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VIDEO: the leaked Kevin Rudd tape

This is the video that’s got everyone talking after it was mysteriously and anonymously posted on youtube on Friday, entitled: Kevin is a happy little Vegemite

Some background:

Fairfax is reporting:

A DAMAGING video of a furious Kevin Rudd swearing and rounding on embassy officials and a Chinese interpreter has been posted on YouTube on the day a Labor MP publicly warned the party would be ”decimated” if it stuck with Julia Gillard.

Last night Mr Rudd’s office apologised for his language on the video, which was recorded during his time as prime minister.

The heavily edited clip features Mr Rudd angrily hitting his desk and demanding the ”dickheads at the embassy” give him simple sentences.

Mr Rudd took to Sky News to state his case. He said the video’s release was suspicious. News.com.au reported

Mr Rudd said he had never claimed to be perfect, and that it was known he would swear form time to time, but the video was embarrassing to him.

He said some of past criticism was “fair cop and lot of them were exaggerated and produced after the event,” he told Sky.

“What I’ve tried to learn from all that is, do less in a given working day rather than try and do everything. That’s an important principle for everybody,” he said.

 

Early indications (Twitter!) suggest that if the tactic behind leaking the video was to discredit Kevin Rudd, it has backfired big time. There has been a surge of increased support for Rudd following the video’s release and disbelief that his rivals would stoop so low.

What do you think? Does it change your view about who should lead the Labour party and take the role of PM?