A key Kevin Rudd ally, federal minister Kim Carr, has accused Julia Gillard's camp of dirty tricks as senior ministers begin to speak out in favour of their former leader.

The Manufacturing Minister, who was demoted in a Cabinet reshuffle in December, says Mr Rudd is the victim of a "campaign of vilification" by senior members of the Government.

From David Marr

Whether this was kindness or funk, the voters were left without a narrative; Gillard was left without legitimacy; and Rudd, with his depthless self-belief, was left to portray himself as a martyr and to campaign for his resurrection.

Think how different the political landscape would be today if on the morning of June 24, 2010, the new Prime Minister and the Treasurer had explained themselves with the candour they have shown in the past 36 hours.

Had Gillard said then, ''I did everything I could to salvage the situation . . . to try to get the government functioning'', we would have liked her more and doubted her less. The narrative would have been about rescue not sabotage. The euphemisms she used to shield Rudd left her cruelly exposed.

Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/opinion/politics/total-candour-was-only-way-to-stop-him-20120223-1tqs9.html#ixzz1nG38b2X2

Catholics divided in the House

THE Catholic Church, traditionally a Labor heartland, is fast colonising the Liberal Party. A Herald analysis shows as many Catholics on the front bench of the Federal Opposition as that of the Government.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2012-02-24/cassidy-labor-leadership-spill-resentment/3850672?WT.svl=theDrum

In my book The Party Thieves, I wrote that the leaks against the Gillard Government during the 2010 election campaign "was the greatest act of political bastardry in a generation".

I had no way of knowing who was behind them. But that's not the point.

What matters is that so many senior government ministers genuinely believe that Kevin Rudd was responsible.

Yet until now, few people have understood the depth of hatred and resentment that such a belief can spawn.

The ministers believe he sabotaged his own party at the height of an election campaign, surely the most heinous of political crimes.

Yet still some senior political journalists speculate that Rudd can again lead the Labor Party. Such conjecture defies logic. 

...

The true mentality at work in the Government was exposed in this leadership contest.

They bellow about who is best equipped to beat Tony Abbott.

Can you believe that? They are in government, but it's all about some Opposition Leader.

Truly pathetic.

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Yes Barrie, the bastrardry of leaks was unforgiveable...

No Barrie. What's pathetic is that the media has been spinning that line of "who is best equipped to beat Tony Abbott"... Most of the Labor MPs don't care and are prepared to put their political life on the line to do the right thing and go with Julia till policies are "secured".

... The contest is about who can deliver "tough just and right policies" at this point in time. Kevin, in a popularist move, is already talking of watering down the hard yards made by Julia... He's an idiot. A popular idiot like Abbott... But the media is hell bent on promoting the "popular" side of both men, not their idiocy.

more from the Sunday Telegraph...:

Kevin Rudd was the Labor Party's great big dirty secret.

Mr Rudd said reports that he called the Prime Minister a ''childless, atheist, former Communist'' at a hotel in Adelaide were wrong.

"I don't have any recollection of having said anything of the sort,'' he said.

Mr Rudd made a plea for the party to listen to the Leader of the House, Anthony Albanese, who came out in support of Mr Rudd yesterday.

Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/opinion/political-news/rudd-rejects-suggestions-of-a-third-leadership-candidate-20120226-1tw2w.html#ixzz1nRTRQLsT

Rudd has a senior moment... He does not have "any recollection"... But this does not mean he did not say it, nor thought it...

All the nasty stuff about Rudd that is coming out has been common knowledge in the media for quite a long time... But the media was waiting for him to challenge Julia (before going public on KRudd's antics) because the media at large does not like Julia... Then once the soufflé-king was back in, the media would have dumped on Rudd with this and MORE on his crappy behaviour. This is why Therese HAS TO ANNOUNCE that "he is a changed man" which is total crap of course...

Thus now, hopefully Rudd will be dumped forever... Who knows, the media will hold back on the dirt and push him to do another "populist" challenge. He might be idiotic enough to be lured again... to the great delight of Mr Abbott, the other dummy...

No mention of the allegations of dysfunctional government under Mr Rudd's prime ministership - just a reminder of the things that had been achieved by this Labor government: the national broadband network, the price on carbon (Rudd made a fair fist of claiming these on Friday), the minerals resource rent tax, education and health reform.

She talked about having the courage to make hard political decisions, putting the nation first, no matter what the popularity polls say.

Ms Gillard said she had the opportunity to see Tony Abbott up close every day. ''And friends, most days he reminds me of a two-year-old who is tired and having a tantrum. He's so enthralled by the tantrum he has forgotten why he is having it, and he has no ability to explain what he wants to stop having it.''

Kevin Rudd treated Labor's most powerful people with contempt, and when he needed their help they struck him down.

The head of the Australian Workers Union, Paul Howes, spoke to the Treasurer shortly before Wayne Swan launched his bitter personal attack on Kevin Rudd last week. "Go hard," he urged Swan. Swan owes much of his political career to the patronage of the union, Australia's biggest and the mainstay of his faction, the Queensland Right. So his jeremiad against Rudd represented his personal view but also the view of the AWU and its factional outgrowth.

Swan didn't need much encouragement. His attack was so vitriolic that it surprised even Howes. "I told Wayne to go hard, but not that hard," he later remarked to colleagues.

THE Australian Federal Police have moved to a full-scale investigation of the leak of damaging video footage of Kevin Rudd repeatedly swearing and banging a desk, which helped trigger February's leadership spill.

The federal police at first said it was not investigating the leaked video, which showed out-takes from a recording made within the prime minister's office during Mr Rudd's leadership, which were anonymously uploaded on YouTube.

Later, the federal police said it had received a referral and was ''evaluating the information provided''.