He may be a personable bloke – so’s George W. Bush from all reports, even by people who can’t stand his politics – but the fact is that he gets his marching orders on moral issues direct from George Pell and actually attempts to implement them.

He’ll never, ever be Prime Minister of this country. The negative campaign on abortion issues pretty much writes itself, given the man’s form on the issue. If you ever want to see Labor actually get 60% two-party preferred, put Abbott in charge of the Libs.

Not to mention that his election to the leadership would likely result in Democrats Mark II.

the assumption regarding the greens rests on three predictions, the beginnings for first & second of these being observable now:

1) climate change becomes the dominant geopolitical reality. australian governments tend to rise and fall around responding these realities, as we are a small and relatively powerless nation, unlike nations such as the uk, usa, japan, euro-zone, etc which can set agendas.

2) the liberal party, having no purpose now that free market economics is uncontroversial and does not require selling, continues its long move under the sway of the nsw right towards captain de groot territory and eventual rump party irrelevance.

3) the resultant broadening of the green base, through increased relevance and the filling of the moderate “right-wing” vacuum by the now euro-style social democrat labor, will bring more politically competent “left-wing” people into the greens fold, thus whittling the weird edges off policy.

i was colorful cos i’m enjoying this campaign, so glad you enjoyed it too. but these are more serious expressions of the vital seams underlying the argument above.

“They will argue that the Howard defeat marks the repudiation of the Howard Government’s lies on Iraq, racism on Aborigines, hostility to multiculturalism, construction of a national security state, un-Australian subservience to Washington, hostility to Muslims and so on.”

But I disgree with his conclusion – it is wholly true, and not a province of ‘teh left’. Rudd’s “embrace” is a simply a tactic to avoid wedges. I find it amazing that Howard has pushed policy so far to the extreme right, and corrupted our Westminster democracy so that he and his ministers are never accountable for when his extreme right agenda slips over the edge.

I am looking forward to a new direction for Australia, I just hope Kevin07 is brave enough to snuff out the vestiges of Howard’s extremism and selfishness. He needs to braver than Brumby in Victoria who seems to be impersonating Jeff Kennett.

As Yobbo so tastefully put it, it would be great to watch the left have to ‘neck itself’ after a Coalition survival.

What’s this? Pre-emptive gloating by proxy?

If you’re going to gloat, gloat full-bloodly and sincerely.

Me? I’m going to enjoy the Coalition defeat for many reasons.

1. The unpersoning of John Howard. His name will be removed from the annals of Liberal history more thoroughly than Trotsky’s was in the Soviet Union.

2. The termination of the career of Peter Costello. He will have to console himself with a well-paid job with a merchant bank. Will the real John Hewson please stand up.

3. The shit-fight about to erupt between the clerical and secular Right for possession of the corpse of the Liberal Party.

4. A series of rolling civil wars for control of the different state branches of the Liberal Party. At the end of this, the Victorian branch and the NSW branch will have hardly anything to say to each other.

5. Flame wars among the punditocracy of the Right. Central theme: “Who lost Australia?” The IPA will blame QuadRant for being pussies. QuadRant will ask why the IPA hates Australia.

6. Keith Wind-Who?

7. Miranda Devine, Caroline Overington and Janet Albrechtsen reassigned to cover Sydney suburban municipal news.

8. The truth about AWB.

9. A Senate inquiry into the intelligence flow preparatory to Australian involvement in Iraq.

10. The acrid stench of overheating paper shredders the length and breadth of Canberra on Satuday night and Sunday morning.

11. Ratty’s diamond-upholstered ottoman in a removal van leaving Kirribilli House.

I don’t know whether I find the idea of the greens as the new opposition funny or terrifying – the former because the glib theories whcih propose it seems to lack a certain something (like asking who would give them 50% TPP in any given seat) or the latter because it would certainly mean that the Labor Party as I knew had finally and completely been killed off through its own electoral success in stealing the centre and moderate right from the LNP.

You know as well as I do that that would only confirm him in all his odious opinions. Don’t insult our Jules so Nabs.

As for Abbott, I do know him personally and I have spoken to him on numerous occasions. I am a director and licensee of the Forestville Rugby League Club and Tony is patron of the club and over last 15 years or so he has come to a few functions, although not lately, because he thinks he has Warringah in the bag.

He is very personable one on one, but that’s his job, to network and schmooze. As a political personality he is one of the most toxic around. His Catholicism or whatever wouldn’t bother me except that he brings his Lefevrian views to the political arena, often by stealth. He feels he has a duty that is higher than one he owes to his constituents or the Australian people. As such he is far more dangerous than any unreconstructed Stalinist union leader we have ever had.

Don’t you want Julia to convert him? Live on webcam.

“Politicians like Gillard and Abbott can contribute something to making this country a better place. They have brains and the intellectual will to argue things through.”

I’d go with that. They’re both tough ruthless partisan fighters but also I think smart enough to work with each other when they have to – especially about a decade down the track when they’re jostling each other for the PM job, about when Australia gets hit by a black swan.. They’d make a good nucleus for a national unity government dealing with an Outside Context Problem.

Harry – have you ever been in danger of being employed by anyone under Workchoices conditions?

Any employer who cannot make an adequate profit unless their workers are serfs, should be in a different business.