Not happy, David

Larvatus Prodeo, a Left blog, has been discussing David Marr’s essay on Kevin Rudd: 

Mark Bahnisch: I’m sure Marr would not like his own public career to be assessed on the basis of a reductive argument that one emotional state, putatively the result of childhood trauma, determines his entire life, and I’m not at all sure that he’s done anyone much of a service by doing that to Kevin Rudd, whatever his private failings may or may not be. 

Oldhack: Sounds like a jilted lover getting his revenge while all the usual suspects lap it up and spread the story with glee. How long will they keep this vendetta going? If I were Rudd I’d be angry too… no – ‘angry’ doesn’t quite do it. 

robbo: Until the last few days I had immense respect for Marr, no more. How sad that the one Journo I thought had some integrity seems no better than the peers he so publicly despises. 

CMMC: Marr shows his true colours when he derides the residents of the mythical “Bumcrack East” as he is so fond to do, these are lesser mortals who occupy any other Postcode range outside the Upper North Shore. 

Leda Burt: Anger is a valid emotion, some say it is the shadow side of positive qualities, such as passion for fairness and justice. Was Gandhi angry, was Mandela? Yes. I’m not putting Rudd in their league and like many am super disappointed with the ETS back down … I feel David Marr’s lack of compassion and steel like decimation of another reveals something even darker than he accuses Rudd of. 

anthony nolan: Marr’s article presents Rudd in the bitchiest possible way and is a big time get square. Mealy mouthed and bitchy. 

patrickg: I previously held a lot of respect for Marr, but if this doesn’t represent an bald attempt to cash in cheaply, I don’t know what would. 

john: This essay is just crap. I live in Kevin Rudd’s seat, and have met him several times, and this essay is glorified gossip. What David Marr reckons isn’t worth the ink it’s written in.

Sam: Marr is bitchy, as only a well-connected, inner city Sydney gay man can be, but that doesn’t make his analysis of Rudd faulty. Rudd is a prick with big hang ups. Nonetheless, I’ll be giving Labor my first preference and hope that Rudd emerges from the election as PM. Will you?

Patricia WA: My own impression of Rudd’s persona, necessarily public via hundreds of media shots, is of a generally genial and friendly kind of man around whom children, hospital patients and staff seem quite comfortable. He seems to have a genuinely loving relationship with a warm and successful woman. He doesn’t seem afraid of physical contact either with the public at large or his wife.

Megan: Of course Kevin Rudd was angry! David Marr was messing around with his personal myth-making. Lots of leaders have myths and they are particularly precious about the ones they create and put about themselves. The trouble with Rudd is that his meteoric rise to the top has left little time to substantiate the myths he has been propagating about himself from Kevin 07. Now it’s all starting to implode. Will he make it???

Labor Outsider: Ex-staffers won’t comment on the record until Rudd is no longer in power. Most still have careers that could be negatively affected by such public comments.

Fran Barlow: Between “worst PM since Whitlam” and “one of the best PMs ever” there is a lot of ground. Personally, I’d rank Whitlam as Australia’s best PM ever, with daylight to second. I’m not even sure who number 2 would be he’s so far back. It could be Rudd. Howard would almost certainly be the worst, all things considered.

Sam: every well-connected, inner city Sydney gay man that I know, and I know a lot of them, is bitchy. That’s not necessarily a criticism. Some stereotypes exist for a reason.

David G: Sam, are you suggesting that Rudd is gay because he’s bitchy?

Patricia WA: I find it hard to write coherent opinion lately, I feel so frustrated by most debate, even here.

adrian: The fact that Marr’s piece has generated such heat says more about the current state of political commentary in this country than anything else.

Typo Rex: Marr’s a self-righteous, pompous hack, like the rest of them. Next!

anthony nolan: The trouble with Marr’s rubbish is that it will influence frothing inner city nitwits who don’t have the capacity for or historical knowledge for critical reading.

john: Did he really slander George Georges? Marr is a bastard.

Source: Larvatus Prodeo

See also Rudd Marred