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To Term Or Not To Term?

That is the existential question of our elected parliament. One of the most fascinating aspects of contemporary Oz Politics is the relationship between the NBN-phobic Rupert Murdoch and Neville Wran’s former Silk du Jour—now shadow Comms Minister—Petit Mal de Wentworth, the loyal Liberal tasked by his Dear Leader to not merely remove from the national agenda, but to DESTROY our NBN.

Pokud se chcete zaregistrovat, je nutné zaškrtnout souhlas se zprácováním osobních údajů. Doporučili byste tuto suplementaci, pokud ano, tak pouze vitamínu k1 nebo společně lekarnavceske k1 a d1 anebo k1, d1 a ca.

Call it a hunch , but after the way Fontleroy Wentworth was rolled from the tory top spot by the Monky Prince with the OO’s nod, I don’t believe the man who conjured Godwin Grech is too fond of Rupert OR Anthony! Some commentators see Malcs as being in the Death Seat. I don’t. Without the pressures of opposition leadership perpetually upon him, I think Malcolm Turnbull, one of the greatest bullshit artists to ever grace the hallowed halls of our Capital, has the patience and smarts to fuck both Abbott and Rupert.

Windsor and Oakeshott stated the NBN was a major factor in them going with Gillard.

The stakes couldn’t be higher. The control of the NEW medium— and thus the message— is up for grabs. Staggeringly until quite recently, the new paradigm came as a surprise to Rupert’s arse. As we’ve been witnessing, the day of the msm locusts is at hand. Hyper-alert,”trained” paparazzi are poised to swarm the first whiff of centre-leftist blood. Bewildered backbenchers have been told to cancel all travel and holiday plans. Klutzes are being coccooned; motor-mouths, muzzled. Good old-fashioned Team Play is flavour of the month in Party rooms.
We should be so lucky already. Let us rejoice in this year of the Team Player!

Kinda makes a guy wanna rush out and join a power-breakfast worship group.

How would Leo Strauss or Niccy Machiavelli, Gould of The Hill or Plouffe & Axelrod read this one?
Shall this government of ours, Ticsters, proceed to term or is the rule of Ranga I of Oz rife for Abbortion?

801 replies on “To Term Or Not To Term?”

Well then….Let’s start this thread off with a wonderful bang. Oprah’s coming to town for (I believe) a mere $3mil from the NSW Gov’t! What a bargain.
Let’s just hope she’ll be as good as this. 😆
http://kaycaskey.blogspot.com/2007/11/oprahs-favorite-things-snl-parody.html
Meanwhile, the mad Mal is bullshitting at full bore all over the media.
I still can’t quite believe he’s as dumb as he sounds. But then, a man who thought Godwin G was “a reliable informant” might be even madder than we think. (I think he’s just been shafted by a meaner, nastier politician myself.)
Oh yes, on other matters…If this article is on the money. (and it appears to be.)
Exclusive: Oakeshott makes a bid for Speaker
http://www.abc.net.au/unleashed/stories/s3012428.htm
It will be the first time in about 4 years that anyone has given the poisoned dwarf a scoop. 🙂

Nice work EC.

Barring an unplanned bi-election, I think the Labor minority government has a good chance of going the full term. The Indies aren’t going to give up their power – they have just as much to lose as Labor.

Any rumblings about how difficult it is to get something through aren’t going to be existential threats to the government – it’s just gonna be difficult. There will be lots of argy bargy, but it won’t mean Abbott’s any closer to The Lodge.

This could be the making of Labor.

Watching Turnbull will be fascinating. I can’t see him eating any shit sandwich handed to him by Abbott. Interesting too that if Turnbull resigned, I don’t think the Libs are guaranteed of holding on to his seat. OK – he got a big swing to him that makes it look safe, but I think much of that is personal to Turnbull. Wentworth is the home of gay Sydney. It’s got some toffs, but it’s also got a lot of progressives. And it was very marginal in 2007 – for those reasons. In 2007 Labor put up a crap candidate. In 2010, Turnbull was a hero. If Turnbull is crucified and Labor puts up a top candidate – Abbott drops a seat. Or what if Clover Moore decided to go Federal – she could romp it in. And what if a disgruntled Turnbull endorsed a Labor or an indpendent candidate?

Thanks, KL. Maybe Mal will run as an Indy next time in Wenty if the Lib. Far Right try to burn him. I think Monky will crack before Mal does. Sooner or later, Abbott’s ugliness will out.

Tony Windsor has given his imprimatur to Robbie O. Albo is ok with it. What Abbott thinks doesn’t matter.

I hereby declare Robert Oakeshott, Speaker of The House. 🙂

By Post Author

Fine form, Ecky.

Bernard Keane has a nice piece of insider goss on the Oz v Greens stoush.

On Monday, The Australian put together a story about Greg Combet and his attitude toward coal, given its prominence in his electorate. A journalist from the paper called the Greens to invite them to respond to Combet’s comments. Sensing a trap, the Greens refused to cooperate, offering an anodyne comment about “building a working relationship” with Labor. Yesterday, according to the Greens, another journalist from The Australian called again to try to extract a more useable, aggressive quote about Combet and coal, and when the Greens refused again to play along, threatened to run a “Greens going soft on coal” story and ring around environment groups to elicit hostile comments about them. The Greens have mentioned the incident to environment groups and suggested they be on the alert for journalists from The Australian trying to manufacture splits in the environmental movement.

