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That guy on Q and A was right - Mark Latham is a tool

Tory Maguire

by Tory Maguire

10 Aug 08:20am

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Filed under: Election 2010, Julia Gillard, Laurie Oakes, Mark Latham, Media, Politics

90 comments

The best question to Julia Gillard on Q and A, and her best answer, went like this: “I’d be interested in your thoughts on a scale of 1 to 10 - one being just bearable and 10 being massively annoying - how big of a tool is Mark Latham?”

Ooooh, yeah, Mark. Is that electricity or just polyester! Gillard and Latham at the Ekka on Saturday.

Gillard: “(Laughs). There are some things that can’t be measured.” (Read Colgo’s take on Gillard’s Q and A performance here).

At the same time Latham was over on Sky News basically accusing the Prime Minister of being sexually inappropriate with him during their encounter at the Brisbane Ekka on Sunday. That’s pretty high on the Tool Index.

(Audio of the full interview is available here. Video will be available later in the day.)

The former opposition leader must have a very low threshold for titillation if he thinks Gillard was flirting with him the other day.

But there he was last night, claiming “as a married man” he was taken aback.

“I approached her and made a point that’s relevant to my story,” he told Paul Murray Live.

“I got the condescending, patronising stroke down the front. I haven’t been stroked down the front by a woman other than my wife for quite some time actually.

“I found that an interesting experience in itself.”

Only a tool would think the PM was hitting on him in those circumstances. Anyone else would have seen it as a politician diffusing a potentially disastrous situation in the middle of a press scrum.

Latham scored lots of other tool points during the interview, in which he also sooked about being being allowed to “make a livelihood” (apparently the generous taxpayer funded pension has left him on the bread line).

But the other low point was his vicious attack on Nine journalist Laurie Oakes.

Latham said: ‘‘Oakes has been absolutely devastated by the fact that in my Latham Diaries, I listed the nickname that he was given by the Labor Party, Jabba the Hut, you know the grotesque character from Star Wars. He’s got a real sensitivity about his morbid obesity and he’s highly, highly sensitive about it.”

He went on to repeatedly attack Oakes’s journalistic credibility and said he “felt sorry” for the Press Gallery doyen.

If he wasn’t such a tool, it might be tempting to feel sorry for Mark Latham instead.

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90 comments

Show oldest | newest first

    • Jane says:

      08:40am | 10/08/10

      But his appearances and comments make things even more interesting!

      Reply

    • Macon Paine says:

      09:08am | 10/08/10

      Agreed, he’s a loose cannon. I reckon Latham is a bit of a nutbag (the Labor party will do that to you) but he has this uncanny ability to be an unintentionally funny nutbag. Case in point his curbside ambush of Julia Gillard and now his spray at Laurie Oaks were both hilarious. I’ve always wondered do we see the real Mark Latham or this some sort of attention seeking stunt, either way let the laughs continue!

    • Peter from the bush says:

      09:43am | 10/08/10

      Hate to say this BUT Mark Latham is right….he is good entertainment,BUT as far as Mr.Oakes is concerned he is just an insult to himself the journo’s and Ch9.
      Oh sorry he is Ch9 isnt he….stiff upper lip and all that rubbish.
      Good on Mark Latham for adding some color into an otherwise boring election campaign and Mr.Oakes,GO get a life and do what you do best and follow Tony Abbott around like a lost sheep

    • Jack Thomas says:

      12:23pm | 10/08/10

      Yes, but he’s a Labor one. Many of his supporters, ideas and policies are still today’s Labor.

      Have the media and everyone else forgotten that Gillard, Rudd and all the rest were happy to have him as our potential PM?

      Peacock makes one terrible slip and it gets national coverage, and the whole Liberal party gets sledged along with him.

      Latham carries on like a pork chop, and none of you lot see no connection to Gillard’s support for him.

      PS. repeating Tweets (especially from Q&A) is like emailing everyone the inane drivel from university toilet doors.

      Why oh why are we subject to being interrupted by these inane and moronic comments that you call social media?

    • Brad Coward says:

      12:23pm | 10/08/10

      A former leader of the ALP called a tool ?  Don’t you just love the way that the left turns on it’s own when they fall out of favour with the Party !  It certainly gladdens the heart of this voter.

      Hate….it’s in their DNA !

