Sunday, February 01, 2015

Just go ...


Ignore the petty vandalism for a moment, and focus on the message ...

Just go ...

Not Campbell Newman. He's already gone.

Tony Abbott ...

Just go ...

Do it with style and grace of the kind conspicuously lacking to date in your political career.

Well of course the doofus isn't going to pay the slightest bit of attention to electronic graffiti, but thus far his premiership has helped the Liberals to lose in Victoria, where he was persona non grata, and now in Queensland, where, whatever happens in the final counting, he has helped to steer the good ship LNP on to the rocks ... without once showing up in the state.

That caps a dire month back at the helm, and it's not going to get any better. The speech he delivers tomorrow will be swamped by speculation, innuendo and bizarre stories of the "Mal Brough is going to be a suicide bomber" leadership challenger kind ...

Oh that rough Brough, slouching like a beast in a Yeats' poem towards Lake Burley Griffin ...

The ironies are already running thick and fast, and as always the pond turns to the reptiles at the lizard Oz to gauge the temperature of the water.

It's getting near boiling:


That was written without irony, but the juxtaposition of bouffant one knob polisher stories was replete with irony:


Where are you now, counter-revolution, Shane Stone, and the voices backing Tony Abbott that were supposed to be heard around the land?

Here they are. Take it away bouffant one (and google if you want the links):


And other reptiles were already bracing for the storm on the bridge.



And the Fairfaxians were also there.

Yesterday they'd been out and about armed with a baseball bat and the rough Brough:



And today they led with the obvious:


Yes, the pond watched the inept ABC election coverage, and poor old Antony Green in eternal battle with his computer, his touch screen and the data. It was rich in comedy material ...

And yes, the headline is thin as gossamer, seizing on a 'Wayne Swan' quote to suggest that Prentice was throwing Abbott under a bus, when she had in fact attempted to be achingly cautious, while attempting to sound like she was within cooee of the real world, rather than living in an Abbottian la la land, as bodies collapsed with a thud around her.

But in the end she was cornered, and came up with the goods:

Asked on the ABC whether Mr Abbott was the right person to lead the Coalition to the next election, Ms Prentice replied: "Well, that's a discussion, isn't it? We need to look at where we're going." 
"Tony has said he has listened and learned. He is making a keynote speech on Monday at the press club [and] we can't continue as we are. We are not taking the people with us. We are getting bad feedback." 
Ms Prentice predicted the Coalition would suffer the same fate as Campbell Newman's first-term state government if "we don't change what we're doing". 
Ms Prentice agreed Monday's speech was "make or break" for Mr Abbott. 
Asked whether the Queensland result would trigger a leadership spill, Ms Prentice hesitated and replied: "Look, I think our discussion... I think the members will look at the results tonight and they will take those to Canberra." When pressed again about the likelihood of a showdown, she said MPs would "see what he [Mr Abbott] says on Monday". 
Former Labor treasurer Wayne Swan, a panelist on the ABC broadcast, seized on the comments and said Ms Prentice had thrown Mr Abbott "under a bus".

It was, on even a moment's reflection, an impossible conclusion. Abbott's entire premiership hinges on a 'make or break' speech on Monday?

In that case, he's gone, but yet to acknowledge it. A single speech as the redemption of a premiership?

That's government by crisis, and the government has - despite all the weasel words designed to whittle it down - been in crisis for months. Maybe if Abbott were Churchillian, a single speech could do the job, but a rhetorical Churchill he's not.

Does Abbott have within him the grace to depart, as opposed to saying grace at meals? (That peculiarity, which placed Abbott somewhere deep in the mid-west in a John Ford movie courtesy of Peter Fitzgerald here).

Probably not, but the count in Queensland is liking to go on for the next week, there might be appeals if a count is tight, and then there's going to be the outcome, which is going to be precarious no matter to whom the prize falls. The depth of inexperience in the Labor mob is only matched by the level of slaughter in the LNP mob.

