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What hope of containing “Chopper” Rudd?

Sam Clench

by Sam Clench

04 Feb 12:15pm

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Filed under: Chopper Read, Election 2013, Julia Gillard, Kevin Rudd, Politics

86 comments

Oh dear. Labor minister Simon Crean has deluded himself into thinking that Kevin Rudd’s popularity can be “bottled” and controlled to help the government win re-election.

You want me to do what in front of the cameras?

Perhaps desperation is seeping through Labor’s ranks in the wake of this morning’s unfriendly poll results, because this is as fine an example of wishful thinking as you could ever hope to see.

Crean believes that Rudd could be a great “asset” for Labor during the election campaign, if only he would remain a “disciplined asset”.

“I think that if the combination of discipline plus the asset can be agreed upon it would be a fantastic boost to our fortunes and I would certainly advocate it,” Crean said.

With all of these mysterious references to “the asset”, you’d think that Kevin was the secret superweapon in a James Bond film.

But here’s the flaw in Crean’s master plan - Rudd isn’t some pliant pawn who can be bent to the Prime Minister’s will. He is a rather obstinate and independent fellow who will do whatever he damn well pleases.

The former PM has been on (another) media-dubbed charm offensive over the last few days. Commenting on an upcoming telemovie which will cover his rise and fall from power, Rudd nominated Chopper Read as the man to play him on screen. Well, he also mentioned Eric Bana, but let’s be realistic here.

Unfortunately for Crean and Julia Gillard, Rudd will be about as easy to control as Chopper Read himself over the next eight months, so Labor’s strategists should really find another way to boost the government’s popularity.

Good luck with that.

Comments on this post will close at 8pm AEST.

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86 comments

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    • james says:

      11:38am | 04/02/13

      Not a chance, Tony’s got 1 & half feet in the lodge.

      From September the 14th.

      Business tax rate increases
      $3bn to be spent on a green army
      Industrial relations reforms are off the agenda, so business is slugged again.

      Reply

    • ZSRenn says:

      12:01pm | 04/02/13

      A news Headline today was

      “Gillard Seeks New Life for Labor”

      I think she will have to enlist the services of Dr Frankenstein to get this headless body moving again but let’s not count our chickens before they hatch.

      September 14 is still a long way off!

    • Jaqui says:

      01:17pm | 04/02/13

      Look at it this way, at least you and the rest of your cohorts working in the Labor propaganda office will no longer be showing up on forums like this to spout outright lies.

    • dovif says:

      01:29pm | 04/02/13

      The fact is Rudd was not that popular, he was popular to begin with, but by the time Abbott was through with him, his last opinion polls were not great. The issue is Julia has been so bad that we all yern for the better days of having Rudd as the PM.

      The opinion poll really is saying anyone but Julia, we wish Rudd was around for the next 8 months, we even prefer Abbott.

      8 months to go

    • james says:

      01:29pm | 04/02/13

      Thanks for playing Jacqui.

      Please show me where the lies reside in my post.
      I will be waiting.

    • Markus Fox says:

      01:32pm | 04/02/13

      Jacqui, on the contrary; they’ll have nothing better to do, so expect lots of them to appear on these forums and watch them have a great big whinge.

    • Jaqui says:

      01:46pm | 04/02/13

      @james: I tell you what, you tell us which parts of your post were actually true?

    • james says:

      02:10pm | 04/02/13

      Business Tax rate increase - Maternity leave scheme
      $3BN per annum - Direct action
      Lack of IR reform - workchoices dead, buried and cremated.

      Meanwhile the rest of us are left to suffer.

    • Nostromo says:

      02:32pm | 04/02/13

      @ZSRenn: ROFLMFAO!!! smile)) And they will need Andy Warhol to perform the ‘operation; he he.

    • Lance says:

      02:57pm | 04/02/13

      Industrial relations reforms .... bring em on!  Lets stop punishing business for daring to hire people.  I might even try hiring an Australian or two instead of the dozens I outsource to overseas (who do a fantastic job to boot!).

    • Benzo says:

      03:03pm | 04/02/13

      @Jaqui
      Lol are you serious??  you accuse James of outright lies, when he is just repeating what the libs have stated as their polices??