    • Chinaski says:

      01:15pm | 10/08/10

      Latham had the opportunity to provide valuable political insight into the election. Unfortunately he’s merely providing outlandish stunts and making a fool of himself to bring about the interest of those too stupid to understand politics.

      The ambush of Gillard could have been caried out well, but Latham came across looking like the old, crazy pensioner who hassles journalists about conspiracy theories. His spray at Laurie Oakes was completely unjustified and had it been any other journo, you can be sure they would have lost their job post-haste.

      Peter from the bush - if you need “colour” to remain interested in the election campaign then I would advise you to change the channel, watch some Masterchef and when it comes polling day, intentionally tick both boxes, therefore rendering your vote invalid.

    • me my mo says:

      01:20pm | 10/08/10

      Have to agree with Peter. Latham’s the highlight of this election.

    • Bob says:

      02:28am | 11/08/10

      Latham’s being employed to report on the election. Admittedly it isn’t much of an election. However Latham can’t help himself, he’s effectively made his reporting pretty much about himself. Unbelievably he asked Gillard questions about himself, then sprayed Oakes with due reference to his own book. Another egotistical & utterly pointless public performance.

    • Maree says:

      09:29am | 11/08/10

      Jack Thomas, for the record, the article was not “repeating tweets”.  The dialogue came directly from Q & A.  Secondly, I hate to be pedantic, but Tory, I think you meant “defusing” and not “diffusing”.  However, I agree with your assessment of the situation.  Latham is a tool, Julia’s behaviour was appropriate ( this may be the only time I stick up for her) and Laurie Oakes is in a class so far above Latham who is a disgrace.

    • Sherekahn says:

      12:35pm | 11/08/10

      Peter from the bush, I saw Tony Abbot at the QLD Ekka the other day in the Stockman’s Bar but Laurie Oakes wasn’t there!  Guess someone rounded him up and returned him to the Bull Shed.

    • nosthow says:

      08:54am | 10/08/10

      Yes what a shocker he is Tors - thnak god he did not become our PM. And he collects a large Taxpayer funded pension too i beleive so whats his problem ? Best to ignore him I think. He will pop up at the next election and the one after etc etc.

      Reply

    • Macca says:

      08:56am | 10/08/10

      Once upon a time, this bloke could have been PM. To the ALP, what did you do to him? He obviously wasn’t always like this, otherwise he wouldn’t have been leader of the Opposition.

      Reply

    • Super D says:

      10:54am | 10/08/10

      Or Macca, was he always like this?  It still doesn’t explain why he was made opposition leader or why Julia Gillard was one of his biggest backers.

    • Vicki PS says:

      11:58am | 10/08/10

      Latham has never been the full packet of iced vovos.  He took over the leadership of the ALP with an appalling personal reputation for aggression and irrationality.  Nothing has changed.  I will never understand what the Caucus was thinking when they elected him: he was a completely predictable f**k-up.

    • Jane says:

      01:10pm | 10/08/10

      Whether Latham is a ‘tool’ ot not..is irrelevant in this. He was actually endorsed, and appointed as a possible PM like Joolia, by Labor’s faceless factions, indeed by Joolia herself - so THAT would be the more worrying aspect to consider you would think. Go figure.

      Why is it that Joolia has so many enemies that were once ‘mates’? Once Kev recovers from the knife in his back he may elaborate further too.

      Regardless of that, the questions Latham has, and the observations about Labor campaigning are valid and accurate. How about some other less ‘boofhead’ or ‘tool’ journalists take that up themselves and report and ask the hard questions like he attempts to.

      The reality of what he says is conveniently being over-looked by the ALPU sycophantic media who would rather focus on him….a media who likewise were falling over themselves to endorse as an alternative PM over the Coaliton’s Howard too…...speaks volumes doesn’t it.

    • mickijo says:

      02:33pm | 10/08/10

      It is hilarious, they make Cpn Rudd walk the plank then when they begin to sink, they drag him back up again to help steer the ship only to run into a rock called Latham. This is the election of the century., wouldn’t miss it for quids.

