miranda devineFrom SMH 29/11/07 BBI: Miranda predictably comes out in favour of Nelson, her traveling companion to Iraq. Not only that, Nelson has actually won the leadership battle with Turnbull. Which only goes to show that the Libs haven`t learnt much from their defeat. 'There is an air of inevitability about Malcolm Turnbull. All his faults, the ruthlessness, the pushiness, the self-serving ambition, the arrogant self-belief, have suddenly become assets in the wreckage of the Coalition's election defeat. Overnight he has been transformed into the brilliant tactician with the drive, the ruthlessness, the relentless self-belief needed to rescue the Liberal Party from the ignominious position in which its greatest foothold of power is the mayoralty of Brisbane." "At least, that's what he and his supporters were telling the media yesterday, as Turnbull waged his campaign to win the leadership from Brendan Nelson with as much determination as he trounced Labor's George Newhouse in his seat of Wentworth at the weekend, defying the nationwide swing against the Coalition." "While the contest is all very civilised, Nelson is being pitched by Turnbull supporters as lacking the killer instinct. He's just a nice, supportive, decent bloke "like Beazley" is their killer line.".... "However Nelson, who commands the respect of the military for his clear intellect, discipline and compassion, and who has long courted the back bench, is not a man to be underestimated. Late last night his numbers were holding strong." BBI: Nelson has the respect of the military she reckons. We couldn`t find Brendan during the election, so we aren`t that sure. She talks about Turnbull`s decision to ratify Kyoto and apologise to the indigenous community as though they are still soft issues then.. "Howard only ever borrowed his so-called battlers. He won them over with a war on political correctness, appealing to their patriotism and detestation of people who got money for nothing. And his successor will need to mount a good case to get them back." "It was part of Howard's strength that he wasn't browbeaten into apologising for something he didn't believe in. But that strength came to be seen as stubbornness. Howard became so trapped in the semantics of an apology that he lost the moral high ground he should have occupied for his genuine commitment to removing Aboriginal disadvantage." BBI: Back on Turnbull.. "In his ambition he most closely resembles Howard, who "would have walked through a concrete wall to become prime minister. The drive to win is what gives an opposition life - you need the bloke at the front charging ahead, not the bloke cuddling you," says the friend." "If the Liberals hand over the soul of their party to Turnbull today, they are in for a wild ride, because he will do anything to win. But if he goes too far in repudiating Howard's legacy, he won't win an election, in which case their crazy, brave gamble will be seen as a mistake and he will be replaced. How lucky do they feel?" BBI: Nelson has won. The loonies are still in charge. All is right with "the right". Nelson won`t see out 18 months is our prediction. ..................................................................................................................................................................................................................... From SMH 22/11/07 "With two more sleeps until election day, as frontrunner Kevin Rudd might say, there are signs of premature hubris bubbling up in Howard-haters such as the playwright David Williamson and those dear deluded readers who have been emailing me versions of "you'll be out of a job soon, ha ha". Que?" "Williamson cannot help but imagine the "joy" he will feel on election night, "picturing the tears and foot-stamping of the well-paid hosts of Howard acolytes littering our press", he writes this week in the online newsletter Crikey." "He laments that anti-Howard-haters have divided the country and caused unpleasantness, while slagging off at John Howard for, among other things, having "horrible knees", which is as good an example as any of the malice of the chattering classes." BBI: So David Williamson is now a member of the "chattering classes"? Miranda, methinks, is becoming hysterical. She mentions malice, and later in the article, bile, as the style of people who don`t agree with her. And yet it is patently obvious who writes with malice and bile. We know you`ll have a job still, but we will be pleased you don`t have your preferred government. .................................................................................................................................................................................................................. From SMH 15/11/07 BBI: Last week Miranda was on about Taxis in Sydney. We were happy to leave her alone on that. We felt that it was a topic she may know something about. But here she is defending attacks on Caroline Overington, Janet Albrechtsen and herself. What do these three eminent journalists have in common? Let us see. Catty? Often ill-informed? Prejudiced? Miranda doesn`t see any of these things and chooses to think that Monica Attard is picking on them because they are female. "Perhaps four consecutive election victories by John Howard have killed the left's sense of humour. Or do Tim Palmer and Monica Attard have a problem with women?" "The former executive producer and presenter of ABC TV's Media Watch, signed off the air this week, squandered the program's opportunities to do good through their spurious vendettas against female columnists whose politics they don't like - Caroline Overington, Janet Albrechtsen and me, just for instance." BBI: She spends a while explaining and defending Overington and then gets into her underlying point. It`s all about Miranda. Referring to her interview with Petraeus inIraq.. "But Media Watch missed the news value of our stories and focused instead on ad hominem attacks. I was derided as "an instant expert" whose "elevation to visiting war correspondent has been met with scoffing derision within Fairfax". Really? Prove it, Tim and Monica." BBI: Well we certainly scoffed. "While Media Watch targets women it perceives as not of the correct political persuasion, it won't be winning any Ernies awards for sexism, because the awards organisers are on Attard's and Palmer's side." "The Ernies gang prefer to gong the Workplace Relations