The dying days of the Fourth Reich: it's the 2007 AUSTRALIAN FEDERAL ELECTION

Yeah cause no one really understands it anyway innit. They'd rather be told they were getting a new school or something.

ABC headline:

Coalition, Labor tax policies 'virtually the same'

Exactly the headline the ALP wanted.

No comments about the debate yet?

i didn't watch it, how was it?

roffle, channel 9 used the "worm" and had the plug pulled by the authorities!

Howard's people pulled the plug through the ABC and the Press Club.

Today watch Howard deny any knowledge of it.

Oh and Kate, Rudd won the debate convincingly. Howard's performance was utterly appalling. All he did was sling mud at Rudd and avoid questions. I mean REALLY avoid questions. Even Rudd pulled him up on it about four times, right in the middle of the debate. By contrast, Rudd pointedly answered questions and avoided negativity for the most part.

From the SMH

http://www.smh.com.au/news/National/Howard-Rudd-face-off-in-election-debate/2007/10/21/1192940904527.html

"According to the Nine Network's controversial "worm", Mr Rudd won the debate with 65 per cent of viewers' approval, compared to Mr Howard's 29 per cent.

The worm tracked the reaction of 90 swinging voters in Nine's Sydney studios to the leaders' comments."

Swinging voters eh? They swing on a zephyr. They're like Melbourne weather.

Started the debate, expecting to switch off after about 20 minutes, but stayed to the end. Quite interesting. Rudd looked comfortable, upbeat, mostly on top of things. Howard looked distinctly uncomfortable the whole time, avoided answering direct questions repeatedly, and his own questions to Rudd were feeble. He looked, as my wife said, like a bad-tempered little boy being forced to do something he really didn't want to.

Didn't he? He waved his arms around loads as well.

I expected Howard to do less well than Rudd, but I didn't expect him to be the angry quivering mess that he was. Really, really frustrated and not in any way cogent.

And yeah, his questions to Rudd were bloody stupid. The one about Rudd and Bush: what the fuck was he (or his people) thinking?? Boughing under pressure is understandable, but these questions were written before the debate; what this tells me is that Howard's got bugger-all to use against Rudd and is just desperate.

Howard's weird and dopey closing statement was another wasted opportunity. Teaching history in schools, what the fuck?? How is that in any way a closing statement? This was written in advance as well, and betrays a government in freefall.

Howard's six-week campaign was designed to expose Labor's mistakes before voting day, but I suspect it'll backfire significantly.

What bothers me about this whole Howard's version of Australia's history thing is the potential for it to be some insipid watered down version of events where the white man did no wrong and everything was just dandy. Goodness knows the current curriculum (at least here in QLD) glosses over all the bad stuff enough already.

Yyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyep.

I wouldn't trust that prick to spell the word indigenous, let alone mount a truly unbiased and sensible history agenda for kids. Evidently brainwashing adults through the Murdoch press is not enough.

Have we had this? Old, but Rudd interviewing Rudd:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KHPij5Q9geQ

What about Rudd eating his ear wax?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3aQ8YiIV1AI

I am NOT going to click on that.

I was disappointed Rudd didn't let Mr Hat say anything.

"Prime Minister John Howard has denied any responsibility for a decision to pull the Nine Network's broadcast feed during the live televised leaders' debate."

http://www.theage.com.au/news/federalelection2007news/i-didnt-kill-worm-pm/2007/10/22/1192940956744.html

Gee there's a surprise. It's like TAMPA never happened.

Kev's getting cocky.

Newspoll shows Labor on 58% TPP to Liberal's 42%, and Rudd on 50% as preferred leader to Howard's 37%. Thereby eliminating last week's perceived Liberal 'comeback' in the polls. WATCH YOUR GOVT BLOW ONE (1) FUSE AND GO KRAZY.

Right on cue...

http://www.theage.com.au/news/federalelection2007news/howard-offers-pensioners-4bn/2007/10/23/1192941039664.html

They're getting desperate, aren't they? Next thing you know, a Jewish Sudanese bloke will have burnt down the Reichstag Parliament House.