    • Sam says:

      03:10pm | 10/08/10

      Vicky PS, I have never understood why the Labor caucus elected such a tool as Latham to be their leader, and when the libs did likewise with their biggest tool Abbott I became doubly confused

    • Justin says:

      08:59am | 10/08/10

      Good on Mark Latham for callinga spade a spade he as the best labor leader since Gouigh Whitlam thats why Wayne Swan and the roosters had to undermine him during the 2004 election campaign. He is the msot interesteing characetr in Asutralin Politics and wouls get my wote if he was running for Pm or even President. Both Gillard and Abbott are the most boring people who are too scared to state polices and are just focused on getting elected political opotunisim at its worst. No wonder Latham and Rudd are getting more headlines then they are.

      Reply

    • Billy B says:

      03:33pm | 10/08/10

      Justin - Your standards aren’t very high if you think Gough Whitlam and Mark Latham were the best Labor leaders.  Thank goodness we didn’t have to put up with both of them for too long.

    • Paul Neri says:

      09:02am | 10/08/10

      I think Mark has a point about Julia being a little too touchy-feely with the boys! Looking at those pics of her with kev, she also laid her mitts on him too.

      What is it about our morals, mores, and standards that says it’s ok for a female to invade a bloke’s personal space but it’s a sexual harassment claim if the situation is reversed?

      We need a strong statement from Julia that men have their sensibilities too and there’s not one rule for the girls and one for the boys - anything less is irresponsible!

      Reply

    • julie says:

      09:45am | 10/08/10

      you raise a point there, I notice Julia is quite happy to HUG people on her travels. A bit strange.  Mind you, Tony still kisses most women in his party a greeting or after the launch speech for example, so where do you draw the line?  Latham is pulling at strings, not to mention something else

    • Ben Colby says:

      01:56pm | 10/08/10

      For goodness sake the way people here are carrying on anyone would thinks shes trying to make out with him. Have any of you people ever seen polite and reaasuring body language. Gillards appraoch has alwasy been soft and consultative. Grow up.

    • Daniel says:

      02:13pm | 10/08/10

      Julia’s body language was entirely appropriate given the situation. You wouldn’t find females “standing over” and too close to someone in attempt at masculine intimidation. It reminded me of the famous Latham / Howard election handshake. Made him look like a tool then, makes him look like a tool now.

    • Tim says:

      02:17pm | 10/08/10

      Ben,
      If Tony Abbott or any male politician had touched Julia Gillard in the way that she did to Latham there would have been hell to pay.
      But because she is a woman, somehow it’s OK.

    • Roja says:

      05:25pm | 10/08/10

      Latham obviously has problems with personal space, his overbearing handshake with Howard is still believed to have lost him an election.

      Now he complains that our female PM touched him in a ‘suggestive’ manner.  Methinks the problem is he is largely devoid of human contact recently.

      Quite possibly the mental illness he has been suffering is detiorating rapidly - which largely explains why channel nine hired him.

    • Youdy beaudy says:

      06:16am | 11/08/10

      @ Paul Neri.Julia’s obviously a touchy feely type of person. You know the ones, like everyones mother would be.Many people express themselves by gently touching the other person. Like patting a dog or Cat. It’s a behavioural pattern in all of the Simian kingdoms. It can be a sign of affection or she may have been stopping him coming closer and dribbling all over her or had sensed that he might attack her physically so she was stopping him coming closer. And also you never know what you might catch in these situations. Has he had a vet check yet. Has he got Pavovirus for instance, or does he spit his venom a long way or all over you. These are important issues.

      Yes Paul people do touch each other and it is called body language. People touch their friends and children and pets and lots of things even themselves . Nothing wrong with that is there. Imagine going through life not touching anything. That’s why we have hands and arms and a sense of touch. If you can’t feel then you are buggered already, may I suggest the green needle.

      Latham is an angry man. You can tell by looking at him and watching what he does. In this case it is obvious that he is trying deliberately to be a nuisance to Ms Gillard. Could even be seen as stalking in a way. A lot of sour grapes. If it was meant to be Mark it would have happened. So you didn’t become Prime Minister, so what!!. Get over it for Christs sake will you. Don’t lower your standards by working for Channel 9 and those dip sticks there. Certainly gone down a bit there, but with a bit of Lippy and makeup you may end up looking as sterile as all their other announcers and journalists.

    • Tool Shop says:

      09:08am | 10/08/10

      Some things aren’t even worth measuring, especially if they belong to Latham.