Minister, Joe Hockey, as an Ernies finalist on Monday night by taking literally a joke he made about his wife's pregnancy: "Well, it's exhausting for me, her being pregnant. I don't know why, during the birth process, they only focus on the women."" "It's obviously a gag but Hockey doesn't see the humour in it anymore, describing the Ernies organisers as a "deceitful, left-wing, bloody feminist group"." "It's yet another example of the mirthlessness and vindictiveness of the louche left." BBI: Stick to stories about Taxis, Miranda. Our guess is that Overington and Albrechtsen think you are a lightweight anyway, but they are sure to suck up after this piece. Will that be sincere? ............................................................................................................................................................................................................... From SMH 1/11/07 "It was hilarious seeing Kevin Rudd give a press conference on renewable energy at a Townsville school on Tuesday, when the wind and solar batteries failed and plunged the room into darkness. The media questioning continued, but under the thin light of the battery-operated TV cameras." "Rudd had the wit to laugh about the mishap but it is an omen of things to come if climate-change hysteria continues and the desire to drastically slash carbon emissions overrides reality." BBI: Fresh from being an Iraq war specialist, Miranda turns her hand to Climate change and immediately becomes an expert on Kyoto. Its dead in the water, she reckons. Funny, she`s running the same line as the PM. Do you think they could be in cahoots? "Kyoto has backfired on well-meaning countries who signed up, such as New Zealand and Canada, which will have to spend a fortune buying foreign carbon credits to get anywhere near their targets." "The world is moving on from Kyoto, but Garrett appeared oblivious to that this week...." BBI: She bags Garrett, bags Rudd then for a bit of comic relief, she bags Turnbull. But she`s had a go at Malcolm before. We think she fancies Brendan (as the next Liberal leader). "Kyoto is finished, and an article "Time to Ditch Kyoto" by Gwyn Prins from the London School of Economics and Steve Rayner from Oxford University, published this week in the journal Nature, explains why: "As an instrument for achieving emissions reductions [Kyoto] has failed. It has produced no demonstrable reduction in emissions or even in anticipated emissions growth. And it pays no more than token attention to the needs of societies to adapt to existing climate change." "Kyoto's supporters often blame non-signatory governments, especially the United States and Australia, for its woes. But the Kyoto Protocol was always the wrong tool for the nature of the job." BBI: Miranda does her research. She must spend hours on the net finding articles that support her own beliefs. And she has found another one when she quotes a Danish statistician Bjorn Lomborg. "Lomborg is not a sceptic about human contribution to climate change. But he does not believe the apocalypse is nigh and he is scathing about "hysteria and headlong spending on extravagant CO2-cutting programs", which he says could cause more problems than they solve. He points out, "the benefits from moderately using fossil fuels vastly outweigh the costs". We have doubled the average life expectancy and slashed infant mortality and reduced poverty more in the past 50 years than in the preceding 500." BBI: We have doubled the average life expectancy, but we have severely damaged the planet, probably beyond repair. And just how do you define moderate use of fossil fuels, Miranda? ...................................................................................................................................................................................................................... From SMH 18/10/07 "It is a conservative criticism of John Howard that, while he has been in power for 11 years, he has not managed to win the culture wars." BBI: In the interests of fairness, Miranda is criticising John Howard. But not really. She`s hell bent on having a go at left-wing school teachers and the entrnched bias of the ABC. Yet Howard has stacked the ABC board with his right-wing acolytes. Note, he can`t get any of his buddies into the school systems, nobody will take that big a cut in pay. "Education unions and left-wing education academics cling to proven failures in education theory, despite years of evidence demonstrating the errors of their thinking. They reject, for instance, the research-based evidence showing that "whole language" dominated reading programs do not work for a large proportion of children." BBI: Everyone we know at the coal-face of education knows that different students learn in different ways. As you Miranda, learnt your politics by rote from your father, others have made critical judgements by looking at many different sources. Actually, it is a boring right-wing article with no discernable point other than to brand the education system as left. ....................................................................................................................................................................................................................... From SMH 11/10/07 BBI: We thought we missed Miranda for a while, but she is back with a vengeance. She is trying to wedge the Labor Party over Robert McClelland`s statement re the death penalty. "Kevin Rudd's repudiation of the campaign by his foreign affairs spokesman to rid South-East Asia of capital punishment rings about as hollow as the campaign itself. The Opposition Leader has "counselled" Robert McClelland over his speech to a human rights group on Monday night, but McClelland was just expressing Labor Party policy, and that policy still stands.".. "But when it comes to human rights, whose rights take precedence? Those of the 202 victims or those of the bombers?" BBI: Without actually saying it, Miranda and others of the right are trying to compare Australian deaths with those of terrorists. Then she tosses the abortion issue into the mix. Why aren`t the do-gooders taking up that issue, she wedges? "The politics of feelgood principle is something the Lex Lasrys and Julian Burnsides of the world are entitled to indulge in but that good governments are obliged to be wary of." "Since Australia does not have the death penalty it