philperth2010 wrote on Feb 14^th, 2012 at 10:29am:


After what we have just witnessed  he could be JACK THE RIPPER AND STILL WIN

philperth2010 wrote on Feb 14^th, 2012 at 10:51am:


So on Gillards example he can provide as many policies as he likes and after he is elected walk away from them and he would still be regarded as legitimate by you? 

tonegunman1 wrote on Feb 14^th, 2012 at 10:58am:


Going on past history, we can be sure he can walk away from all policies and still be regarded as legitimate by the likes of you. As long as he labels them "non-core promises" as he's walking of course.

4 Corners Triumph
The angry face and complete put down/shut down to the 4 corners reporter and the very angry and curt responses strongly suggests poor old Miss Gillard is suffering a bit from the old inevitable menopause, the effects of which can be quite disturbing.

Julia Gillard jumped the gun before Kevin Rudd was knifed
by: Phillip Hudson, AAP From:Herald Sun February 14, 2012 9:45AM 177

Gillard grilled over rolled Rudd. See how Julia Gillard handles questioning on ABC's Four Corners about an acceptance speech drafted two weeks before Kevin Rudd's ousting.

Gillard speech drafted before Rudd out. The ABC reports that events leading to Kevin Rudd's ouster in 2010 were set in train two weeks earlier.

JULIA Gillard's staff were working on a "victory speech" two weeks before she toppled Kevin Rudd as Prime Minister.

But Ms Gillard insists she did not ask for the speech to be written and did not make the decision to challenge her leader until the day it happened.

It comes as Ms Gillard lost her rating as preferred prime minister to Opposition Leader Tony Abbott in the latest Newspoll.

New claims have also emerged that US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton demanded a meeting with Washington Ambassador Kim Beazley a fortnight before the coup on Mr Rudd, seeking assurances that a change of PM would not be bad for America.

Thanks for voting!
Do you believe Julia Gillard's claim that her 2010 coup was not pre-planned?
Yes 4.77% (107 votes)
No 95.23% (2134 votes)
Total votes: 2241

The claims made on ABC TV's Four Corners program last night have caused ALP leadership tensions to again flare with some Labor figures questioning why the PM took part in a program called "The Comeback Kid" and focusing on Mr Rudd.

Ms Gillard refused to say if she knew her staff had started writing the leadership speech two weeks before she became PM on June 24, 2010, and during a period where he had been professing her loyalty to Mr Rudd.

"I am not surprised that whether it's people in my office or people more broadly in the government or the Labor Party were casting their mind where circumstances might get to," Ms Gillard told the ABC.

"I did not ask for a speech to be prepared."

When pressed if she knew a speech was being written, Ms Gillard said: "I've just given the best answer I can to your question."

Today, Ms Gillard said "no question, no television program, nothing" would ever change the facts that she made up her mind on the day she told Mr Rudd of the challenge.

"I wouldn't have seen the need for it," she told ABC Radio today.

"I decided to challenge Kevin Rudd, to ask him for a ballot in the Labor Party on the day I asked him for that ballot."

But the Prime Minister could not "specifically say" when she became aware her staff were preparing a speech.

It could have been the night she went to Mr Rudd's office or "it could have been before".

Liberal frontbencher Christopher Pyne said Ms Gillard's interview on Four Corners showed a "lack of judgment".

"Perhaps she thought Kevin Rudd had agreed to do the program," he said. "What it points to is a divided and dysfunctional government."

Her protestations of innocence and spontaneity were "fake", Mr Pyne said.

Four Corners also said Ms Gillard was shown a secret ALP report before the coup that was not shown to Mr Rudd that revealed she was more popular and was used to convince MPs they could not win under Mr Rudd.

Ms Gillard told the program she did not have "specific recall" of it but, as deputy leader, was frequently shown polling.

Ms Gillard said the challenge "was not in any way motivated by polling".

The latest Newspoll shows that if an election were held now the Government would be routed (rooted ?).

Voters surveyed in last weekend's poll said their satisfaction with Mr Abbott had risen in the past two weeks while Ms Gillard's standing had sunk to its lowest level since November, before the positive impact of the visits of the Queen and US President Barack Obama.

