Guest essay by Eric Worrall
Former Aussie Prime Minister Kevin Rudd has blamed “Climate Denier” Rupert Murdoch for the Rise of President Trump, the toppling of Aussie green conservative Malcolm Turnbull, Brexit and anything else he can think of.
Cancer eating the heart of Australian democracy
By Kevin Rudd
27 August 2018 — 12:15amBeneath the sound and light show that passed for Australian politics last week, there is a much deeper question of what underlying forces have been at work that have brought us this low. The uncomfortable truth is, since the coup of June 2010, Australian politics has become vicious, toxic and unstable. The core question is why?
There have been many factors at work. First, the histrionic politics of climate change dividing the nation for more than a decade – we have lacked the national political maturity to just get on with it, despite Australia being the driest continent on earth.
…
But on top of all the above, while manipulating each of them, has been Rupert Murdoch – the greatest cancer on the Australian democracy.
Murdoch is not just a news organisation. Murdoch operates as a political party, acting in pursuit of clearly defined commercial interests, in addition to his far-right ideological world view.
In Britain, Murdoch made Brexit possible because of the position taken by his papers. In the United States, Murdoch’s Fox News is the political echo chamber of the far right, which enabled the Tea Party and then the Trump party to stage a hostile takeover of the Republican Party. In Australia, as in America, Murdoch has campaigned for decades in support of tax cuts for the wealthy, killing action on climate change and destroying anything approximating multiculturalism.
…
So how did Malcolm Turnbull alienate Murdoch ? What we know is Murdoch visited Australia in the past few weeks. He called his editors in. And then each of the papers turned feral. Murdoch is a climate change denialist. Presumably Murdoch believed Howard and Abbott that Turnbull, on the legislative recognition of carbon reduction targets, was going too far. Murdoch wanted a Capital C Conservative. He may not have got Dutton. But Morrison is almost as good. Look at the Murdoch coverage of Morrison’s elevation the day after the ballot. Orgasm all round. Nothing on the orgy of political violence preceding it. Nothing to see here.
…
I think Kevin Rudd is being a bit harsh in his criticism of Rupert Murdoch and climate skeptics. After all, WUWT wholeheartedly supported Kevin Rudd’s bid for the job of United Nations Secretary General.
Rudd would destroy the UN from within: Bernardi
…
Former speaker Bronwyn Bishop told Sky there was only one reason to nominate him.
“If you have got a problem with the United Nations and you really want to see its powers lessened, send Kevin,” Mrs Bishop said.
…
Read more: http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-07-28/kevin-rudd-cabinet-to-decide-on-un-top-job/7667250
While some of us were worried that Rudd might start WW3 if he tried his hand at international diplomacy, I think many of us were disappointed when Rudd failed to win the top job at the United Nations.
Discover more from Watts Up With That?
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
“to stage a hostile takeover of the Republican Party”…….says it all
He was perfectly happy when the “republican party” was leaning so far left you needed dramamine just to watch them
For the last several years, ‘Republicans’ have basically been bean-counters who, at best, were enabling progressives by trying to find some way to pay for their policies.
I think they have been just as bought and paid for….by the same socialists/globalists as the dems
Perhaps – I tend to think of them as hen-pecked husbands trying to keep peace in the household.
Last several years? When I was a kid they used to call Republicans “The tax collectors for the welfare state”.
Okay, fair enough – switch that to many, many years.
Unfair. I was a kid many years ago. NOT many many.
Heh. Okay – ‘for some time, now…’
The right has been afraid to confront the left on politically charged issues because when they apply truth and logic to counter a flawed position that the left considers ‘compassionate’, they’re falsely called racists, haters, intolerant and a host of other demeaning terms that a biased press will spin out of control. In politics, truth and justice doesn’t matter and all that does is staying in power. This makes their most important decisions for action based on how public opinion is shaped by a biased press, truth be damned.
“…they’re falsely called racists, haters, intolerant..” For a long time now that’s been a winning strategy for Dems. Now that the MSM is under fire and #walkway is gaining ground, it’s losing some potency.
