Kevin Rudd's Demise and a Commenter's Reply, Isaan Style.

I had a commenter, named Mike about the short blog I made last night when half asleep and just putting my thoughts to paper. It was about the eminent demise of the then Prime Minister Kevin Rudd and Julia Gillard the now prime minister. I did make a silly mistake with spelling and no excuses for this, I touch type and was partly watching TV while typing. I didn’t proof read just posted. But again no excuses.

Mike commented:

If you lived in Aust. you might be up to date on politics and qualified to comment ..Labor (note spelling teacher !) has completely gone off the rails lately, with Rudd behaving like a tinpot dictator ..he had a meltdown on live TV because the ABC 7.30 report had the temerity to ask some probing questions for a change.

(I cover this “meltdown” a bit later and scroll down if you want to read about this “meltdown” Mike is referring to.)

Putting the Iron Maiden (Julia Gillard) in the top job was the ALP's last attempt at retaining power, as the backroom boys knew Rudd would lead them to defeat in the coming election.

Unfortunately it might work, if enough people think they should give her a fair go...never mind that she is responsible for millions of $$ wasted in her schools program...new classrooms that are unsafe, school canteens that do not meet health regulations etc etc. (She did something that was very good in abolishing work choices)

AND she is a member of the "Gang of 4" responsible for this crazy new resource super tax, as well as all the recent failures and policy flips and flops....so nothing is going to change.

Mark Arbib and his shadowy union/faction mates have put the ALP back a decade, the unions are running the country again.

I agree Mike, if Gillard is re-elected in the upcoming election she will be a union muppet. She is deeply indebted to the unions and I should be happy about this. But I don’t like the lying and conniving woman.

Mike, I do have a right to comment, as any person does in a free and democratic society. I am a member of the Labor Party, I have a membership card but you probably don’t have one for the Liberal party, I’ve been a union member for 17 years and continue to pay my fees each year even though I have not worked in Australia for 6 years.

I agree that Labor had wavered and Rudd had lost a lot of popularity, you only had to see the polls in the papers to know this. Rudd had made some stupid errors indeed and had egg on his face on a few things. The ‘insulation scheme’ that was a total screw up. The shelving of the emissions trading scheme and just recently the “super mining tax” and the stand off with the big mining companies.

The mining tax is about time, of course the operators; the owners are going to cry foul about having profits slashed, and their statements of how much they contribute to the communities and Australia through employment, purchasing goods and so forth is a justified one but for too long too much of the profit is going off shore and not benefitting Australia, the country they are tearing these resources out of.

He had a meltdown, Mike you are kidding. I saw this interview, and the day after the budget had been delivered O’Brien had not asked anything about the delivered budget but was more interested in Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme (CPRS) and of course the Resource Super Profit Tax (RSPT).

Kerry O’Brien went straight into this:

“Kevin Rudd, firstly while we're talking about mining, we've just received the transcript of comments from the CEO of Rio Tinto, Tom Albanese, at a Merrill Lynch conference in Miami earlier today where he says he was shocked by your tax announcement but in particular he points out that Rio has reinvested everything it's earned in after tax profit back into Australia in the past ten years, about $38 billion in all, and he poses the question: 'Would Rio have put that amount of money in if there had been a super tax in place?' He calls it a super tax, not a tax on super profits, a super tax, and he says the answer was no. Can you afford to ignore that warning?

Then O’Brien said, “You've made that point but, it sounds not so much a complaint as a threat, well as a warning, if not a threat. He says the Pilbara business would not have been as big as it is, it would have been a lot smaller with this tax in place.

Now are you, are you saying that's a hollow threat, it's just a process they're going through to try and soften you up?

Then O’Brien asked, “So do you rule out categorically any significant change in the nature of your tax, whether it's the amount, the 40 per cent and you've said you're not going to, but also about the definition of what a super profits tax is?”

Then O’Brien asked, “What about on the definition of what a super profits tax is or what a super profit is?”

Then O’Brien said, Sorry, that, that does suggest to me that, that, this is still open about what that, what the final definition will be of a super profit?

And then Rudd replied not long after this with this:

KEVIN RUDD: ...remember what's at stake here is better super for working families, tax cuts for the general economy and furthermore on top of that funding the infrastructure which Australia needs.

That is why the Government is doing this because we believe in investing in our country's future competitiveness.

O’Brien replies with this; “I'll get to the Budget details shortly but can you clear up a puzzle for me first. You've...”

And Rudd interrupts, “I'll try mate.”

Then O’Brien asked this, you've spent the best part of two years building up your political capital. How have you managed to damage brand Rudd so comprehensively in such a short time this year?