Look at the Currish Snail on line this morning, alive with the smell of napalm and bad puns, as the state of toads goes wild with excitement at the daring of the voters:


In the end, it doesn't matter how the story goes, provided there's a story, and Abbott's future is the next story.

Yes, good old Dennis Atkins - remembered lovingly in Adelaide for falling asleep in a movie he was supposed to be reviewing - bells the cat from a deep north point of view:


Note, above all, that illustration at the top of the story:

Abbott as a quaint, out of touch monarchist, standing with his photos by Lake Burley Griffin, like a fatuous, smirking, hand-rubbing goose ...

That's the image these days, and it's pretty settled and fixed, just like the long list of complaints and disasters, which are now routinely regurgitated.

And now the shark jumper has nuked the Queensland fridge, it's going to be a long way back, and if it all hangs on a single speech, the fridge nuker is doomed ...

If the Feds had half a clue, they'd move along, and quickly, rather than stay stuck in the quagmire. They could still have a good half term carrying out their agenda of transferring wealth from the poor to the rich, and they might even be able to mount a respectable campaign for re-election if they managed to elect the right figurehead in place of monarchist, grace-saying Abbott.

Right now, they're in the grip of a Mafia moment, as noted by Andrew Dyson, and with one body already off the political stage, there's sure to be more (and more Dyson here).

There will be blood. The only question is how much ...


20 comments:

  1. Not just blood, DP. Sweat and tears, too. Mark my words. Order Number 227. How can Abbott wimp out, with Margie in the front row, Peta in the shadows, Bronny & Sophie busting to share a stage with him?

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  2. Oh Happy Day! Can't wait for the next joyous moment...

    Have you been up all night Dorothy?

    Dannosaurus

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    Replies
    1. No Danno, the pond slept the sleep of the righteous and the just, knowing that the lord smites mightily the loons of the pond. Or some such blather. But we stayed with the ABC coverage until the death, because the comedy routines just kept on coming.

      Delete
  3. Wasn't it Pompey who claimed ; " He'd only to stamp his foot and legions of loyal troops would rush to his side !"...start dancing "The Stomp" , Tony..they're all there waiting!

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  4. Nah, Barnaby can't see it, he reckons Tony's PMship is a safe as a house.
    His house, Barnabay's that is.
    What's more, it's a Tamworth house.

    fred

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  5. The follow-on from this LNP. collapse, will have to be the Murdoch influence collapse...for all the hysterical cooeeing and hand-clapping for the balding stoat, there was no support...what now for the Murdoshians, except to roll up their tents and like the Bedouin, steal away silently into the night!..They have nought to bargain with..nothing to offer in serious support..."All their dreams gone to bust and into footnotes all their lust." !
    jaycee

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  6. "I also want to reflect on the MPs that lost their seats tonight in the LNP team." (Newman) said.

    "And damn, that reflection is hot. You folks just don't know what you missed out on"

    http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/queensland/queensland-state-election-2015/queensland-election-tears-and-cheers-as-poll-results-come-in-20150131-132xe8.html

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  7. There will be no encore. Abbott will soon leave the building. Cheerless supporting act. Lousy singer.

    ReplyDelete
  8. On "Insiders" we see Kenny doing his damnest to wipe the bird-shit off the windscreen, but he's picked up the doggie-doo rag by mistake!

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    Replies
    1. I wonder when it's will sink in that Kenny and co are part of the LNPs problem with the electorate?

      Delete
  9. http://www.canberratimes.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/barnaby-joyces-700000-punt-on-tony-abbotts-longevity-as-prime-minister-20150130-13236x.html

    Forgot to link to Barnaby betting his house on Tony as still PM in 2016.

    fred

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    Replies
    1. Standard Fairfax fare, fred. Total obsession with real estate prices, even in metaphor.

      Delete
  10. Rupert Murdoch @rupertmurdoch • 2h 2 hours ago
    Shock turnover in Q'land outing okay govt.. Blank cheque to nobodies. Can't ignore this a huge message to Feds. People have spoken!


