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MAX ATTACKS
To its credit, this time around the ALP is running its novelty candidate in a marginal seat:
Former ABC journalist Maxine McKew will run against Prime Minister John Howard in the seat of Bennelong at the next federal election.
Ms McKew joined the ALP recently and is working for Labor leader Kevin Rudd. Mr Howard’s seat is marginal and Ms McKew would need a swing of around 4 per cent to win it. She says Labor needs to claim those sorts of seats if it is to win Government.
Ex-Labor minister Gary Punch told ABC radio this morning that McKew would win due to demographic changes in Howard’s seat. “They hate him,” Punch claimed, speaking of the area’s Asian residents. We’ll see.
She’s got the Doctor’s wives vote sewn up.
Posted by boxofmatches on 2007 02 25 at 09:30 PM • permalinkMaxine was previously offered a safe seat in Cabramatta or Liverpool but turned it down cos she didn’t want to move from Mosman. As Latham noted in his diaries:
“So Maxine wants to be a Labor MP, but can’t stand the sight or smell of Labor voters, hey?”
Posted by Margos Maid on 2007 02 25 at 09:31 PM • permalinkFran Kelly was running the ‘Asians won’t vote for Howard’ meme on Radio National this morning. Presumably that ABC-logic is that Howard will be spurned by Asians because, as we all know, he’s a racist. I would have thought that the Asian community, being hard-headed, realistic, self-advancing, prosperity-oriented people, would be a natural coalition bloc.
I have it on good authority she slept her way into the job.
Posted by Infidel Tiger on 2007 02 25 at 09:41 PM • permalinkStand by for unparalleled lemon-sucking.
Posted by SwinishCapitalist on 2007 02 25 at 09:42 PM • permalinkI live in the seat and it was unbearable when the traitor Wilkie ran for the Greens last election. This year is going to be the worst!
Posted by ozconservative on 2007 02 25 at 10:03 PM • permalinkWhat’s the betting on The Hoglet out-polling Wee Willie Wilkie? I’m thinking about opening a book, if I can get any mug punters.
(I note also that Wee Willie is still looking to immerse his snout in the trough of public largesse and carbon consumption hypocrisy, scoring the no.2 spot for the Greens in Tasmania behind Bob Brown*. I’d rather not think about what sort of casting couch was required, but given Bob’s particulalrly demented utterances of late I’d say Willie’s destined for the dole, and well-deserved obscurity).
*That’s my definition of a safe seat.
#8
In her role as Mrs Boss Hogg?#10
She’s been quoted in ABC Ruddio National News sound bites as “doing it for Australia” and “doing it for Kevin Rudd” ... so self-effacing ...#8
Surely someone who sleeps with a union official deserves some kind of compensation.
Posted by Margos Maid on 2007 02 25 at 10:16 PM • permalink#15 The ever popular Eoin Cameron. Can’t think of any others
“They hate him,” Punch claimed, speaking of the area’s Asian residents.
Bullshit they hate him! Most of those “Asians” are small business operators or self employed. Nearly as many Koreans in Eastwood as Seoul. All driving around in nice cars. Very well heeled. And they’re going to take a shine to an ex-ABC Labor stooge? Yeah, right!
And Punch reckons ‘they hate him’. Yeah, right! Tell that to Judy!
Michelle Grattan puff-piece on Lindsay Tanner, December 2006:
He delights too, in being a social commentator. In the Sydney [Institute] speech he noted, among threats to parties such as Labor around the world, an international trend to “entertainment politics”.
“The faultlines between left and right have blurred, and politics has drifted into the world of entertainment. We now have celebrities becoming candidates and candidates becoming celebrities: being famous for being famous is becoming an important qualification for political office … parties now seek out celebrities as candidates.”
#20
The Wiggles will be unavailable as they are starting their own political movement
Posted by Margos Maid on 2007 02 25 at 10:58 PM • permalinkAccording to an article in the Daily Telegraph:
“I’m nominating for the seat of Bennelong because I want to make whatever contribution I can to help bring about a change of government,” Ms McKew said.