Then O’Brien asked this, “You, I, I said brand Rudd, you said the Government. I'm talking about Kevin Rudd, I'm talking about your image, your credibility, your brand.

Then O’Brien said, “because you can't possibly suggest that this does not exercise your mind at all, that you are so focused, you're so focused on Government that you're not concerned about whether you're losing support going into the next election?”

Rudd answered, “Kerry, look I'm human like anyone else and of course you'd, um. be, um, um, be inhuman if you weren't affected by developments from time to time, that's just the truth of it.” (answer continued….)

Then O’Brien tried to interrupt, “but um...”

Rudd continued, “No, hang on, let me finish, you've asked me a pretty fundamental question here which is about how the actions which I'm responsible for and the Government's responsible for are being seen.” So you can see her that Rudd is getting short.

Then O’Brien said, “but there's one thing you can't escape and that is this: it is still in your hands to go to the next election on the issue as you defined as ‘a great moral challenge of our time’, an issue on which you accused the Opposition of political, of absolute political cowardice, it's in your hands to go to the next election, seek a double dissolution, whether you seek a double dissolution or not and make this ETS (Emissions Trading Scheme) a fresh mandate for the people to decide and tell both sides of politics what they want.

Now you have squibbed that decision. You have put this on the backburner until 2013, at least, in the Budget makes that clear?

Rudd eplied, “You know, something, Kerry, I will be delighted to fight Mr Abbott on the next election, at the next election, whenever it is held, on climate change absolutely...

O’Brien asks, “On the ETS?” (Emission Trading Scheme shelved now)

Rudd replied, “On climate change and actions to bring it about. The bottom line is this: we believe in climate change, he says it's absolute crap.”

Then O’Brien really starts to push the envelope, “Mr Rudd, when the Opposition tried to argue with you on holding back a vote on the ETS until after Copenhagen, that is, until after the world had made a stand, you said that was absolute political cowardice.

So why is it now not absolute political cowardice for you to show leadership on this to the rest of the world by seeking to take the Australian people with you at the next election on an ETS?”

And then Mike, we finally come to your “meltdown you stated about”

Rudd replied, “You know something Kerry where I think you've got this fundamentally wrong is um, frankly being absent from the negotiations in Copenhagen themselves.

There was no government in the world like the Australian Government which threw its every energy at bringing about a deal, a global deal, on climate change. Penny Wong and I sat up for three days and three nights with 20 leaders from around the world to try and frame a global agreement.

Now it might be easy for you to sit in 7:30 Report land and say that was easy to do. Let me tell you mate, it wasn't.” (This is the apparent meltdown)

This interview had been going a long time already; and O’Brien had said that he was going to get to the budget soon, a long time ago. Of course Rudd was going to get short, you could already tell this if you watched the interview.

You can see the interview at The 7.30 Report or read the transcript at this link as I am sure you mustn’t have watched the interview and just jumped on the headlines Mike as Rudd was very patient.

Mike if you want to debate about politics and so forth, then lets do. But I am sure you will not be so confident. I could be considered sad Mike but I watch Parliament question time and videos of what is going on in Canberra, each time they sit and if you have never seen what goes on Mike you can go to this link and watch and learn more on what our politicians do.

So Mike I do believe I have a right to comment, probably more so than you, being that I am a current member of a political party (though not so proud at the moment) and I am sure I know more about what is going on with politics. I am sure you have no real idea on the Resource Super Profit Tax (RSPT). I can send you half a dozen excellent links on this tax and the outline of it, as you probably only know what has been printed in the media.

Mike, I do thank you for contributing and commenting and I hope you don’t take my right of reply in the wrong way.

Does anyone else have any views on Julia Gillard taking the PM job or anything else then please leave a comment.

If you think I am an ass, then please let me know this as well, plenty of others do.

And Mike have you watched, or did you see Julia Gillard on the 7.30 Report tonight, about 6hrs after she had become the new PM? I suppose you will wait to read about the interview and then just make an opinion on the article.

Kerry O’Brien’s first question to her was, “Did you forge a genuine friendship in that time (relating to her and Rudd during their partnership)? How close did you become?

Gillard replied, “I think we did forge a genuine friendship in that time” (She thinks) “We worked side by side, we worked together. I believe we have been friends. I hope for the future, we can continue some sort of bond."

Is this lady fuc#ing kidding herself, she backstabbed, bent over and fuc#ed Rudd in his as# and she believes that he would want to continue some sort of bond. She is full of shit and lying her ass off already.


And she is the most boring and monotonous speaker. I was trying to not fall asleep with her monotone voice during the 20 minute interview.

Where have the politicians with some charisma gone, the Paul Keating’s and Bob Hawke’s gone. Abbot and Gillard is like watching paint dry, no that is probably more entertaining.

Brunty