      Are you that blind that you will vote a party on principle and have no idea of their policy’s?
      Did all Tony’s spin confuse to as to what is actually going on??

    • james says:

      06:35pm | 04/02/13

      Fail Jacqui.

      Please play again.

    • SAm says:

      11:38am | 04/02/13

      Rudd would be a great asset, as the leader of the Labor party.
      it would be a landslide, conservatives are scared %&$*less of him (as are his own colleagues)

      Reply

    • Borderer says:

      11:55am | 04/02/13

      You forgot the voters who remember his “leadership”, he was awful, fired for his incompetance and unfortunately replaced with something worse.

    • ZSRenn says:

      12:44pm | 04/02/13

      If he was going to be successful the first thing he would have to do is repeal the Carbon Tax on gaining office. Somehow I just can’t see that happening. 

      Fear of Rudd?

      I don’t think so;  2007 is just too many mistakes behind!

    • Gerard says:

      01:17pm | 04/02/13

      Unfortunately Borderer, most voters have the attention span of a goldfish and won’t take that into account.

    • Greg in Chengdu says:

      01:33pm | 04/02/13

      Your right, the only chance Labor have of winning this election is with Rudd at the helm. And it would be a vast improvement. BUT this is Julias Labor party and while Rudd might be what the people want, (which is how a democracy is supposed to work) The people won’t get it because Julia doesn’t care about the will of the people or the good of the country Julia cares about Julia being PM for as long as she can be.

    • Phil says:

      03:04pm | 04/02/13

      Greg in Chengdu:

      It doesn’t matter whether “the people” prefer Rudd or Gillard, or Abbott for that matter.  What matters is what the voters in 148 (?) electorates think of their local member or other candidate, and what those then elected in the majority think of who should be their leader in government.  Most have lost sight of how our democracy actually works.  Making it about “I don’t like X” as leader of one party means that I” ‘ll vote Y—the other party in my local electorate” means that very good local members can be lost and useless ones elected because of perceived “leadership” differences.  Look at the policies of both parties, and what local candidates are about, and then decide.

    • Joe Blow says:

      05:12pm | 04/02/13

      Who else but the Labor party would characterise one of their own as a psychotic egomaniac, who does not possess Labor values, and then say “Oh, but he’s such an asset…”

    • PJ says:

      05:37pm | 04/02/13

      He’s a better more classy act that Gillard.

      But the Gillard henchmen did do a hatchet job on him and that could be re-harshed to voters from the Liberal Party.

      They eat their own young these Socialist Lefties don’t they?

    • Joel M-J says:

      11:46am | 04/02/13

      You had my curiosity with “Chopper”. You lost it with “Rudd”.

      Reply

    • Rosie says:

      12:36pm | 04/02/13

      Sorry folks for the repetition. Was in great haste and didn’t realize what I had cut and paste from previous comments! Time to get off, said everything I wanted to say! Thanks Punch for the outlet to vent my frustrations etc with this Labor Govt.

    • Rosie says:

      11:51am | 04/02/13

      I disagree with you Sam Clench! Rudd hates Abbott more than he hates the woman that knifed him for his job! Simon Crean is right whether Gillard’s Labor Govt like it not! However, you are right about the desperation, this Gillard Labor Govt have no choice but to consider the man some of them hate second to Tony Abbott as an asset to the Party remaining in power. They are good at pretending that all is well on a sinking ship when it comes to saving their jobs. Someone said that Packer should offer to buy the Gillard Labor Govt now and give them jobs, they would forget about the people and leave without any regrets. I tend to agree. If only!