Absolutely spot on.
I think a lot of them realized that if they opposed Obama or HRC, in any way, they would be immediately branded as racists or sexists.
Trump, on the other hand, doesn’t care what anyone thinks about him, including the MSM ( who hate him).
Not a big fan of Trump as a person, but he has quickly become one of the most forceful, effective Presidents in US history.
“Not a big fan of Trump as a person”
Here is Ann Coulter’s take on President Trump as a person and a president (which I thinks sums it up pretty well):
“Trump may be shallow, narcissistic, disloyal and the crudest kind of braggart, but he is like chemotherapy for the country: it’s unpleasant to go through, you vomit, your hair falls out–but it kills cancer cells and you live.”
A Union journalist once expressed reservations about General Grant to President Lincoln, pointing out his uncouth manners, general disregard for military protocol, alleged drinking problem, and his record of suffering excessive casualties.
Lincoln’s curt reply: “I can’t spare this man. He fights.”
Wow Murdoch and Trump have some major super powers. They are more powerful than Merlin from ancient lore.
Apparently, Murdoch is the CO2 molecule of politics. There is nothing he can’t do!
LOL!!! Good one!
Murdoch’s super power is having you disbelieve he controls your life.
That must TRULY be a great power, since he apparently controls my life without me ever watching his news network.
~¿~
Plus 1
KRudd was overthrown by his party for a reason, only to get the even worse “no carbon tax” GIllard (who promptly brought in a carbon tax of some sort).
The Aussie parties have are building a reputation for regicide.
Rudd also blew through the entire treasury surplus that John Howard had built up over a number of years — leaving nothing to show for it, much like Obama’s shovel ready infrastructure spending nonsense.
The only thing being shoveled in that case, was the money into graftees’ pockets.
I think there is a case for term limits for politicians. Too long living in a surreal world seems to rot their brains.
Not just term limits, but a lifetime limit for time spent in elected or appointed office.
10 years Max. Most of them wouldn’t be able to get a job in the real world.
Most of them have never had a job in the real world.
Term limits just mean incumbents groom their successors sooner.
Vote on the platform, not the politician.
One of the obsessions in Canada has been media concentration. It has been seen as a major problem for democracy if different opinions weren’t represented in the media.
Murdoch, rather than being a problem for democracy, represents exactly what people have been demanding for a long time. He’s an actual different opinion. He represents a large segment of the population which has been thus far ignored by the MSM. He has an audience, otherwise he would go broke.
When they were asking for “different opinions” did they mean opinions with which they might disagree or different ways of expressing opinions with which they agreed?
Exactly several different owners does not insure “different opinions” which could be healthy for democracy.
What brought about the Tea Party and Trump’s election was not Fox News but a grass-roots movement that was sick of the two party , no choice ping-pong game.
“…but a grass-roots movement that was sick of the two party , no choice ping-pong game.”
I don’t think we’re sick of the two party system. I think we’re sick of the current two parties. Abandoning a party for a 3rd party fractures the vote, and assures a win for the un-fractured party. It’s we the people, it our party, why should we leave? Remove the offenders. They’ve forgotten who the work for.
There’s a new party now: The Trump Populist/Conservative Party.
Eventually the Old Guard Republicans will get on board. The People are already onboard. The Leftwing MSM smears Trump mercilessly every day, yet Trump’s support is stronger than ever.
To the left, different opinions means the same opinion but put forth by people who don’t look like me.
Exactly; the left can’t abide a thought that is not like their own. Everyone is wrong except they, and there is no other thought that is worthy.
Rudd clearly does not understand how US presidents are nominated & elected, nor how US political parties mesh into that process.
But he’s not alone. At least 80% of the US electorate and members of Congress also do not understand.
No Rudd comment when Turnbull back-stabbed Abbott…
When we win, it’s Democracy in action. When you win, it’s a threat to Democracy.
“When you [conservatives] win, it’s a threat to Democracy.”
