The best

Last night, before putting my daughters to bed, I read my three-year old this fabulous book. It’s by Lucy Cousins who writes the Maisy series and the illustrations are bright and colourful and fun. Harper loved it. And so did I.

It’s about Dog, and his friends. And how dog puts himself up against his friends showing that he’s better than they are. And then they turn and show Dog, that in fact, there are some things that they can do better than him. We read it two times and then Daisy decided to read it to Harper again. They went to bed and I turned on the TV to watch the political drama unfold.

B1 B2 B3

I don’t quite know what to make of any of it. Nor do I presume to think that you care what I think, but today, I am pissed off. I’m sad. I’m angry. It was like watching a Shakespearean tragedy unfold…with characters backstabbing and plotting, turning on each other…except it wasn’t a play, or TV show. It was real life. And our political reality. And what a disgrace it is. Bickering and fighting, challenging, blaming rather than you know, being in the business of thinking about what actual people out there might need or want. Creating visions  and direction for our country, policies to back it. Getting on with it.

Watching Mr Rudd take to the stage again, in all his smugness and earnest year 9 debating hand gestures, his attempts at being “young” with words like “zip” and “rocking around” and “cooking with gas” and then having the GALL to say that it’s time to stop mucking around and get on with it (when HE WAS THE VERY REASON NO ONE WAS GETTING ON WITH ANYTHING) was enough to make my eyes roll around my head a few times over. I wrote on Facebook that it was akin to waking up after a moment of weakness after sleeping with an ex and then realising “oh shit, what HAVE I DONE?” I mean, really? REALLY?

I get that some may think she got what was coming for her given the way she kicked him out. I get that the gender card was or wasn’t used enough throughout her term. I get most of the things that people raise about ALL of it.

What I don’t get is the power that mainstream media can have in driving the direction of a large portion of our population…feeding us lines and stories that suit them and their own agendas. I don’t get that negativity that stops ANYONE from moving forward and doing good, for our country. I don’t get so much really, which is a shame for me. And for all of us.

I wish we actually had someone who was best. There’s not anyone that I can see. That was the best for us, right now. I see plenty of “dogs” out there, trying to out do each other, comparing what they can do better, rather than actually measuring up on things that were equal, or fair. Or just accepting each other for who we were, what we were good at, and getting along together.

Today I am remembering a strong and formidable woman who I had the honour of meeting in person for a few hours earlier this year, who talked openly about anything we asked her, who was smart and capable and actually got some stuff done for our country. While she might not have been best, who is, I salute her today for what she did do, and what she has shown so many women and girls out there what can be done. My girls knew a female Prime minister, and perhaps that, is what’s best of all.

How do you feel about it all today?
Or would you rather bleach your own arsehole before talking about this stuff AGAIN?

Comments

  1. Nicole Jackson says

    Feel the same as you Beth! Saddened by all of the drama when this election should be about policies and giving us – the constituents – the best possible future. I’m glad my 19mth old son is still blissfully unaware and innocent when it comes to all this!!
    Oh and I was particularly annoyed that all the chaos nearly ruined my Offspring viewing 😛 Thankfully it was only delayed by 1/2 an hour and I could still get my Nina & Patrick fix 🙂

  2. BabyMacBlogBeth says

    The book is a new favourite round here now too.

  3. Lisa Mckenzie says

    I totally agree with you Beth I do not profess to understand politics like some smart people but I am disgusted actually,i just see the backstabbing and the smugness of Kevin Rudd I truly dislike him now and it is more like kindergarten children playing with peoples jobs,lives and their feelings,i thought he looked like a tool last night” so I am Cool and funky now”
    I do applaud Julia Gillard for her speech and it was given with dignity and humour and she didn’t cry like someone else !!!

    • BabyMacBlogBeth says

      Her speech was fabulous. Dignified. As for the cool talk? OH MY STARS. I kept saying to Rob “did he ACTUALLY just say that?” Albo!

    • Gibbergunyah says

      It’s like “It was my leadership first”, “She took it, it wasn’t hers.”, “He’s trying to snatch it”. Argggh.

  4. Cara Mowle says

    I don’t know about the bleaching, but am already over it all. I don’t want to vote for anyone. There is so much secrecy and smoke and mirrors that it’s getting scary. And am I the only one a bit frightened of Bill Shorten?

