Mad as hell [View all]

In the words of Peter Finch from "Network"; I am as mad as hell and I'm not going to take it anymore.

It has now come to the stage that I think the President of the Labor Party should call for Kevin Rudd's dismissal from the party. The reason being is that since his own caucus could take no more of his nasty demeanor, he deliberately set out to sabotage the last federal election campaign with his carefully timed leaks and since then has intensified his campaign to undermine the Labor Government.

I was warned by someone from the party who lived in his electorate prior to him taking the leadership from Kim Beasley that he was ruthless in his ways to get exactly what he wants.

Early in 2010 he was getting negative publicity about how he treated an attendant on a plane, how he made a big deal about someone forgetting his blow dryer, how he was getting nowhere with the proposed mining tax (admittedly because of a $20 million campaign by the mining companies) and how he dropped the ETS. People were starting to question exactly what he HAD done during his time as PM. It was common knowledge in the halls of parliament that he was impossible to get along with, never speaking to ordinary members of caucus, independents or Greens. He had a massive turnover of staff because he treated them with such disdain. He would call public servants in for meetings without notice sometimes around midnight, leaving them waiting outside his office for hours until he felt ready to see them.

With his antics at the moment, he is sucking all the oxygen out of whatever good news the government needs to publicise.

Scenerio 1) If Julia Gillard calls a spill and wins against Rudd, there is nothing stopping him from continuing on with what he is now doing and then challenge again.

Scenerio 2) If he wins the challenge, most of the ministers will move to the backbench, therefore causing total devestation and possibly not having the independents backing.

Scenerio 3) If he is dismissed from the party, he cannot challenge for the leadership again. He may either stay on as an independent or resign from his seat. If thats the case, I say, let the cards land where they fall.

There is no way Rudd could control a minority government especially when he is hated by so many on his own side.

I know Rudd was PM when we succeeded in escaping the GFC, but he cannot take credit for that on his own. He apologised to the Aboriginals and that was a good thing. Maybe a few apologies around the parliament might not be a bad thing.

Julia Gillard is a good leader and well respected amongst her own. She is up against it when we have the most vicious opposition in history, a 24 hour news cycle, extreme right wing shock jocks, a media that is mostly controlled by Rupert Murdoch, a minority government and Rudd undermining the government at every turn.

I feel a little bit better now that I've got that of my chest.