      How many predicted the 2010 Election results when Tony Abbott came from behind to nearly take out what should have been the 2007 majority Rudd Labor Govt????? Also please remember when Rudd came into power he was the most popular PM Australia had ever had! Don’t under estimate decent Australians that don’t care about the argy bargy politics that we find ourselves in today. They will only remember the decent things - Rudd was elected PM one day and overnight it was taken away from him for our first female PM. Since then it has been nothing but ‘argy bargy’ and a great division amongst the Australian people not because we all hold different political values either??????????How many predicted the 2010 Election results when Tony Abbott came from behind to nearly take out what should have been the 2007 majority Rudd Labor Govt????? Also please remember when Rudd came into power he was the most popular PM Australia had ever had! Don’t under estimate decent Australians that don’t care about the argy bargy politics that we find ourselves in today. They will only remember the decent things - Rudd was elected PM one day and overnight it was taken away from him for our first female PM. Since then it has been nothing but ‘argy bargy’ and a great division amongst the Australian people not because we all hold different political values either??????????

      Reply

    • The Right to Choice says:

      02:07pm | 04/02/13

      With the shit Gillard had to deal with during the last election campaign you would have thought you’re oh so great master rAbbott should have won the last election by quite a margin…. It was given to him on a golden plater but still failed to win. What does that say about the man? I really don’t think things have changed… and for those harping on about the ‘knifing of Rudd’ well that idiotic ideal was put to the sword back then too. Hell it will be a real giggle to watch rAbbot’s face when he loses again…. what will Margie think then eh’ of her non-achiever husband…. time to go back to selling budgie smugglers door to door.

    • Nostromo says:

      02:45pm | 04/02/13

      @The Right to Choice says: Seriously? Really? Whatever yer smokin…

      But, then again, never, ever underestimate the utter stoopidity of the average voter…just like Hewson’s unlosable election *sigh*.

      (Btw - Tony did win the last election, except for this farked up preferential vote diddling system we have that some call a democracy, pftt!)

    • The Right to Choice says:

      04:05pm | 04/02/13

      @Nostromo ummm errrrr yes comrade I bet you’d be all for a one party rule government. And if comrade rAbbott won the last election then how come he is in opposition. If you dont like the democracy of this country perhaps you and your ldeals are better suited in North Korea comrade. I mean really if you cant hand an election to this dofus like it was given to him last time jeeeez I dont think I was the one smoke’n the waccy baccy hahahaha…. god I love watching a snivelling driveliing Lib stooge.

    • MP says:

      06:26pm | 04/02/13

      Is ‘argy bargy’ our word of the day?

    • Joan says:

      06:55pm | 04/02/13

      @Rosie

      Pretty much everyone predicted a hung Parliament in 2010. What few people predicted was that Tony Abbott wouldn’t be able to convince the Independents to side with him. However, having seen how hopeless he is for the last 3 years, that’s no longer a surprise to anyone.

    • Borderer says:

      11:52am | 04/02/13

      With all of these mysterious references to “the asset”, you’d think that Kevin was the secret superweapon in a James Bond film.

      It’s Bourne Identity actually

      Best part is Jules is pretending Ruddy is still PM in these appearances….  It’s rather sad actually that she can’t/won’t show herself in public.

      Reply

    • jb says:

      05:09pm | 04/02/13

      Yep and an Asset is an agent not a secret weapon.

    • difficult lemon says:

      12:05pm | 04/02/13

      Tony Abbott could club a baby seal to death on the steps of Parliament House every morning til election day and still win.

      Reply

    • Roxanne says:

      12:18pm | 04/02/13

      So could Skippy, or Mr Squiggle

    • Mat says:

      12:56pm | 04/02/13

      @Roxanne - Damn girl I was hoping to come up with something this funny about the little ear wax eater but you beat me too it.

    • Markus Fox says:

      01:35pm | 04/02/13

      and Blind Freddy!

    • Greg in Chengdu says:

      01:37pm | 04/02/13

      HAAHAAHAHa I’ve been saying for a long time the Libs could put micheal Jacksons corpse in the leadership seat and still win

    • Nostromo says:

      02:38pm | 04/02/13

      LOL! What about an ALP minister instead? He could move in by April/May then. >8^D

      I’ll vote for Labour come August IF they put Keating back at the helm. Or Bob Katter <BFG>.

    • Nostromo says:

      02:47pm | 04/02/13

      Let’s try this: the only person that Juliar is sure to beat at the next election is…(I’ll kick off the top ten):

      1. George W Bush JR
      2. anyone not alive at the time as they would automatically be disqualified

    • Markus Fox says:

      03:22pm | 04/02/13

      Nostromo, I don’t know. The Australian people evidently want change. If Gillard is still around at the next election, Blind Freddy and everyone else would give her an electoral thumping.