One wonders if she held that goal during her time at the ABC immediately prior.
If so, is she also one of those who will insist the ABC is unbiased?
What evidence do the ALP have that “Asians” hate Howard?
#15, #18 - Pru Goward’s another; if she gets up come the next NSW election, that is. However these people are definitely in the minority amongst the ABC-hack-turned-pollie brigade.
Posted by James Waterton on 2007 02 25 at 11:13 PM • permalinkHere, the Labor Party is showing its spite, cynicism and arrogance. Kevin Rudd obviously believes that Labor can’t win unless John Howard is first eliminated.
One thing’s for sure - the ABC will give her a very easy run. John Howard will only get a look in if he makes a mistake, even a very minor one.
I trust the residents of the Benelong electorate won’t be fooled. Gary Punch certainly is.
McKew exhibited a complete lack of depth in her work at the ABC. Her style was to ask the scripted question and not understand the answer so then be unable to ask a serious follow up question.
I’m sure that when she’s interviewed on specific topics she’ll be about as unimpressive as Peter Garrett.
Posted by Jack Lacton on 2007 02 25 at 11:42 PM • permalinkThe ALP’s fondness for running ludicrous novelty candidates in Bennelong, election after election, makes them strangely reminiscent of the Official Raving Monster Loony Party.
if the ALP’s understanding of the bennalong electorate is that teh asian community will not vote for Howard, they will not win the seat. On the other hand, if they were to traget the ‘doctor’s wives’, they more than likely to do a bit better. I am sure maxine can appeal to that group, who of course, like maxine would not be caught dead west of eastwood.
That said, I thought Andrew Wilkie and a host of other protest candidates already had that lot at the last election.
Anyway, I think some will vote for Howard this time as they would not want to be so mean as to sack him. Howard is no Keating, after all. There is no desire among the general community to whack him with a baseball bat.
McHogg could turn out to be a masterstroke for Rudd. The ultimate stalking horse.
SCENARIO 1
The plan could be that he spends so much time on the federal election he neglects Bennelong and McHogg takes his seat.SCENARIO 2
She is a high profile distraction - Howard takes the bait and spends so much time defending Bennelong, he loses focus on the bigger picture, loses the election but holds his seat.Either scenario, Rudd wins. Howard is a spent force regardless. McHogg will be a Labor hero no matter what.
This is serious and no laughing matter.
I think everyone is placing far too much vote attraction on the concept of “celebrity”, especially in the case of one who would only be known to people who are already true believers anyway- it’s not as if she’s ever been on “Dancing With The Stars”; also given her tallyroom pouts, family connections and the fact that she’s got to flog her gaff in Mosman to move into the electorate, it would be a doddle to paint her as a longterm party hack, and what’s more one who has misused her position in a public-funded broadcaster to advance her (and her hubbys) agenda and political ambitions.
I’d say JWH is more at risk of contracting an infestation of candiru’ than getting rolled by Makka- a national 4% swing is difficult to achieve at anytime, but during a time of low unemployment, low interest rates and national prosperity? Dream on- luvviedom is more delusional than when the One Pod Sod crawled out of the Werriwa swamp and ran amok.
#41
Poll popularity is not enough to win elections ... KRuddy would have to win individual seats, as Latham found out ...Maxie goet plenty of air time on News Radio early this morning. No ten-second soundbite for her, they played the whole Q&A session and fairly dull listening it was, especially the second time around.