Impressive stuff from an outlet that claims it is being bullied by Bob Brown.

http://www.crikey.com.au/2010/09/15/the-oz-versus-the-greens-well-beyond-the-normal-news-ltd-bias/

Smart Greens.

1 paddy Yes Oprah is coming to town and as I said previously a great opportunity for Julia Guilard. Especially, as it may provide a timely boost for her. Surely Oprah wouldn’t miss a chance to help a fellow female in need.

Chris, I know that perhaps I’m in a minority of one here.
But if Julia so much as looks like appearing with, or sucking up to Oprah.
I will personally want to kick the powerfox hard in the arse.
Sharing the stage with Oprah and (inevitably) Kristina Kennealy is hardly going to go down well with the punters.
After that abomination of an election campaign we’ve all just endured, I suspect the average voter is thoroughly sick and tired of obvious photo-op stunts.
Appearing with Obi…Fine. Oprah….not so fine.
Then again. I might just be an utterly cynical bastard with a hangover. 🙂

paddy. She can distance herself form Kristina. Oprah always supports the Democrats. Talking about the Democrats…..

The Republicans keep making things easier & easier.
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Tuesday’s congressional primaries provided an astonishing and symbolic coda to a primary season filled with turmoil, infighting and candidates unique in their politics and policies. But rather than providing firm answers for the general election ahead, the win by conservative candidate Christine O’Donnell in Delaware and the very real possibility of Attorney Ovide Lamontagne’s victory in New Hampshire raises some difficult questions about the Republican Party’s present and future.

With the primaries almost over, eight establishment-backed Republican candidates have succumbed to challenges from conservatives — if Lamontagne defeats Kelly Ayotte, that would make nine — producing a chaos that bred opportunities for Democrats in an otherwise historically awful climate. Earlier Tuesday, heads turned when the National Republican Senatorial Committee released its first ad of the 2010 cycle, defending Tea Party candidate Rand Paul in what should have been reliably safe GOP Kentucky.

What a bunch of loonies!!!!!

more here…
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/09/14/2010-elections-republicans-bet-on-tea-party_n_717226.html

Stunning result suits Palin to a Tea.
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Insurgent US “Tea Party” conservatives scored another big upset victory on Tuesday, as a political novice romped over a veteran lawmaker to become the Republican champion in the fight for Vice President Joe Biden’s old senate seat.

With 99 per cent of Delaware’s precincts reporting, unofficial results showed Christine O’Donnell beating popular moderate Representative Mike Castle by a 53.1-46.9 per cent margin and US media called the race for the relative unknown.

O’Donnell, who has survived charges of past financial improprieties, harnessed anti-establishment anger and rode an endorsement from former Republican vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin to a stunning victory.

An analysis by CNN today noted that O’Donnell’s win was “another major victory for the [Tea Party] and for Sarah Palin”.

more here…
http://www.theage.com.au/world/stunning-result-suits-palin-to-a-tea-20100915-15bxy.html

The Democrats have been handed a lay down misere for this election. If the can’t win with the hand they have be given. The leadership of the Democrats should be taken out the back and shot.

White House To Tap Warren To Set Up Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.
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The White House has tapped Elizabeth Warren as a special adviser to help set up the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, ABC News is reporting. The move allows her to act as an interim head of the CFPB and will enable her to begin setting up the agency immediately and prevent the GOP from filibustering her nomination. Warren could serve until Obama nominates a permanent director — a nomination he’s not required to make for some time. Obama could also nominate her as the permanent director in the near future, a prospect that has been discussed among top aides, according to a person familiar with the White House deliberations. Warren will also be named as a special adviser directly to Obama, ABC reported.

A senior Democratic congressional aide with knowledge of the decision confirmed the ABC report to HuffPost.

Yahoo!

More here…
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/09/13/white-house-to-tap-warren_n_715291.html

The Lunatics take over the asylum!
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To the surprise of many, the Tea Party has not been a bust. It has not fizzled out.

Instead, with the major upset in Tuesday’s Delaware Republican primary — the most surprising victory so far — the Tea Party has established itself as a major player within the Party, stunning moderate candidates in the primary season.

more here…

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/09/15/crashing-the-party-tea-pa_n_718138.html

Bill Clinton: Tea Party Shake-Up Of GOP Makes Bush Look Liberal.
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Former President Bill Clinton said Tuesday that the Republican Party is embracing “ideology over evidence” and pushing out pragmatic voices that would make even his White House successor seem like a liberal.

Clinton, speaking at a Democratic fundraiser in Minneapolis, said there was no mistaking that Republicans have tacked hard right and questioned whether former President George W. Bush would fit in among the party’s candidates this year.

“A lot of their candidates today, they make him look like a liberal,” Clinton told an enthusiastic crowd at a downtown hotel as he campaigned for Democratic gubernatorial candidate Mark Dayton.

Clinton pointed to the tea party movement’s influence on the GOP.

