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| No strings attached! | |
Whoever said that a day was a long time in politics surely wasn't referring to
the boredom. In an excruciatingly slow day in politics, Kim (Fatboy) Beasley was
(ho-hum) re-elected to head chook of the ALP. Something as dull and monotonous
as the reinstatement of a two-time loser would hardly be worth mentioning if it
weren't for the antics of non-contender Julia Gizzard. Julia was the favorite of the Left faction of the ALP. Those of us who thought that
the the ALP's Left faction had disbanded and slunk away in embarrassment
thought too soon. Political hope springs eternal, and much like the tiny
faction in the Liberal
party which actually believes in personal freedom and small government, they hold onto
their union tickets like it
was confederate money. There are still some ALP supporters who believe that the ALP's four election
losses in a row was the result of the ALP not being sufficiently left
wing, and that people hand turned away from the ALP because it had
lost site of the critical social issues (like socialism). Apparently
these people believe that Liberal voters would suddenly back the ALP en
mass 'if only they promoted social justice a bit more'. Reality
check #1: Those days are gone. But Julia was the great red-haired hope of the Left. And pulled out of the
pissing competition because 'the vote was going to split along factional
lines' and she therefore 'didn't have the numbers'. Perhaps. But another theory is that the whole fuss was actually a plot by Julia
to oust her ineffectual colleague - deputy leader Jenny Macklin. Julia knew she
would never get the numbers, but she would lobby, and then agree not to
challenge in exchange for the deputy leadership. No kitchen is big enough for
two women, and apparently neither is the ALP front-bench. That little plot failed when someone leaked it to the press, so then it was
all over bar the whining. Suddenly the feminist press commentators were
claiming it was the ALP's fault because they were inherently sexist. Reality
check #2: if the misogynist old farts in the ALP thought that a woman was more
likely to win them power than
a man, they would appoint her in a second. But the still-kicking carcass of feminism will always make
this claim. And the Left faction will climb on board because it saves them
having to look at what they actually represent, and seeing what the electorate
actually thinks of them. Reality check #3: the Cold War is over. You lost.
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