Sunday, September 18, 2005
PSYCHO-DIARIST IN HAPPY PIECES
Mad Mark is thrilled to bits:
Louise Adler, the chief executive officer of Melbourne University Publishing, said Mr Latham was thrilled about the reaction he had received.
"He’s thrilled to bits. We’re all delighted. I think it’s been a terrific response,” Ms Adler said.
She said Mr Latham was unperturbed by criticisms of himself and his book.
Well, why would he be? He was offered enough money to buy a sturdy buggy, after all:
Louise Adler from Melbourne University Press says they hope to sell 75,000 hard copies.
"But I can tell you that we had numerous offers from numerous media organisations with hansom amounts of money attached to them and Mark Latham was not interested in taking them,” she said.
Hmmm ... $39.95 times 75,000 ... works out to nearly $3 million. Whatever Latham’s cut, that’s a lot of buggies. Latest identitities smeared by the Green Valley Berserker include Janette Howard (“a nasty piece of work”) and Paul Lennon ("I don’t know where his loyalties lie but they certainly weren’t with the federal Labor Party”), while Labor’s Lindsay Tanner says the voters got it right:
The Australian people ultimately always get it right, we have to accept their verdict and clearly Mark’s doing everything he can to suggest that they did get it right.
As Labor voter Garry Russell writes: “It still amazes me how perceptive the Australian voting public continues to be.” Even the waterheads at Green Left Weekly are coming over to Howard’s side ... well, sort of:
Working people didn’t just vote for Howard in the last election because they thought he was a great bloke or because they’re all selfish. There was no well-known credible alternative, they were scared about the future and the Coalition parties’ criticisms of Labor’s elitism had a ring of truth about them.
That’s from Sue Bull, “a member of the Geelong branch of the Socialist Alliance.” And a teacher, naturally. Former Latham enthusiast Chris Sheil would now like it to be known “that Mark Latham was never this blog’s choice.” He preferred electoral certainty Kevin Rudd. And the ABC has dug up a Canberra academic who supports (but not completely) Latham’s anti-US stance:
Dr Michael McKinley, from the Australian National University, says while Mr Latham is right to criticise the alliance for dominating Australia’s security policy, he has oversimplified the relationship ...
Dr McKinley says Mr Latham’s comments are extreme.
You’ve got serious problems when you’re too extreme for a guy who turns up at Greenpeace rallies, is approvingly cited by John Pilger, and speaks at Hiroshima Day guilt-fests. Hey, what about Labor’s attempt to turn the party into a kind of Huffington celebrity deal?
The Latham Diaries, to be released on Monday, reveal that Waugh, ABC presenter Maxine McKew and former Australian Medical Association head Kerryn Phelps were all approached as possible ALP candidates before last year’s federal election.
ALP Left powerbroker John Faulkner regarded the Australian Test captain and star batsman as a possible leader of the ALP, according to Mr Latham.
More on this particular matter, and much else besides, in The Bulletin on Wednesday. Meanwhile, take a look at Latham’s diary entry for Friday, February 6, 2004, in which he reveals the background to his Liverpool preselection:
I was the beneficiary of the Head Office rorts, with dozens of Party members rubbed out of the ballot. Some big Labor names were involved, people who have gone on to be Federal and State frontbenchers, making it a pretty big story now that I’m Leader of the Party. That’s why the enemies have leaked it. I had a feeling that things were going too well, that something had to go wrong. This is it.
Some big Labor names were involved, all right—including Mark Latham, who bitches that he was caught. And this goon was going to reform the ALP?
UPDATE. Tasmanian Infrastructure Energy and Resources Minister Bryan Green hits back at Latham’s claims that the Labor state government was disloyal:
"I took him on a helicopter flight to look at forest management and he went to sleep,” Mr Green said.
"That is the absolute truth."
I’m inclined to cut Latham a little slack in this case.