Labor's primary vote rose from 30 per cent to 32 per cent and the coalition's from 45 per cent to 46 per cent.


Comments on this story

Paymoretaxes of Melbourne Posted at 9:58 AM Today
Yet another trial by media. A political party has the right to change its leader, but what's more concerning is the way the ALP has not had the balls to end the middle class and corporate welfare system brought about by the Howard government. You remember Mr Howard, he was the PM who promised the top job to Peter Costello but it was all a lie. and as you all cast your stones, ask yourself how honest you have been in your daily interactions with friends and family. Are you motivated by money or integrity? You might find that your glass house is already beginning to crack. As for the leadership issue. Here's how it will play out. Julia will be dropped by the party for K Rudd, Abbott will be dropped by the Libs for Malcom Turnbull and Turnbull will win because he is liked by both sides of politics.

BigT of Gold Coast Posted at 9:57 AM Today
I was astounded at the angry face and complete put down/shut down to the reporter who asked the question - did you know that the speech was being written - to which she waffled. He asked again and she said I have already answered your question to which he said with respect no you haven't. She replied very angrily and curtly - something in the order - that she was not going to reply any further. SHEEESH - how much further is she going to treat Australians with this rudeness. I realise that Rudd was a demon on people when he got his back up and he was removed basically because of this perceived dictatorship, but she is becoming at least as bad if not worse. And all with her 5 famous quotes before she removed Rudd - like I would have more chance sailing around the world solo 5 times, or she would have more chance playing in the AFL grand final than staging a coup and winning leadership

Why OH Why... of Melbourne Posted at 9:57 AM Today
You don't just wake up one morning and say I am going to take over the Govt today then go do it... It is something you plan and think about for days, weeks even months and wait for the person to slip so you can slide right in. We are not stupid Gillard... Seriously we didn't come down the last shower... Enough lies already, If i lied that much at work I would have been sacked a long time ago...

http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/more-news/julia-gillard-jumped-the-gun/story-fn...

Annie Anthrax wrote on Feb 14^th, 2012 at 12:11pm:

She has lost all aspects of respect. Derogatory remarks are the only thing left for this PM, sexist or not.

Gillard has been dragged through the mud for claiming that criticism directed at her had a sexist tone. The comments here are yet another example of how on the money she was.

Bolty expresses his utmost admiration for Miss Gillard's squirming.

Gillard’s deceit exposed Andrew Bolt Blog
Andrew Bolt Tuesday, February 14, 2012 at 10:51am

My thoughts last night on Julia Gillard on Four Corners:

- First, why did Gillard come on a show that could only have been bad news for her, to talk about Rudd and her knifing of him? She really does have a tin ear.

- Gillard appeared stressed, defensive and angry. She looked like someone who does not know from where the next attack will come, but is sure it will hurt.

- Her evasiveness, so transparent in Question Time, was even more brutally exposed here, especially on the one detail that I think will transfer into print coverage - a refusal to say whether or not she knew her staff had prepared her first speech as Prime Minister two weeks before she knifed Rudd. If she did know, she has lied in pretending she’d had no thought of taking over until the very day. Likewise, Gillard refused to give a clear answer on whether she’d read party polling on her popularity just before the challenge. Her reputation for a lack of honesty and credibility has almost become set in stone. This program was another setting agent.

It was excruciating:

ANDREW FOWLER: ... Are you aware that two weeks before Rudd was removed from office, that a speech was being prepared in your office that you would subsequently deliver when you were Prime Minister?

JULIA GILLARD: Look, I am not surprised that… whether it’s people in my office or people more broadly in the Government or the Labor Party were casting in their mind where, circumstances might get to, of course. Political people look at political circumstances, and they think about where they might go to.

ANDREW FOWLER: With respect, you haven’t answered the question, and the question was: did you know that people in your office, two weeks before Kevin Rudd was removed as Prime Minister, were preparing a speech that you subsequently delivered?

JULIA GILLARD: Look, I’ve given you… I’ve given you the best answer I can - which is, I’m not surprised that there were people, you know, around government, who were c… you know, in their own mind…

ANDREW FOWLER: But did you know?

