It's Not Just Here

Quote of the day:

With their notorious sense of the absurd, Channel 7's Sunrise program ran the online poll. It asked simply: "Who would you vote for?" and listed Kevin Rudd, Tony Abbott, Bob Brown and Mr Don Key (independent). To avoid confusion the poll carried photographs of the leaders, including a distinguished-looking donkey with handsome ears and a greying muzzle.

But with all the silliness these results have a serious point. They should be enough to provoke one of those infamous Rudd-rants and send Abbott in search of a long hard run.

The Opposition Leader polled 24 per cent, the Prime Minister 20 per cent and Senator Brown from the Greens 12 per cent. The donkey won in a trot, with 44 per cent. And nobody in the real world would be the least surprised.

It seems unlikely that Australia has ever gone into an election campaign with such a poor selection. Kevin Rudd is disliked. Tony Abbott is not trusted. And Bob Brown is seen as inhabiting a planet that most of us have never visited or wanted to visit.

There's a serious crisis of political credibility in Australia, and the donkey is looking good. Political leadership has never been so evasive, nor has it ever been so blatantly dishonest. What's disturbing is that voters may have become so numbed by the spin and lies they've become accepting of mediocrity.

-- Neil Mitchell in the Australian newspaper the Herald Sun, Our leaders fail the test

Found at Jigsaw's Thoughts