      Reply

    • Dan says:

      09:10am | 10/08/10

      At least Latham was entertaining.  He speaks his mind and is just the spice this campaign needs.

      If you want to talk tools, talk about the Rudd Gillard political hokey pokey.

      As for stroking a man’s chest, Mark Latham is neither a trained African lion and nor is he Julia’s lover.  Why did she stroke his chest?  Imagine the PC unit going into overdrive if Tony Abbott stroked a female journo’s arm to calm her down from a campaign question.

      Reply

    • Robert Smissen, rural SA, God's own country says:

      11:58am | 10/08/10

      Tony has too much class, but yes, you are right

    • Roja says:

      05:34pm | 10/08/10

      @Dan - A better comparison would be Abbott hugging and / or kissing a fellow liberal poltician.  Which is something he does, all the time. 

      Yet you are conspiciously silent on such behaviour from a married man (not that I believe either behaviour is worthy of the slightest comment). 

      You instead prefer to make whimisical statements about African Lions and laud Mark Latham’s behaviour - someone clearly struggling with mental illness which is being utilised by channel nine for ratings.  That they do it makes me sick, that you enjoy it makes you…

    • Mick D says:

      09:13am | 10/08/10

      Laurie Oaks may be a highly experienced and respected figure amongst journalists but I must say that he has played a shocker during this campaign.  He really believes that he is a player rather than an observer.  He might have been around a long time but that doesn’t make him the messiah or a protected species.

      Reply

    • iansand says:

      09:13am | 10/08/10

      Has anyone thought that Latham is really working with the blokes from the Chaser?

      Reply

    • TimB says:

      10:28am | 10/08/10

      Nah, Interesting if true, but from what I hear the Chaser had a run-in with Latham the other day, I think for that trophy segment. Will probably be on this week’s ep.

    • MarK says:

      11:13am | 10/08/10

      There is no love lost between them.

      I remember a Chaser skit called “bash a reffo” or something where they had one of those blow up bat things and a “refugee” and asked pollies to hit him as the pollies left parliament house for the day.

      A lot did it in good humour as intended. Latham got the bat and laid into the Chaser boys in a nasty way - few insults to boot. You could tell he was no fan. It has always stuck with me that thing as he was the only guy to neither just refuse or to have a go. Latham did it Lathams way.

      Wonder if someone can find a link.

    • jennifer duthie says:

      09:17am | 10/08/10

      julia can just get over it she can give it but cant take it good on u mark labor could comit murder and the dumb aussie let them off

      Reply

    • Soames says:

      09:36am | 10/08/10

      As one who has commented about ‘THE HANDS’ elsewhere; they are annoying, irritating, the hands are always in one’s face. Ms Gillard appears to present the hands for inspection for cleanliness, perhaps they are presented to audiences in a subliminous way to show she is holding no weapon, perhaps as a self-defence reaction, in order to retreat from the imminent perception of a questioner, or perhaps as a gesture of the laying on of hands (Leviticus) a form of the transferrance of the sins of Israel, to a sacrificial goat.

      No good advantage, nor political point, can be gained, by waving one’s hands in front of, nor by laying them on others.

      Reply

    • Drunk Guy says:

      11:59am | 10/08/10

      The practised body language of Gillard is patently obvious, presenting her plams to the viewer whenevr she speaks is considered a sign of having nothing to hide and yet she never give an answer to any real question asked, similarly the touching is an obvious attempt to placate.

      Latham may well be just too brash and way too pertinent with his question for Gillard’s liking but yet Labor did oppose him becoming Nine’s political corespondant, and as the parliamentry leader of the Labor Party Gillard would have sanctioned that move without doubt because she would not want her past put up for public knowledge or questions.

    • Julia Gillard : Hands off, Thank you. says:

      09:36am | 10/08/10

      This is another showy, pretentious aspect of Gillard’s style - constantly privileging herself as a female by placing her hands on men and women, patronising her way into the personal space of anyone reachable.  She is implying:  “I do like you.  I do relate to you.  You are very nice. Don’t worry, trust me, I’m here and I’m kind,  gentle. I am the one.”

      This gal will stop at nothing.  Most of the onlookers affected by this transparent fawning are being used - they are too in the moment to recoil.  They should politely request that she please keep her hands to herself -  just as any woman would rightly respond to a hands-on strange male. 
      Gillard personifies a discourteous double standard, similar to that which brought about her ruthless ascendancy over Rudd.

