Comments on: A "me too" too far

By: He said it right « Not a Hedgehog

He said it right « Not a Hedgehog — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 12:21:20 +0000

[...] Politics abroad | Tags: Bali bombings, capital punishment, Jose Ramos Horta | Remember this debacle in the lead-up to last year’s election? Robert McClelland was a bit too frank and unwavering [...]

By: Piers Akerman’s Character Assessment Service Pty Ltd « Not a Hedgehog

Piers Akerman’s Character Assessment Service Pty Ltd « Not a Hedgehog — Sat, 13 Oct 2007 22:31:10 +0000

[...] [SNIP section about the Robert McClelland affair] [...]

By: Death penalty "gaffe" fallout « Not a Hedgehog

Death penalty "gaffe" fallout « Not a Hedgehog — Tue, 09 Oct 2007 20:07:24 +0000

[...] Wednesday, 10 October, 2007 Death penalty "gaffe" fallout Posted by Ptobias under Kevin Rudd , Labor , Robert McClelland , capital punishment , human rights A few more pieces to follow on from yesterday’s death penalty debacle. [...]

By: Ptobias

Ptobias — Tue, 09 Oct 2007 09:37:43 +0000

Guido, I understand your cynicism perfectly, and I share it to a large extent. McClelland may have been better not espousing moral principles in a public forum until after the election.

I think that a large part of my frustration is that I can see that what is politically right runs counter to what is morally right. But I still think that on this one, Rudd shouldn’t have turned on his own man – he has really bought into the shocking distortion of McClelland’s speech (by the GG’s headline, and now by Costello et al.) as a statement of support for the Bali bombers, instead of repudiating that type of cheap criticism. He has reinforced the belief that this is what McClelland said, as well as reinforcing the worst characterisations of Rudd and Labor as wishy-washy, poll-driven softies.

By: Vice-Captain Smirk steps up « Not a Hedgehog

Vice-Captain Smirk steps up « Not a Hedgehog — Tue, 09 Oct 2007 09:22:31 +0000

[...] Peter Costello , Robert McClelland , capital punishment , human rights Trust Tip to distort McClelland’s speech beyond recognition: Mr Costello says sympathy should be going to the families of those who died in [...]

By: Guido

Guido — Tue, 09 Oct 2007 07:22:17 +0000

Robert McClelland was absolutely right. But he should have been more politically savvy.

The conservative media will take ANYTHING to bash Labor and help a wedge to develop.

Any sophisticated arguments about death penalty etc. will go on the top of most people heads.

The message is ‘Tree hugging Labor wants to save the lives of terrorist who killed innocent Australians’.

And because there already a suspicion about Labor being ’soft on terrorism’ this is political poison.

This is typical Tampa territory. Any sophisticated argument is a waste of time because people will only get ‘The ALP wants to save the terrorists’ the same way it was ‘the ALP wants to let everyone in’ in 2001.

And of course there are people on the left like yourself that are angry about the me-tooism. This happened with the Tampa.

So the battlers are angry with the ALP and go with the Libs. While the left goes to the Greens decreasing the primary vote.

Let’s hope that any electoral damage is not fatal. We got to get Howard out.

I am sorry if I am cynical. But the damage he has done to Australia is much greater than any ‘me-tooism’ of Labor.