Posted by SwinishCapitalist on 2007 02 26 at 01:44 AM • permalink16 or 17 of ‘em as well, unheard of except when the incumbent has proven to be a blithering idiot, overseeing a cabinet which seems to be full of gibbons on crstal meth:-...... Besides, the next election hurdle is a high one for Labor – it has to win an extra 16 seats to govern. On a uniform swing, this would require Labor to increase its vote after preferences by 4.9 per cent, compared with the 2.2 per cent it needed in the last election. Labor has achieved a larger two-party preferred swing in federal elections only once since 1949: Whitlam’s 6.9 per cent against John Gorton in 1969. Beazley came close with a 4.6 per cent swing against Howard in 1998. But neither was large enough to put Labor into office. Only the Coalition has achieved larger winning swings – Malcolm Fraser’s 7.4 per cent against Whitlam in 1975 and Howard’s 5.1 per cent against Keating in 1996.
(From Mike Steketee - The Australian, 2005 when bomber was still around).
The hammering they got last time pretty much makes government impossible unless JWH takes up sniffing glue, Costello is sprung
en flagrente’ delecto with barnyard animals, Tony Abbott likewise with a choirboy and Nick Michin watches a dvd of
The Motorcycle Diaries and commences sniping at incoming comcars from the roof of parliament house; the worst scenario I can see is the loss of control of the Senate, which isn’t much of a one as they’ve done fuck-all with it (unless it goes to the Greens).It all seems like Groundhog Day, 2004.
I looked closely at the map of Bennelong to figure out where Maxine might reside if she is serious about all of this. For those of you who don’t know the area it basically follows the river to the west of Sydney. In Sydney as you move west you lower your prestige. Not to say these aren’t all nice, liveable suburbs but the Eastern boundary of this electorate would be too low on the social totem pole for Maxine and the west end…forget it.
#47- Ooo, it is AWFULLY middle class, and lower at that; perhaps she could suffer Epping for a bit, or Chatswood (ugh) West at a pinch, but Ryde and Gladesville for heavens sake! Where does one find real brie’ at 10pm in those plebian backwaters?
I’d rate Mad Max definately a lower chance than Wee Willie, who probably had a higher meeja profile.
This is serious and no laughing matter.
I agree Bonmot; McKew is a bit more than a ‘novelty candidate’ and electoral redistributions have put more of Labor’s natural constituency (yes, it still exists) in to Bennelong. A distraction that Howard doesn’t need this year.
ps the miscreant Wilkie is running for Senate for the the Greens here in Tas this year - joining Bob Brown-eye.
Posted by Stop Continental Drift! on 2007 02 26 at 03:17 AM • permalinkSays Wayne Swan: More high profile candidates for Labor.
The Labor party must be working through the ABC news and current affairs department’s phone directory. As for a new mansion for Maxine, the SMH has recently launched Adoreproperty.com to help her. It deals exclusively with the exclusive suburbs of Sydney. There is nothing that appeals more to a socialist politician than an elite address where they don’t have to actually speak to the people they claim to represent.
#47 The map explains it all now. I always thought Howard’s electorate was more Upper North Shore. This map explains Punch’s Hanson-like reference to the amorphous “Asians”. Do Labor seriously think they’ll go for Maxine?
Posted by AlburyShifton on 2007 02 26 at 04:27 AM • permalink#56
Bennelong is very middleclass, as it is near a decent water body (few Sydneysiders can afford harbour views, this is the next best thing) and aspirational; a lot of whitecollar jobs are moving to the Chatswood/North Ryde area: a case of Labor swallowing too much of their own bullshit, if they think that this is “Struggle Street”, pffft!Maxine says she is ‘redefining what it means to be the underdog’. A rich-bitch moving from one high class suburb to another 10 minutes away, having her face on TV for over 20 years at tax-payers expense and hubby is a Labor heavyweight. Max, the Spartans at Thermopylae you ain’t!
Posted by AlphaMikeFoxtrot on 2007 02 26 at 04:56 AM • permalink#62 And Viscount Bruce was essentially being punished for attempting to dismantle the Federal arbitration system.
#49 I should add that I think the Bolta knows the lefty nyer-nyer brigade will target him for ridicule if Howard loses so he’s indulging in a bit of pre-emptive nonchalance and prudential I-saw-it-comingism. Qua journalist, this is understandable; qua advocate for a series of causes in which he claims to believe, it’s a smidgen weak.
