Sunday political talkies: Clean fight in ALP? Coalition pitch for women's vote as contrast : Melbourne Indymedia

[This is a regular post on Sydney IMC but offline for maintenance at this time, so trespassing on Melb IMC this week. However ]

Author’s note: This is not a well packaged story. It’s a contemporaneous traverse of the Sunday free to air political talkies indicating the agenda of Establishment interests. Better to know your rivals I say in Big Politics and Big Media.

Indeed it’s the tv version monitoring task similar to what Nelson Mandela refers to here in his book Long Walk to Freedom (1994, Abacus) written in Robben Island prison (where he was meant to die like other African resister chiefs of history in the 19C), at page 208

“..newspapers are only a shadow of reality; their information is important to a freedom fighter not because it reveals the truth, but because it discloses the biases and perceptions of both those who produce the paper and those who read it.”

Just substitute ‘Sunday tv political talkie shows’ for newsprint in the quote. For actual transcripts go to web sites quoted below except with Riley Diary on 7 which is at 8.35 am roughly. And note transcripts don’t really give you the image content value.

http://www.ten.com.au/meetthepress

http://www.abc.net.au/insiders/

http://sunday.ninemsn.com.au/sunday/

10 Meet the Press. 8-8.30 am

Health Minister Abbott looking fit but also mad. Alison Carabone 2UE, Peter Hartcher SMH – both smarties, heavy talent too.

All about leadership of ALP. Echoes major Sundays in Sydney ‘pollies behaving badly. [Actually its good healthy democracy but the Establishment won’t spin like that. ]

Plays moral high ground but trashes that with gratuitous comparisons Rudd is ‘Beazley lite’ when clearly former is much better public speaker. Rudd married 25 years. Asian language speaker. Says Latham at least ran a council, Rudd only pollie’s office (Wayne Goss) which is bullshit given it was Premier of Qld office.

Mangles comparison with Helen Clark re ‘single woman’ Gilliard, Clark as PM of NZ of course being long time married but subject to nasty attacks by the Nationals over there via Exclusive Brethren about philandering or gay husband. The kind of gutter dirt tactics Abbott would be proud of given his nurturing of such grubs as David Oldfield who went on to coordinate One Nation for Pauline Hanson for quite a while there.

Fact is Abbott is a grub like Howard. Says Howard will go his full term which is ‘his style’ but trashes this claim by admitting Rudd would get a honeymoon, so obviously opportunistic.

Indeed Abbott is fronting for Howard with footage of Gaurdicil new cervical cancer vaccine, as a controlled timing ‘look and me, look at me’ to contrast with ALP ‘travails’ to quote Carabone.

[It’s all choreography folks by Howard/|Abbott team, and to snow people about the incredible repudiation of Howard by the Governor General Michael Jeffery in the Weekend Australian yesterday.]

Show after first ad break goes to actual health/PBS policy. Very good politics for the government for the women’s vote, to contrast blokey ‘ugly’ culture of factional fight amongst the ALP bruvvers. This is the political gambit for which Julia Gilliard higher public profile and sisterhood solidarity is the antidote likely for the ALP and for all other parties too.

Rubbery figures via The Australian and Nicholson cartoonist is very cruel and funny intro to Beazley, who is there next guest about verbosity and indeed what that reveals about public speaking and leadership/decisiveness.

Rudd footage – he’s been on a diet too, and fitness regime. Looking very groomed.

KB in the chair. Learned to use “competitive”instead of contestable which is obscure stupid word choice. KB is changing a bit here. Starts well and energetic.

Hartcher – can you win? Very hard to build a personality in 9 months. Need a real fighter to beat Howard.

Goes back to “contestable”, falls back to waffly style but hits IR and global warming. What do with losers? No pay back.

Put in process for reform of ALP parliamentary party [true re front bench spill]

KB right from start looks okay, happy, like monkey off his back. Looking smart. And sharp and God strike me, charming.

Good question from Greg Turnbull directing traffic about front bench spill yet 2 weeks ago not.

“contestable” again jarring versus normal English “competitive”. It’s not fucking Oxford Kim, or even WA voters.
Clean fight call by KB. No retribution. Focus on the main game. Showing his courage about losing then?

Last show for the year.

[My view there is truth on both sides of the challenge. Echoes question of GT are both right, that neither can win against Howard? Both agree must beat Howard this time for the sake of ‘building the nation’]

Transcripts: http://www.ten.com.au/meetthepress

7 Riley Diary – 8.35-8.40 am

Talking Rudd and Gilliard, Rudd will come back to 7 Sunrise on Friday mornings. Both challengers been in contact with the show.

Over to Riley tape. Last supper metaphor in Kingston restaurant. Fluffing his lines embarrassing footage. ACT/ACTU stuff up at big MCG rally. All true criticism.

Very funny hot potato ALP wiggles image.

Blooper by Downer, funny laughed at himself. Wacky Kelvin Thompson stupid porn metaphor. Costello – Garrett footage, relevant as his career will go up in ALP stoush.

[no web page usually but try

http://www.seven.com.au/sunrise/weekend

]

To follow:

Insiders 2 at 9am (replayed at 11.10 am on Parliamentary News network 630 am in Sydney)