      Reply

    • Mayday says:

      01:27pm | 10/08/10

      Couldn’t agree more, total double standards.
      Ms Gillard’s thanking the audience member “for a great question/good point” or ingratiating herself when they asked a question was sickening.
      The woman is flirtatious and uses her sex and position to deflect the real issues going on around her.

    • Chris L says:

      10:23am | 11/08/10

      Why doesn’t she just hug and kiss them the way Abbot does?

    • The Scarlet Pimpernel says:

      09:41am | 10/08/10

      Two recent Labor leaders, previously thought by the proletariarian faithful and the party intelligensia to be ‘‘the greatest thing since canned piss’’  are now reviled by those same people.

      It seems fairly obvious that Labor have judgement problems (nobody mention insulation scams or school building rorts) and yet they are asking us to put faith in their judgement for another three years?

      If Latham is such a tool -  what the hell does that say about the Labor Caucus who elected him and followed him as their leader?

      Reply

    • James says:

      10:25am | 10/08/10

      What does it say about Gillard’s “judgement”. I am amazed she hasn’t faced questions over this. She aligned herself with both Latham and Rudd. Does this not show that being in government is more important to Gillard than the delivery of good government?

    • Lucius says:

      10:26am | 10/08/10

      I think it says a good lot about Labor considering they dumped his ass after he was a TOTAL FAILURE as leader and failed to get labor re-elected and they also dumped Kevvie after they released what a pathetic excuse of a leader he was. It takes a good party to identify it’s failures and “move forward”.

      If you want to talk about Caucus’s, what about the Liberals sticking with Johnny Howard after it was obvious he was going to lose them the 2007 election and the gutless Peter Costello who didn’t have the balls to contest the leadership. And let’s face it Tony Abbott is unelectable.. he doesn’t stand a chance of being PM and we all know it.

    • iansand says:

      11:45am | 10/08/10

      James - Julie Bishop.

    • Andrew says:

      09:44pm | 10/08/10

      Julia walked hand-in-hand with Latham when he contested leadership from Beazley. She then promoted Latham as Prime Minister elect in the 2004 federal election. Everyone should really pose questions at Julias judgement/agenda. The media have given no scrutiny towards the Gillard-Latham saga even though the sideshow continues.

    • Barry says:

      10:30am | 10/08/10

      If you actually read his diaries it is incredible how prescient his assessments are.  Rudd ’ a compulsive leaker to Laurie Oakes’ and Gillard ’ a clever, funny, real person’.  i would say he is spot on in most of his comments.  He has just upset everyone in the media and politics - a very precious bunch indeed- imagine channel 9 apologising to one of the single mothers they are always humiliating. Wouldnt happen, but upset the PM and they are quick to tug the forelock.  Nine must be terrified of what she will do to them when she is re-elected!

      Reply

    • Barry says:

      10:35am | 10/08/10

      Anyone who thinks the Q&A audience is not stacked with party hacks from both sides asking dorothy dixers is ‘pretty handicapped’ in my view

      Reply

    • Robert Smissen, rural SA, God's own country says:

      12:06pm | 10/08/10

      Last night’s Q & A was pathetic, it may have had a mix of voters but only the Labor sycophants got to ask questions. What’s the bet that when Tony Abbott faces Q & A, most of the questions will be from the loony left & alowed free reign by Tony Jones, labor appologist

    • Huckleberry says:

      12:39pm | 10/08/10

      Those damn anti-conservative media outlets! It’s a conspiracy I tells ya.

    • Mayday says:

      01:21pm | 10/08/10

      Last nights Q&A made the recent debate look exciting!
      Julia hardly said a thing we havn’t heard before, even when asked about Latham she repeated verbatim, word for word what she’d said the day before to various journalists.
      The set responses are really boring and I find her approach patronising,
      a rather predictable speaker.  Tony Jones at least made an effort to keep her on track and on question.
      Looking forward to next weeks Q&A, I wonder what the audience mix will be and if Tony Abbott is offered an array of soft questions like Ms Gillard?

    • mickijo says:

      02:41pm | 10/08/10

      I’ll be willing to bet that Tony Abbott will be fed to the jackals on his night, there will be no mercy shown and I reckon it will be stacked against him. It is the ABC after all.