“The Boston Tea Party was protesting abuse of power. This is now trading public power for the abuse of private power,” Clinton said, just as a tea party-backed candidate was declared the winner Tuesday night in Delaware’s hotly contested Republican primary for U.S. Senate

Its on for young and old.

more here…
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/09/15/bill-clinton-tea-party-sh_n_717532.html

Dem Report Blames Bush For Rising Poverty, Income Inequality In Upcoming Census Stats.
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Democrats on the Joint Economic Committee issued a report Wednesday morning blaming George W. Bush for the economic misery detailed in forthcoming Census data, which is expected to show that the U.S. poverty rate jumped to 15 percent during President Obama’s first year in office.

“This JEC report shows that the Bush economic policies exacerbated income inequality and led us into a painful, protracted recession, the effects of which we still feel today,” said JEC chair Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D-N.Y.) in a statement. “Middle class Americans lost ground under President Bush and so when the Great Recession hit at the end of 2007, they were already vulnerable and were hit particularly hard.”

On Thursday, the Census bureau will release its annual Income, Poverty and Health Insurance Coverage report. Last year’s report showed that in 2008, the poverty rate rose to its highest level in 11 years — to 13.2 percent, up from 12.5 percent in 2007. Household income fell 3.6 percent and the number of uninsured rose to 46.3 million from 45.7 million (though the uninsured rate did not see a statistically significant change because of population growth).

It was all Bushes fault!

more here..

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/09/15/dem-report-blames-bush-fo_n_717415.html

Hat tip to Dio for posting part of the Menadue/Cameron script at LP:

Diogenes says:
September 15, 2010 at 8:52 pm
More from the Menadue interview on ABC radio this morning.

Question:
Now I want to, I suppose, get you to think about the dominance of The Australian newspaper. It has hoovered up lots of journalistic talent in Australian in the last couple of years. Some of the best journalists in Australia work for The Australian. But at the same time it’s the newsroom that, I think, a lot of other newsrooms watch, for good and for bad. So with the dominance of The Australian… [a few words inaudible]…what do you think about the way that that paper in particular had as a role in this campaign.

John Menadue:
Its role was pernicious. In your introduction you didn’t mention I was General Manager of News Ltd in Sydney, for, including The Australian, for seven years so I’ve got a rough idea of how Murdoch works and he is able to pay high salaries to executives and himself and, of course, to journalists. That’s the way to get loyalty – you pay money to people to join you. The Australian, in my view, has become the voice, in Australia, of extreme right wing, extreme right wing, in this country. Murdoch has obviously decided that’s the constituency, a business constituency which he wants to align himself with. He likes to be part of political activity. He is a frustrated politician in many ways. Perhaps he should have gone into politics. But I believe its influence has been pernicious. And it will continue. It will continue on the NBN which I think you were speaking on before. In the lead up to the last election, The Australian carried this campaign against the School Building Program. It was disaster, disaster, debacle after debacle as The Australian described it day after day after day. There were problems with that scheme and with a scheme like that if you don’t take a risk you won’t get any results and there were some problems there’s no doubt about it but they were quite minor. The audit report the Australian audit government report said there were some problems in NSW public sector schools but overall the Australian people got very good value for money for that scheme and that I believe is the case. It was one of the most successful in the world, and it is acknowledged by experts, but The Australian was carrying on: debacle, debacle, debacle. And there were some individual problems which they could highlight with pictures of contractors who missed out on a deal, or something like that. And that coloured the whole approach, I think, to political life, political discussion in the lead up to the campaign. And you watch them they will be doing it the same again now on the NBN, and there will be mistakes on the NBN particularly if you are rolling out a $42 billion program but I think the benefits will be overwhelming, as we found the benefits were in the Schools Program but The Australian will be at the core of this ridiculing of the NBN. The Australian has become almost like a mad hatters tea party. It is so extreme. ……

The final statement from John Menadue:
Dennis Shanahan, he lives off News Poll. He creates news out of News Poll, and he looks for the fine print every time if there’s something unfavourable of the government he’ll lead on that fine print, and as a result other journalists follow it and we have been unduly influenced in public life by News Poll and the role which The Australian and Dennis Shanahan, in particular, has through News Poll. My own view is that the public have delivered a judgment on the politicians for the last election and they didn’t like what they saw. What I believe, there should be a public enquiry led by the new parliament, in particular the independents, to establish an enquiry in the performance of the media during our last campaign, the last election campaign. They failed, in my view, very substantially to allow the Australian public to understand the policy issues on which the future of this country must rest.

14 paddy Its a good article paddy. People are now starting to support the ALP/indies decision. That’s good.

I think that Julia will go full term. The only issue that I can see is if there is some kind of kerfuffle similar to the insulation one and the independents buy the media line – or, at least, think that their constituents will buy it. My long-term prediction (for what it’s worth, given that i was completely wrong about Rudd) is that Gillard will win the next election comfortably, whoever she is up against.

Chris B,

Yes, the lunatic winning in Delaware is excellent for the Democrats. The Senate is safe.

Can you give me your definition of winning the election? My definition would be: not losing either the House or the Senate. I *think* that the Democrats will win the election under those terms, but the House is much more worrying to me now than it was a few months ago. They are going to lose a bagful of seats, whichever way it ends up.

An ex senior journo has now come out of the woodwork and is warbling like the proverbial canary. 😆
I guess it won’t be too long before Coulson starts to clean out his desk at No 10.

A former senior News of the World journalist has gone public to corroborate claims that phone-hacking and other illegal reporting techniques were rife at the tabloid while the prime minister’s media adviser, Andy Coulson, was deputy editor and then editor of the paper.

