Did you all miss me while I spent the last few days in the wet no man’s land disconnected from the world with no power Phone or internet? well I missed youse all!
Anyway Today’s little snippet is the story of the retirement of Robert McClelland from a safe seat no less :
click for source
Naturally I can’t help thinking that this will be the first of many “retirement” announcements from labor’s ranks as those members who have known the, err, “pleasures” of life in her majesty’s loyal opposition dread returning to that role after the coming election, Robert McClelland was a Rudd man and that must have had something to do with it as well now that our dear Brother Number One will never attain the primacy again, unless it is in the despair of a devastated post election ALP. Dare I suggest that like all smart rats Robert McClelland knows when the ship is taking on water?
The election dance begins
Cheers Comrades
Related articles
- Robert McClelland tipped to retire (news.smh.com.au)
- McClelland set to bail out of election (dailytelegraph.com.au)
- Robert McClelland confirms retirement (news.com.au)
- Robert McClelland confirms retirement (news.theage.com.au)
- Libs keen to contest Barton: Abbott (news.theage.com.au)
- McClelland to quit politics at next election (abc.net.au)
Iain Hall's SANDPIT 
“The election dance begins” and so it does! My, my, Iain, you must have read your tea leaves well this morning! The worst PM in Australian history has just announced the election date, 14th September. We are now embarking on the longest election campaign (if you subtract the past 2 years) in the history of this country.
I will be counting down each and every one of the 226 odd days remaining!
Today’s announcement is interesting. Is it one of Gillard’s pre-emptive strikes? I’d imagine this announcement puts paid to any challenges to her leadership now.
Yes Fiona they are going to be trying their moves for real and I think that you are right about the chances of a challenge at this point in time. I notice too that Gillard has started to wear spectacles, call me cynical if you you want but I can;t help thinking that its calculated to make her look more knowledgeable and dare I suggest more respectable?
The Hillary Rodham Clinton of Aus? Nope. Maybe Timmy swigged the glass of fluid in which Gillard had placed her contacts!
Even more bizarre – apparently Gillard didn’t think it was worth the effort to consult Caucus before announcing the election date. Can we hear “up youse all” from this loose cannon of a PM?
She didn’t consult her inner sanctum re. the Peris parachute drop into the NT Senate either, apparently.
Her fall from grace is coming. Not only from the AWU fiasco which now involves the Victoria Police and WA Police, but her sheer stupidity, arrogance and incompetence. We’ve lived it and we will vote it into the sewer where it belongs.
ps: IaIn – glad to know you are safe and reasonably dry.
To be honest I think that’s a good sign of her position in the party. It shows that she is willing and able to make leadership calls, without having to first run them through the union heavies or the NSW Right. John Howard certainly made plenty of these calls in his time. However I think the Peris thing was silly, and as for the seven month campaign, well who knows what the logic is behind that.
Iain, please remove that image at the bottom of this post – it is far too distracting!
As you say, Iain, their ship is taking on water, and those older members will be the first to jump. Having supported this junior government, they are now the most embarrassed.
Meanwhile Shorten, he of the ‘whatever my Prime Minister says, I stand by’ and then today, ‘what, an election?’ will hang on. He has his sights set higher that this impotent Gillard government.
Unfortunately, whether they hang on or jump, these failures will be rewarded with a parliamentary pension for the rest of their lives.
And that rubs salt into the wounds of ordinary people who are struggling with massive increases in electricity prices and reduced health services. Rubbing more salt into our wounds is the fact that this faux government has massively increased spending on illegal immigrants, in the false belief that they are more needy than our own poorer citizens.
Laborites, like Brian and Ray, who reckon a Liberal government will be worse, or not much better, should realise that just by standing still the Libs will help our economy. Disassembling the myriad wasteful, useless green schemes will save millions of dollars. Have a look at this list of failures by Labor to see where spending can be curtailed.
Particularly irksome is the provision for a $30,000 portrait of sleaze bag misogynist Peter Slipper to be hung in Parliament.
All Tony Abbott and the Libs have to do is say, ‘Enough is enough’, and the nation will be better off.
We don’t need visionary utopian plans. We want a nation that is not spiralling into debt for the sake of an idealistic socialist society that aims to curtail our speech and control our access to media.
Tragically, that is exactly what Labor is now doing.
Former Labor power broker Graham Richardson despairs:
This is fun 🙂
Ah – yes, Graham “whatever it takes” Richo despairing. And so he should. According to rumours, Labor have changed the locks since Richo began running off at the mouth.
Yep. It’s fun alright, GD!
Richo’s right – he’s past it. I’ve never liked him; he was just a back room numbers man, a real suckhole. Can’t stand him, never could. And you cite Pickering too?!? Well done, GD – he’s a king sized prawn.
And you lot are like a bunch of rabid Collingwood supporters – one-eyed, ugly and stupid.
Look in the mirror, Ray 🙂
Yes, there’s some real irony in posting a cartoon about Craig Thomson from Larry Pickering, the two-times bankrupt who has fleeced scores of people out of thousands of dollars. But I guess it’s easy for “GD” to overlook the crooks on his side of the political paddock.
[…] you write is so quickly proven to be correct. When I wrote my post the other day suggesting that Robert McClelland was the first rat to notice that the SS Labor was taking on water, little did I know that two big names would so soon follow him into the life boats eager to […]