    • MP says:

      12:08pm | 04/02/13

      What? Someone mentioned Bourne Identity?  Matt Damon playing K.Rudd?  I’d like to see that.

      Reply

    • Borderer says:

      12:19pm | 04/02/13

      He has the correct haircut, he just has to don specticals and lose all muscle definition….

    • jg says:

      12:50pm | 04/02/13

      And become a hissy fit prone misogynist narcissist who gets off on screaming at RAAF air hosties.

    • Modern Primitive says:

      01:00pm | 04/02/13

      In fairness JG, she brought him the wrong sammich.

    • Markus Fox says:

      01:29pm | 04/02/13

      Modern Primitive and that justifies Krudd’s behaviour?

    • Modern Primitive says:

      01:45pm | 04/02/13

      Of course it does.

    • Markus Fox says:

      01:54pm | 04/02/13

      Primitive: Really? So you think it’s perfectly okay to chuck a hissy fit over a sandwich? Hmmmm…

    • Meph says:

      02:01pm | 04/02/13

      @jg

      You just described many non-coms and not a small number of officers there.

    • Modern Primitive says:

      02:09pm | 04/02/13

      Well, really, how hard is it to bring the right sandwitch out? You’d think an RAAF Stewardess would be able to figure that out.

    • Bob says:

      02:21pm | 04/02/13

      I strongly suspect that MP’s tongue was firmly implanted in MP’s cheek.

    • jg says:

      02:23pm | 04/02/13

      Or the equally prissy screaming fit because someone forgot to pack him a hairdrier in Iraq.

    • Nostromo says:

      02:59pm | 04/02/13

      Did someone just use the ‘m’ word in this thread ffs? Don’t they know that Juliar has that trademarked now & will sue yo ass off for using it in context!? Better lawyer up! smile

    • Markus Fox says:

      03:20pm | 04/02/13

      Modern Primitive: It’s a sandwich for goodness sakes. There’s no justification for chucking a hissy fit over something so trivial. If he wanted to eat something, Rudd could have got up and made one himself!

    • Stephen T says:

      03:35pm | 04/02/13

      Sorry lads but wouldn’t it be better to leave the Rudd alone, he may not be perfect but he is far better, potty mouth, bad temper and all when compared to what we have ended up with.  I don’t dislike Rudd and I believe the reality is if he had not had the advice of Gillard and company he may not have made many of the mistakes that he did.
      As to whether he could beat Tony Abbott, I don’t think so but then who knows maybe it would be a lot closer than it is at present.  The only reservation I would have if I were a disenfranchised Rudd supporter voting for Labor in the event that Rudd was reinstated would be how long would he be in the job before the powerbrokers in the Labor Caucus replaced him with another of their pets.

    • Modern Primitive says:

      03:35pm | 04/02/13

      How is there no justification when it’s the department of defence which screws up? I mean, seriously, these are the men and women we entrust to protect us. Would you give them a pass if they bombed the wrong target or ordered the wrong equipment? No, they’d be chewed out, right and proper. Bringing the wrong sandwich is symptomatic of wider cultural failings within the organisation, and Kevin was completely justified in what he did.

    • Meph says:

      04:07pm | 04/02/13

      @Markus Fox

      Have you ever worked in retail?

    • Voting Intentions says:

      04:56pm | 04/02/13

      Our last two Labor PM’s, one wants women to wait on him and if they stuff it up look out, the other one, says housewives are just prostitutes, nothing misogynous about modern Labor leadership .

    • Markus Fox says:

      06:05pm | 04/02/13

      @Meph: no, I haven’t worked in retail. Is this common practice, is it?

    • ace leo ace says:

      01:06pm | 04/02/13

      Sam go back to bed the adults are talking.

      Why would anyone think that Rudd would have a better chance of being PM again by ousting Gillard before the election?

