This just in from Andrew Bolt and The Australian.
Following discussion this morning on The Insiders, there are fresh rumours that Julia Gillard may be about to be deposed in favour of Kevin Rudd.
Key backers, rumoured to include Bill “I support whatever the Prime Minister says even though I dont know what she said” Shorten, are said to be “wobbling” in their support, especially given the rock star reception afforded Kevni when he visited Geelong on Friday.
Could Labor possibly be prepared to swap back to the man they described as a raging, psychopathic egomaniac?
Would the voting public be so stupid to vote back in a man said to be so dysfunctional that no one wanted to work with him?
Personally, I would like nothing better than to see the back of Julia Gillard, but I desperately would like the voting public afforded the chance to send her on her way themselves, not another coup by Labor’s Faceless Men.
Watching Gillard deliver her speech conceding the election to Abbott would be priceless and worth every second of the 98 days that we would have to endure until that delicious moment could eventuate.
Dacka's Razor 
Whatever one thinks of Rudd, certain sections of the electorate, primarily the cliched “Howard battler types” seem to be happy to have a Mandarin speaking nerd as PM, but they sure as hell won’t have a woman as PM. So a return to Rudd could save a few seats (i.e. maybe those on a 6-7% margin), but being realistic, doing so would really just be re-arranging the deck chairs on the Titanic (the original one, not the Clive Palmer one, but that’s another story)
I know it’s Fairfax, my apologies, but regardless, an interesting postscript to my comment… http://www.theage.com.au/opinion/political-news/rudd-is-labors-best-last-hope-20130608-2nx3j.html
Hey Rambler, yes very interesting but has Rudd hoodwinked not only the media but also Labor?
Andrew Bolt has an interesting post about Rudd’s appearance in Geelong last week, which has been seen as the catalyst for the momentum that we are discussing…
One of Bolt’s readers has advised that Rudd visited Corio, which is a very safe Labor seat, and that the whole thing was meticulously stage managed with bus loads of supporters brought in to give the impression that Kevni is loved by the people. His people of course.
From Bolt’s post @ http://blogs.news.com.au/heraldsun/andrewbolt/index.php/heraldsun/comments/did_kevin_rudd_con_the_media_with_his_triumphant_tour/
Andrew…as I posted Friday Corio Village shopping centre is the bogan capital of Australia. I do not intend to be derogatory, but it is a fact of life. Corio is Geelong’s version of Broadmeadows on steriods. Labor could install Mikey Mouse as the leader, and the Corioites would vote for him.
What amuses me is Dick Marles seat is one of the safest Labor seats in the country, while Darren Cheeseman’s Corrangamite seat is one of the most marginal…why didn’t Kev weave his magic at the Waurn Ponds shopping in Grovedale (bigger than Corio) in Cheeseman’s electorate?
I will tell you why.. The public response there would be abhorring…definitely not adoring …believe me, the average IQ rises considerably once you cross to the southern side of the Barwon River in Geelong.
BTW…just spoke to mate who’s daughter works as a hairdresser at Corio Village. She said that Friday was a circus, totally scripted from start to finish…a bus load of Labor supporters arrived a half an hour before Kev and his entourage. All the TV was shot outside John Eren’s (local state member) megazine floor office with his staff and the bus people. My mates daughter reckons Kev was exposed to the general public for less than a couple minutes, always surrounded by the ‘bus people’. She also noted that the comments from the women in the chairs in her salon when Kev wandered past her shop was not what we seen on the TV Friday night.
—
Say what you will about Bolt, but he has his finger on the pulse. Much more than most in the press gallery anyway. Not only that but his readers are sharper than most give them credit for.
Everything is not as it seems. Interesting times ahead.
Also from Bolt is this report from the AFR, updated only hours ago that reports that Shorten has reaffirmed his committment to Gillard.
PHILLIP COOREY CHIEF POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT
Employment Minister Bill Shorten has reaffirmed his support for Julia Gillard as pressure builds on the minister and other members of the Prime Minister’s praetorian guard to put Labor first and reinstate Kevin Rudd as leader before the September 14 election.
