Australia to have a female Prime Minister

[Lord Grendel]

^^Sometimes you crack me up with your observations Lady,,,and you are spot on with that one.

I certainly hope the new PM does well, I always like to give qualified women a chance to see if they can do better than we can running things. Kind of unfair though to be thrust into the limelight just before looming elections, she might end up paying the price for Rudd's failure, that is what happened here. Mulroney resigned under a cloud of suspicion about corruption and numerous other nefarious activities, so Campbell took over the Tories and within 6 months we had a general election, the Conservative party suffered the largest defeat in party history, from a clear majority to 4 seats, an indication of how low of an opinion Mulroney had acquired from Canadians of all walks of life.

Some people try to pigeon-hole me on politics, I have one constant refrain that will not change, a one or maximum two term government is acceptable after that a change is essential to reduce the corruption to manageable levels. Helps keep the vermin in charge under control or at least limits the damage they can inflict on the country.

[Sunny]

Well I am very happy to say that Julia Gillard doesn't appear to be anything like Sarah Palin.

[TheFeldster]

Originally Posted by Lord Grendel Back to Australia, when is the next election Feldy or anyone?

November, I believe. So not far away at all. Gillard, in my mind, has a serious clean-up to do after the mess Rudd left behind.

Just a bit of trivia: even if she loses though, Gillard won't hold the record for shortest time as PM. That will still go to Frank Forde, who in 1945 was Prime Minister for 8 days

And let's move away from Palin now, she's not involved

[Lord Grendel]

Who is representing Australia at the G-20 meetings in Toronto?...I have to say the choice of a large city to host this "Contentious" gathering mystifies me.

Then again our Prime Minister Harper has a mural on his wall of himself with his hand in his vest just like Napoleon Bonaparte...

He is delusional and an embarrassment to many of us.

[Salmacis]

Found this on the interwebz

[TheFeldster]

Originally Posted by Lord Grendel Who is representing Australia at the G-20 meetings in Toronto?...

Deputy Prime Minister Wayne Swan will be there, I believe. Gillard's a bit busy right now

And they couldn't find a spot for Rudd in the cabinet re-shuffle today.

Poor guy must feel terrible.

[Lord Grendel]

^^That is great Feldy, he must have really offended the powers that be in his party to get the full treatment like that.

Never heard of Wayne Swan before, it is all fluff and shite anyway, all these G8 and G20 events are just for show, and a perk for the leaders to get together and hang out for a while. Nothing really important is decided at them anyway. Just like a smaller more exclusive UN with only the wealthy bleeps invited.

I was shocked and dismayed to learn that we are still on the brink of yet another economic downturn...and beyond disgusted that the G8 could not come to an agreement about regulating the financial sector to curtail the avarice and insanity that got us into this predicament.

I wonder if Wayne Swan has a solution for all this.

[annie]

Do those summit meetings ever accomplish anything? I don't think so. Even if they decide on something, nothing is ever carried out.

[Lord Grendel]

It's all just PR, but I am totally embarrassed by the violence in the streets over the last few days. I don't agree with many of the policies that are agreed upon by wealthy nations, that have nothing to do with these gatherings, except to provide the opportunity for protests on a grand scale.

Harper is a demi-god in his own eyes, that is why he picked Toronto instead of Banff or Jasper or some other much better location for these meetings.

Back to Australia, I think they are doing better financially than many of the rest of us, I saw a report on the BBC about it the other day.

That's why I asked Feldy if they might be able to help us figure a way out of this mess we are in.

[TheFeldster]

Lol. The Labor party have had enough troubles working out who's in charge of portfolios, I'd daresay they are only at this G20 rubbish for show like the rest of 'em.

Although Swan's been in the treasury since Howard left the PM office, so he may have something up his sleeve...

[Flower]

Originally Posted by Thumper I'm all for women in power.. They have a rational mind when it comes to thinking things through.. I would have loved to see Hilary Clinton win the election for President here in the states.. I think she would have done a good job..

[Hepcat]

Originally Posted by Lord Grendel First, good on you all for having a Woman Prime Minister, we had one years ago but she only lasted a couple of months, she was utterly defeated after the PM before her created such hatred his party went from a majority in Parliament to 4 seats... The most hated PM in our history.

You shoudn't allow any personal antipathy you might have for Brian Mulroney colour your impressions of events to the point where you retro write history.

Brian Mulroney was not the reason Kim Campbell and her Tories lost the election. The Conservatives blew the election campaign under their new leader. They were riding high in the polls when Kim Campbell called the election. In fact that's precisely why she called the election in the first place!

The whole election came down to one event. The Grits' new leader, Jean Chretien, had incurred Bell's palsy as a child and was left with partial paralysis on one side of his face which caused a lopsided smile and speaking style. The Tories ran an ad with the caption "Is this a Prime Minister?" superimposed over some rather uncomplimentary pictures of Chretien:



The pictures seemed to focus on Chretien's facial deformity. Chretien's response was to deliver the speech he'd prepared for all his life. "God gave me a physical defect, I've accepted that since I was a kid. When I was a kid people were laughing at me. But I accepted that because God gave me other qualities and I'm grateful." The speech evidently moved many audience members to tears.

That was all she wrote. Game, set and match to the Liberals.



Chretien also turned out to be the toughest Prime Minister Canada ever had and one of the toughest world leaders ever. You know the securrity that always surrounds world leaders? Chretien didn't need it. Look what happened when a protestor got in his face:

[Hepcat]

Originally Posted by Thumper I'm all for women in power. They have a rational mind when it comes to thinking things through.

Sexist! Women aren't all that way. Women are every bit as diverse as men. To imply differently is patronizing to women.