It’s not unusual for both parties to field a potential MP in an unwinnable seat first-up. Not only does it mean easy pre-selection but it gives the candidate a chance show what he/she can do - gives them a profile with the electorate in general and with the party. When a winnable seat comes up the party can pre-select them for that.
If the candidate is genuinely strong, e.g., Messrs Garrett and Turnbull, they can go straight to a safe seat.
The conclusion I draw is that McKew is seen by the ALP as potentially another Delahunty (and judging by her vapid public remarks, probably so) so she is being blooded in an unwinnable seat. The plan seems to be merely to distract Mr Howard from campaigning nationally.
It would all the same be a delight to see a Howard/McKew debate. Nothing like a good bloodbath.
Posted by walterplinge on 2007 02 26 at 06:59 AM • permalinkMaxine joins the McKew of Hate John. Which ABC ‘star’ will be next?
Posted by stackja1945 on 2007 02 26 at 07:13 AM • permalinkBruce went to London and kept WSC under control for Curtin.
Posted by stackja1945 on 2007 02 26 at 07:15 AM • permalinkAs much as you can generalise, I am sure that the portion of the Asian community that are small businesses would certainly welcome the dead hand of the Swot Womble’s union dominated economics team.
Posted by boxofmatches on 2007 02 26 at 07:59 AM • permalinkThis is serious and no laughing matter.
I have to agree.
Kevni gets to put a shot on JoHo directly. He could pick up a lot of soft votes if people believe Howard could lose his seat. Create enough belief throughout the rest of the country that voting for John Howard may not get actually get you John Howard because Maxine is on the case.
The average punter in Eden-Monaro probably couldn’t pick the formerALP publicistABC journalist out of a police line-up, but thanks to all the moist gussets in the MSM, Maxine’s name recognition beyond the 7:30 Report/Lateline set has never been better.I find the whole thing highly unethical.
She should have declared her political affiliations whilst hosting the ABC program.
Now she declares “because I want to make whatever contribution I can to help bring about a change of government”.
with such views how can one conduct “unbiased news reporting”? Such dishonesty must be fully exposed.Well, Maxine has the following blocks filled:
> Friends of the ABC
> Doctor’s wives
> Book club members
> Wimmen
> Global warming cultistsPosted by boxofmatches on 2007 02 26 at 09:47 AM • permalinkI reckon, quite seriously, Janette should be all over the seat campaigning while John is in election mode. Its all hands on deck.
Posted by boxofmatches on 2007 02 26 at 09:49 AM • permalinkdemographic changes in Howard’s seat
Does that mean his butt is getting smaller or soemthing?
Posted by Major John on 2007 02 26 at 04:13 PM • permalinkI have it on good authority she slept her way into the job.
Don’t they all?
Posted by Kyda Sylvester on 2007 02 26 at 06:25 PM • permalinkGreat! This is it! I’ve been waiting two hours for this. It’s a revolution!
Blood runs! Flags wave! Come on, everybody, throw down your tools and knock down the barricade. Come on, run into the Winter Palace. Run into the Winter Palace and stand on tables, waving bits of paper at each other! Yes! Yes!! Hello, are you the Czar?!
Bam bam! Tough luck, fascist!!
That’s what happens to people who aren’t working class! Rise up and seize control of the state! I can see it now. Hordes of asians running up with pitchfolks and torches to burn the Woolwich Pier Hotel. Brilliant! Revolution!#65
The thought occurred, but to put a high profile canditate in the PM’s seat comes across as agressive and could easily backfire against the ALP as a whole; now that Kruddy’s being tarnished with Brian Bourke, it could be the start of his slippery slope (he’s prolly got plenty of enemies in his own camp).
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Two words:
Mary Delahunty.
You’d think the brains trusts in the ALP would learn about the inadvisability of putting a talking head up. Rarely works. Look at Mary Poppins in the UK!