Meet The Press Live Blog

Today's Special Guest - Nationals Leader Mark Vaile
The Panel - Brian Toohey, Canberra Times; Michelle Grattan, The Age

Dang ... for a minute there I thought they were chatting to Barnie Joyce ... how odd it is to see the Nationals looking new school (hey, if you can rule something in, I can invert `old school'). Nevertheless, for a vigorous young leader, Mark Vaile is sounding remarkably old school.

`In our intentions towards industrial relations we have been very very clear'. Coulda fooled me, Vailey! It's almost as if you've got a different party in every state. Joel Fitzgibbon's statement is very bloody pertinent ... oh, and here we go, the classic deflection tactic - `Labor are crying foul because they're aching themselves'. Whatever, girlfriend!

Waiting for the phrase `we're a wide church ...' Waiting ... waiting ...

Bongiorno makes another bloody good point - how can the Nationals actually succeed in their own terms? Whenever they score a point, Ratty waddles up and gets all the kudos, whereas, as Bongiorno points out, a Barnaby Joyce, who actually has people talking about the Nats in a non-condescending way, is the best sort of person the Nats could hope for.

All in all - who'd want to be Mark Vaile right now?

Part Two

Now here's a quote that will come up many times in today's pollie shows - John Howard's atrocious comment that Barnaby Joyce's first loyalty should be to the party room, not the hapless people of Queensland.

WHOOA! According to Vaile, the Australian constitution and John Howard's comments are `not mutually exclusive concepts' !!! So one can potentially override the other !?!? HAHAHAHAA `never any evidence or circumstance' that an MP was pressured to vote along party lines? Pull the other one!

Ah, Telstra ... does anyone remember that Fast Forward sketch with Magda Szubanski dancing around singing `How Do You Solve A Problem Like Victoria?'. ...Replace `Victoria' with `Telstra' and there you have it. Astounding to think that we may still (optimistic little me) see Telstra stay in public hands in the current term of government, even with the Senate in Johnny's back pocket ... gives you a bit of hope for democracy. Then again (pessimistic little me), we're only a week in.

HAHAHAAA - bloody oath, I LEERVE that picture of Bill Heffalump and Barnaby Joyce .... wonder if I can find a link.