      Both blind Freddy and Rudd himself could tell you that trying that is probably the surest way to guarantee he never gets to be PM again. Rudd wants to be in the government, staying out of opposition is the main game. Being a team player is the only option he has left.

      Reply

    • Mr Sam says:

      01:32pm | 04/02/13

      Unleash the Rudd and watch Labor implode! Pass the popcorn please!

      Reply

    • Rose says:

      01:43pm | 04/02/13

      Gillard has virtually no hope of winning this election, Rudd has at least a fighting chance. I’m not sure of anyone else who has the skills + charisma to give it a red hot go for Labor at this point, they are running out of time. Labor needs to focus, Australia will suffer under an Abbott government, even more than people think they’re suffering now. Time to make a change while there is still some semblance of hope.

      Reply

    • Markus Fox says:

      01:58pm | 04/02/13

      And you think the megalomaniac who is Krudd gives us hope? Gimme a break. He might have been popular, but he was his own worst enemy and was hopeless when it came to governance. Name one plan that didn’t go up in smoke.

    • Mat says:

      02:07pm | 04/02/13

      @Rose - OMG can’t believe it you are even funnier than @Roxanne today .... skills & charisma? are you serious? He was a joke, big on talk and had nooooo substance. He is a meglomaniac who is in it for nothing but himself. His own party hated him, his staff loathed him, the public (except his own electorate) woke up to him (polls check before his Ceasar like stabbing) he was a hissy fit throwing child who had no leadership skills at all. The only thing that mad me mad when J.G stabbed him was I didn’t get to see him ousted by the public. He tried to baffle us with his confusing take on English launguage and nothing behind at all. best remembered for eating his ear wax in Parliment. But there will be pain under Abbott - because he has a BIG MESS to sort through.

    • tez says:

      03:33pm | 04/02/13

      Can’t buy that one Rose. Rudd has as much charisma as the Liberal front bench. O

    • Rose says:

      04:16pm | 04/02/13

      Actually, I was suggesting that a third possibility would need to have skills and charisma, it wasn’t well written I’m afraid. Rudd would get votes off of those who think he was unfairly dealt with and may turn back the tide in Queensland, also by some who would hate to back Abbott but will do to avoid voting for a Gillard led ALP.
      A third option would be the ALPs best option, but I don’t know who could pull it off. They would need incredible political skill, the ability to separate themselves from Gillard and the ability (charisma) to speak to the Australian people and get them to listen. A tough ask.
      Still, however bad you think things are now, I’m absolutely confident that Abbott will make them far, far worse.

    • Hurry up 14 Sep says:

      02:05pm | 04/02/13

      Rudd is the second worst PM of all time…just behind Gillard. The population might not have been happy with how he was knifed and what he was replaced with, but the PR fluff that was Kevin07 quickly wore off and it was almost immediately clear he was a PM without substance or direction. It was one bumbling mess after another under Rudd. Gillard has happily carried that tradition forward. Nothing or no pne can save the ALP from itself.

      Reply

    • Rolls Canardly says:

      02:18pm | 04/02/13

      Well, after being in the fire the frying pan is looking pret-ty cosy!
       
      Just how bad has it got to be for the hapless dolts in the ALP to consider going back to the bloke that gave us the asylum seeker disaster, school halls n computers, free money for dead Italians, and backed away from the greatest moral challenge of our time?
       
      Short memories, must have a.. Shor-or-ort memory!

      Reply

    • KimL says:

      02:23pm | 04/02/13

      Crean is a fool and I am not some nasty Liberal voter point scoring ..I vote Labor There are many in this country who think Rudd should be PM. It is fools in the caucus who like Crean who robbed The Australian Public of their preferred PM. If I was Rudd I would tell them to go jump, but Kevin is much nicer than I am

      Reply

    • tez says:

      04:05pm | 04/02/13

      If Rudd tells them to go jump then he should jump ship altogether, he is still a Labour MP and he needs to get his ego under control and work with the party not undermine it.

    • Esteban says:

      02:32pm | 04/02/13

      The pollsters who should know about these things reckon their about 18 seats that are quite likely to go to the coalition if an elecyion was held now.

      They even say dear left wing Tassie might elect a coalition member because ALP is on the nose in Tassie.