    • Bobster says:

      10:35am | 10/08/10

      He is an outright tool but he’s right about Laurie Oakes (and Oakes is right about him too).

      Reply

    • martin says:

      10:59am | 10/08/10

      I don’t agree with Latham on immigration, I think he’s a bit of a lefty when it comes to immigration, but he would have stopped the feudalistic path that this country has taken. No doubt that’s why a lot of people, particularly corrupt, overprivileged, pampered baby boomers and trust fund kiddies, saw him as such a threat. I reckon he would have been great and he would have got things done.

      Just because he stood over Howard when he shook his hand? Please. What? We only like our ‘tough’ guys to be cowardly, conniving and manipulative ones? I think so.

      Reply

    • Sam says:

      04:42pm | 10/08/10

      Martin, was overseas throughout Latham’s political career, and since my return 5 years ago I have wondered what was the significance of the Latham howard handshake. Now I know, he ‘stood over’ the little guy. Intimidated him. Wow, that must have came as a shock, consodering nobody on his own side ever stood up to him. When I saw him approach JG at the EKKA, I saw the intimidation of a larger person standing over a smaller one, and during his rant, I saw JG place a hand on his (arm, i thought…  maybe his chest), which indicatedtranslated to me, ‘whoa big boy, stand back, get out of my face’: a not unreasonable involuntary defence mechanism.
      Paul Neri earlier in comments saw it differently, as a sexual approach. I worry for any women who try to fend him off.

    • Andrew says:

      09:57am | 11/08/10

      Reckon you are right there Sam. He is a big bloke & he was getting quite agitated. Just a natural defence mechinism on JG behalf to difuse a unsavory situation.

    • Ellis Wyatt says:

      11:08am | 10/08/10

      It was only a few years ago that Ms Gillard, Mr Rudd and the rest of the Labor Party believed that Mark Latham was best suited among their number to become Prime Minister of Australia.

      As a former leader, Mark Latham’s portrait presumably still adorns the wall of the Labor Party’s caucus meeting room in Parliament House, probably adjacent to the portraits of Simon Crean and Kevin Rudd.

      Reply

    • BensonBird says:

      11:20am | 10/08/10

      Latham is good reason why we should invest more into Mental Health He’s lost the plot

      Reply

    • Tinman says:

      12:05pm | 10/08/10

      Latham might well be a tool , however when it comes to telling it like it is he is the sharpest tool, that no longer hangs out with the other tools (from both sides) in the shed. He therefore no longer has to hide behind the PC fake niceness , smiles and lies . Politicians and political parties all work together to keep us in the dark and feed us on male bovine dung, while sticking their hands down deep into our pants pockets as they can .

      Reply

    • Richard says:

      01:07pm | 10/08/10

      Yeah lets all insult and humiliate an Mark Latham because he dared to confront our beloved Julia about a complaint she made about him taking a new job. I thought Labor were supposed to be all about supporting new jobs.

      Latham’s done nothing wrong. I was a former Latham supporter myself from about 2002 till about 2005. He is not insane or mental, he has a confrontational style. He hasn’t raped or killed anyone, he just calls it like he sees it, but for rusted on ALP supporters (who all voted for him in the election merely 6 years ago), that is a great crime worthy of ridicule and exile.

      Reply

    • Barry says:

      01:31pm | 10/08/10

      Absolutely right Richard, he would not have been bullied by Mark Arbib and Bill Shorten and their ‘focus groups’. I wish Labor still had people with balls like Latham

    • dead to me says:

      01:14pm | 10/08/10

      Latham, Rudd, Gillard are a trio of bullies. They work in different ways and styles but the results are the same.

      Reply

    • cj says:

      01:32pm | 10/08/10

      It’s a sad old day when an Aussie bloke who calls a spade a spade and speaks his mind is now considered a tool!  You want to talk about tools just look inside the Labor party.  It’s choccas with them.  Focus group driven, spin-doctoring tools for whom victory is the end in itself.  That’s why Latham left in disgust.  He’s not alone either.  Costa, Iemma, Keating.  The NSW right now repulses them all.  The problem is normal adjusted people(yes I include Latham in this description) are anathema to the collective Labor psyche thesedays.

