The cutting wisdom of the ordinary folk, once a week …..   

The man in the street is not happy... 

Sure, the demise of the Rat-gang leader puts a wry smile on the man's glowing unshaven face...  

Sure the Costello dummy spit makes him chuckle with a "pleeeeze!".  

But as far as he's concerned, Senator Minchin and Heffernan - the other two members of the "Rat-gang" - are still there, like ghost whisperers about to carry on, pulling a few important strings and all stops, barking at the Rudd government for no good reason and about to polish their parliamentary bench with their old [corduroy] trousers.

The man in the street wish they'd go.  Despite the demise of the Grand Rattus, these two senators are still the mainstay of the Conservative Party threat-foul discipline, fully dedicated to the promotion of the Howardian conservative ideal of slaves and masters no matter what.  The Liberal Party, on the other side, is fluffing its lines with a battle royal between Admiral Nelson ("looked in a mirror lately?" suggested the man in the street) and Captain Turnbutt of Vaucluse de Bondi-bitch...  

Yes, the man in the street sees the Liberal Party splitting in the middle: on one side the rough end of the rotten pineapple - the full-on conservative group - the street smart "neo-fascists" rat-baggish conservative and, on the other side, the good-hearted liberals [small L] who thinks it's OK to help their fellow men and women - from a highly patronising point of view, mind you...  

The man in the street wish that party would split, rather than pretend being in love with itself...  

He says one would hope the neo-cons in the Liberal Party would thus vanish from the split - returning the Liberal party to the liberal people - but then he mentions the Brethrens and his tone turns lugubrious: those religious fanatics support the neo-cons, thus the neo-cons would not evaporate...  

The NSW liberal party is already infected... blah blah... etc. Costello meanwhile gas-bags on the media about his leadership non-challenge - not blaming Rattus but making sure everyone knows the electoral debacle and Costello's own failure was Rattus' fault...  

There on the media he also makes sure he toots his own trumpet as far as the good job he's done with the banana bending. "Pete was better than sliced cheese, better than toast". Pete is pissed off he's passing off "his" good economy to the other mob... But considering the parameters Pete had to work with, all the pundits at the Labor party thinks he was lazy and squandered great opportunities to advance Australia. They think Mr Scrooge here reduced public services to the bare-bone, just to fill up his coffers... while everyone else was forced to become toiling victims of the plastic fantastic... 

The man in the street is in two minds.  On one hand, he thinks that Costello being kept away from the PM job made sure the debacle for the Conservative Party was not as bad as it would have been otherwise, should Costello had been handed over the leadership on a platter. "Full credit for Rattus to see that", the man in the street says...  

The man in the street is in two minds.  

On the other hand, had Costello won the Leadership of the Liberal Party fair and square in a hard fought tussle, he would have been seen as Pete-the-"Howard-Slayer" despite being in the same camp... Costello would have gleaned a few extra electoral points for that magic feat...  

The damage to the Whatever fluffy Party would have been much less - like only a handful of seats or less. Sure Rattus would have lost his own seat by a lot more, but who cares...  

But Costello appeared too cowardly to put-on a full bore tantrum before the elections - even a decent choleric one as far back as when Rudd became leader of the workforce, after big-bear Beazley had been tapped on the shoulder. The man in the street knows his bacon.  Despite the fact Senator Minchin and Mr Clowner became widely known for "trying" to boot Rattus out of the picture before the elections, the man in the street believes that Senator Minchin knew it was NEVER going to happen...  

It was just a little stunt set up by Minchin and Rattus the First (and the last, the man in the street hopes) himself to gauge the loyalty of the troops, about to be bloodied... 

Mr Clowner may not have had a clue about the set up... or anything else for that matter... except possibly, the shenanigans at the AWB... 

The conversation now slips towards the new leadership of the fluffy party...

The man in the streets sees Brendan eating peanuts and peeling bananas, while "snake-eyed" is followed by a wardrobe department wherever she goes. "Snake-eyed"s venomous fangs did not take long to try to take a poisonous bite at Julia. Ms Bishops believes that the education ministry is too important to be part of a "super-ministry" as given to Julia by a very confident Mr Rudd...  

The man in the street sees a bit (for him it means "a lot") of jealousy and sour grapes...  

Ms Bishop "only had the ministry of education in her hands and appears highly ambitious" and, apart from trying to shoot teachers like ducks, with a clumsy performance award system, quite muffed her time there. Amongst other things, she tried to implement or support, a hysterical historical syllabus concocted by Johnnee, Gerard H. and Windshuffle.  The man in the street believes that Gerard H, has gone underground, preparing a few next tactical attacks on the Ruddlites...

I've got no idea. But, according to the man in the street, "snake-eyed" has support from the two "magic" Senators behind her, Minchin and Heffernan... and Gerard H. Soon [within six months?], The man in the street believes, the good Senators might "push" (sneak in, under the radar) her to the front past Brendan, ahead of Malcolm Turnbutt and Tony Peopleskills, the man who keeps walking with his shoe not far from his mouth... I don't know about that - pushing Ms Bishop?... Hum... Hum, the concept eventually resonates well...  

A woman! The Conservative female counterpoint to Julia for the elector-rats to warm to, not as a deputy but as the full-bore leader... Hum... smart! A woman! Leader!!! That would trump the trump! Not to mention that Ms Bishop is a Rattus-clone in high heels, but with the right public relation massaging and a bit of softener in the hair-wave, no one would see behind the illusion... A woman!... Gosh. Why didn't I think of that!?

 

The man in the street is too conniving for me...

 

But there's a good chance he's right...

 

He says he's been "burnt" by Rattus and his gang members, so he thinks he knows how they think...

 

They would still have the dirt on a few (he means a "lot") people so they can still influence the way they dance...

 

And get what they want...

 

A woman?

I know nothin'... but I think the man in the street is very smart...