There seems to be a fair consensus that many people on the "News" forums do not like the Howard Government. Have you decided NOT to vote for John Howard at the next election after browsing the "News" forums?

I don't vote for a party, I vote for the individual that I think will do the best job for my electorate.

Strangely worded question...Nothing against eBlah but I doubt I'm going to make my decision based on what read when I browse in the News forums

As I said in the other thread...I'll make up my mind when I have to...I live in hope that someone worth a damn will rise from the ashes of our democracy and be the kind of person I actually want to vote for.  Nearly 20 years of voting and it hasn't happend yet but there's always a first time eh?  

Quoted from x452

There seems to be a fair consensus that many people on the "News" forums do not like the Howard Government. Have you decided NOT to vote for John Howard at the next election after browsing the "News" forums?

Odd, basically you are asking whether or not people have been successfully influenced by others, you should be voting on what you think, what you want done in your community and where you want to see Australia, not on the others opinion.

Quoted from Paula

I don't vote for a party, I vote for the individual that I think will do the best job for my electorate.

this is exactly my opinion .!! .. to think other wise, would be nothing but biased, ignorant & i think plainly 'corrupt'  !

what i believe happens most,  is that people dont worry about the local electorate, but rather labor vs liberal nationally !

forget this crap of .. " oohh i've been going for so & so for so many years" ! this is just simply the biggest load of biased single minded BS i've heard .

if one is a genuine, honest & an unbiased voter that actually gives a sh*t about Australia's situation .. they will take the decisions genuinly ..( although..really ,most of it either way is a load of BS ) ... then one can only go for the most logical answer available - and of course a proven past helps !
but, having said that , i find the liberals are not in a very good situation as opposed to that proven ( my opinion ) dictator Howard pr*ck !

and like many, im not convinced or persuaded by either side at the moment, but i detest the way Howard is just sooo ignorant & out of touch with mainstream opinion & sucking up the U.S's ar*e completely among other things ..that i will now go against him, just to be defiant like some 13 year old  !   ....i mean, seriously ..where do i go from here?  
i honestly think that this would be many MANY people's Question !!!!!

First I whole heartedly agree with Paula. You should never ever vote on ideological grounds, that is one of the stupidest things I know of. Yet I have continuous arguments in boards (with mainly conservatives) banging my head against a wall because they refuse to vote any other way purely on ideology, without taking a single other factor into account. Their candidate can be the biggest and most corrupt dunce on the planet but as long as they belong to party A then they get the vote.

I am in a real Federal quandry here on the South Coast of NSW. I have personally met John Howard twice in my life, once when he was Treasurer under Fraser and another time when he was the opposition leader. I witnessed him do something despicable, but even before that incident just about all of us who were introduced to him and talked with him came out with very negative impressions of the man. Then he did something which cemented our opinions of him as a deceitful nasty egotistical little man who would stoop to any low to get his way. Long story I won't go into now but if you are interested I can resurrect it.

Believe me, the real John Howard is nothing like the man presented to the media a half dozen times a day (he has three times more tax payer funded PR advisers than Keating had) and in real life is actually a nasty piece of work. After Howard as treasurer lost the election for Fraser (Bottom of the Harbour being just one of his works) he was banished to the darkest areas of the back benches never to be seen in public again. He was very much loathed by most in the party (as can be seen by how much Fraser hates him), but the Coalition were in trouble and going to lose yet another election when a Liberal party power broker found Howard on the back benches and resurrected him. Btw today that very same power broker says that Howard was the most deceitful and power hungry man he has ever worked with and if he had his way again he would never have chosen Howard for party leader.

So I can't stand Howard is a given, but here on the South Coast I have always voted for Joanna Gash (Liberal) ever since I moved here, because she is by far the best candidate for the area and has done great things.

It's not that I don't want to vote for Jonnie....I would NEVER vote for him or any of the Libs....besides both of the major parties have nothing new to give us

I am still not a citizen and have decided that because of that, I will vote for no-one... including John Howard.

Man, I've become a real smart arse recently.

I shall not be voting Liberal because I honestly believe that they are not good for Australia overall and I see John Howard as ignorant, arrogant and mean spirited.
That he has never invited his Treasurer home for a feed in the 11 years that he's been PM speaks volumes.
He may loathe Peter Costello, the person, but he could make the effort to be a gentleman to his own Treasurer and his wife.

I see Kevin Rudd as being far more human, however I shall be voting Independent as that's the persuasion of our sitting Member and he really works for his electorate, is easy to reach and if one wishes to speak to him  and he's not available at the time then he always rings back as soon as he can.