Yes, that’s exactly the way the radical Left looks at things. They think electing conservatives is a disaster that will destroy the country. What it really is, is a disaster for the advancement of socialism. Socialists conflate the two.
There’s no middle ground with Socialists/Authoritarians. It’s their way or the highway. And if it’s not their way, it’s a disaster for the whole world, which they will try to change by hook or by crook because *they* are the righteous ones.
“When you [conservatives] win, it’s a threat to Democracy.”
Brilliant. Highlights the broad diversity of opinion in society.
Wow. Just like the youtube of every time in the Harry Potter movies that someone said his name. I was laughing before we were halfway through, even though it isn’t really funny.
~¿~
yeah I was waiting too…and not a peep outta mr fishnet tights Downer either
most unusual for him not to be wafting round pontificating
So Murdoch is not a green, and has been successful in media. And Murdoch, given his prosperity, does not act as a press secretary for politicians. If Rudd really thinks Murdoch is a tool of his opposition party, if it is anything like the US, he should consider that a good many Republicans are quite unhappy with Fox and other Murdoch outlets.
It is just that the Democrats are even more unhappy with Fox that he gets the reputation as a fire-breathing right winger.
Maybe Rudd would prefer Jeff Zucker and CNN. They’re Green and look how well they are doing and how many people watch CNN. Oh wait, never mind…
https://www.breitbart.com/big-journalism/2018/08/28/cnn-ratings-nosedive-double-digits-in-august/
There are libertarians and various conservatives who find some of the talking heads on Fox quite annoying. Juan Williams, anyone?
I used to listen to Juan Williams on NPR; his opinions are consistent and haven’t changed over the years. After he was fired by NPR for expressing an honest but non-PC opinion and became persona non grata for the MSM and then was rescued and hired by Fox, you might think he would at least reconsider his position on things but sadly that never happened.
At least Fox News has him on to express an opposing viewpoint. CNN and MSNBC never let anyone outside their propaganda\echo chamber to voice any other view. Maybe this is why their ratings are dramatically falling and they are going bankrupt.
Add Shepp (or sheep?) Smith & Geraldo Rivera to the list.
Thanks, ….. APaul, …… just “shows ta go ya”, …… great minds think alike.
Fox hired him on as a Token Liberal.
Which actually puts Fox News a bit ahead of the curve. When was the last time you saw a Token Conservative on CNN or MSNBC?
“he should consider that a good many Republicans are quite unhappy with Fox”
I’m a conservative and I watch Fox a lot. There are a few things I don’t praticularly care for like several of the liberal reporters they employ who sound just like CNN when they are on the air. If I want leftwing propaganda I will tune into CNN.
I think Fox gives way too much credence to news reports by the Leftwing media and then we have to hear endless discussions about whether Trump did or did not say the Russians meddled in the 2016 election.
I understand they have to cover the news of the day, but at least approach it with a little skepticism when you get some sensational report from the Left like the lie Lanny Davis told about Trump knowing about a meeting between Don Jr. and Russians.
Davis has since recanted his claim, although CNN has not removed this story. Lanny Davis has been representing Hillary very well since he latched on to Trump’s former lawyer, but he did get caught out on this particular attempt to smear Trump.
Fox can be irritating for those kinds of reasons but even with their flaws, they are so much better than the Leftwing MSM.
I remember when there were only three tv channels available and all of them were leftwing. It wasn’t until 1996 that Fox came on the scene and offered an alternative view, much to my delight. It allowed me to stop grinding my teeth together because I no longer had to listen to the leftwing news media’s lies and propaganda.
And one more thing: I love you Sean Hannity, but you constantly interrupt your guests just when they are saying something interesting! Shut up and allow them to speak, please! I’ve gotten to the point where I have started saying “Shutup, Sean” to the tv screen. 🙂
Progressives, with their top-down, total compliance, totalitarian solutions to literally everything, complaining about ‘destroying democracy’.
You can’t make this stuff up.
