Open debate thread

1,076 comments on “Open debate thread”

1. Tonights debate is about Rudd. If he sparkles, doesn’t get defensive with the panel, looks and sounds energetic, doesn’t gaffe, produces the odd decent on-liner – and finishes strongly then he will tell Australia that he is ready. We’re looking – this is your test.

2. Howard has won the toss and will have the final word.

3. I have a feeling Howard and Rudd will play it pretty conservative tonight.

   However, surely in the back of Rudd’s mind is the thought that he could kill off Howard’s prime ministership tonight. A gaffe by Howard, with a good answer by Rudd could end Howard in the eyes of the voters.

   I remember Howard in 1996 saying to Keating “the voters don’t believe you anymore”, it was a harsh comment, but there was some truth to it.

   I wonder if Rudd will deliver the same sort of thing tonight.

4. The Prime Minister should go first. The Prime Minister has always gone first. Howard is CHICKEN!

   LOL

5. Let’s hope for a bit of aggro tonight- we could all doze off by 9.00.

6. Kevin Rudd should not aim for any kind of knock-out punch. He should be respectful towards Howard. He should appear reassuring. Better to be boring than to try so hard he comes across as a prat.
   Most swinging voters with little interest in politics will tune in for a few minutes at the beginning – perhaps flick across during the ads on Kath & Kim. What they need to see is the steady hand of a reasonably dull politician who appears to be on top of the facts, with the occasional dose of fresh ideas – along the lines of the laptop toolbox of the 21st century thing.

7. Also this would be a smart move for Rudd: Say to Howard “Look you have refused to debate me again during this campaign. But I now invite the guy who is really the LNP candidate for next PM – Peter Costello – to debate me. Will you allow him to do this?”

8. We have Teh Worm Live!

9. Where, PC?

10. The worm is skyrocketing with Rudd.

11. If this worm gets any higher, he’ll be arrested for holding prohibited substances

12. The worm fell as soon as Rudd mentioned Costello.

13. Channel 9

14. This is Nine showing the worm, yes?

15. The worm is going underground with Howard.

16. Howards sinking – someone give the worm some floaties.

    He’s sinking… he’s sinking!

17. Thanks PC. I’ll have to wait two hours.

18. Like a good worm, it’s going underground while Howard is speaking 🙂

19. I love the worm!

20. Howard is not saying anything about what he’ll do. Complete contrast to Rudd, who listed a laundry load of actions he will take.

    Howard also being negative now as well. Worm has hardly gone into the positive at all.

21. I think Howard’s problem is he is talking about the past.

22. Howard’s problem is that he’s out of ideas.

23. Everytime Howard mentioned unemployment, the worm tanked.

    They might need to start working on a new cliche

24. Every time Howard attacks Rudd, the worm starts diving…

25. the worm is flatlining get out the defribulator

26. Can someone tell me how many drinks I have to have. I lost count of the number of times Howard said UNIONS.

27. Interesting that Rudd took on the economics rather than the industrial issue first.

28. If this were an AFL game, Rudd would be up by 10 goals, and it’s only the first quarter!

29. If the 9 worm audience keeps this up, they’ll need to get a room with Kevvie.

    Again, then worm has peaked at it’s highest and simply cant go any higher!

30. the worm loves rudd…….

31. Rudd’s started well, but he seems a bit nervous.

32. Bad shot – the camera cuts to Costello and Downer smirking at Rudd, meanwhile the worm is going up.

    Those clowns just dont get it.

33. It would be good to have a little box in the corner of the screen showing the Smirk in all his glory

34. The openings were interesting – Rudd attacked Howard over not having any plans, and laid out a bunch of them. Howard focussed entirely on the past actions, and attacked Rudd repeatedly for something he hadn’t said.

    The worm likes broadband.

    Good god the worm hates Howard. I can see why he was scared of it.

35. Who chose the audience which is operating the worms?

36. those cuts to Costello are poison for the Libs – the smirking git, not a good look!

37. Howard is too negative. He needs to go positive if he wants to win.

38. The worm goes south every time Howard starts to criticise Rudd.

39. As soon as Howard mentioned Costello, down went the worm again 🙂

40. Howards going as hard as he can and the Worm is neutral.

    Rudd breaths and its goes over the 100% mark.

    Where are the audience pulled from?

    The MUA’s annual general meeting?

41. Howard is clearly a spent force, Rudd is the future

42. whoops the worm doesnt like Howard so far.

43. Has it been in positive territory at all when Howard has his mouth open?

44. scotty I saw that too! The worm is a bit distracting.

45. I think those smirks will see an appearance in some ads.

46. LMAO. The worm just collapsed when Howard mentioned Costello replacing him. 🙂

47. The worm also really really doesn’t like Howard’s negative attacks.

    And holy hell it hates Costello. The worm just slammed into the ground when he talked about him.

48. Costello by Howards side through think and thin! LOL – just not at his dinner table.

49. The smirking of Peter Costello in the audience is not a good look.

    The guy has gotta learn to control that.

50. Does anyone know how the worm audience was chosen?

Comments are closed.