Do we have to talk about Kevin? Apparently we still do

Former prime minister Kevin Rudd has a spray about losing backing for the UN secretary-general post, Sky News, yesterday:

Malcolm felt the pressure of the hard-right wing of his party, having had a narrow win in the last election, and as a result of that lost courage of his convictions, having provided me with multiple assurances privately over many, many months that he would be backing my candidature.

Perhaps the former PM was provoked? Malcolm Turnbull at the UN in New York, Wednesday:

You ask about the people on Manus Island and Nauru? Kevin Rudd put them there, the Labor Party put them there. We have been dealing with Labor’s legacy, their legacy of shame

Liberal National Party senator James McGrath, Twitter, yesterday:

Shut-up Kevin, just shut-up. No-one likes a whiner.

Bill Shorten, yesterday:

I think Malcolm Turnbull has an unhealthy obsession with Kevin Rudd.

Don’t stop ’til you get enough. Fairfax Media’s Bevan Shields, Twitter, yesterday:

Since when did we decide Kevin Rudd isn’t allowed to speak? The haters are extraordinary.

The Australian’s contributing editor Peter van Onselen has had enough, Sky News, yesterday:

Who cares! It’s over! You missed out, Mr Rudd!

While we’re fighting the last war, here’s Tony Nutt at the National Press Club reprising Coalition complaints about the “Mediscare” campaign, yesterday:

It was that complete lie, a cold-blooded lie, was used to callously exploit highly vulnerable people and that’s the important thing and that’s where campaigns should draw the line.

The Coalition seemed to deal fine with this sort of thing in previous campaigns. Mark Latham, speech, 2004:

There’s one goal (John Howard) and his Coalition colleagues have pursued relentlessly for eight years and that’s the destruction of Medicare … Mr Howard is waging war on Medicare. I want to build a fortress around it.

Crikey’s Josh Taylor isn’t happy about the way The Australian cited University of Sydney law professor Patrick Parkinson, Monday:

The Australian neglected to mention that its expert against Safe Schools has a history of work with the Australian Christian Lobby.

Put it that way, Parkinson sounds like a terrible homophobe, right? More from Taylor, Crikey, Monday:

The third (issue) is that Parkinson supports programs in schools to support same-sex attracted students, and students with gender identity issues.

Does Taylor have any affiliations he’d like to declare in his piece? From the NSW Greens website:

Greens Reboot Future Conference 2015 Speakers … Opening Plenary: Defending our Democracy … Josh Taylor … Josh is Journalist at Crikey, with expertise on politics, national security, surveillance, technology and journalist rights. He is also a self-claimed “pop-culture geek”.

The ABC News website uncovers a new form of masochism, yesterday:

If you love me, don’t feed me bacon

Is No 1 “Use it in scotch”? The Age website with more groundbreaking journalism, yesterday:

Easy ways to make water more ­delicious and less boring.