While there is a belief among some that Mr Shorten has been weighing up the situation, the Employment Minister told The Australian Financial Review on Sunday afternoon he was sticking by the Prime Minister.
Paul Howes, the national secretary of the Australian Workers Union, to which Mr Shorten and Treasurer Wayne Swan are allied, is also backing Ms Gillard.
From the AFR @ http://www.afr.com/p/national/politics/gillard_backers_weigh_leadership_QTneNCmtALOQy1x8kl9ysJ
Rambler, I’d also like to jump in with a response to your first comment…
It has never been about the fact that Gillard is a woman, it is about trust and performance.
She betrayed the trust of Rudd on the Night of the Long Knives Mk II.
Then she betrayed the trust of the electorate with what will go down as one of the most infamous quotes in Australian politics; “There will be no carbon tax under the government I lead”.
To top off these betrayals, Gillard’s performance since the 2010 election has been absymal. Everything that she has touched has gone to the dogs.
Failing to protect our borders, putting policy in place that has led to the deaths of more than 1000 boat people, if not more. Failing miserably to bring the budget surplus she promised 300 times.
This contrasts vividly against her xenophobic hyperbole against legitimate and productive immigrants on 457 visas, whilst employing one in her very own office.
Fomenting a race riot out of her office on Australia Day in an effort to paint Abbott, a man who actually volunteers in indigenous communities, as a racist.
Her despicable misogyny slur on a family man with three daughters, a vituperative performance in the defence of a man of suspect character who she hand picked against parliamentary convention.
The fact that she sidles up with Kyle Sandilands in an effort to court the bogan vote that she apparently despises, yet desperately needs to survive, is yet another example of her do anything creed.
To top that all off, there is her rat cunning in relation to the AWU WRA scandal and her efforts, personally and through Conroy to silence the media. A media that should be sniffing at the trail blazened by Michael Smith.
Most people’s distaste for her has nothing to do with what is between her legs.
It is about what is inside her chest. A twisted, black heart consumed with power and all that it brings.
She will go down in infamy as the most destructive force that ever held sway in this country.
Either way, whatever one’s objection to Gillard, basically, Kevin Rudd would save at least some of Labor’s bacon. As to the alleged bussing in of supporters for Rudd’s Corio visit, of course everyone would have arrived by bus. It’s Corio. I should note that some of Geelong’s nicer suburbs, including Newtown (South Toorak) are also located north of the river, so Bolt’s commenter ought to beware broad generalisations. But as a south of the river resident, I’ll happily accept the compliment as to my intelligence. I should point out that Rudd was similarly mobbed in the past when visiting places in Geelong such as Oberon High School, which is south of the river in Belmont, and most of those young’uns would be of voting age by now. http://www.theage.com.au/news/national/rudd-gets-rock-star-reception/2007/09/04/1188783210952.html
Yes, Rudd may save some of the furniture but nearly all the policy failures had their genesis in Rudd’s government. His support was heading south just before Gillard knifed him but you’re right they would do better with him.
But swapping leaders again just shows how pathetic they are as a government, and as a party in general. There’s a reason the older hands have retired and its not age. It’s pride.
I guess what they’re saying is that Rudd, just like Gillard, never really mixes with the common people, rather their appearances are tightly staged managed.
Generalisations are generally true. I live in Melbourne’s north and trust me when I say it’s commodore country out here. Am I a bogan? Most likely, we’re all a little bit of a bogan inside I reckon.
I’d take the word of a local anytime, especially since his daughter runs a business in the area. Plus there was his daughters observations about what the customers said in her shop being less than complimentary.
But yes, he generally is received better than she. Remember that visit to the shopping centre when she was challenged on camera by a woman about lying? Classic. no misogyny there 😉
In my mind schools don’t count, Jesus, even Gillard gets mobbed there. Kids, especially primary school ones, know next to nothing in the grand scheme of things. Come meet the adults in the street, the contempt is visceral for them all.
As people age they generally become more conservative in their views. I have posted about it previously. The quote, oftly falsely attributed to Churchill, sums it up thus:
Any man who is not a socialist at age 20 has no heart. Any man who is still a socialist at age 40 has no head.