Paul McMullan, a former features executive and then member of the newspaper’s investigations team, says that he personally commissioned private investigators to commit several hundred acts which could be regarded as unlawful, that use of illegal techniques was no secret at the paper, and that senior editors, including Coulson, were aware this was going on.

“How can Coulson possibly say he didn’t know what was going on with the private investigators?” he asked.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2010/sep/08/phone-hacking-news-of-the-world-witness

And another one comes out.

In a further development, the Guardian reported today that a key witness has said he will testify on the phone-hacking affair, both to police and an inquiry begun by parliament.

Ross Hall, a former employee who until now has been silent, had been named in a previous MPs’ inquiry as the man who transcribed swaths of hacked voicemail messages for other journalists, including the tabloid’s chief reporter, Neville Thurlbeck.

He told the Guardian he was willing to talk to Scotland Yard and to the home affairs select committee inquiry, which was announced by MPs yesterday.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2010/sep/08/phone-hacking-row-emergency-debate

If the High Court rules that the Metropolitan Police broke human rights rules by keeping secret the potential targets drawn up by Mulcaire the full list of names will have to be disclosed. This will open the floodgates for a slew of breach of privacy claims against News International with a potential cost of tens of millions of pounds.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/phonehacking-test-cases-could-lead-to-deluge-of-celebrity-claims-2080500.html

Roo doesn’t even look woried as he gives every one a wave.

Obama leads new bid for Latino votes.
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Democrats on both sides of Pennsylvania Avenue are poised to launch an eleventh-hour effort to pass an immigration reform bill this year.

While it’s unlikely the measure will attract the necessary 60 votes in the Senate, having the debate could help Democrats fire up their deflated base with the elections fewer than 50 days away.

This is a win/win situation for the Democrats. If they pass the legislation they win. If it is defeated. Its the Republicans fault. The Democrats win at the ballot box. It will really energise the Latino vote.

more here…
http://thehill.com/homenews/administration/119119-obama-leads-new-bid-for-latino-votes

First the good news.
Fielding has officially lost his bid for another term in the senate. 😆
The not so good news….His seat has been won by the DLP!! 🙁
With a hat tip to Bilbo over the fence.
In further good news. FAMILY First candidate Bob Day has missed out on the final Senate seat in South Australia. 😆

Just to show you how quick a poll can be effected. Just elected, but instantly 16% behind.
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This week has helped clarify where things stand in the race to to control the U.S. Senate, with a final round of primaries and a flurry of new statewide polls. As of today, our assessment of all available public polling shows Republicans poised to gain at least five Senate seats, with another four close enough to be considered statistical toss-ups.

To gain outright control of the Senate, Republicans would need to pick up ten seats: That would mean winning every race in which their candidates currently lead, sweeping all of the “toss-up” states and still winning a state like West Virginia, Washington, or Connecticut. As of today, that’s looking like a tall order.

Yesterday, pollsters released twelve new surveys in ten states, with two each in Ohio and Florida. For the most part the new polls affect our overall trend estimates only marginally, though there were a few exceptions.

As reported yesterday, Christine O’Donnell’s surprise upset victory in the Delaware’s Republican primary pushes that state into our strong Democrat category. The new general election PPP poll showing O’Donnell trailing Democrat Chris Coons by sixteen percentage points (36% to 50%), confirms that status.

more here..
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/09/16/can-republicans-gain-the-_n_719040.html

Christine O’Donnell Slams Welfare, Pop Culture: You Can Legislate Morality (VIDEO).
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Newly elected Republican Senatorial candidate Christine O’Donnell has raised eyebrows in her brief turn in the public spotlight by promoting a position on cultural issues that borders on the extreme or the bizarre. By and large, however, her political platforms have been characterized as, basically, movement conservatism.

In the New York Times’s profile of her candidacy, for example, the authors meandered through some of the crazier quotes from O’Donnell’s past (such as her screeds against masturbation) before noting her desire to “repeal the health care law, create health care vouchers for veterans and block any attempts at cap-and-trade legislation.”

Dig a little deeper into her past record, however, and one gets the sense that O’Donnell’s legislative outlook is basically scripted by her social and religious views. In a C-SPAN appearance the Huffington Post unearthed from December 1996, the Delaware Republican said it was a “misconception that you, quote unquote, can’t legislate morality.”

“The reality of that statement is that if you don’t legislate one morality then you are legislating somebody else’s morality,” she said. “So you can’t get around legislating morality.”

I am starting to wonder if this kook can do more damage than It was all George Bushes fault. Really scary!!!! 👿

More here…
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/09/16/christine-odonnell-slams-_n_719201.html

Most Still Blame Bush for Economy.
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Gallup Poll: “Nearly two years into his presidency, 51% of Americans say President Obama bears little to no blame for U.S. economic problems, while 48% assign him a great deal or moderate amount of blame. More Americans now blame Obama than did so a year ago, but a substantially higher percentage, 71%, blame former President George W. Bush.”

Timing!
http://politicalwire.com

At 71% blaming Bush. It makes it a very easy issue to sell. Then we tie in an advertising campaign with the kooks. Landslide! 😈

Then there’s this.
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Dead Even in the Generic Congressional Ballot
A new Politico/GWU Battleground Poll finds Democrats and Republicans tied in the generic congressional race at 43% each — even though most of those surveyed think the GOP will take control of the House and Senate in the midterm elections.