    Three years ago Nobody was kicked out of office in Queensland
    An important job was to be done so everybody voted in Somebody.
    Somebody got cocky thinking Anybody could do it
    Everybody discovered Somebody was a pompous fake
    Now Everybody has called upon Nobody to fix Somebody’s mess
    And the music keeps playing on and on

    ReplyDelete
  11. Oh dear, oh dear, the Pineapple has gone sour.

    Until the Libs realize that an electorally significant number of people do not want what they are selling, they will be in trouble.

    They will have to stop listening to conservative radicals like the commentator I heard this very morn who claimed that Abbott was running a 'Labor government' and needed to go harder. Oh dear, oh dear, that advisor doesn't seem to have noticed that the Economic Rationalist Tollway with dinky sound barriers and motorway sculptures has turned into the Highway from Hell for zealots trying to turn us into Australia Inc.

    Here is my take on what will happen. Worthless for I am rarely correct.

    1 Mal Brough is a stalking horse.
    2 The other Malcolm will wait until the party comes to him on blended knee.
    3 He will accept. His tie will not be blue.
    4 The polls will give a trampoline bounce

    To be continued....

    Miss pp

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    Replies
    1. Just one thing Miss pp , hasn't Julie Bishop recently visited Rupert in New York . I think she was summoned to receive the obligatory tap on the shoulder , I think the Libs would rather continue down the Highway to Hell than suffer Malcolm.
      Personally I want Abbott to stay so we can watch him 'done slowly';
      then again the sheer pleasure of seeing him fall on his own sword or being knifed in the guts by his fellow deceivers & liars could be delicious ...........mmmmmm

      Delete
    2. What I want is for the ALP to turn off the Highway.
      I want that party to listen to those who understand that we live in a society not an economy.
      Actually I feel sorry for Abbott. He thought it would be business as usual because he lacks the imagination to deal with changed circumstances.
      In my opinion neo-liberalism has brought us to a fork in the road. If we turn right we will be juddering down Plutocracy Parade in our cheap imported jalopies.
      Honestly what has got into that right wing mob that they think that we should cheer on the dismantling of Fair Go Australia.
      Whoever leads that party will not give us anything different. Laissez faire economics is their raison d'être.
      Miss pp

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    3. Your predictions sound reasonably reasonable to me, Miss pp, although sadly that's not much of an endorsement coming from me...
      But yes, absolutely - it's the "product" (to use that hateful parlance), not the marketing, that many of us are rejecting. The frequent assertion that if Abbott (or Newman, for that matter) would only communicate better, and market better, then all would be well, is offensive on so many levels.
      "Plutocracy Parade" - brilliant :)
      Mish

      Delete
  12. Kinda gives a whole new meaning to Reboot. That suppository has been so deeply inserted that the only form of removal is major surgery. Good ol' Queensland, home of the Taipan.
    You wouldn't want to be Abbott's speech writer for quids right now.

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  13. It was interesting watching the “performing seals” on ‘Insiders” this morning. They were canvassing the possibilities that we, on social media had gabbed about and drawn our conclusions about last night!...They stumbled over futures and pasts that we on social media had already picked clean hours before…All they were doing was giving “official status” to what was already discussed and agreed upon by a general consensus within the chat-rooms of social media blogging..The forth estate is now officially redundant!...there is nothing they can offer that is not already available on the many platforms, from a plethora of quality commentators and a keen public on the Fifth Estate.
    The “general consensus” of a multitude of opinion has become the yardstick of public agreement on politics, personality and performance…WE HAVE ARRIVED!...Peak Democracy is here!
    jaycee.

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  14. Pity Tony Abbott didn't take notice of electronic graffiti. He might have been more in tune with those he suppose to represent. It's a shame that "those who put Abbott there and use the position of PM, to promote their own self serving agenda by manipulating so called "Struggle St", don't suffer the same public backlash. One can always hope I suppose.

    ReplyDelete

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