Costello in the Herald / Ute Backfires
Costello's take on what it means to serve as a politician.
I thought it was well written, if a little self-serving and revisionist. I have to say, he seems to be finally bowing out gracefully - though he has spent the last two years being exceedingly graceless.
On the other hand - Malcolm Turnbull has single-handedly what should have been a good week for the Opposition, into an disaster. After a week of getting the Costello monkey off his back, and a rise in the opinion polls - he got a bit carried away. Its not like this was a brain-snap either - as its become apparent he was spreading rumours about the false email to any news outlet who would listen. Shame also on News Limited for shonky reporting - cooking up a 'replica' of the email to splash across their front page. News Ltd seem to have no journalistic ethics at all - I mean, one comes to expect shoddy work from the Telegraph, but the Australian has also become a disgrace.
Swan needs to be careful how he deals with this - because I suspect he did give a little better treatment to John Grant. However, it wasn't to the level of corruptness - I think its fair to assume if you know someone, you give them a little more time than a complete stranger. Its only human nature.
I fear, though, that there will still be some reputational damage for Labor. When all is said and done, what will stick in the mind of average Joe? "Oh - wasn't the PM caught helping out that bloke who gave him a ute ....?"
I thought it was well written, if a little self-serving and revisionist. I have to say, he seems to be finally bowing out gracefully - though he has spent the last two years being exceedingly graceless.
On the other hand - Malcolm Turnbull has single-handedly what should have been a good week for the Opposition, into an disaster. After a week of getting the Costello monkey off his back, and a rise in the opinion polls - he got a bit carried away. Its not like this was a brain-snap either - as its become apparent he was spreading rumours about the false email to any news outlet who would listen. Shame also on News Limited for shonky reporting - cooking up a 'replica' of the email to splash across their front page. News Ltd seem to have no journalistic ethics at all - I mean, one comes to expect shoddy work from the Telegraph, but the Australian has also become a disgrace.
Swan needs to be careful how he deals with this - because I suspect he did give a little better treatment to John Grant. However, it wasn't to the level of corruptness - I think its fair to assume if you know someone, you give them a little more time than a complete stranger. Its only human nature.
I fear, though, that there will still be some reputational damage for Labor. When all is said and done, what will stick in the mind of average Joe? "Oh - wasn't the PM caught helping out that bloke who gave him a ute ....?"
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