Election 2010: Day 9 (or the debate that we’ve already forgotten)

And so there was a debate.

Did it change anything? Of course not.

Who won? I’ll give it to Tony. He scored some points on the “waste” of the stimulus (demonstrating what I have long said that Rudd and Co were USELESS at selling the performance of the stimulus – it kept us out of a recession and yet people have swallowed the debt and deficit line). And he wasn’t completely hated. So well done – I guess he did learn from the Health Debate.

The women controlling the worms did hate him; but the blokes didn’t really love Julia either – especially when she talked about defeating Rudd (perhaps the thought of a women defeating a male just hurt  their egos a bit, because in my experience those who have expressed most reservations with the dumping of Rudd has been women).

Overall the worm was probably on average spent more time in the positive zone higher for Abbott than for Julia, but interestingly her final address was viewed more positively than Abbott’s.

But does anyone care? No of course not. It won’t change a vote. The election is not for 4 weeks. By then you really think anyone will remember anything said tonight? I can’t remember what either of them said 4 weeks ago, and I’;m a political junkie. 99% of the population are not. By the time Masterchef finishes it’ll all be forgotten. 

And this debate was easily the worst I can recall (well at least going back to Ray Martin asking Paul Keating and John Howard what was the price of a carton of milk).

The issues that got a look in – asylum seekers, immigration, the rolling of Kevin Rudd, climate change, Afghanistan and then (just for something weird) the stimulus.

Health? Education? Infrastructure? The economy? Nup

And the questions were pretty lame as well. Julia Gillard was asked if she had been advised of an exact date by which it will be too late to act on climate change. Seriously. I thought it was common knowledge that 1:30pm 24 May 2018 was the due date for action.

Seriously, these were the three best journos in the country?

Chris Uhlmann’s question on what Julia had said behind closed doors to Kevin Rudd was one appropriate for the 7:30 Report but not for a debate about policy for the next three years. He showed a complete lack of understanding of the occasion, and like an annoying umpire in a footy game, thought the debate was all about him.

Maybe he was just pissed that Speers got to moderate it and not him.

Mark Riley on Channel 7 said there were no losers which meant Tony Abbott won. I do like a good bit of solipsism with my political analysis.

For me? I’m watching Masterchef with the rest of the country, unable to believe that Callum doesn’t know the middle pot contains Hollandaise sauce.

It will be interesting to see how the debate rates. In 2007 it was highly anticipated, and highly watched. If anyone but the most politically interested survived till the end, I’d be much surprised. I even found it a struggle.