I have to say I am a very bad Liberal supporter and must admit I have mixed feelings about Malcolm Turnbull. And it’s not just the Republic thing, although that irks me more than a bit.  What I comes down to, I think, is that he’s smug.  And I hate smugness almost as much as I hate people with overblown egos.  In fact the two are often closely related.

The unfortunate thing is that it’s getting harder and harder to hate him as he may just stand a chance against Rudd and I have to say putting more women in senior positions is endearing.

Actually upon reflection he is actually close to my ideal party leader – economically to the right, has had a successful career before going into politics, able to fund his own and others campaigns, articulate, not overly showy.  It’s really just the republic thing (and the smugness) that is getting in the way.  Well that and his unabated quest for power.  If there’s one thing he seems serious about it’s being in power, although that could also work in his favour as if he does anything too unpopular he’ll loose it.

At the end of the day, I will support any one working to get Rudd out of office.  So he can’t be all that bad, however I am also relishing the idea that it may be a woman that is next in line for the leadership.  Julie Bishop is becoming more and more the woman of the moment (but not quite in the same way that Sarah Palin has overshadowed John McCain) and you know what, I don’t care that she didn’t know the official interest rate this week, because when he first go in Wayne Swann didn’t either.  (That and it’s the RBA that sets the rate not the government).  I think that if the UK and NZ can have a female PM, Japan was considering it, and Sarah Palin will probably take over from McCain as he's almost at his use by date, then we are more than ready for a woman at the helm of government.