So just to recap:
There’s been a big swing against the coalition which the right wing of the party are trying to say is because Malcolm Turnbull turfed Tony Abbott, who would have won definitively, they insist, because they’re deluded. According to them, Malcolm then blew it by being too moderate and that’s why the election result has been a disaster for the coalition who may not win enough seats to form government.
I disagree. I think part of the swing against the government was BECAUSE of Tony Abbott. Remember, we never got the chance to vote him out. And Malcolm didn’t fundamentally change or reverse many of his policies – plebiscite, anyone?
Watch Mia’s Snapchat from Election day. It’s what everyone was thinking. (Post continues after video.)
I think the swing against the government was due to Malcolm being hamstrung by his own party. Ultimately, he’s his own man and he got to decide what he said, who he spoke to, what policies he supported and what he stood for. But the sense that he wasn’t being “real Malcolm” and that he was towing the conservative line to keep the likes of Cory Bernardi and other Abbott supporters in his corner was pervasive.
Forget being too moderate (as the deluded conservatives who backed Abbott are trying to say today), many believe Malcolm stumbled because he was not moderate enough. He disappointed so many people on both sides who wanted to vote for him because they thought he stood for the progressive centre but saw no sign of it during the interminable eight week campaign, or indeed since he became PM.
What happened to you, Malcolm? Where did you go?
The fact he refused to do interviews throughout the campaign with so many mainstream media outlets like Sunrise, Today, The Project and Mamamia – where so many of those centrist voters are – was misguided and bizarre. It did him no favours with millions of people, particularly women.
Check out social media’s response to the election. (Post continues after gallery.)
Response to the election
Meanwhile the ALP ran a blatant and at times borderline fraudulent scare campaign about the government privatising or cutting Medicare which they knew wasn’t true. This clearly won them lots of votes. Their polling through the campaign must have shown that it resonated so they ramped it up and whipped many people into a state of fear and panic about something that was never going to happen.
Is that something to be proud of? Winning votes by deceiving people?
And this whole stinking mess by both major parties has allowed Pauline Hanson back onto the political stage to spread more racist hatred.
And don’t get me started on the morons who wasted their vote by drawing dicks on their ballots, proving themselves to be the real dicks here.
Nobody has showered themselves in glory this campaign. It’s been eight insufferable weeks of hot air that has wasted untold amounts of time and money for what? A shambles.
And consequently, we’re in a massive, destabilising mess which is not good news for the economy or any of us.
As we head into weeks of uncertainty (can anyone explain to me why vote counting doesn’t start again until Tuesday??) it’s almost impossible to feel anything other than massively disillusioned with the lot of them.
Well done, politics. Well done.