      Reply

    • Barbara says:

      01:48pm | 10/08/10

      I use to hate Latham, but in recent times I have developed a bit of liking for him.  Not because he slags off at Labor, but because he lays out the mechanics of the politics behind what we see.  He speaks quite eloquently even if with a twinge of underlying anger towards his former party.  With some night classes in Journalism (whatever that might be, given the standard of reporting this election), he might make a good political commentator on a channel like Sky.  If you look past his anger and personality, what says makes a lot of sense and is quite refreshing.

      Reply

    • Bruce B says:

      01:58pm | 10/08/10

      How come poor little Julia needs an apology from Latham for not very much and yet it is okay for her to bombard tv with vitriolic and distorted ads against Tony Abbott?
      What a hypocrite and what a hypocrytical media for supporting her.

      Reply

    • Pat says:

      02:27pm | 10/08/10

      How about an apology from Jules for supporting, endorsing and electing Latham as being fit to lead Australia as PM? Surely a leopard does not change its spots. She kjnew what she supported with Latham and Rudd, both were to simply win an election.
      She obviously cares nothing for Australia.

      Reply

    • iansand says:

      02:34pm | 10/08/10

      My understanding was that the apology was not requested.  It was offered.

    • Peter Taliangis says:

      03:18pm | 10/08/10

      This tool was their leader - what will they say about the last tool and the current one in years to come - or will they be nicer to their colleagues in the future - wouldn’t that be nice

      Reply

    • Karen from Qld says:

      03:35pm | 10/08/10

      The current Labor campaign is like a script from Days of Our Lives. We have Kevin who was knifed and then ressurrected from the dead. Then we have a fake Julia being replaced by the real Julia, a shadowy and mysterious leaker and a ghost in Mark Latham haunting Labor. Pass the popcorn please

      Reply

    • CSallen says:

      04:01pm | 10/08/10

      I love it how all of you instantly make this an ALP thing, whereas at the end of the day he’s just a dead set tool.
      End of story.

      Reply

    • Greg says:

      04:23pm | 10/08/10

      Yep, another dead set tool that just happened to lead the Labor Party.

    • BillyR says:

      04:25pm | 10/08/10

      Well done Mark Latham you have added some interest to an otherwise boring negative election campaign. Laurie Oakes is obviously past his use by date.
      To Ms Gillard if the GFC is over why is 30 per cent of the Gold Coast office space empty and why do many empty shops display for lease signs?

      Reply

    • Roja says:

      05:43pm | 10/08/10

      When a war is over, why are the building still levelled? 

      The GFC may be gone, but the effects of it aren’t - I guess thats the theory of a stimulus, to leave as many more buildings still standing as you can when it’s all over.

    • Shane says:

      04:47pm | 10/08/10

      Last night at the supermarket, I was wondering where all the foil had gone. Clearly, it’s being eaten up by these right-wing nutters banging on about consipracy theories making hats.

      Reply

    • Margaret says:

      04:56pm | 10/08/10

      I have to admit that I used to admire Mark Latham quite some time back…but honestly!!  His eccentric and aggressive behaviour this week (including the bizarre comments about JG being sexually inappropriate with him) make me wonder if he needs a psychologist…seriously.  Julia handled the situation really well

      Reply

    • Drew(Darlinghurst) says:

      05:46pm | 10/08/10

      All I have to say is this….

        “sour grapes make for a lousy wine”

      It’s time for Mark to MOVE ON .

      Reply

    • Nicole says:

      05:50pm | 10/08/10

      Shane, you’re as funny as a migraine. Don’t give up your day job. You’ll end up bankrupt.

      Reply

    • Bigdog says:

      06:20pm | 10/08/10

      There’s a constant pattern of disloyalty and betrayal in the ranks of the Labor party. As Brad says, HATE is in their DNA. They hate Liberals, they hate each other, they hate people who bust a gut and get ahead, they hate if you drive a flash car or live in a flash house. There is only one thing they love…..POWER. And they will do and say anything and destroy anyone by any means to stay in government. Latham is just a product of the Labor machine. Rudds no different - he just sulks differently.

      Reply

    • CeeJ says:

      08:06pm | 10/08/10

      Julia Gillard also touched my grand daughter on the shoulder at the Ekka on Saturday…..
      Mark Latham is a drop kick…No idea how he ever got to be leader of the (then) opposition, and now a job as journo with Channel 9…

      Reply

    • Maxine says:

      08:35pm | 10/08/10

      And will Latham, as a taxpayer funded pensioner, have his pension docked because of the extra money he’s just earned like bona fide pensioners would?  No, not one cent will the taxpayers get back from him.

