The Personal Attacks Go On As Expected
Thursday, 15th March, 2007
If there was any doubt about the Coalition Government continuing to probe away at the personal foibles and supposed failings of Opposition Leader Kevin Rudd then the Health Minister Tony Abbott has surely dispelled them. With Labor still crying dirty politics and reports still fresh of polls showing Labor increasing its lead, Mr Abbott used a column in this morning’s Fairfax papers to keep questioning Mr Rudd’s honesty.
The basis of this latest attack is Mr Rudd’s recollections of the events surrounding his father’s death when he was an 11 year old child. The Labor Leader recently told a television interviewer that one day he would like to study the inquest documents to see if there was any truth to suggestions that the care dad received in hospital after an accident was not of the highest standard. Others have saved him the trouble with the record being closely examined and Piers Akermann in the Sydney Telegraph concluding "It’s a pity he did not check because the coroner’s report contains no suggestion of medical malpractice."
Mr Abbott did not delve himself in to the detail but linked in the same sentence "the slippery way he handled the Burke business" and "his oft-related account of medical neglect contributing to his father's death." Then it was on to Mr Rudd’s memories of "the much-told story about eviction from the farm" with Mr Abbott concluding the "problem with his story is that it now sounds too self-serving to be true."
Then, after 866 words attacking the Rudd integrity, the Health Minister turned to loftier things for a concluding 175. "Rudd's real test won't be how he handles consorting allegations," he wrote. "It will be explaining how it's possible to tear up workplace agreements and halve greenhouse gas emissions without sabotaging the economy. Politicians can't win holiness contests and shouldn't try. The real measure of a politician is the extent to which all the arts of politics are turned to the national interest."
Comments