Matt Price put it beautifully: It was part West Wing, part Jerry Springer ... and pure Mark Latham.
Having defamed, insulted and accused more people than anyone else in the Federal Parliament, Mark Latham yesterday decided to play the victim, holding "an emotional press conference" (ie there were longish pauses as he fought back the tears) to deny various rumors being put around about him.
It was bizzare. Has a major party leader has never held a press conference quite like what Mark Latham turned on yesterday? The whole saga followed a 40-minute profile by the Nine Network's Sunday program, which aired allegations that he had "king-hit" an older constituent 15 years ago when he was on Liverpool Council in Sydney's west. Not to mention remarks by friends of his former wife claiming she apparently feared him, as well as bucks' party video and sex harassment charge rumours.
Faltering with emotion as he stumbled through his press conference, Latham yesterday adopted a style and demeanour different to last Friday when he joked as he denied punching out a constituent when a Liverpool councillor 15 years ago, and boasted about his sex life before and between marriages.
And of course there was no reminder of his comment to The Bulletin magazine in 2002: "Look, this idea that politics can be too rough and too personal is a bit rich."
But has all this "dirt" damaged him in the way his political opponents might have liked? Probably not. So to come out in a near-tearful defence hardly seems necessary.
While his wish to protect his family is understandable, Mr Latham only a year ago was Labor's parliamentary attack dog who savaged Tony Abbott over actions after he had a child out of wedlock as a young man many years ago. Mr Latham can dish it out but can he take it?
The Opposition Leader says he trusts Australians to judge him by his policies, not his private history. So he should spare us the Bob Hawke-like emotional ordeals.
And as the Hun asks: if he lets transparently grubby tactics upset him this early, how would he deal with a real prime ministerial crisis?
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