No sooner does the former Prime Minister Kevin Rudd get up from his convalescent bed to stump for Labor in a press conference than the former Prime Minister John Howard starts lurching about, speechifying for the LNP Coalition at a Sydney fundraiser.
101 Uses for a John Howard - #83: Zombie | A 2007 cartoon by Kudelka
What next, former Prime Ministerial killer bees?
Seriously, the campaign becomes more bizarre every day. Both Rudd and Howard are very strong campaigners, arguably both much stronger campaigners than their respective successors as leaders of their parties, and both are, to a certain segment of the electorate, more attractive than the current contenders for PM. How this dynamic will play out to swing voters in marginal seats is anybody’s guess.
Any predictions?
Categories: culture wars, parties and factions
Elections #AusPol 2019 Thread 
Beyond Marching: I Will Not Be Passive #Resist 
Read This OTD: Invent A Phantom Enemy To Advance Your Culture Wars 
QOTD: on the blaming of progressive scolds/shamers for the rise of Trumpists 
Hoyden About Town 
One of the most disturbing things I have seen on TV over the last 24 hours (and played incessantly) is the new mining ad.
“You’re gonna get whacked”. Replete with imagery of women holding bags of groceries being knocked for six.
Am I alone in finding this not only extremely inappropriate, but possibly counter-productive? Kind of reinforces the meme of these guys as a bunch of thugs, I woud have thought …
I bet the media spins it as Rudd coming to the rescue of the Labor party but is strangely silent on the re-emergence of Howard (Abbott must be worried). Prove me wrong MSM, prove me wrong!
@chinda63
It does sound DV like.
I wonder if we will gets ads saying ‘Australia’s richest man doesn’t want to pay more tax – Andrew “Twiggy” Forrest Mining Magnate’ (I’m not calling him a miner). That would change people’s minds about him.
Honestly, I want to be more engaged with this election but I can only stand to look through my fingers from behind the sofa. I know the result that I hope for, but I’m frightened that the Labor campaign is blowing its chances by repeatedly walking wide-eyed into media set-ups without a breakthrough sound-bite to overcome the editorial agenda.
Today we saw Mark Latham popping up for his chance at hogging the headlines, and the MSM took that ball and ran with it like a mad ball-running thing.
What about the seniors policy announcements that were the ostensible reason for Julia Gillard’s press conference today? What would it have taken for them to get a decent run?
Mark Latham’s journalism career may have ended after this interview with Julia Gillard
I know exactly what you mean tigtog about peering through fingers from behind the sofa. It really is terrifying. And what do you do? I mean the way both parties are racing for Right Winger Of the Year isn’t going to change no matter what I do between now and 21 August. I’m doing small things like donating, displaying GetUp placards, volunteering to be present for GetUp at the polls etc, but I can’t help feeling like all that is about me making myself feel better than being of statistical significance and that the momentum of this election lies with the media and anti-women sentiment. And how do you have proper conversations with people when really the issue is HOW, how, HOW can they think of voting in Tony Abbott after all they’ve heard him say!?
@fp: Precisely! I just keep finding myself practically incapable of actually having conversations with folks supporting Abbott about the election because my brain can’t get past “WHY WHAT HOW IS THIS HAPPENING I DON’T EVEN KNOW *shutdown*” And then I just want to crawl into a corner and try to wake up.
Yes…sigh. I just can’t cope with the possibility of Abbott being PM so I tend to shut down and figure I’ll save the shock/grief reactions for *if* it happens and just hope for a miracle (and WHY should it be a miracle for a country not to elect that man!?)