“Better yet for Democrats, in several key regions with numerous House and Senate seats in play — namely, the Midwest and Northeast — they hold a 5-point advantage, suggesting the party’s congressional fortunes aren’t nearly as grim as the media coverage might suggest.”

More hope for Democrats in a New York Times/CBS News poll: While voters rate the performance of Democrats negatively, they view Republicans as even worse, “providing a potential opening for Democrats to make a last-ditch case for keeping their hold on power.”

Interesting.
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“They hold a 5-point advantage, suggesting the party’s
congressional fortunes aren’t nearly as grim as the media coverage might suggest.”

http://politicalwire.com

O’Donnell In ’96: Investigate Bill Clinton For ‘Murder’ Of Vince Foster.
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Here’s another wonderful gem from Christine O’Donnell’s past as a frequent guest on TV shows. Back in 1996, when then-Speaker Newt Gingrich’s finances were being investigated, O’Donnell complained that people were on a witch hunt to find anything to get Gingrich, instead of paying attention to serious ethics scandals — like putting Bill Clinton on trial for the supposed murder of Deputy White House Counsel Vince Foster.

This kid just keeps on giving. 😈

more here…
http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2010/09/odonnell-in-1996-investigate-bill-clinton-for-murder-of-vince-foster.php?ref=fpa

TPM’s Top Ten Quotes From Christine O’Donnell, The Woman Who’s Against Everything.
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In 2004, Christine O’Donnell explained to a reporter for the News Journal in Delaware that, “I’m a conservative woman, but many conservative men really are chauvinistic.” That’s something many women — especially Sarah Palin’s Mama Grizzlies — might understand. But a closer look at O’Donnell’s public record on everything from psychics to freak dancing to Britney to Tolkein’s Middle Earth might be enough to make many potential voters run for the hills — and not just because she’s a woman.

Gods gift to the Democrats…

More here…
http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2010/09/the_top_ten_christine_odonnell_quotes.php?ref=fpb

The smell of schadenfreude in the morning: Christine O’Donnell sparks all-out right-wing civil war.
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One of the reasons the GOP has become the Party Of No is because conservatism is fundamentally a negative thing — it’s not so much for anything as it is against All Things Liberal. This is why right-wing pundits’ chief skill is less in proposing or promoting things but in tearing things (and people) down.

This is never more evident than when they start turning on each other, as they have this week in the wake of Christine O’Donnell’s GOP primary victory in Delaware. We’ve gotten a brilliant display of the viciousness of Republican infighting that just makes you want to pop a big batch of popcorn and pull up a chair to watch.

I love the smell of schadenfreude in the morning! 😈
http://crooksandliars.com/david-neiwert/smell-schadenfreude-morning-christin

Tea Party’s wins fuel a ‘civil war’ within GOP.
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For the Tea Party, upstart Christine O’Donnell’s decisive victory over veteran Rep. Mike Castle in Delaware’s GOP Senate primary was a crowning triumph, a symbol of the voter dissatisfaction that shrouds the crucial midterm elections in November.

But for the Republican Party — whose leaders had cast O’Donnell as unelectable and unstable — the vote in Delaware symbolized an identity crisis within the GOP that could complicate its push for big gains in the fall elections that will decide control of Congress.

Although O’Donnell won with a small percentage of votes in one of the nation’s smallest states, her victory reverberated across the nation and widened a chasm separating conservative insurgents and their Tea Party allies on one side, and mainstream Republicans and centrists on the other.

“It’s official: There is now a civil war within the Republican Party,” said Mark McKinnon, a former adviser to the presidential campaigns of George W. Bush and John McCain. “The good news for Republicans is the Tea Party is capturing the anti-establishment energy in America. The bad news is that includes the Republican establishment.”

NEW HAMPSHIRE: Senate race boosts GOP
PHOTOS: Mixed outlook for Tea Party candidates in November
MAP: Track House, Senate and governor races
RAASCH ANALYSIS: Tea Party, O’Donnell win is not a shocker

For months, lingering unemployment and slipping support for President Obama’s health care law and economic stimulus package have boosted GOP hopes for a tidal wave on Nov. 2 that would put the party back in power — a repeat of the 1994 “Republican Revolution” during the middle of President Clinton’s first term.

In a year when Republicans need a net gain of 10 seats to reclaim control in the Senate, the Tea Party’s successes in states such as Nevada and Colorado could complicate that effort by giving Democrats targets they see as easy to attack. Sen. Robert Menendez, a New Jersey Democrat in charge of his party’s effort to hold its Senate majority, said chances have improved because Republicans have “run extremists instead of mainstream candidates.”

O’Donnell’s upset win in Delaware was a fitting climax to a tumultuous primary season in which voters in both parties turned out seven members of Congress — four Republicans and three Democrats — and, in the name of change, selected political newcomers over more experienced candidates in states such as Nevada, Kentucky and New York.

More here..
http://www.usatoday.com/news/politics/2010-09-15-tea-party_N.htm

John Boehner, Mitch McConnell Should Be Replaced, Say Voters Usually Favoring GOP (POLL).
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A survey released by Public Policy Polling on Thursday finds that a majority of voters who tend to vote Republican aren’t impressed with the work of Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell and House Minority Leader John Boehner.

