If there's merit in Mark Latham, then there must be merit in punching walls ...

Uh huh.

Of course the pond couldn't resist, but first a little exculpatory preamble ...

The pond has a number of friends in the TG community, the pond might be even so bold as to say that some of them are intimate friends, but the issue, when it comes to spade and shovel, is that someone saying fuckwitted things may be labelled a fuckwit without fear of perceived prejudice or of 18C being waved about, and the Terrorists thereby having a fainting fit ...

And so to the latest scribbling of Catherine McGregor, who unfortunately hitched her wagon to that of Tony Abbott's, and keeps on with the hitching.

This latest offering can be seen as a sidebar to the reptiles' current campaign, which each day turns up a fresh offering ...

Tell that to Arfur,

But back to McGregor - let us bypass her own adept effort at labelling her rival as a weak and conventional choice - now flourishing a stolidity of prose that reassures the pond that the piece was indeed written by a military person ...

Well indeed, there's a fine example of saying nothing, and in a turgid manner, and at such exemplary length ...

So when will we cut to the chase? Patience, patience, Gollum, the hoppy toad will be out soon enough ...

Hmm, that's better.

There is merit in Mark Latham's analysis of the professional elite.

Now it's true that Mr Latham is one of the pond's favourite commentators, full of splendid insights ...

Who could forget this recondite analysis, as recorded in the HUN ...

Cannot be published for legal reasons...

Well you can get an idea of the legal reasons if you head off to the twitterings of the Real Mark Latham, which astonishingly remain on the internet here, even though they are defamatory and reveal a remarkably warped and weird mind ... and Latham has acknowledged that he's the author ...

(Warning, following that link is roughly equivalent to a visit to a sewerage works to view the raw product before it's treated).

Here's the thing Ms McGregor. You don't get very far saying there's merit in Mark Latham. He'll still break your arm, or at least the arm of the nearest taxi driver. It's in his nature, as much as he sees it as his last desperate way to make a buck, at least until a gig on I'm A Celebrity calls ... 

But do go on ... but please, oh please, don't start braying at length about the matching wonders of Tony Abbott ...

Oh you had to go and do it, didn't you.

Not just extensive quotes from a man desperate, pathetically exceedingly desperate for public attention - so much so that he'd encourage the Terrorists to tell porkies about his time with Obama -but then you had to back him up with meaningless blather, along the lines "Turnbull ... may draw encouragement that his predecessor is committed to the re-election of the government and is lending no moral authority to any insurgency on the Coalition's right flank."

Do you have even the vaguest idea how incredibly (a) self-serving and (b) self-evidently stupid that sounds?

Is there anybody else who could come up with a patently nonsensical remark that could match that one?

Oops, you're right, the pond is sorry it asked ...

Let's re-phrase that. Could any politician act in a way as dumb as that concluding remark?

Oh bugger it, the pond is truly sorry it asked.

Look, the pond knows you're at a loose end.  It's a real pity that weak, conventional choice got the nod.

But instead of scribbling the usual kool-aid saturated stuff for the Terrorists - to the point of praising a Mark Latham piece - why not find something useful to do in life.

By definition that excludes going into politics, being the Australian of the Year and scribbling for the Terrorists. And it will save the pond from having think about Tony Abbott and Mark Latham all in one go. Being a military person, you should appreciate the horror, the horror ...