Monday, September 19, 2005
LATHAM LATEST
Mark Lithium, whose diary of hate is selling extremely well, spent yesterday playing media tag with current Labor leader Kim Beazley. At issue: whether Beazley is a cuddly, avuncular fellow, much beloved in the neighbourhood, or a low, stoatish type, given to trading in vile rumour. In other developing developments:
* Glenn Milne (official Latham nickname: “more friends in Canberra than me”) promises a surprise ending to the Wilton suicide saga:
One day, the real story of Latham’s role in the Wilton suicide will be revealed.
* Latham repeats his request that Australia become a pansy state, like New Zealand:
There is no terrorist threat to New Zealand that has been identified but (there is) one here. If you go supporting bad American policy you make yourself a bigger target and you stir dissent in your own country.
(Silent Running delivers a response.)
* Former senator Graham Richardson predicts interest in Latham’s book will fade once “the mob” works him out.
* Ex-Latham fan Mike Seccombe notes Latham’s staggering “capacity for self-absolution”, and blames himself for the blameless one’s rise:
It was all my fault, I’m afraid. My pivotal role in inflicting Mark Latham on the Australian public can no longer be ignored.
* Gough Whitlam offers his explanation for Latham’s decision never to speak to him again.
* NSW Labor secretary Mark Arbib threatens legal action:
Mr Arbib took offence at Mr Latham’s diary account of a lunch the two men shared at the Azuma restaurant in Sydney on November 1 last year - three weeks after Mr Latham led Labor to a bruising election loss.
Mr Arbib said Mr Latham had written “lies and fantasy” in The Latham Diaries, which went on sale yesterday. “The only things he got right were mine and the restaurant’s names. I’m amazed he could recall that, given he drank two bottles of red wine."
* ACTU secretary Greg Combet denies Latham’s claims that he’d deceived unionists.
* No harm done, writes Gerard Henderson:
It’s not as if Latham’s opinion carries much credibility.
* Kevin Rudd’s leadership credentials are questioned by Latham:
He’s one of those blokes who ... sort of prances around behind the starting gate but the attendants can never push him into the barrier. He’s always a late scratching at the barrier. I don’t think it’s a hoof injury - I think it’s something in ... the heart department where he just won’t have a go. So he parades himself around. One day he’s going to have to push himself into the barrier because in politics you should either have a go or be a permanent scratching. I’m not too fussed about old Kevvie Rudd.
* Latham’s new-found contempt for the working classes is revealed:
The diaries show Mr Latham regards it as a mistake to promote aspirational politics. “I wanted working people to enjoy a better standard of living, but had assumed that as they climbed the economic ladder, they would still care about the community in which they lived, and take heed of the interests of others, especially the poor and disadvantaged.
"Instead, as people have moved into middle-class affluence, they have left their old, working-class neighbourhoods behind and embraced the new values of consumerism."
* According to The Age, Latham’s pension entitles him to $76,622 per year for the rest of his life. Supplied by greedy consumerist scum.
* A new extract from Latham’s diaries accuses his first wife of extra-marital fondling:
For me, the tipping point was Gabrielle’s behaviour at an ALP function at Campbelltown RSL in August 1997 - fondling another person under the table while I was sitting next to her.
Then she told me about her nursing days. Hooley dooley, if I had known this, I wouldn’t have married her in the first place. She kept me in the dark for a decade.
* At least one person—Mark Latham, as it happens—declares Mark Latham to be a hero:
Their frustration with me is that they can’t keep me in the cone of silence. I’m akin to a whistleblower telling the truth.
* Peter Hartcher points out those harmed by Latham’s brave truth-telling:
The unforgivable injury that Latham commits, and commits repeatedly, is the way that he claws at the wholly innocent bystanders - the spouses and families of his former colleagues.
* Louise Dodson remarks on Latham’s fondness for his wicked right-wing rivals:
He displays an often grudging admiration for the Liberal Party and his political opponents, especially Costello. He scatters his diaries with disparaging undergraduate references to the Tories and to business, while praising the political talents of Howard and Costello. Latham has no doubt that Costello, if he succeeded Howard, would beat Simon Crean, then Labor leader.
* And hilarious Phillip Adams claims the whole deal is a forgery:
Poor Mark, heavily sedated, knows nothing of the political upheaval caused in his name. Should he ever escape from his constraints and the padded cell, you can imagine how upset he’ll be.