  5. I am incredibly upset about what happened last night. That poor woman was never going to be able to succeed. It has been a witch hunt from the start – her hair, her voice, her ‘partner’, not personable enough….right up to her ‘too personal’ story this week in the Women’s Day…… FFS She was never able to put a foot right. Never mind the fact that it should be about the POLICIES! I am disgusted at how disrespected she was. She was our Prime Minister for gods sake. So disappointing. xx

    • BabyMacBlogBeth says

      Indeed.

    • Gibbergunyah says

      Yes! And some of her policies did real good (Building the Education Revolution, Fair Work, National Disability Scheme). Why can’t both sides grow up and discuss policies? We deserve to know what they plan to DO.

  6. I agree Beth, well written.
    Policies NOT personalities at the end of the day. This country needs stronger leadership and a plan, check list and vision to get the jobs done. I tired of all the stuffing around, immature and appalling communication methods and language in the parliament (school kids antics if you will) and also the main stream media – vicious, all fabrication, poor interview questions in many instances and often minimal substance.
    I woke up today wondering if yesterday was a dream

    • PS. Absolutely appalling the way JG was and has been treated. Whether you like her or not, just unacceptable! Funny how there are anti bullying policies in schools, business, society etc but they (politicians) are allowed to carry on this way as they ‘discuss’ the business of our country.

    • BabyMacBlogBeth says

      Yes. THAT.

  7. perfect beth, perfect x

  8. Rebecca Bruce says

    I agree Beth – it is disgusting that we are so close to being run by the media. We’ve recently cancelled Foxtel and the newspaper delivery subscription because I am so filthy with the way ‘we’ are being pushed around. Perhaps now the polies can talk about policies and direction…just a thought!

  9. At the risk of sounding trite and juvenile, there is just something about KRudd’s teeny tiny little chin when he’s doing that ‘I’m the best’ smirk that makes me want to stab him in the eye with a fork. Well, not literally of course. I don’t think.
    It’s all just so schoolyard. A joke. A farce on a global stage.
    On the other hand, I was just saying to my husband last night that actually, we’ll go to bed and wake up with a new PM (again, not literally, thank GOD. Therese can have that delight all to herself), and for the large part, it will have no effect on us. In some parts of the world, a power overthrow like that would have people fleeing for their lives in the middle of the night.
    We are lucky, really, even in spite of the circus.
    x

  10. Imagine how this all looks on an international level … the squabbling and bullying is the stuff that we’re trying to stamp out of playgrounds, yet gets played out on our TV screens every day.

  11. You’re right. No-one is best and its pretty hard to see who is better. I don’t like any of them and its hard to see any of them as great or inspiring leaders. It all felt so dirty last night and no-one came off looking honorable.

    I think the pressure of the role, the mudslinging, back stabbing and the scrutiny prevent anyone of quality from joining politics.

  12. Todd Perry says

    Pass the bleaching cream.

  13. Gibbergunyah says

    I couldn’t watch it, and took to cleaning the kitchen (unlike me) with such vigour that I cleaned the measuring numbers off the kettle!
    We deserve better, and I’m worried we’re going to get worse, you know. I want someone good to vote for, and I fear that nobody with vision and talent or even a shred of decency is ever going to want to do it.
    If your son or daughter wanted to go into politics what would you say to them?

  14. Reannon Hope says

    Makes me fucking furious that Rudd has wormed his way back into the top job, that he sees himself as the savior, that he believes he can do better than Julia. He was ousted for a reason. Bring on the election I say!

    • BabyMacBlogBeth says

      You’d think that speech would have been 3 years in the making…and yet? He STILL got it all wrong.

  15. Totally off topic – but did I catch a real housewives of NJ line there.
    Tammy 😉

  16. Something Gorgeous says

    The whole thing makes me sick. Didn’t Kevin’s mother tell him that two wrongs don’t make a right?

  17. ahoy.jenni says

    Hang the bleach, I’ll go straight for the wax!
    I am dreading seeing/hearing Rudd every day from now on…. prefer waxing to that!

