Coalition Smear Campaign is Backfiring.

[Matilda]

"The latest monthly Herald/ACNielsen poll shows Labor would win easily with a two-party-preferred vote of 61 per cent to the Coalition's 39 per cent - a three-point swing to Labor over the past month."

(snip)

"More than four-fifths of voters said they did not care about the Brian Burke affair, even though almost two-thirds thought Mr Rudd was less than truthful about his three meetings with the disgraced lobbyist and former West Australian premier in 2005."

(snip)

"Primary support for the Coalition stayed relatively steady at a lowly 35 per cent but personal support for the Prime Minister, John Howard, which has been holding steady in recent months, has begun to slip.

Mr Rudd has extended his lead as preferred prime minister to 14 points - 53 to 39 per cent. That is almost triple the five-point gap he enjoyed last month, and it is the highest lead an Opposition leader has had in this category in the 11 years since Mr Howard became Prime Minister."

http://www.smh.com.au/news/national/its-going-to-be-a-ruddslide/2007/03/11/1173548022964.html


Of course Howard is going to try to buy votes, and no doubt it will make a dent in Rudd's numbers,
but will it be enough to overcome the sleaze factor? Perhaps even for the materialistic, there
have been too many lies, too many dirty deals, too much inhumanity.

But I'm so glad that the latest stupid beat-up didn't work - I agree that there are unanswered
questions about Rudd and Burke, but they're small bikkies compared to the general sliminess of the
Coalition.

I'm looking forward to the continuing disintegration of John Howard.

[Esra Star]

1. John Coward and all his henchpeople are starting to sweat.

The walls are closing in. Peter Smirkboy's backers will be
sniping. I am waiting for the time when the riot act will be read.
Do you have any idea what tricks they will try now.
It seems that painting Labor as criminals didn't work.
Can we look forward to a bomb somewhere?
How about violent quelling of "riots" associated with APEC?
Finding a terrrrr plot and throwing a bunch of stereotypes in the can?
The last time they handed out money to home buyers, it was good short term.
Maybe they'll use that for good ol vote buying.
Anyway I'm enjoying seeing them sweat.
Don't even start me on Andrew Dolt. What a prick.

[gemini_liberal]

2. Attacking is all they know

It must be frustrating that the sole strategy they rely on no longer produces fruit for them. Unfortunately for them, they're unable to change, so the smear campaign will continue. My jokingly hyperbolic remark on here a few weeks back of them attempting to dig dirt from Rudd's childhood is actually becoming reality, so I wouldn't put anything past them...

I know they're almost at the ceiling and the likelihood of this is very low, I would love to see the ALP lead on the 2PP rating 67-33...

[Matilda]

3. What I do like about Rudd is that he never fumbles.

They threw the dirt about Brian Burke, now they're saying he's lying about his family being evicted
from their farm, and he just stands by what he originally said. No "I was misquoted, taken out of
context, misunderstood", no qualifiying statements, like Howard & Co., he just sticks to his story.

I don't think this is a man who opens his mouth unless he's got all his ducks in a row, and it has
the effect of creating trust (even when you know that he must have discussed something more than the
weather with Burke).

[Aussie leftie]

4. Who really cares what Rudd discussed with Burke.

Its a much scarier thought wondering what Howard discussed with that war criminal Cheney. Also, the fact that John Elliott did not go to jail because of technicality, makes him no less a white collar criminal; and what lib would not have spoken to him. Especially seeing that they admired him so much they made him president of their party. Bring on the election.

You know when Howard is worried, its when he starts to shuffle his shoulders. You know when he is lying, its when his lips move.

[Matilda]

5. It's good that people have the Burke affair in perspective.

Did Rudd tell the whole truth about his meatings with Burke? Probably not.

Does it matter when compared to the lies and sleazy dealings of the Howard Government? Not a bit.

Howard can't pretend to be a moralist - he's the one who's said all along that only the economy
matters and eveything else is of no importance. Now it's come back to bite him on the bum.

[Matilda]

6. Their slipping poll figures seem to have taught the Libs nothing.

Tony Abbott is back on the personal attack bandwagon today, attacking Kevin Rudd for his account of
his family being evicted from their farm when he was 11 - "too self-serving to be true" in the
opinion of the Mad Monk. Some people would think that lying about an event like that, which can so
easily be proved, would be too stupid to even think about, but the Libs seem convinced that if they
can sling enough mud around it will stick only to Rudd. How many drops in how many polls is it going
to take for the message to sink in?


http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200703/s1871425.htm

According to the other half of the Libs' double act, Peter Costello (strange how Howard always gets
these bunnies to do his dirty work) insists that Rudd brought the attacks on himself by questioning
Howard's links to nuclear power backers in Victoria. All but the deliberately blind can see the
difference between nuclear power plants and personal events, but the Libs keep blundering on. It's
almost funny to see them digging their own graves.