Murdoch is not the singular focus of evil in the world – except in the fevered imagination of KRudd
Murdoch is not the singular focus of evil in the world –
Of course not, that would be Soros. Oh Wait, Rudd probably likes Soros.
“Of course not, that would be Soros.”
A very good liberal friend of mine was talking about the Koch brothers and how evil they were for supporting conservative candidates and how liberal candidates don’t have any one like that willing to support them. So I mentioned George Soros and got a blank look which proved to me that many liberals live in a bubble created by the MSM and are happy in that bubble and don’t see a need to look outside the bubble for news.
I have seen that look.
I did the same thing but instead of a blank look I was told right Koch brothers have more money than Soros so Soros was fighting a losing battle. They had no answer when I brought up Zuckerburg, Gates and few other left billionaires.
Darrin: I give your friend credit for having heard of Soros and for acknowledging his existence; that is a great breakthrough.
‘ instead of a blank look I was told right Koch brothers have more money than Soros so Soros was fighting a losing battle.’
Even better.
Or bring up Tom Steyer, and get the same reaction.
The left has convinced themselves that they are completely virtuous. So naturally anyone who opposes them must be evil.
Therefore any money going to those that oppose the Left is automatically tainted and unlimited, and any money going to support the Left is automatically incorruptible and scarce. Even when both are coming from the exact same source. (see: any time a reference is made to “Big Oil”)
So, if government bureaucrats stand to take 3 trillion a year from some people to give it to other people, and those same governments and bureaucrats fund the self-called “scientists” who promote the global warming agenda that supports their own fund-raising, who prophets from continued global warming predictions? The people who are taxed and penalized? Or the people who promote catastrology?
Same as usual. “Their” billionaires are only acting altruistically when trying to influence national and, lately, global politics. But apparently the billionaires on the other side of the house are only malevolent.
These days I actually have more respect for Murdoch than for the others because he doesn’t appear to want to pull up the ladder on the capitalism that made him so wealthy. Contrarily, the global-warming billionaires all seem to think that the system now shouldn’t be allowed to work for the proles like us because of muh planet. We allegedly might change the weather if we are not properly controlled and kept in our place like Medieval serfs.
Wow, the deep state is entrenched in Australia too. There, as elsewhere, they project their own evil intentions on those trying to fight them.
From exposure to TDS, the projection of the Left is mutating before our eyes into projectile vomiting.
What a silly outburst of ignorance. Rudd is just so clueless. Murdoch and Trump aren’t friends at all, if only because Trump scuttled TPP, which Murdoch wanted. Suffice to peruse WSJ front pages and editorials.
The real reason for populations around the world, in EU, Britain, US, Australia, to lean right is the disappointment with both the Left’s and the Centrists’ mismanagement of economies, cultures, and security, within and without their countries’ borders.
“Climate Change” is a blindfold, of no relevance to anything, a propaganda device the sole purpose of which has always been to destroy oil companies. Yet, even here it is a failure, as the said companies have only made more money on the swindle by deflecting it towards coal and presenting themselves as saviours of humanity!
Kevin Rudd was part of the problem with his daft green energy policies while Labor was in power. Australian action on CO2 reduction is a tiny fraction of the world’s emissions by people and it’s been hugely expensive and achieved nothing. Australian coal fires up the new power stations China is building weekly (about 150 p.a) which negates everything Australia has done which has only damaged the economy of Australia and people’s jobs while the Chinese create more jobs and grow their economy using Aussie coal and iron and aluminium (cannot be cheaply smelted in Australia as electricity is too expensive – . http://theconversation.com/australian-aluminium-outgunned-by-cheap-coal-free-global-rivals-23135)
Wait I thought it was Donald Trump at the root of all evil. Now It’s Rupert Murdock? The problem with liars is that they have such a hard time keeping their stories straight. “It’s the end of days because of Man Made Global Warm…aahhh we mean Climate Change.” “You can’t conflate climate and weath…Aahhh all the nasty bits of our weather are evidence of Global Warm….damnit Climate Change.” “Donald Tr…Rupert Murdock is to blame for Climate Wa…all bad things.” Whatever!
