The dying days of the Fourth Reich: it's the 2007 AUSTRALIAN FEDERAL ELECTION

Mr Howard said the reason rates had increased was that there were concerns about inflation in the economy.

He said those inflation pressures were coming from three sources.

"The continued strength of the economy, the very fact that our economy is growing strongly, is a predominant cause for this interest rate increase," he said.

The two other ones are unimportant, you guise.

Ah, but in this brand new development (and after several months of him talking up his economic strength (i.e. all he's got)) he has just told the Australian public that he stuffed up. ON THE ECONOMY.

Surely most of his party is crying right about now.

Also his "GO FOR GROWTH" slogan has suddenly vanished.

ha!

I can't wait to see how Murdoch's papers paint this.

ONLY HOWARD CAN SAVE US NOW: EXPERT PANEL

LIBERALS THE SENSIBLE CHOICE IN TOUGH TIMES

RUDD EATS BABIES: SOURCE

Also his "GO FOR GROWTH" slogan has suddenly vanished.

Wait, it's still there, just obscured by an Australian flag.

Hey I just realised something:

"The continued strength of the economy, the very fact that our economy is growing strongly, is a predominant cause for this interest rate increase," (Howard) said.

What he's saying here is "go for growth" = "interest rate hikes"

Presumably that means a vote for Howard is a vote for higher interest rates.

Just wow.

Ross Gittens

So Howard could have called the election well before yesterday's meeting of the Reserve Bank board, but he didn't bother. That may go down as one of the great miscalculations of modern politics.

Rather, he chose a campaign slogan, Go for Growth, that's now proved embarrassingly inappropriate and has had to be ditched. He wanted to claim the credit for the economy's rapid growth and promise that under the Libs it could continue indefinitely, leading us back to full employment.

also

A fortnight ago Howard and Costello were claiming the inflation rate was at its lowest in almost nine years. Now they say there's a lot of inflation in the system so only they can be trusted to manage this "more challenging and difficult economic outlook".

Yep, and until today that would have been difficult for the average Jo(e) to digest. A rate rise followed by Howard APOLOGISING is the most digestible event this year.

And the election's in 2.5 weeks.

lol

http://www.smh.com.au/ffximage/2005/12/13/johnhoward_wideweb__470x313,0.jpg

poor john ;_;

HE AM CRY.

Presumably that was taken earlier, when he realised he's actually gay and will have to stick his doodle into men.

More immaturity: this came into our letterbox today...

http://home.iprimus.com.au/jrsmorrison/Images/100_23.jpg

On Insiders at the weekend, George Megalogenis noted that Liberal advertising doesn't have Howard on the front. I notice yours doesn't, and the one we got yesterday didn't. Meanwhile, every ALP brochure has Rudd all over it. It's a sign that Howard's own members have so little confidence in him that they're going it alone.

Oh and it seems to apply to billboards as well. The only billboards carrying Howard's face are the ALP ones attacking him. MAJOR shift from previous election campaigns.

If anything, if you want a Labor leader who was exactly like Howard, look no further than Mark Latham, whom the left WUVVED.

Almy, are you watching the environment minister debate? Apparently it's on now?

Nah, I'm at work, that other debate was a sick day :)

The Austrailan's headline today: 'Business back PM on rates'. So I wasn't far off yesterday.

Ah that's a shame. I did enjoy the last one.

P'raps I'll liveblog election night, if I'm not out on the streets hugging people and getting pissx0red.

i see that johnny is now trying to claim that 'sorry' is not an apology. hmmm

Oh god, really??

Yesterday he also claimed his interest rate promise in 2004 isn't important, but what is important is the "aggregate impression" of what he said. "Aggregate impression" clearly means "I lied, but OMG LOOK A GORILLA!! <runs>".

TS: "aggregate impression" v "core promise"

The Austrailan's headline today: 'Business back PM on rates'. So I wasn't far off yesterday.

Yesterday's front page of the Daily Telegraph site was "Rates up, but more leave on offer!"

Nevermind that the leave is unpaid and most employers would be willing to give you unpaid leave beforehand anyway (or do I just have a knack for working for people that aren't collosal jerks?)