[Esra Star]

7. Yeah, I heard that stuff today. It just underlines the desperation.

I want to see a journalist ask Downer if he has found the WMD yet.
I would like them to keep asking it until he implodes. Prick.
Bring on the election.
If the Hicks thing is still unresolved when the election's due
I think the fascists are going to be very uncomfortable.

[Matilda]

8. ALP Pollster Rod Cameron still thinks Rudd has an uphill battle.

Interviewed last night on Lateline, Rod Cameron said the smear campaign was definitely hurting Howard
more than Rudd, but in spite of the current figures, he still thinks Howard could win the election.
He seems to think that in the end, the economy will once again be the big issue, and that's an area
where Howard is proven and Rudd is untested.

I know the current poll figures won't hold, and it could well be neck and neck, but Rod Cameron is
an ALP man, and he'd want to put the most positive gloss on Labor's chances. Barring accidental
shooting of himself in feet, I figured Rudd would possibly just get over the line. I do hope
Rod Cameron's just being cautious.

http://www.abc.net.au/lateline/content/2007/s1872091.htm

[Violet_Crumble]

16. It'd make sense that he'd play down Rudd's chances...

When it gets closer to the election, it's the swing voters who will make the difference, and if there's a feeling that Rudd's going to win, then some of the folk who would have voted for him might think their votes aren't needed and vote for a minor party or donkey it...

[Matilda]

9. And now Santoro has gone from the Ministry ....

The complete hypocrisy of Howard's defence of this man holding shares in a biotechnology company
after he'd been appointed to the Ministry for Ageing just sucked. And then to say he'd sold the
shares and given the profits to a charity, when in reality it had gone to an anti-feminist, anti-
abortion right-wing group was an insult to people's intelligence - as if it couldn't quickly be
unmasked as the lie it was.

It's amazing how all their efforts are just blowing back in their faces.

[biggles1]

10. At the risk of sounding a little too 'New Age',

I have a firm conviction that there is eventually a 'balancing out' in the actions of humans. You do the right thing long enough, you get your reward. You do the wrong thing long enough, you eventually get your arse handed to you on a platter.

Put your hands out Johnny.....after all your lies, cheating and division, you're about to get your 'prize'..!

[Esra Star]

11. Yeah, Do you remember "Honest John Howard"? There has been

alot of water under the bridge since then.
Now, even rabid Liberals know that he's probably got
his fingers crossed behind his back when he talks.
He even invented "core promises". What this means is
that everything he says is bullshit if he chooses at
some time that it wasn't core.
Give me a fucking break.
Welcome to DU by the way. :hi:

Now there are three Bananabenders on DU

[biggles1]

12. Ah yes, "Honest John"..I actually prefer the title bestowed on him by

one of his OWN (AND a Queenslander!)...."the Lying Rodent"!

[Matilda]

13. It was Paul Keating who dubbed Howard "Honest John".

It was sarcastic, of course. Way back when he was Fraser's Treasurer, and didn't deliver on promised
tax cuts. In his usual weasley way, Howard managed to turn it around into a compliment.

Now he's just a "dessicated coconut" - Keating again.

[Esra Star]

14. Do you think Rudd has worked him out. It seems that Kev is

predicting all the Libs moves. He then introduces something
else for them to worry about. I'm enjoying this.
:popcorn:

[PinkUnicorn]

15. No

I don't think he "has them worked out" so to speak, but more Labor has re-discovered its spine and the Liberals have fossilised.

The number of skeletons in Jackboots closet are immense, but Blowhard Beasley always seemed happy to sit there and jiggle his jowls as opposed to putting the boot into Howard and Co. This lack of anything even resembling a backbone by Labor meant the Liberals could get away with the bare minimum of effort.

The other point is that Rudd doesn't seem to be rising to the standard Liberal tactic of bait and switch. This tactic can go either way depending on the target - if they tried to bait-switch Keating for example, he would hand them their heads on a platter. Beasley could be played with this technique like a cheap fiddle.

So I don't think it's so much as them being worked out, as in they have had it easy for so long they have become a one trick pony (Smear and Fear). Now that they are actually have some competition they are frantically trying to re-discover other techniques.