      The ALP can’t afford to lose 1 seat let alone 18.

      So where are the seats going tocome from if say 9 of those 18 seats go to the coalition?

      The obvious answer is Queensland where apparently some people object to the public service being trimmed to stabalise the financial position of the state.

      Swann hasn’t played the game. What is the point of sending a Queeeensalander to Canberra if he doesn’t give his home state preferential treatment?

      That leaves Ruddy. The word is that 6 seats could go back to ALP in Queensland. Apart from those 6 there are virtually no prospects in the rest of the nation for the ALP.

      Gillard needs Rudd in Queensland. “Why did you vote ALP”?  “Kevin told me and he’s a Queeeenslaaander”

      Reply

    • Robert S McCormick says:

      02:42pm | 04/02/13

      Here we go then!
      1) Julia Gillard’s phony Building the Education Revolution which was mercilessly rorted and now we are told those lap-tops she made such a big deal about & the schools complained they could not afford to run are now Out of Date but there is no money to replace them.
      2) Peter Garrett’s Death-Dealing Pink Batts catastrophe
      Peter Garrett’s Green Loans Affair
      That’s just 3 but though Rudd was PM at the time he did delegate Gillard & Garrett to implement those plans. That’s what PMs do. They give people jobs to do. Unfortunately Rudd gave them to two incompetents and though she stabbed him in the back she & Peter have remained just that, Incompetent.
      The simple truth is that Gillard saw the Polls, they (mostly well over 52% Two party Preferred) indicated that, though the Rudd ALP Majority would have been decreased to between 10 & 14 seats, Rudd would still have led the ALP to Victory.
      This Gillard could not allow for she was determined that she would become “Australia’s First Female Prime Minister” & she knew that unless she politically assassinated Rudd she would, in all probability, never, ever have become PM. She might have become Leader of the Opposition in 2013. With a bit of luck she might have retained that job after the 2016 Federal Election but as we know, the ALP is no different to any other Party in that they cannot tolerate a “Loser”. Hypothetically, back ion 2010 if the Coalition won in 2013 & again in 2016 (we voters have a habit of giving Federal Governments two terms - but Gillard screwed that for the ALP) and that would mean that should she survive 2016 she would have to wait until 2019. That simply would not happen, it is the custom for defeated leaders to stand aside & then quit Parliament altogether. Gillard was determined to fulfill her personal ambition. It had nothing to do with what was good for the ALP, Australia or anyone else. It was, is & always will be “All About Julia”. Whether rusted-on ALP supporters like him or not he preferred, by a country mile, over Gillard. People simply neither like nor trust her. If one of our ALP (or other Party) Tall Poppies is tobe brought down then it is for us to do so and not some over-ambitious, self-engrossed. Remember the outcry when Keating forced Hawke out? That outcry continued until it was revealed that they had done a secret deal whereby Hawke would stand aside for Keating & that is what happened.
      Gillard did no such deal with Rudd & even if she had, Rudd would have seen to it that, should the ALP be elected to a second term, he would remain until the end of that term & then hand over in an orderly, amicable manner and Gillard would have become leader & been accepted by us the Voters as such.
      That did not happen & we can all see the result.

      Reply

    • Phil says:

      03:19pm | 04/02/13

      And you have the insight into the Prime Minister’s (Julia Gillard) thinking and actions on what evidence?  How do you know what motivates her?  Many years ago (25 yrs) I did know her—I was not a member of the ALP—and found her intelligent, insightful, forward thinking and committed to the long term interests of our country.  If you have not had a personal interaction with our PM then I suggest that you cannot begin to speculate on her motivations or intents.

    • Stephen T says:

      03:46pm | 04/02/13

      @Phil: I do not know Julia Gillard as such but I have had the occasion to observe her directly in several different situations both in Australia and overseas, I think that you would be best keeping your old memories and not renewing the acquaintance.

