Here we are, just past the festive season when everything...

Here we are, just past the festive season when everything political drops off the radar, and after which a government almost always comes back re-energised and buoyed.

Almost always!

At the beginning of this "non ratings season" the PM has poked Wilkie in the eye, broken yet another promise, made her trustworthiness the central issue [again] and now seems to have her fingerprints over a disgraceful effort to tarnish Abbott with a racist smear. Unfortunately for her, it appears to be back-firing big time.

Those with an attention span over 5 minutes for political matters will recall that when Brendan Nelson rose to make his speech at the "Sorry Day" ceremony, a section of the crowd rudely turned their backs on him - this misguided protest was initiated by two of Rudd's baby media advisers. Labor has demonstrated form when it comes to dog-whistling on this issue and trying to smear the Opposition.

One would have thought Gillard would have learned from Rudd's error and have the smarts to employ media guys who are at least old enough to shave. Alas, she did not. Only the most naive would imagine a junior pup like Hodges would have initiated this off his own bat. he would have run it past his superiors. Given that Abbott made his innocuous comments in Sydney after 10am and the unruly demonstration happened only a few hours later, it seems unlikely the PM would have been consulted about the tactic. However, that her team of Hollow Men consider such a disgraceful tactic as worth pursuing says much about the culture engendered in the PM's office - a culture that Richo describes as "Whatever it takes".

Early 2012 will be an interesting time politically. I still think Rudd is dreaming if he thinks he can come back - but if he tries and is rebuffed or fails, you wouldn't put anything past him in revenge.

For all the negative press Abbott gets from a largely Labor biased gallery,, the fact is that he knocked off Turnbull, then a once popular PM in the space of less than 9 months. The polls show he is relentlessly destroying Gillard's authority and it is reasonable to assume he will add her scalp to his belt before mid year. Even with the power at her disposal she is no match for him politically. The question is -what will Labor do? They face a long spell in the political wilderness I suspect. At least there will be plenty of time to re-discover what and who they represent. Trying to appeal to both urban chardonnay sipping greenies and the traditional blue collar vote is a bridge too far. They loathe each other and have little in common. Dangerous times ahead for Labor. Richo and Mark "Slugger" Latham are both right when they say Labor's future is on the line.