When police interview persons of interest, they actually look for statements that are too consistent. It’s normal for an honest person to remember a detail now and forget it later, or vice versa, while still telling the essential truth. When that doesn’t happen, it raises suspicion that the statement is rehearsed. Ironically, the liar’s effort to keep his story straight may well end up exposing him.
… since the coup of June 2010, Australian politics has become vicious, toxic and unstable.
Before which, it was kind, healthful and predictable….
: >)
Rudd was knifed when the polls were so bad that it looked like the ALP would lose the 2010 election. He had also promised great things in the way of global warming action, – “the greatest moral challenge of our time”. This meant a CO2 tax. The Greens did not like it – it did not go far enough. The Coalition did not like it – it was recognized that the tax would harm our economy. Also, it argued that Australia should not adopt any firm policy before the Copenhagen conference. As both parties were against it Rudd dropped his proposal.
See: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liberal_Party_of_Australia_leadership_spill,_2009 for a history of the Abbott/Turnbull dispute.
In short, Turnbull lost the leadership to Abbott at the end of 2009. Rudd was knifed by Julia Gillard in June 2010. The following election was drawn, but Gillard remained PM supported by independents. She had stated “There will be no carbon tax under any government I lead.” Then to secure the support of the Greens, she installed a carbon tax. This was opposed by the Coalition. By 2013, her government was in such bad state that Rudd knifed her in June 2013. He went on to lose the September election, but not as badly as had been expected had Gillard remained as PM. See:
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/australiaandthepacific/australia/10143403/Kevin-Rudd-v-Julia-Gillard-timeline-of-three-year-battle.html for a history of the Rudd/Gillard dispute.
Abbott became PM, but Turnbull knifed him in September 2015. See: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liberal_Party_of_Australia_leadership_spill,_September_2015
Turnbull failed to give Abbott a seat on his front bench, although he had praised Abbott in his appointment speech.
Now Turnbull has been deposed as PM through his obstinacy in adhering to the need for some sort of emissions reduction, and lack of understanding of the opposition to this in the Party.
Mr Murdoch had no hand in this. The “Australian”, our major newspaper, happily printed articles by ALP MInisters as well as Coalition supporters. The readers’ letters tended to be overwhelmingly favourable to the Coalition, with a very substantial input from those opposing Global Warming and any emission targets.
These lefties are so delusional that the reality can not penetrate. They project their feelings onto everything and everybody. So when they conclude that “politics has become vicious, toxic and unstable”, they are basically issuing a weather report on the status of their fevered minds.
When good things happen, it’s Always Our Idea.
When bad things happen, it’s Never Our Fault.
Another case of psychological projection.
Oh Look! Another leftist scumbag wailing about their medias loss of their ability to control the narrative and public opinion. I like it. His claim about the omnipotence of media outlets that challenge the left wing meme seems to follow right along the lines of what the idiot Chuck Todd said earlier.
https://www.newsbusters.org/blogs/nb/scott-whitlock/2018/08/27/deluded-chuck-todd-media-bias-campaign-creation-not-based-fact
According to the left, Democracy only works, when they win.
And compromise means the other side caves in and does exactly what the left wanted all along.
In other words, bi-partisanship in action.
Can one say “dog whistle” to the Masters of the Universe to increase their censorship of conservative opinion? Na! Only conservatives has dog whistles. Right?
What do you call those who hear the dog whistles?
I wish these people would stop throwing around the word cancer.
And here was me thinking Doctor Evil, MisterAbbott was to blame listening to all our wise pundits when all along it was that sneaky Mr Murdoch plotting the downfall of KRudd and Spillary. Where is Superman or Batman when you really need them to save the World?
It’s the Hillary Clinton deplorables wave-off remark again. That has become a readily identifiable signal of low-rent deflection. The dog ate my homework excuse has been fully updated.