fasgnadh wrote:
> "Republicans fear rout after third loss"
> - New York Times 16/5/2008
>
>
> "THE Republican defeat in a special congressional
> contest in Mississippi has sent waves of apprehension
> through the party, with some senior Republicans urging
> candidates to distance themselves from President George
> Bush to avert catastrophic losses in November."
>
> The same process has occurred in Australia where the
> Liberal party have distanced themselves from their
> former pin-up boy.
I draw the links between the mess the US Republicans are in
and the mess their Aussie neo-con cronies are in one day..
and the next day Laurie Oakes is making the same case! B^D
"Black Days in the Coalition
- Laurie Oakes 17/5/2008
"IN Wa****ngton a few days ago, a leading Republican
congressman presented a re****t to colleagues on the
state of their party.
"The Republican brand is in the trash can," he wrote.
"If we were dog food, they would take us off the shelf."
If the Liberal Party in Australia were dog food, it would
be removed from the shelf and tossed into the garbage
bin as well....."
BWAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHAHAAHAHAHAA
> In the US, the republicans can only redeem themselves by something
> more dramatic and decisive than just moving away from the stinking
> dungheap which is the Bush administration, they need to impeach
> him as a war criminal.
>
> "The victory by Democrat Travis Childers in a once-steadfastly
> Republican district was the third such defeat of a Republican
> this year and appeared to undermine the idea that Barack Obama
> could be a liability for Democratic candidates in conservative
> regions."
>
> That's like a PM being so reviled for his lies and deceptions
> that he loses not only government, but his OWN SEAT! B^D
>
> "Republican advertising had sought to link Mr Childers to Senator Obama.
> Republican leaders said they were looking towards likely Republican
> nominee John McCain as a model whose independent reputation might allow
> him to rise above the party's tarnished brand.
>
> Senator McCain has already been openly critical of some of
> President Bush's strategies."
>
> Brand differentiation! B^D Watching Nelson and the Lieberals
> attempt it is hilarious!
"....That is a large part of Brendan Nelson's burden.
A fellow Liberal said to the Opposition Leader recently:
"The problem is not you. It's us."
That let Nelson off far too lightly, but there is considerable
truth in it just the same.
Senior Liberals expect an unfavourable Newspoll next week."
Surely lying to pensioners (just as they did in government,
and scratching each others eyes out, and contradicting
each other in the media, and not having any policies won't
make them go backwards? B^D
"If they are right - if Labor does well and the Coalition
does badly - the pundits will almost certainly interpret
it as reflecting approval of Wayne Swan's Budget.
But Liberal hardheads believe it is likely to be more a
brand issue than a Budget verdict, a result of the mess
their party is in, particularly at the state level."
Oh look.. the doyen of the Canberra Press Gallery is
recapping our threads and posts of the past weeks: ;-)
"In recent polls, sup****t in Western Australia has helped
to prop up the Liberal Party's ratings nationally, but the
embarrassment of a chair-sniffing state leader is bound to
change that."
Civil war in the Victorian branch - complete with treacherous
bloggers in head office and emails exposing anti-Semitism -
will not help the party's Newspoll ratings either.
So it is hard to blame Nelson for jettisoning economic
responsibility and taking the populist route in his Budget
reply."
Now that's TWO senior political commentators, the other
being Michelle Grattan, who have described Nelson's
desperate abandonment of ANY ECONOMIC CREDIBILITY in
a pathetic populist plea for someone to love him! B^D
"These are desperate times for the Liberal Party."
"Nelson's proposal to cut fuel excise by 5c a litre and
his pledge to block the 70 per cent tax increase on
pre-mixed alcoholic drinks - alcopops - would punch
a huge financial hole in the Budget."
And he did not even try to identify other savings
measures to maintain the Budget surplus at the $21.7
billion level Swan achieved.
Having branded Swan's Budget inflationary, Nelson
put forward a prescription that would make it much more so.
Not all Liberal MPs were impressed when the Opposition
Leader resumed his seat.
Said one: "If the only ace left in the Coalition's deck
is economic responsibility and credibility, what Brendan
has proposed surely blows that out of the water."
The metaphor was mixed, but the meaning was clear.
Despite Peter Costello's public praise for Nelson's
Budget response, it is difficult to believe that he
was not privately appalled also.
Some members of the shadow cabinet certainly had strong
misgivings when Nelson told them, a few hours before
delivering the speech, what it would contain.
Nelson's approach puts the Coalition in dangerous territory.
It is very difficult now for the Liberals to cast themselves
as the party of low inflation and budget discipline.
But, overall, the performance seemed to get a tick from
those on the benches behind him.
One of the party's more experienced campaigners said:
"What Brendan did was aimed at the people who moved away
from us in the suburbs at the election. It was designed
to let them know that we're still around."
In other words, the priority is getting attention.
Nelson is engaged in retail politics.
He is focusing on the punters, not the economic commentators.
Whether he is underestimating those punters remains to be seen.
Budget week was a test of three men - Nelson, his shadow
treasurer and leader****p rival, Malcolm Turnbull, and Swan.
Swan emerged with his confidence bolstered and his standing
increased.
The Budget got generally good press and reasonable marks from
the economic experts.
Ripping into Turnbull in Parliament two days after delivering
it, Swan looked like a different bloke to the uneasy
performer of earlier in the year.
Turnbull, obviously keen to out****ne Nelson and enhance
his leader****p claims, failed to dazzle.
His confused and contradictory performance would have
disappointed his followers."
....
Oh dear Oh Dear! B^D
"The disastrous events in Victoria and WA have provided
further evidence of the urgent need for a stronger federal
structure.
The Labor Party's national executive has the power to
over-rule a state branch when a crisis arises.
The Liberal Party has no such mechanism. A plan for
structural reform will be put to a special federal
convention of the Liberal Party in October or November."
>
> "The level of distress was evident in remarks by senior
> party officials on Wednesday.
>
> A former leader of the Republican congressional campaign
> committee, Thomas Davis, warned that the party had been
> severely damaged and Republicans could lose 20 seats in
> the House and six in the Senate.
>
> "They are canaries in the coalmine, warning of far greater
> losses in the fall, if steps are not taken to remedy the
> current climate," he said in a memorandum.
>
> "The political atmosphere facing House Republicans this
> November is the worst since Watergate and is far more
> toxic than it was in 2006."
>
> - NEW YORK TIMES
>
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