is logical and correct to push for clemency for Australian citizens who are on death row in countries such as Indonesia, as is the case for the convicted heroin smugglers, the "Bali nine"." "But for Australia to run around South-East Asia meddling in the internal legal affairs of other democratic states would be to squander what little political capital and hard-earned influence we have in the region. We do not have the military might to police the world according to our morality. And when America tries, it gets kicked in the shins, by the people in McClelland's Bondi audience especially." BBI: We have influence in the region? Miranda has tied McClelland`s statement to Bali, abortion, and then defends American actions. There were a number of letters to SMH on this date suggesting that for the Tories to bag the ALP about their questioning of the death penalty was more than bad form. Rudd has been saying that the Bali bombers should serve the term of their natural life and "be carried out in a pine box" That is consistent with their policy. For John Howard to be supposedly asking for clemency for the Bali 9, yet not fot the Bali Bombers, is hypocritical. .................................................................................................................................................................................................................... From SMH 20/09/07 BBI: Miranda gives us the inside info on the Libs leadership struggle. We wonder if her source is her buddy Brendan? "IF you look at the last week of confusing developments in the federal Liberal Party through the prism of Malcolm Turnbull's ambition it all becomes clear. The multimillionaire barrister and merchant banker did not go into politics to be shadow minister for water or to show kids in Vaucluse how to change a light bulb." BBI: So it was all Turnbull says Miranda. She was told by "a liberal insider who was not part of the plotting". Maybe Brendan? The clot can`t plot? "Some insiders view the episode as having fatally damaged Turnbull and regard him as having been "used" by the Liberal moderate or left faction, whose members want nothing more than for Howard to leave but were happy to have Turnbull do the dirty work." BBI: Is that a case of mixed metaphors? A string section and pass the parcel? Then she reveals the horrible truth. "Surprisingly to some, Downer apparently still has leadership ambitions, despite his disastrous first try. Supporters say that, as he once stood aside from the leadership for Howard, he has more right to take over than Costello." BBI: You`ve got to be kidding, Miranda. Downer has about as much credibility as George Bush. The only one to take him seriously is himself. Fishnet stockings and "the things that batter" and all. Though as has been pointed out, not having the ability has never diminished Alexander`s ambition. Then back to Turnbull.. "He has had the effect here of a shark in a tank of fish," said one fellow Liberal MP. "I don't think he's used to an environment where he is not top of the class, and boss of everyone else." ............................................................................................................................................................................................................. SMH 13/09/07 BBI: Miranda continues to give us much needed information on Iraq. She has recently been there, possibly as Brendan Nelson`s guest. We hope that Gerard doesn`t see this as another tax-payer rort a la Chasers? Miranda writes..
BBI: Its clear to Miranda that the surge is working, `cos Petraeus told her so. She hasn`t considered that Petraeus, who is in charge, owes his position to George Bush and accordingly may just be a little bit biased. Any problems in Iraq are due to the fact that their government is not up to scratch. "It has been clear for some time Maliki has been faltering, with John Howard sending another stern letter to him two weeks ago reinforcing the importance of legislation on sharing hydrocarbon resources and de-Baathification." BBI: That`ll fix it, a stern letter from JWH. She quotes Kilcullen..
Then goes on..
"Petraeus is not responsible for the policies that led to the current mess in Iraq but he represents the best hope of getting out of it honourably." BBI: She fails to mention that Petraeus claims that some time next year about 30,000 troops could go home. That leaves them in the same position they were in at the beginning of the year. Hardly an improvement. But at least Miranda is on the job. ................................................................................................................................................................................................................. BBI:Miranda has done herself proud in SMH 6/9/07. Instead of her usual name calling rants about local topics, she has become an expert on the Iraq situation. She writes.. "Ditto for the Opposition Leader, Kevin Rudd, riding high in the opinion polls while capitalising on the unpopularity of the Iraq war." BBI:She follows the government line and then goes on to quote our esteemed Defence Minister, Brendan Nelson.. "In Taji last week Nelson said: "Part of our motivation [in remaining in Iraq] is to encourage the Americans … In hindsight there are a few things we'd have done differently [in Iraq], but we have a moral responsibility to these people … "We probably will pay the price as a government for these decisions. But we have to make sure this country does not become a haven for al-Qaeda …" BBI: Excuse me for a moment, but isn`t it generally accepted that al Qaeda was not in Iraq until this war gave them that opportunity? Miranda goes on... BBI: Its good to know that Australia is having some real input, Miranda. "Petraeus talked of a former Sunni lieutenant colonel who was "disowned, disrespected and disgusted" when he was sacked in 2003, and at least "turned a blind eye" to insurgent activities." "Now he has been co-opted to Petraeus's cause in a Baghdad neighbourhood which has been transformed from an al-Qaeda stronghold." "This is the surge strategy Rudd is still boasting he has "argued consistently against"." BBI: John McCain, US Senator and oft times presidential aspirant, last year declared Baghdad safe. He was apparently wearing a flak jacket and covered overhead by gunships. Did you get in the field, Miranda? Or were you and Brendan kept in safe zones? top |