The IR laws already have provisions for all the leave you could ever want, anyway. It's called "firing you without notice"

v "two-day promise"

xpost

Does anyone honestly trust anything Howard's front bench says anymore?? With interest rates and GST and non-core promises and moving goalposts about inflation/interest rates being good/bad, why the galloping fuck should we suddenly believe this crap about unpaid leave?

Yeah totally. They frustrate the fuck out of me.

For Howard these semantic non-issues are a time-waster at best (or least bad). The master of the "'hey-look-a-gorilla!' then run away" moment is campaigning from behind this time and the more he blusters the less convincing he sounds.

otm

I reckon the ALP's already got it now, but with the current pressures on the Coalition I'm expecting at least one of them to seriously, massively fuck up, in a really really really big way. You know, saying something incredibly dumb (or aggressive) at completely the wrong time, far worse than Abbott's performance last week, and 2-3 days before polling day.

The ALP must be treading on eggshells right now, knowing the crown is just about theirs. Chance of major fuck-up is minimal.

Yesterday's front page of the Daily Telegraph site was "Rates up, but more leave on offer!"

It's entertaining just watching how biased the press is getting right now. Murdoch's rags are desperately trying to turn shit into gold -- so much so that it would look pathetic even to the people who read that shit -- and Fairfax is flaming Howard at every opportunity.

All this bias has been obvious to some of us for months, but neither side is pulling any punches now.

Something like a Latham handshake xp

Oh Jim yes! Look at this from The Age:

He said he was sorry the rise happened but was not apologising for it.

"I said I was sorry they occurred. I don't think I used the word apology," Mr Howard told reporters.

"I think there is a difference between the two things. I think we've been through that debate before in the context of something else."

GEE I WONDER WHAT THAT COULD BE.

As Fred said above, this would have worked for Howard back when he had the upper hand. Labor has successfully painted him (rightly) as a tricky liar, and playing to stereotype like this is just more proof that he knows no other way of functioning.

And pulling this shit two weeks from an election? We're not mugs. It shows how desperate he is to get traction on any issue at all, even the only issue he had a hope in hell of commanding. Now that he's lost economic credibility, all that's left for him is to lie and abuse and flounder in public.

xp Yes, EXACTLY like that. That happened, what, only two days before the election?

I reckon Rudd and all his ministers will be rock-solid (especially after Garrett's blunders), and the Coalition's will start panicking and distancing themselves from Howard, knowing it's their last chance to get a gold star in the history books.

A guy at my work reckons Howard will quit on the 23rd for this very reason. He doesn't want to be remembered as the prime minister to suffer the largest swing in history.

Jack Marx is back.

http://thebulletinelection.ninemsn.com.au/jack_marx.htm

Brilliant.

I think what's significant this time around is that Labor is equipped to debate economic management. Previously Howard could say what he liked and get away with it. Now, Rudd holds him to account for every lie, and knows exactly what he's talking about. This has already wrongfooted the Coalition several times.

Never underestimate the greed/stupidity of the average Australian, though. They've fallen for obvious Coalition bullshit so many times there's no reason to think they won't again.

God, I'm nervous. If Labor doesn't win this time I think I'm off to Sweden.

i'm reminded of the election in futurama

i'm nervous too, i am not going to count on anything.

you can count on some sort of debrief on this thread, at least

true, i am going to stay home on election night and watch tv and read this thread!

Nerves?? I am going out of my head. I wanted the bastard out in 2004, and it didn't happen, and I've been beying for blood ever since.

The pure and simple truth, which I've tried to explain to many people over many years, is that the chances of ANYONE being as furiously bigoted as Howard are so incredibly remote as to make no odds. He's so far to the right he's alienated most of his party. No living ex-PM supports him, even the Liberal ones.

The reason to vote for Rudd is clear: If he turns out to be half the lying, racist, gay-hating arsehole Howard is, we're halfway there.

I am sick to fucking death of being ashamed to be Australian, I really am.

(and I was once a Liberal supporter)

Hey, and I didn't even mention all the wars he started.

Can you tell I'm angry? ANGRY!!

I really dislike my (labor) mp but I still will vote for her (or the Greens)

(Actually probs the Greens coz if I don't my brother's gf will beat me to death)