Yeah but moley, the grannies are all voting for him anyway so I don't know how much difference that's going to make.

Oh and yes, fake terrorism threats are ready to pounce. Just wait for it.

70% of the Labor front bench is ex-union officials.

The poster of Christopher Pyne in our local supermarket has had the added speech bubble "I eat poo!" for 3 weeks now, and nobody has taken it down. This amuses me beyond all reasonable bounds.

Brilliant.

He sounds like his throat is lined with poo when he talks, so perhaps it counts as substantiated recourse.

Do you think Rudd will match the pensioner spendfest?

Indubitably.

Yesterday's Newspoll showed -- for the first time -- Rudd gaining on Howard in terms of economic approval. He absolutely does not want to lose this momentum, however transient it might have been. Economic management wins elections in this country, fact.

70% of the Labor front bench is ex-union officials.

Did I read somewhere that the appropriate response to this is that the liberal front bench is dominated by silver spoon private school nancies who have never done a hard day of work in their lives?

Pretty much.

Also that 70% figure is wrong, as Costello admitted on national television on Sunday morning. Not that it's stopped the bastards using it ever since with increasing saturation.

By the criterion these arsewipes are using, *I* was a union official because I was a member of student union.

Wasn't joining the student union compulsory up until a few years ago?

Yep. Not that it stops Howard et al calling me an ex-union official.

btw I adore the thread title.

By christ if I really was a union official I would have banned hacky sack on the lawn outside the arts common room.

If I were a union official I would've banned meetings to discuss the end of year office party using STRONGARM tactics if necessary.

^^^ THIS

I MEAN CHRIST I AM ONLY HERE TWO DAYS A WEEK NOW AS IT IS, YOU THINK I HAVE TIME TO PUT ASIDE MY REAL WORK AND ATTEND A MEETING FOR A PARTY THAT NO BASTARD IS EVER HAPPY WITH JUST SO I CAN GET THE BLAME FROM VARIOUS DEPARTMENTS, YEAH THX.

Imagine what it would be like if Labor got in with its OMG GIANT UNION SPATULA.

In fact I'm tempted to start a picture thread depicting the disastrous consequences of union power.

http://www.happyworker.com/smile/be-a-happy-worker-m.jpg

That happy worker in the cubicle on the far right is checking ILX!

Which one, Snooze Bloke or Cheeseburger Girl?

TS: Snooze Bloke or Cheeseburger Girl?

Remember those ads where various worker bots are relieved that they can ring the fairness hotline and have their contracts assessed under the 'Fairness Test'. What a joke. My partner rang that hotline yesterday because she'd been asked to sign a 2 page contract which effectively had her as a contractor working a 60 hour week for this company. The first thing that happened was that a recorded message told her that nothing she was told could be relied on as legal advice. The second thing that happened was that she was put on to a 19 year old stoner who told her 'Gee, I don't know. You're a props builder? I don't know. Do you carry things or build things? Both? Well which one, it can't be both! Maybe you should have a look at our website. Hang on, I'll speak to me supervisor. *click*'

Sounds fair.

Last month my work compulsorily sent us all an official government information bulletin explaining the fairness test and what our rights are. The salient points were (a) the bulletin contained fuck-all information, providing only the useless phone number that your partner called and (b) IT WAS OBVIOUS POLITICAL CAMPAIGNING. Even the HR manager who sent it agreed that it was just an ad for the government.

http://www.theage.com.au/ffximage/2007/10/25/wbRATES_wideweb__470x314,0.jpg

loooooooooool

70% of a Labor government would be former trade union officials.

But did any of them live at home until 32 like our beloved PM?

"70% of a Labor government would be former trade union officials."

That ain't the half of it - 100% of ANY Rudd cabinet, INCLUDING the PM, the Deputy PM, the Treasurer, the Foreign Minister and the Attorney General, would ALL be CARD CARRYING MEMBERS of the AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY!!!!!!!!