According to the poll, 57 percent of voters who would typically favor the GOP say that the party should replace the leadership duo come January when the next congressional session begins. Just 21 percent signaled a belief that McConnell and Boehner should retain their posts.

An excerpt of analysis from PPP:

Usually it’s the party that loses power whose voters want to clean house. The fact that GOP voters want new leaders even if they have a highly successful election cycle speaks to the disconnect between the voters fueling the Republicans’ momentum this year and the party higher ups in Washington DC.

This article and article no. 50 tie in very well together.

More here..

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/09/16/john-boehner-mitch-mcconn_n_719631.html

Voters think GOP would govern like Bush.
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Based on policy substance alone, the GOP’s boneheaded insistence on extending Bush’s tax cuts for the wealthy is sure to erode support for Republicans in this November’s election (assuming, of course, that Democrats stand strong in support of President Obama’s middle-class tax cut alternative).

But beyond the substance of the policy, the GOP’s position is also likely to deepen a growing problem that they face: voters are increasingly becoming convinced that if it were returned to power, the GOP would govern just like Bush.

More here…
http://www.dailykos.com

Ten out of eleven of the top liberal blogs are running articles on O’Donnell. Do you think the liberals smell of schadenfreude in the morning?

Turnbull backs ABC’s expansion strategy.
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MALCOLM Turnbull says the ABC should continue to expand its audience reach – and newspapers should stop blaming the public broadcaster for their commercial woes.

In a wide-ranging interview with The Age, Mr Turnbull signalled the Coalition would develop a new broadband policy for the next election rather than stick with the approach taken to this year’s poll.

He said the ”context could be very different at the next election. These are very, very dynamic industries. We will need to reassess policy in the light of changed circumstances.”

The newly appointed shadow communications spokesman also bought into one of the most contentious local and international media debates – the role of public broadcasters versus commercial rivals. He rejected concerns from News Ltd and Fairfax Media that the taxpayer-funded ABC is encroaching too aggressively into commercial news territory.

Mr Turnbull differentiated his view of the ABC’s performance from some forthright critics within Coalition ranks.

Interesting…

More here….
http://www.theage.com.au/national/turnbull-backs-abcs-expansion-strategy-20100916-15eo2.html

ISP price war a plus for net users.
***************************

THE battle for fixed broadband customers is heating up, with junior providers now offering huge data allowances to households without increasing prices.

Internet providers are scrambling to sign up customers before the national broadband network is built, when price and customer service will be the only difference between them.

Adelaide-based Internode yesterday introduced a terrabyte plan on its NakedDSL service – which carries voice over the internet and does not require additional phone-line rental – for $129.95 a month.

The NBN made me do it! 😈

More here…
http://www.theage.com.au/business/isp-price-war-a-plus-for-net-users-20100916-15ery.html

Atheists bent on painting Pope as a rape-happy ogre.
******************************************

Apparently the British state is rolling out the red carpet for a seriously evil rape facilitator. Pope Benedict XVI is the boss of a church that acts as a ”patron, protector and financier of child rape”, says one secularist writer. The Independent has reported that in America more than ”10,000 people have come forward to say they were raped as part of this misery-go-round” overseen by his holiness and his lackeys. In Ireland alone, a tiny country of 4.5 million people, ”Thousands were raped in reform schools”, said a British broadsheet headline last year, ramming home the ugly truth of how many children have been raped by the Catholic Church’s army of paedophile priests.

More here…
http://www.theage.com.au/opinion/society-and-culture/atheists-bent-on-painting-pope-as-a-rapehappy-ogre-20100916-15ek7.html

Chris B,

Interesting tied poll. That gives me more hope that the Democrats can hold the House, especially now that there have been two polls like that (although Gallup is out to +5 for the Republicans at the moment).

But remember: to *win* House seats the Democrats need to improve on their result from 2006. They won 53.6 to 46.4 at that election. Thus, a 50-50 result would see many seats lost (think of what happened to the Labor Party at the Australian election – they won the vote, but lost heaps of seats, simply because they did worse than last time).

That is why your prediction of a landslide to the Democrats is a very difficult one for me to agree with.

58 David Gould “That is why your prediction of a landslide to the Democrats is a very difficult one for me to agree with.”

Most of that is answered in my posts on this page.

Washington Post – How Democrats can hold the House.
*******************************************

Read any newspaper or blog or watch even five minutes of cable television and the narrative of the 2010 election becomes apparent: Democrats are headed for electoral disaster in November.

And, they very well might be. Heck, even the most partisan Democrats acknowledge privately that the fall election will be a tough one for their side.

But, there is also a belief in some segments of the party that predictions that the House majority is already lost are overstated and that Democrats could hold on this fall — albeit narrowly.

How? We’ve laid out five ways — or indicators — to keep an eye on below, factors based on our conversations with a handful of the smartest strategists in the party.

To be clear: the scenario laid out below is not the most likely one this fall. But, neither is it entirely out of the question.