    • Mouse says:

      06:44pm | 04/02/13

      Phil, your recollections and mine are just sooooooo different! While I agree with the “insightful’ and “committed”, I don’t think we are using the words in the same context.  lol :o)

    • jb says:

      02:51pm | 04/02/13

      Gilliard has way too much on most involved with the Labor party, they won’t be replacing her anytime soon, they would rather see the disintegration of the party than have her blow the lid on their scams and rorts. The crooks will stick this out together until the “14th”...
      Besides I don’t want to see a few faceless men remove this stain I want to see the millions of Australians at the polls apply the bleach!

      Reply

    • Markus Fox says:

      03:17pm | 04/02/13

      Agreed jb. I think if Gillard is challenged this year, then she’ll call an election. 14 September is all smoke and mirrors. It’s all about holding on to power and she doesn’t care about the damage she does to the ALP or worse…to the country.

    • Geronimo says:

      03:05pm | 04/02/13

      In the current scene, the chances of turning Rudd would appear to be similar to that of the Coalition expecting Royal Australian Navy Captains to obediently “turn the boats around” in International Waters, simply to endorse The Abbott’s Electoral Meal Ticket.

      Reply

    • TheFatMan says:

      03:11pm | 04/02/13

      Labor would be best advised to ditch both Rudd and Gillard and annoint Smith with a plan in place for Combet.  The Liberals need to ditch Abbott for Turnbull but I do not see any up and comer as succesor to him.  Alternatively either/or Rudd/Turnbull form a new, centrist, party mop up some of the minors and Indies and wipe the other two non relevant beasts out.

      Reply

    • Zack says:

      04:54pm | 04/02/13

      Gillard would never allow Smith a fair go. She is going to sink the ALP all the way to the end. Shame.

    • Kang says:

      04:55pm | 04/02/13

      I could live with that. They could walk around holding hands exchanging long protein strings.

    • JT says:

      03:23pm | 04/02/13

      I just had the image in my head that this is like Austin Power when Fat Bastard (crean) stole a frozen Austin’s (Rudd) mojo to give to Dr Evil (Gillard)....

      Swan would make a good mini me…

      Reply

    • nihonin says:

      03:54pm | 04/02/13

      That’s Alotta Fagina, JT.  wink

    • Rambling Grampa says:

      04:25pm | 04/02/13

      You all forget how popular Rudd was. When he first got in he was as popular as curly fries. Then the Simpson gene kicked in and now he’s as unpopular as curly fries.

      Reply

    • Adam says:

      04:49pm | 04/02/13

      Not one to quote Tsun Tzu at the drop of the hat, but keeping friends close and enemies closer is precisely what Julia Gillard must do at this point, and something MPs like Crean are smart enough to realise. There may be a hint of desperation, but above all, it’s sound tactics.

      I can’t see any basis for Sam’s conclusion.

      Rudd is a lone ranger, that’s a well established fact. But how does keeping him out of the fold, on the periphery help? He’ll continue to do what he does anyway, attracting along the way, the remarkable goodwill his awkward geekiness engenders.

      But so long as he is at arms length, that won’t help the party, much less Gillard.

      Bringing Rudd back into the fold may not enable the party to control him, or make him a pawn, but that wouldn’t be their intent. Until the election, Rudd will play the role of loyal party servant, fighting for the higher cause just fine on his own accord. And for that time, the party stand a chance of benefiting from harnessing his favourably with the electorate.

      What happens after the election (what Gillard perhaps fears) is less clear, but if Labor does survive, then Gillard will have new found authority and the Liberals will be in chaos, so Rudd will be a non-issue anyway.

      Reply

    • King in the North says:

      05:20pm | 04/02/13

      So once again there’s the possibility of the countrys second worst PM taking his job back from the worst PM. Groan…..

      Reply

    • Markus Fox says:

      06:10pm | 04/02/13

      Yes, yes, it is Zach grin She knows her goose is cooked and I hope the leaks keep on coming. lol It seems that the government is leaking like a sieve at the moment. The Titanic has hit the berg and it’s sinking. The sooner we get the opportunity to turf her, the better and then, maybe, just maybe we will have some normalcy around here again.

    • stephen says:

      06:47pm | 04/02/13

      I saw a picture of Kev bouncing his grandchild on his knee.
      It is a picture worth 2 words : stay home.

      Reply
 
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