The Genius of John Howard
6 Comments Published by Tom Gara on Friday, November 23 at Friday, November 23, 2007.
Can't stand the guy and what his party has stood for in the last ten years, but he is a brilliant politician. In his last message to the country before election day, he appeals to the risk-averse voters, that enormous swath of Australia who are indebted up to the eyeballs with cheap mortgages and enjoying the fruits of one of the world's best performing economies. People in Australia have gotten seriously rich, and seriously in debt, in the last five years. His key message: Why risk change when everything is so good? It is a fundamentally tame, unexciting vision, and I hope he loses. But I get the sinking feeling this kind of talk is exactly what a huge chunk of Australians want to hear:
"Australia will not be the same if the nation elects a Labor-union government.It will be an interesting day on Sunday...
We must all be mindful that there are some dark economic clouds on the horizon with the credit squeeze and a possible downturn in the US economy. For Australia, this global uncertainty will require extremely careful economic management. Otherwise, inflation will rise and this could mean interest rates rise too.
Only a Coalition Government can successfully navigate our $1.1 trillion economy through these uncertain times. One wrong move by inexperienced amateurs could lead to an inflation breakout and inevitably a significant lift in interest rates. This would directly affect every Australian household."
What an utter bastard the lying rodent is!
I'll be voting tomorrow (Saturday) and hope the government get kicked out on their backside.
By the way, any particular reason you were referring to Sunday as the election day?
because i thought it was on sunday :)
vote once again for me would you? apparently because I have been out of country for more than two years, I am struck from the electoral roll!
not that it would have made much difference - my seat (Mayo) is one of the safest Liberal seats in the country, and has been held by Alexander Downer for like 23 years...
I was lucky enough to return to Oz as the election was called so I had time to re-enrol.
I'm based in Hindmarsh, a marginal Labor seat.
I was just in Mayo today and I bet the locals there aren't being bombarded with political spam like the rest of us. They probably don't even know elections are happening... Dolly Downer will continue running his fiefdom like usual...
Don't underestimate the power of apathy and good old fashioned fuckwittery - this is the nation that wholeheartedly ignored past events like the children overboard thing, a foreign minister who happens not to know what our largest wheat exporter is doing, and a myriad of other things.
Yet, all it takes is a bit of dog shit on a stick waved in the face of the electorate while someone yells "You don't want this now do you? Do you? Don't risk it!"
random question, do you know luke b? he's interning down in Cairo, fellow cornellian/@er. yadda yadda.
(btw I'm not stalking you I promise!)
its over! Howard is gone! Ding Dong the witch is dead! Ceeeeeeelebrate good times come on! Let's party like it's 1972...