Timing.
http://voices.washingtonpost.com/thefix/house/how-democrats-can-keep-house-c.html?wprss=thefix

Damn and blast the Fin Review paywall.
Here we are on Laura Tingle Friday again and still no decent way to steal Fairfax’s copy. 👿
I’ve just tweeted Mark Scott that he should bloody stop raving on about the wonderfulness of ABC shops on twitter and do something useful for once.
Like steal Laura Tingle from Fairfax and bung her front and centre in the financial sector of our ABfrigginC.
She’s be a bloody nice addition and worth every penny.

Today she’s got two interesting pieces in the Fin.
One on Broadband, which wryly notes Tony Windsor’s observation about the “so called” $43 billion price tag is actually $27bill and there didn’t seem to be much carry on about cost benefit analysis of the (real) $40 billion spent on personal tax cuts since the 07 election. 🙂
The other is a good summary of the “new paradigm” (groan) of carbon tax and ETS plans since kloppers leapt into the debate.
Both pieces worth peering over someone’s shoulder, or stealing a glace at the newsagents today.

Chris B,

Despite all of those things, the Democrats are polling far worse than they did in 2006. The polls are the only evidence that we have to go on. You are predicting that in the next 7 weeks the polling average is going to move 12 or more points in the Democrats favour (you are predicting a landslide, which implies that you think that many Republican seats are going to fall to the Democrats, so in effect you are really predicting a 15 per cent turnaround). That is not very likely, to say the least.

Chris B,

I believe that the Democrats will hold the House. ‘Holding the House’ is not a landslide to the Democrats, anymore than holding on to government was a landslide for Julia Gillard …

OMG! A politician with wit.
From Tony Burke’s twitter feed.
#lateline tonight with @leighsales I presume I’ll talk about the week in politics and @scottmorrisonmp will repeat the word “boats” 😆

Mauiboy on the Daily Beast
*********************
Here is the current score on the President’s promises from Politifact:

* Promise Kept 122

* Compromise 39

* Promise Broken 22

* Stalled 82

* In the Works 238

* Not yet rated 3

It will be a WIN/WIN concerning the “Bush tax cuts.” If the Dems pass tax cuts for 97%, then they can take that into the elections. If they pass tax cuts for all, the stock market will rally hundreds of points and they can take that into the elections as well.

http://www.thedailybeast.com/blogs-and-stories/2010-09-16/david-plouffe-how-tea-party-helps-democrats-in-2010/?cid=hp:mainpromo4

it’s not a matter of how Roo got in the stew, it’s now a matter of Roo knows what Gordon Ramsey was putting in his gravy.
Gordon would say how would you like your steak cooked Roo? When it’s brown it’s done, when it’s black it’s fucked
He is, like lots of others, about to give Roo a bill for his meal.

A spokeswoman for Ramsay said: “Gordon was informed a year ago that he was a person of interest to Glenn Mulcaire and that his voicemails may have been intercepted.” The chef joins a growing line of public figures who may now seek damages against News International, the publishers of the News of the World , for breach of privacy amid increasing pressure on Scotland Yard to reveal the full list of more than 4,332 individuals found on databases kept by Mr Mulcaire.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/crime/now-gordon-ramsay-is-told-he-was-on-phonehacking-hitlist-2081700.html

I like this quote from that article on 68 gaffy “The Times has lost almost 90 per cent of its online readership since the move to charge for digital content.”

Oakeshott warns of Mexican stand-off after Coalition reneges on deal.
********************************************************
The Coalition has been accused of breaking a deal on parliamentary reform after reneging on an agreement that would have paved the way for an independent Speaker.

Independent MP Rob Oakeshott, who has put his hand up to be the Speaker, has called for the matter to be resolved urgently before Parliament sits again on September 28.

http://www.theage.com.au/national/oakeshott-warns-of-mexican-standoff-after-coalition-reneges-on-deal-20100917-15fca.html

Oakeshott as Speaker is problematic, I think. If he is paired, then in close votes he will effectively have two votes, thus giving him the power to turn a 75 to 74 situation into reverse.

Basically, if he pairs, he removes one of the 75, making it 74 all. Then he has the consitutional right (and obligation) to make the casting vote.

If I was the opposition or the government, I would say, ‘No, thanks,’ to that little deal.

Giving this power to a government member does not change things but given that you are removing a Labor vote and not a swinging independent, it effectively evens out.

Of course, the government are dependent upon him to remain in power, so it is in their interests to play nice. But the Liberals are out of power, so it is a little different for them.

76
Paddy
The only thing i gotta say is the ungrateful bastards should get it to us a bit earlier. This biz of waiting till 4.15 pm is not on at all.
It is a good read though.

TheVotermaster on Elizabeth Warren
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Depending on how astute Obama and Warren are, her interim appointment could also affect the midterm elections. She could roll out tough new restrictions on the banks very quickly, which would be popular but which Republicans would denounce. She has the power to force the Republicans to take sides in battles between consumers and the banks, something they would rather not do just before an election. Whether she will use this power remains to be seen, of course.

I do expect the Democrats to employ a lot of the tactics I have suggested. This is one I hadn’t thought of.

Click here..
http://www.electoral-vote.com

77

This biz of waiting till 4.15 pm is not on at all.