JULIA GILLARD: Uh well, I did not ask for a speech to be prepared.

ANDREW FOWLER: But were you aware that one was being prepared?

JULIA GILLARD: Look, I’ve just given the best answer I can to your question.

ANDREW FOWLER: My question was simply whether or not you knew…

JULIA GILLARD: I heard your question and I’ve answered it.

ANDREW FOWLER: You haven’t answered the question.

JULIA GILLARD: Well, I’ve given you the answer I’m going to give you.

Phillip Coorey, Sydney Morning Herald:

Footage of the Prime Minister repeatedly avoiding questions on whether she knew her office was drafting her acceptance speech two weeks before she ousted Kevin Rudd made her look shifty, even if she was telling the truth.

Had Gillard not agreed to the interview, the episode would have been largely unsensational…

Gillard agreed to an interview thinking Rudd would do one. Rudd declined in the end because he did not want to be accused of promoting himself.

Thus, the Prime Minister created the news and now she has her own side questioning her judgment again....

The revelation about the prewritten speech undermines claims by coup plotters that the move on Rudd was spontaneous, driven by a story in the Herald.

In her defence, Gillard has never claimed that to be the case.

Coorey is being far too kind to Gillard again. Here’s the Prime Minister herself on Four Corners last night denying having plotted for the leadership:

But in terms of my motivations and when I acted and when I made a decision, I made a decision the same day I acted.

Indeed, Michelle Grattan, in a piece that also is soft on Gillard’s deceit, nevertheless reports that Gillard’s staff are still insisting she acted against Rudd only at the last minute:

Ms Gillard’s office released an extended transcript to show she had stressed that she made the decision to run on the day she asked Mr Rudd for a ballot.

UPDATE

Gillard herself destroys the excuse Coorey offered her:

The truth is I made a decision to run for prime minister on the day I walked into Kevin Rudd’s office and asked him for a ballot. I did not make that decision at any time earlier.

UPDATE

Professor Bunyip enjoyed the show:

Last night as Gillard squirmed and those darting, cornered eyes supplied a candour that her voice dared not, you had to love every miserable second of the creature’s unravelling. Finally, the woman who has told so many lies ran out of them. She would not answer because she could not answer. To confirm that she knew her victory speech was drafted two weeks before the knife went into Rudd would have been to validate every suspicion of cynical and predatory ambition she has for so long denied.

Sinclair Davidson says Rudd’s eyes said so much.

UPDATE

Gillard was out there flailing around this morning:

SABRA LANE: But first this morning a lot of people are asking the question: Why did you give Four Corners an interview for its program last night?

JULIA GILLARD: I was approached by Four Corners for an interview on what was described as the Government’s progress since 2007.

And so in those circumstances of course I said yes… I’m not someone who runs away from questions and so I did agree to the Four Corners interview.

SABRA LANE: Kevin Rudd didn’t. He maintained a silence.... The episode last night revealed that staff in your office had been working on a prime ministerial acceptance speech two weeks before the leadership change happened. That’s pretty damaging. Did you know that speech was being written?

JULIA GILLARD: ... I did not direct staff in my office to prepare a speech for me as prime minister. I wouldn’t have seen the need for it. I decided to challenge Kevin Rudd and to ask him for a ballot in the Labor Party on the day I asked him for that ballot…

SABRA LANE: But did you know…

JULIA GILLARD: And no question- no, you know, no question, no television program, nothing will ever change the facts that I made up my mind to ask Kevin Rudd for a ballot within the Labor Party for the Labor Party leadership on the day I walked into his office.

SABRA LANE: But did you know about this speech being written? You may not have asked for it but did you know that it was being written?

JULIA GILLARD: Well I didn’t direct it. And this was a tense few days for me and the Government. So I can’t specifically say to you when I came to know about the speech. It could have been on the Wednesday night, it could have been before. .

Enough

http://blogs.news.com.au/heraldsun/andrewbolt/index.php/heraldsun/comments/gilla...

juliar wrote on Feb 14^th, 2012 at 12:20pm:


WTF are you on about???

Nothing in all the world is more dangerous than sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity.
Martin Luther King Jr. (1929 - 1968), Strength to Love, 1963