Saturday, December 4, 2010

If You Want Blood....

... You Got it!



Which could serve as the theme song for any post election period. For once the polls are closed and votes are counted and Anthony Green has called the election, it's time for members of the losing side to rip into each other. After all, they've been holding their breath and pretending that they all like each other for the duration of the campaign, for the sake of unity, and are pretty much ready to explode by the morning after the night before.

Fans of any type of 'bloodsport' would be attracted to the spectacle; middle aged, geeky, pale political operatives getting their power suits, ties and lanyards off to get all 'Fight Club' with their soon to be ex colleagues.

Along these lines then, former Senior Victorian Labor Campaign Officer George Droutsas took to 'The Age' yesterday to lay the blame for Labor's upset defeat in the state election firmly at the feat of John Brumby. Droutsas describes the former Premier as an 'abrupt,' 'arrogant' man who was a 'poor listener' and 'dismissive' and one who, as he 'didn't like hearing bad news,' had surrounded himself 'with people who were afraid to challenge him.' No wonder then that the Victorian electorate 'just did not warm to the man.'

Pow, eh? BLAM!

Odd then, that Labor's election campaign would center almost entirely around Brumby, with him featured heavily in the principal advertising and Labor's campaign launch almost entirely focused on the man, his history, dreams and love of shearing sheep. Odd until you consider Droutsas' assessment of Brumby's hand picked campaign team, a bunch of people with 'zero' political expertise, who made several 'lethal' mistakes, who thought 'that Ted Baillieu was unelectable' and who were little more than 'sycophants.'



Of course, it's worth pointing out that a key to this assessment could be the 'Former' in the authors title of 'Former Senior Campaign Officer.' Obviously Brumby, or one of his sycophants, did not like the advice they were getting from Mr Droutsas. And Mr Droutsas, by way of payback, has hit a large scale broadsheet to paint himself as a combination of Machiavelli and James Carville and his ex boss as something like Dick Cheney on a bad brain day.

Labor seem much better at this type of thing than the Liberals, who mostly keep their blood stained laundry behind closed doors. I mean, after their humiliating Federal election defeat in 2007 they were comfortable turning to a man - Tony Abbott - who had been the just deposed Prime Ministers pet and who pretty quickly set to the task of restoring all the old leaders policies and Parliamentary supporters.

Something that it would be hard to imagine Victorian Labor doing.

Which should prove entertaining for the rest of us, if nothing else, as Labor's former top people get stuck into each other in public.

Big Ted Baillieu, enjoying a mineral water or a banana or whatever non stimulating thing he has in hand, will probably allow himself a smile at this... before he gets back to his more immediate task of sending most of the electorate off to a newly constructed jail.

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