Reasons you will hate me

Isn't he a bit too right wing and economically sensible for you, Fits?

If ever a party were in need of a boot in the arse, anon...


I am just looking forward to some action. Some movement. Some ANYTHING.

It would seem that all is not quite lost in the matter of IR reforms...

Shove over a bit and pass the popcorn - I'm going to be watching with you.

But...how many days is it until the next election?

I saw him on Lateline last year, being asked about his intentions re entering parliament, and my heart sank. He constantly evaded the question by "staying on message" and came off as a stick-up-the-arse career politician.

But I still agree with you. He could Shake Some Action within the party, but not with voters. Not with his personality, anyway.

It's funny how political divisions are referred to as "left and right wings". If birds had such appendages so fundamentally out of sync with each other, they would never have left the ground. Politics is currently a flightless bird.

Interesting also that the socially conscious left is considered by some to be less than economically sensible. I was always of the opinion that looking after people who make up a society was a good thing for the economy, but hey, what do I know, I just work here.

my next friday question to you (which I thought of in the shower this morning) was in fact going to be:

do you foresee the ALP getting themselves out of the pathetic-doing-nothing-but-grumbling mess they have been in for quite sometime now?

part 2 of the question was going to be WHO can save them - or at least light a firecracker outside the caucus doors...

I'm going to observe shorten quitely with hope....but not hold my breath just yet.

we've been duped before.
x

Shorten is a worthless machine man, whose biggest achievement is doing factional deals with his mates in the National Union of Workers and SDA to get preselected into a safe seat.

Don't look to him for salvation. He's no Hawke.

Alex, I agree that Bill Shorten is no RJ Hawke. He lacks the charisma and exists in a time where no one in that sort of position can afford to operate outside the confines of 'ze schpin' TM.

He is a product of his current environment and is doing good work.

Your appraisal is one dimensional and immature.

He is the ACTU's fed-polly-elect and if you believe in the strengths of unionism then you should perhaps dwell on the positive.

The other thing I want to say is that the right-left wing thing is really a moving target.

Malcolm Fraser was considered a smudge into the hard right in his day. He's now devoting his time to social issues.

I was talking to a fairly high-ranking union mate recently and I suggested that Liberal politicians grow a heart in their twilight because they realise they've been licking the dried jizz off satan's jocks for their entire political life.

He said to me: "It's not that Fraser's changed his views, it's just that the mythical divide between left and right continues to move toward the left."

So the ground moves.

BTW Alex, what is your favourite Billy Bragg record?

Please don't say Mermaid Avenue.

"He is the ACTU's fed-polly-elect"
Burrow described him as 'respected union official', hardly strong backing. Combet is busy trying to support Simon Crean who may lose preselection because of the right faction in Victoria - driven stongly by Shorten. I get worried when I see union officials with one eye on their professional future (especially at a time like this). You can hear it in his (guarded) answers.

"It's not that Fraser's changed his views, it's just that the mythical divide between left and right continues to move toward the left."
Hopefully he meant right. It sure ain’t moving to the left. Fraser mellowed a bit with age, but the policies being passed off now as ‘left’ are more conservative than he was. Say, for example, reducing the marginal tax-rate to 30 per cent – a Shorten policy.

Labor does need a boot in the arse, I’m just not yet convinced Shorten is the guy. The last time I saw him, he was chatting up a girl in Meyers Place, telling her how good a listener he was, sipping on champagne, wearing his AWU shirt.

For me the jury is still out, he’s either a part part of the answer, or part of the problem.

If he's not prepared to stand in a marginal Liberal seat, rather than a safe Labor seat, then Shorten isn't really interested in making sure that Labor wins government. He's only interested in himself. That's hardly something to get excited about.

No, I think that comment about the divide moving to the left is correct. It means that with a static population of politicians, there are more of them now on the right side of the divide than the left. Eventually, it will move all the way to the left, and the left will not exist anymore.

Why do you think they were so concerned about neutering the Student Unions? The last breeding ground of left thinking in Australian politics, regardless of what the union movement may think they are there for.

But the 'divide' moving to the left doesn't make sense. That means that a stance that 10 years ago was labelled 'centre' would now be labelled 'right' (as the 'divide' has moved to the left). Surely, that 'centre' stance would actually now be labelled as 'left'.

I guess it depends what you see as 'the consistent'. I think the ideas are consistent on the spectrum, but their label changes. So a person who holds consistent ideas, finds their label 'changes' (in the case of Fraser).

Anyway, society is becoming more conservative, we can agree on that.

Well... I hope you're right. Bit worried about his wacky conservative tax plans, though.

I think what I'm saying is essentially a mathematical concept. If you have a fixed number of people, and they are divided evenly in half, there will be equal numbers in the left half, and the right half.

If the line of division moves to the left, the halves are no longer equal, there are more people on the right than the left. That's what the last election result suggests, anyway.

I don't think that applies to Fraser, who has, I think, changed his polical views over the years, and apparently doesn't support a lot of what his former sidekick is doing now.

"If he's not prepared to stand in a marginal Liberal seat, rather than a safe Labor seat, then Shorten isn't really interested in making sure that Labor wins government. He's only interested in himself. That's hardly something to get excited about."
Kate, If the political commentariat had half your sense a piece of work like BS would have been called for what he is a long time ago. Bravo!

Those here who can see right through Bill Shorten (convenient initials, eh?) are on the money. He has flatly said he's not interested in navel-gazing about what Labour stands for. Ditto for Evan Thornley, the millionare they want to inflict on working class Footscray.
Ms Fits, I think if you want to maintain political street cred, you're going to have to do a bit better than five words in vague praise of BS. So many, including union organisers, are not fooled by his slickness, they know he's an opportunist. What's wrong with you?

Gillard versus Shorten with lightsabres in the House of Reps would be fun though.

If that's really you Joan Kirner, I worship at your altar.


I NEVER SAID I LOVED BILL SHORTEN, I JUST SAID THE ALP NEEDED A BOOT UP THE ARSE.


p.s. My money's still on Tanner. Am I alone in this?

Apparently so, Fits. Every time I have mentioned Tanner to anyone, the most common answer is "Who?". The next most common answer, after the laughter and giggles subside is "He hasn't got it in him".

I reckon personally, he has the right combination of blokeyness, normality and comittment to lead the parliamentary Labor party to a Federal victory.

I also think he's intelligent enough to keep any potentially divisive ideas to himself until after the election, and make it through a campaign without

A. Crying
B. Mud sticking to him
C. Punching anyone out
d. Eyeballing his opposition in a threatening manner