV's that will eventually end up at the tip.

Reality is though that Rudd has played the handout card incredibly well. Nobody calls it "economic stimulus" or anything like that, everyone I know just uses the term "Rudd Money" in relation to the $900 handout. Brilliant politics there, but we'd be better off with something permanent, like water or transport infrastructure, than a new TV or a few nights out on the town.

 

[condog]

Why is it that every person recognizes how bad the $900 handouts was, but his popularity is still so high....Is it that your all secretly saying you dont like it when you do or are we and the people we mix with no representative of the bogans that are home to answer the phone all day every day to answer the polls....?????

Honestly in a few years time Kevin Rudd and to some extent Howard will be held accountable for squandering Australia most prosperous years with nothing to show for it.... We will still have waiting list, gridlock, public transport nightmares, infrastructure bottlenecks and a rediculous amount of govt debt to repay through higher taxes..... Will they name it the Krudd Recession We Didnt Have To Have.....

Howard had excellent economic credentials, but he failed to begin to adequately address climate change and now we will pay the price through hip jerk reactions and over reactions by rudd....poorly thought out policy and internationally disadvantaged energy cost structures...

 

[Logique]

Chinese soceity; Church religions; desire for a new bureaucracy to tax carbon; desire for a senior position at the UN; high staff turnover - what is the common thread here = control. And a healthy dose of megalomania.

Control freak, classic control freak. Personal control, state control. Chairman Kevin.

He has surrounded himself with similar glib talking policy vacuums.

 

[trainspotter]

Ever since the failure of Copenhagen Rudd is nowhere to be seen.
Had the outcome become different he would bathing in the glory.
With a high turnover of his staff, do we have a PM who has mental issues?
Unless he doesn't get his own way a dummy spit occurs.
Abbott being dubbed the mad monk will know exactly how to push Rudds buttons.
Forget climate change or illegal boaties the debate will be in 2010 will be who is more mentally stable.
My money is on the mad monk to get under Rudds skin and leave him with a Latham like explosion.

*clap clap clap clap clap* Must be one of the better political POV posts I have read for awhile.

 

[So_Cynical]

Unless he doesn't get his own way a dummy spit occurs.
Abbott being dubbed the mad monk will know exactly how to push Rudds buttons.
Forget climate change or illegal boaties the debate will be in 2010 will be who is more mentally stable.

Another week another Rudd/Labor bashing thread if i didn't know any better id say that some disgruntled Coalition voters are getting desperate and trying to create any kind of positive political spin where there simply is none.

As for political dummy spits the biggest one we saw in 09 came from that coalition party room meeting, where the right simply said its our way or no way and promptly dumped the Turnbull and Hockey show for Abbott and Bananaby the loony right....what a joke.

The Debate in 2010 will be the temporary status of Abbott as leader and how the Govt was left with no choice after the senate rejected the ETS for the third time and so forced the Govt into a double dissolution election.

Then its simply a matter of how many seats the coalition will lose....im predicting a bloodbath.

I still don't understand his popularity. How does a shifty, and manipulative little fella like that get away with it? It actually mystifies me, and I think about it at night....

Shifty, and manipulative little fella sounds more like little Johnny.
:nosympath :nosympath :nosympath :nosympath :nosympath

 

[nunthewiser]

A BIG Happy new year to Mr Rudd ....... u da man!