Couldn’t agree more Gaffy.
I’ve exchanged stern words with the Intertubes piracy co-op.
Knuckles have been rapped, names have been taken and careers hang in the balance.
If there’s a repeat of this appalling inept performance next Friday……
Somebody will be walking the plank!! :mrgreen:

81
Paddy
Thankfully she has got all her shit together after lots of trials.
Hate to see the poor bitch with no one to worship. :mrgreen:

Go Pies! Absolute white wash! Pies for premiers 2010!
David will be on shortly telling me why they’re going to loose! 😆

Chris, other than “these are not my people”, not a sausage. 🙂

Read Ray Bradbury’s “The Illustrated Man ” short story a long time ago. Had forgotten it till watching a program about cuttlefish and their skin-shimmying colurful communication patterns…….

(Ray)Bradbury is an optimist at heart, but his head knows that hope may not be enough. He’s seen the future, and it’s not all grand pink-stoned chess cities on Mars and houses that tidy up after you. It’s also knowing that the world is about to end and that there’s nothing to do but lie under the covers and wait for oblivion to come. It’s a room full of robots telling stories about the people who made them, long after the human race has vanished from the earth. It’s a man in a space suit falling through the cosmos at 10,000 miles an hour, feeling his brain disintegrating, wondering what he can do “to make up for a terrible and empty life” in the final moments before he passes into nothingness. You read Bradbury with a growing sense of wonder and joy. It’s only on reflection, after the stories take up residence in your head and crawl deep into the dark cracks and corners, that the wonder mutates into something closer to dread.

http://www.slate.com/id/2252825/pagenum/all/

The importance of lingering when smelling Spring’s perfumes. 🙂
http://outnumbered.typepad.com/.a/6a01310f52ae5d970c01348629e08b970c-320wi

By Post Author

87
Chris
This guy exposes the new Tea Party nominee from New York as well as a spray for Odonnell and has a reasonably good read about his opinions of the state of play. He gives the Democrats a bit of a serve as well.

Here in New York the nominee is a bazillionaire who sends out racist and pornographic email to people. Hah-hah. Love that kind of real working man’s humor, don’t you? After being rejected by the Republican party initially, Carl Paladino hired Richard Nixon’s political hit man to run his campaign, injected millions of his own money to fund it, and trounced the hapless establishment candidate, Rick Lazio, who just couldn’t get extreme enough to win, whore himself as he might, and as he readily did.

The Christian Science Monitor notes that, “Paladino, who espouses family values, has a daughter with a former employee who is not his wife”. It is also noted of this great and incendiary paragon of small government that, “As a landlord, he made a lot of money renting space to the state in Albany and using state tax incentives for his real estate empire

http://www.opednews.com/articles/Tea-With-Frankenstein–Pl-by-David-Michael-Gree-100917-791.html

Tea Party according to this guy actually faces extinction.

Tea Party Wave of Future? Demographics Reveal Otherwise

Take a look at Tea Party audiences and one observes a virtually exclusive Caucasian look. Studies done on the subject underscores this phenomenon, that the Tea Party consists mainly of disgruntled older Americans seeking to shake up the nation in a decidedly rightward direction.

The 30 million strong that Glenn Beck sees as a catalytic force to forge a new America is delusional. In fact, if the Republican Party continues to pay such fealty toward the Tea Party, Beck, Limbaugh and spokespersons such as Palin and Bachmann, demographic studies reveal that it will not be long before it faces extinction.

http://www.opednews.com/articles/Tea-Party-Wave-of-Future–by-Bill-Hare-100916-650.html

A group of conservative Christian onanists, Jerk-Offs For Jesus, are concerned that publicity surrounding Delaware GOP nominee, Christine O’Donnell, is negatively impacting their recruitment drive. The groups founder, Elder Edgar Tugbolt, has been blind since youth as are many of his church’s devotees. Most flaunt, indeed are readily identified by tell-tale palmer hair tussocks.

“Non-believers often sneer at “Fur Palms” but we know this is the lord’s way of making things feel more natural”, purred Elder Edgar, who is currently organising a Monster Spankathon protesting candidate O’Donnell’s hands-off approach.

Exactly one hundred years ago ( a couple of years before you know what started) German Children were awarded a White Ribbon if they were deemed by local authority figures to be pure of heart.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5KJKvvvxY74&feature=related

I’m finding the U.S. election situation too hard to even enter into. To do so would just invite despair.

They are sooooooooooo far gone even dreamers and intensely interested guys&gals such as us, can only look on and wonder what depths they can sink too next.

Faults lay in every crevice of their power structures….but an honorary gong must go to the Bastard from Down Under. Rupe needs to be sodomized by the microphone of every one of his propagandist hate merchants the world over .

The break in Washington from politicians is boring. Very little in news. The mid terms will get in full swing when the get back.

Who’d have thunk it! The Herald Sun doing a straight story on Julia Gillard??
Well, alright, they cheated. They did it the only way possible for them and printed a straight transcript of her “Light on the hill” speech. 😆
Here.

We gather as members of the Labor family to honour the life and memory of one of Labor’s greatest heroes, Ben Chifley. ….more

http://tinyurl.com/3ydfkoz

O’Donnell will be well and truly out of it if she does not have a better, more competent game plan for November. Seems 2008 was a very poor effort on her behalf.

At one point in 2008, the candidate traveled to California for a luncheon fundraiser organized by a friend in Los Angeles. Keegan said in addition to spending $3,000 on a trip for herself and two aides, the event itself failed to yield more than a few hundred dollars in contributions.

Read more: http://www.opednews.com/populum/linkframe.php?linkid=118739

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