  18. Thank you Beth for saying something, because I too have been feeling sad, pissed off and angry. What happened to Julia is a shameful shameful thing, and no one should be proud of anything. On the other hand, I resent those who now just want to sweep everything under the rug, squish it all down, pretend that none of it happened. I can almost feel a huge collective sigh of relief in the air – as if people are glad that she’s gone so that they don’t have to deal with all the drama surrounding her leadership. Like, seriously? There was drama only if you wanted the drama. The rest of us who liked her and what she was doing for this country had no dramas at all. I feel that she was treated very badly, very unfairly, by the MSM and the LNP and mostly by Kevin Rudd, so it makes me extremely nauseated to see him being rewarded for his very bad behaviour. As a mum, you can imagine how I’m so angry to see his bad behaviour being rewarded. Don’t get me started on how I feel about his actions towards Julia either. Cowardly snake. A pox on his future. Or in fact, how most everyone treated Julia. We don’t deserve her is all I can say. She’s too good for us. But I will never forget how people treated our first female Prime Minister in this country. Suddenly have a greater admiration for New Zealand with their TWO female prime ministers. And look at us, supposedly a bigger and better country, and the absolutely shameful and disgusting way that we treated our first. As a woman, I feel solidarity with Julia for what she went through. I see now what women are up against here, how entrenched and endemic the negative attitudes towards women truly are. They are SHOCKING. Well I don’t know what I’m going to do to try and change such attitudes, if anything, but I know that I’m not going to simply forget about these events and pretend they never happened like I know so many people would probably wish that I’d do. No, for my daughter’s sake, for her future as a female in this country, I’m not going to let people forget about this, and not let this event slide so easily into the past. And the Labor Party can go suck eggs as far as I’m concerned. Can’t vote for anyone else now because of what they did so they’ve really pissed me off there too. Thanks again, Beth. Sorry for the rant x

  19. Cat_BeLoverly says

    People keep saying Julia Gillard got her come uppance given the way Kevin Rudd was ousted but she didn’t scheme and undermine to force a change. She challenged and won. Kevin Rudd challenged Kim Beasley to take on the role as leader when he was the Opposition Leader and no one said he got his come uppance at any stage. I’m sad that really good policy got railroaded by scheming and a media pack who wouldn’t report the policy but instead tried to be tabloid journos. It makes me mad to have heard the vitriol which people spoke of our Prime Minister. That it was ok to ask if her partner is gay? That she was called a witch and liar. It’s just wrong. The grace with which she spoke last night was a highlight though. I feel Julia Gillard is an amazing, intelligent woman who I believe tried her darnedest to make a difference on this country.

  20. As an Australian overseas it’s embarrassing. What’s more embarrassing is the lack of respect our leaders are offered. The language i heard on Twitter and FB was obsecene. Who in their right mind would want to put their hand up (esp a woman) when you are treated in the most dispicable manner?! By the public? By your own party?
    I don’t know how but something needs to be done as Australian politics is in a very low point.

    • BabyMacBlogBeth says

      No one would want the job – the behaviour, the pay…it’s not very appealing for anyone with a half decent brain is it?

  21. I have been so upset and angry, and haven’t been able to express my feelings in words… but reading you comment beth, was as though you had taken the words right out of my mouth,THANKYOU, I’m just sooo proud of Julia. Why do so many men hate strong women so much, probably because they are so strong !!!!!!!!!!!!!

  22. Great post Beth and I completely agree. From a political view I didn’t really support Gillard and I don’t Rudd (but then I am not too political) I don’t feel the current government is doing the best job, but I am also unsure as to who the person is that could. (Dick Smith?)

    I didn’t like it when Rudd was overthrown three years ago (because I didn’t feel it was the right way to do things) and I certainly haven’t liked what happened the other night. It is embarrassing. I can’t believe we have leaders that behave like this. I want someone who can inspire me to be better and someone who really cares about making our country best for all no matter, gender, race, religion, sexuality or beliefs. I can’t stand the way they behave in parliamentary session. They should not be allowed to bicker and insult one another the way they do, it distracts from the very important job they have of running our country. Stop trying to get one up on each other and do the job you were voted in for.

    Despite who Gillard is a politician I respect her as a woman and as a human being. I have been appalled by the way she has been treated. I truly wish people could connect with each other by way of our hearts and the essence of who we really are. Under her labels she is a person with dreams, goals, and feelings and needs to be treated with respect, kindness and compassion. As does everyone.

    I wish her well and I think when this blows over she will go on to do amazing things and will be remembered for the great things she did contribute.

  23. Hey Beth, I’ve been reading your stuff for ages and really enjoy the way you put the whole she-bang together you know – life, parenting, your house… (wistful sigh). I’ve been tempted in the past to comment but never gotten it together. Thanks for this post, I completely agree and am grateful that you wrote it so that I can simply direct others to it if I am ever asked to discuss this farce again! Sophie

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