Game over for Kevin Rudd

The Australian (Meganomics Blog) ^ | 24th June 2010 | George Megalogenis

[naturalman1975]

Kevin Rudd is finished as prime minister.

Julia Gillard will surely take his place after tonight’s drama, breaking two records in the one coup.

She will be the nation’s first female prime minister. And Rudd will be the first Labor prime minister to be dumped by his party before he could complete a term in office.

Labor party polling showed that voters had lost faith in Rudd. His backflip on emission trading in mid April left the public wondering what he stood for.

In Rudd’s home state of Queensland, party polling showed the government risked losing a brace of seats.

Labor is gambling that the public doesn’t want to change governments.

The opposition are themselves on their third leader.

While Tony Abbott’s elevation last December has stabilised the Coalition vote, the national polls still have Labor in front after preferences.

Whichever way the story goes from here, Australia has witnessed a special kind of madness in this term

Rudd, the most popular leader in Newspoll history, saw off four Liberal heavyweights: former prime minister John Howard, former treasurer Peter Costello, and opposition leaders Brendan Nelson and Malcolm Turnbull.

But he let Abbott get under skin. There is no other explanation for Rudd’s extended public panic attack this year.

[americanophile]

Bye Rudd. Take you’re hair stylist with you...

[skeeter]

And Rudd will be the first Labor prime minister to be dumped by his party before he could complete a term in office.

I am green with envy.

[Vigilanteman]

To educate us Americans on this side of the Pacific, is Gillard the same policies, different package, or does she represent a real improvement over Rudd?

Is your Labour party as thoroughly corrupt and far left as our Democrat Party? There are maybe two dozen Democrats in the House who are genuinely patriotic, less than half the Blue Dogs. How about in Australia?

[dennisw]

Gillard defends childlessness

* From: The Australian
* January 17, 2007 12:00AM

IT would be almost impossible to be a mother and a top-ranking Australian politician, says Julia Gillard.

Ms Gillard, who became Kevin Rudd’s deputy last year after Labor dumped then leader Kim Beazley and deputy Jenny Macklin, also says she is in no hurry to get married or even move in with her partner, hairdresser Tim Mathieson.

In an interview with The Bulletin published today, Ms Gillard defends her decision not to have children, saying John Howard and Peter Costello could never have made it to the top of the political pile had they tried to care for children as well.

“If Peter Costello genuinely thought about it, could he be themother of three children, have been Treasurer for more than a decade and be the next in line to be prime minister?” Ms Gillard says.

“The frank answer is no.”

[naturalman1975]

She’s the same party as Rudd, but whereas he’s a ‘moderate’, she’s ‘hard left’.

I don’t think she’s an improvement in general terms (for that reason), but I think she is likely to be too far to the left for the Australian voting public, and so I think she’d find it very hard to win the election later this year.

In general, the Australian Labor Party is probably further to the left than the Democrats in the US, and Gillard is on the left even of that. I actually do think she’s honest. And I think she is a Patriot in the sense that she honestly wants what she believes is best for this country - I just think she’d utterly wrong in that opinion.

I can respect her as a person. But her politics are extreme.