[Craig]

Originally Posted by Slow Love™

Interesting question that underlines some of the pragmatism in politics. IMO Costello's a toad and a fraud, who's happy to occupy whatever package will make him go down best. If he has to appeal to the worst in people, he'll do it. If he sniffs something different in the wind, he'll be that, too. On the other hand, Abbott's fairly open and honest in his convictions. I've long thought that Abbott is more Howard's favorite than Costello is, but some of Abbott's positions on health issues have probably placed him at odds with a fair section of the party, so his leadership aspirations have been largely curtailed for the time being.

Personally, I think Abbott is a far more effective politician than Costello, and articulates his ideas and opinions extremely well. In fact, he writes much better op-eds than the majority of professional conservative commentators.

Having said that, if my choices were down to these men only, I'd prefer Costello. Basically, Abbott simply represents too much of what I oppose. In the long run though, we'll probably find our choices are different to what we expected, post Howard.

Surely Howard won't go on for much longer?

I suppose that could be a factor if people want a change, is just that because he has been in power for 10 years and people might want somebody new.