18 September 2008

Election Wrap - 18 September

| johnboy
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General:

Jon Stanhope and Zed are both in the CT saying thanks for nothing to Greens Senator Bob Brown who has lobbed a live euthanasia grenade into the middle of our election campaign.

The ABC reports that the ACT Council of Parent and Citizens Associations has backed the Liberal reduced class size plan over Labor’s specialist teachers proposal.

The ABC also brings word on the bickering in the leader’s debate.

The CT also has an AAP report on that subject.

Labor:

Most of the Labor front bench have joined to promise another $50 million for education including… wait for it… smaller class sizes.

Greens:

The Greens are promising to set up an “Information Commissioner” to apply consistent standards across Freedom Of Information requests.

Shane Rattenbury is disappointed that the leader’s debate failed to address substantive issues.

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I’m not surprised the media gave him heaps.

I’ve never seen a Labor leader manage to get the journos as offside as Stanhope.

There comes a time when the whole “enemies list”, “us against the world” mentality really starts to tear you down.

If we’re going to call results on something like this debate, can we include disclaimers as re party alignment? Because some commenters have form for consistently being one-eyed around here.

Stanhope was positively smashed. Sure the journos did half hte job, but Zed and Smyth were all over Stanhope. The audience laughed him down when he me-tooed the Liberal policy for smaller classes. That set the tone for a bad day.

He was pounded for saying he believed in independence of the judiciary, when he sued the coroner.

He was mauled for saying it was an election on trust, after he promised not to close schools in the 2004 election and then closed them after.

The journos were all over him for personal traits – with separate questions on his temper; being thrown out of parliament; being unable to work with people; and copy-catting the Lib plan to reduce class sizes.

Zed and Stanhope had the same manner – Zed very rational and straight, Stanhope uncharacteristically quieter. Smyth was the only old school tub-thumper.

Stanhope can spin a clever line sometimes. Today he just didn’t have any sharp lines worked out, didn’t fight back, and was on the defensive for most of the debate. Whistle is right that Gallgher hid in her bunker and let Stanhope cop all the flak.

caf said :

verbalkint: Have there actually been any polls published?

I believe he’s saying that we can get a clue as to what the Libs internal polling is saying, by analysing what they are talking about most. Verbalkint is suggesting that because Zed continually talks about school closures, it is an issue that is cutting through for them.

verbalkint: Have there actually been any polls published?

I missed it. Does anybody know if I can get a look on the net somewhere?

dunno about saying ‘zed won’, rather i thought CM was hammered and, as whistle astutely puts it, he and the moderator were ‘losers’…

no-one won, certainly not entertaining mid day tv!

Zed was quit flat, didnt land any punches and repeated himself over and over about schools.

Now I know that the polls are saying that it is the only issues on which the Libs are getting any traction, but surely he can branch about a bit from that and try to make some other points.

Stanhope wasn’t great by any stretch of the imagination, and the moderator and journos were terrible – the questions were a joke! – but really, to say Zed “won” really is stretching the truth. He didnt say anything significant to show that he has vision or talent, and he missed his chance to lay int the government in any meaningful way.

Nothing he sad will cut through to an undecided voter.

I agree with astro. The losers were the moderator and Stanhope.

You would expect Stanhope could knock Zed apart, but Zed clobbered him in a pretty cool relaxed manner. Smyth was a real angry ant. I can’t remember if Katy even said boo. She was/ is/ always has been a non-event. I really don’t see how anyone can see her as the best Labor talent to replace Stanhope some day in the future.

and the moderator was a goose.

labor were a bit hammered in the debate, i thought, with CM squirming more than a couple of times, esp when journos accused him point blank of being arrogant. banging on with numbers of how much was spent didn’t address the questions of why, with what aim and did spending meet the need.

and zed, it isn’t a backflip! to perform a backflip entails that you end up facing the same way (which, metaphorically, isn’t what you wanted to say) how about, simply, a policy reversal, or a u-turn, or about face?

libs didn’t say much either, really; though they were at least a little more concrete than the rhetorical labor guff. can anyone tell me why this election, in particular, is the most critical we’ve ever faced? all i heard from katy is that it is, not why. why is it? isn’t every election critical in that a vote the other way would [have] significantly alter[ed] the subsequent effects on the community?

i thought the libs taking stanhope apart on the class size and school closures was well done.

not a mention, however, of energy efficiencies, of water, of sustainable growth, of community values and culture, not one. from either side.

and neither side addressed how they would ensure that no canberran would ever again be subject to a five dollar overcharge on a pizza. reprehensible.

Aurelius said :

There hasn’t been a good leaders debate in an election since Keating wiped the floor with Howard in 96… and then went on to be creamed on polling day.

I was serving behind the bar of a departmental happy hour on the night before election and the faces were all longer than a wet week. Similar-ish to 1993 when Keating won the “unwinnable” election and the standing joke was the Labor Party faithful spent the late evening drinking warm champagne because noone had thought to put it on the ice.

There you go; if anyone comes to my trivia night at the Tra dies Club in Dickson on Monday night you’ve got one answer out of 60 right already!

B*gger! Best be popping over the the DIY Wotz On thread…

There hasn’t been a decent leaders debate since Harold and William went for it in 1066.

No, I remember that one; I was a senior adviser to William at the time. 1066 was closed for pest fumigation and they had to move it downstairs to 954.

Gungahlin Al12:55 pm 18 Sep 08

There hasn’t been a good leaders debate since the final series of West Wing.

There hasn’t been a good leaders debate in an election since Keating wiped the floor with Howard in 96… and then went on to be creamed on polling day.

Now now LG, I’m sure it’s going to be a titanic intellectual battle that will go down in history as one of the world’s defining philosophical moments.

Leader’s debate… anyone got any paint drying as an alternative? It rained the other day, maybe there is some grass growing too.

Pity Bob couched it in terms of euthanasia.

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