Elizabeth August 22nd, 2007

In case you hadn’t already heard, Kevin Rudd once visited a gentleman’s club in NYC. He was not Opposition Leader. He was not on duty. He didn’t necessarily go there to see strippers either, as Scores is a huge complex that offers all kinds of general entertainment and nightlife that doesn’t include strippers.

Rudd himself can’t remember doing anything inappropriate, other than being too drunk to remember exactly what went on that night. He claims it was his second (and last) drunken experience. But if you’re still not convinced that this story is irrelevant to your valuable vote, consider this quote from Col Allan:

“Yes, it was at a gentleman’s club and he (Mr Rudd) behaved like a perfect gentleman.”

So why is this being hammered by the media? Who really cares about one night in Kevin Rudd’s private life, four years ago? It’s nothing but a simple smear campaign, designed to shift our attention away from the issues that really matter. Issues that will otherwise cost Howard the upcoming election. I find this tactic far more dirty and offensive than anything Rudd has been accused of.

Let’s get some perspective here. In fact, hear it from the most sensible commentator so far, Greens leader Senator Bob Brown, because it highlights the need for this “news” to be buried by widespread indifference, and our collective energy directed where it counts:

“Four years ago Kevin Rudd got drunk and took himself into a strip club.
Four years ago John Howard, sober, took Australia into the Iraq war.
I think the electorate can judge which one did the more harm.”

Thank God somebody is speaking some sense.

Look, if you’re going to vote for Howard, at least do so with conviction. Know what your vote represents. To me, it’s a vote for locking up asylum seekers - including children - for years on end. It’s deliberately confusing the masses into thinking that Iraq and 9/11 are in any way related, and that illegal immigrants are guilty of terrorism unless they can prove otherwise - especially if they’re not anglo-saxon. It’s ruining a young Indian doctor’s life by deporting him illegally, and dishonestly painting him as a terrorist in order to do so.

It’s denying farmers along the Murray Darling of all irrigation, and in the same week using pressure hoses to clean the paths in front of Parliament House. It’s the complete mismanagement of our water supply over a span of a decade, causing widespread and crippling debt for much of our farmers, and ridiculous rises in the cost of living for the rest of us. It’s the attitude towards climate change in general, and taking responsibility for our share of the problem.

It’s stripping the average worker’s basic rights with the introduction of Work Choices (or at least, making them fight for them in court), and running patronising advertising campaigns to polish the proverbial turd.

It’s the offensive manner in which the alcohol/abuse issue in the Northern Territory has been addressed by the Federal government, causing many to fear a second “stolen generation” and flee. The disgraceful life expectancy and rate of preventable blindness amongst our indigenous population.

It’s Children Overboard. David Hicks. The housing crisis. Rates. Lies, and smear campaigns.

There are reasons to vote conservatively, even for Howard himself. I know what they are. I don’t care about them - not enough to forget the issues I mentioned above. But if you do vote for Howard, at least know why you’re doing it and what problems belong to that package. Vote in an informed way, and not by default.

If you allow trivia about Kevin Rudd to sway your vote in any way, you don’t deserve to have it. And that remains true no matter who you support on election day.

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