      Reply

    • Andrew says:

      09:10pm | 10/08/10

      Latham is a twat, there is no doubt about it.  The ALP probably had forgotten about him (and his bitterness) and he probably would have stayed under his rock if Krudd had of beaten him to the punch (which we all have been waiting for and would have preferred).  If anything Latham is providing a smoke screen for all of the parties. Perhaps this is why Channel 9 got him on board as the campaign is nothing but the usual pathetic pork-barreling which most people can see right through. What’s next- Malcolm Turnbull….?

      Reply

    • Latham Tool Index says:

      11:02pm | 10/08/10

      Toors, I think I love you for this article. But i think I have a bigger man crush on the guy that has introduced the Latham Tool Index (LTI) into the vernacular.

      Reply

    • Tarzan says:

      01:42am | 11/08/10

      I don’t particularly like Latham, and I don’t mind women touching me either. But can you imagine John Howard, or any other male pollie feeling down a female reporter? My God it would be front page all over the country.

      Reply

    • Bob says:

      08:24am | 11/08/10

      How dare he say Laurie Oaks is sensitive, when he himself had a tear about his “man boobs” only a few years ago. And who wouldn’t react badly to being called Jabba The Hut? This bloke is a tool. Why should my taxes pay him 60k per year forever?

      Reply

    • Barbara says:

      10:16am | 11/08/10

      Tory Maguire must be a bit thick if she thinks that Latham’s comments about Julia stroking him ‘down the front’ implies he was shocked at her
      flirting with him.  For goodness sake, can’t she tell when someone is
      speaking with their tongue in their cheek and trying to make a joke of
      the whole episode.  I sometimes wonder about these so-called professional journalists.  They tell us what they want us to think, regardless
      of the truth.  Rupert Murdoch would be very proud.

      Reply

    • Myopic says:

      10:27am | 11/08/10

      “Anyone else would have seen it as a politician diffusing a potentially disastrous situation in the middle of a press scrum.”

      The word is ‘defuse’ not ‘diffuse’. The latter means ‘to spread’ and is often confused with the former.

      Reply

    • watty says:

      12:13pm | 11/08/10

      Frightening to think that Gillard endorsed Crean then Latham for Leader when he stood against Beazely and presumanbly gave Rudd the thumbs up in 2007.

      Suppose you could put it down to women’s intuition”

      Reply

    • Stiffy says:

      12:46pm | 11/08/10

      Latham’s style of questioning reminds me of Norman Gunston….without the humor.

      Reply

    • MeinSydney says:

      01:00pm | 11/08/10

      I am no fan of Latham, or Abbott or Gillard, and I am definitely in the minority in my view here, but….

      When I first saw the footage, and before Latham said anything about it, I was shocked to see Julia touch him the way she did and a bit creeped out by it.  I am a female, work as a professional, and have many male colleagues, and I don’t touch them other than shaking their hands.  Sorry, but touching in those circumstances is inappropriate, and had she been a man doing that to a woman instead of the other way around, I think a lot more people would have noticed it as inappropriate.

      Reply

    • DaveinPerth says:

      03:28pm | 11/08/10

      Latham doesn’t appear to have the capacity for judgement he once had.  I think physical or mental illness has left him in a weakened state.

      I think Gillard was kind in her attempts to pat him on the head and gently tell him to f—k off.  She walked through a potentially bad situation pretty much unscathed.

      Latham may continue to bob up as a serial pest courtesy of the right, but the novelty will wear off at some point.

    • casba says:

      01:55pm | 11/08/10

      I wonder if anyone would have cared about the Latham factor if the person he had “attacked” had been a male.  It Julia wants to mix it with the boys, she has to take it like a man.  If not, she should get back to the kitchen- assuming she even knows what one is meant to do in a kitchen. I am female but I can’t stand the shrill shrieks from the feminists about “poor Julia and mean Mark Latham”.  And guess what else, I have a tertiary education too, earned in the days when women had to fight even to go onto matriculation at school. You Gen X women should all get over yourselves.

      Reply
 
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