(no subject)
Have to love Bob Brown and his snappy grabs:
"Four years ago, Kevin Rudd got drunk and took himself into a strip club," Senator Brown said.
"Four years ago, John Howard, sober, took Australia into the Iraq war. I think the electorate can judge which one did the more harm," he said.
Not that I think that'll be the end of it - it seems the only way to get mass Australian interest in a political issue after ten years of conservatism and non-core promises -(AWB means what?)- is to have sex involved in some way - case in point, fairfax's top story of the day was Defence Minister Nelson admitting that he, too, has been to a strip joint. Ooher. In his twenties, of course. Beattie's words seem to have hit some nerves, no one wants to look like they're sanctimonious and can't relate to Australian stripjoint frequenters. Guess someone remembered that they vote, too...
Downer and Team Howard are denying that the allegations are part of a smear campaign - one would argue that Howard is experienced enough in smear campaigning that if this is his work, he's gotten sloppy. What this means if it is government work - and Downer's office seems to be the source - is that either they've got something much better than this stowed away, and this is testing the waters. Or that this year's election will be sooner rather than later. Laurie Oakes practically has money on Gillard being the nect target, in either case.
Either way, Rudd's weathered the media teacup storm reasonably well. Admitting he made a mistake and pointing out that admitting when one has made a mistake is a sign of responsibility and decency is a nice way to remind us all about the Coalition's failures in terms of ministerial accountability. '07 might well be the year of the Kevin.
"Four years ago, Kevin Rudd got drunk and took himself into a strip club," Senator Brown said.
"Four years ago, John Howard, sober, took Australia into the Iraq war. I think the electorate can judge which one did the more harm," he said.
Not that I think that'll be the end of it - it seems the only way to get mass Australian interest in a political issue after ten years of conservatism and non-core promises -(AWB means what?)- is to have sex involved in some way - case in point, fairfax's top story of the day was Defence Minister Nelson admitting that he, too, has been to a strip joint. Ooher. In his twenties, of course. Beattie's words seem to have hit some nerves, no one wants to look like they're sanctimonious and can't relate to Australian stripjoint frequenters. Guess someone remembered that they vote, too...
Downer and Team Howard are denying that the allegations are part of a smear campaign - one would argue that Howard is experienced enough in smear campaigning that if this is his work, he's gotten sloppy. What this means if it is government work - and Downer's office seems to be the source - is that either they've got something much better than this stowed away, and this is testing the waters. Or that this year's election will be sooner rather than later. Laurie Oakes practically has money on Gillard being the nect target, in either case.
Either way, Rudd's weathered the media teacup storm reasonably well. Admitting he made a mistake and pointing out that admitting when one has made a mistake is a sign of responsibility and decency is a nice way to remind us all about the Coalition's failures in terms of ministerial accountability. '07 might well be the year of the Kevin.