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

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"

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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)

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.

On Today Tonight/ACA last night they had the inevitable story about interest rates, but a few people were still staying "better the devil you know". What the fuck is wrong with bogans.

Also I don't know if it is more hilarious that bogans are blaming Howard for rate rises (sample quote: "I expected it with the government at the moment") or frustrated that they are annoyed that their cost of living is going up; oblivious to the fact that THE WHOLE FUCKING POINT OF INTEREST RATE RISES is to get these people to downgrade to a house they can actually afford, and stop living off credit cards, and generally SPEND LESS THAN YOU EARN BECAUSE IT IS BREAKING THE ECONOMY

BTW people should be watching ACA tonight, it looks like they are going to have an epic story where they systematically tell you why every foreign race is evil.

frustrated = frustrating

I suspect most people will have federal leaders in mind when they vote this time. National politics hasn't hogged newspaper headlines all year for nothing. :)

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Sadly, not that genuine stud (or that gay sex symbol himself, Wilson "Ironbar" Tuckey) but the rather lovely MP for Adelaide.

-- King Boy Pato, Monday, 15 October 2007 13:50 (3 weeks ago) Link

very lovely. noting that her electorate offices are in NAILSWORTH

from her website:

Kate has also spoken in parliament about victims of international crime, eating disorders and broadband, among other issues.

what a victim of broadband?

they are annoyed that their cost of living is going up; oblivious to the fact that THE WHOLE FUCKING POINT OF INTEREST RATE RISES is to get these people to downgrade to a house they can actually afford

True, but there's no such thing as a cheap house anymore, unless you live in Oodnadatta.

This is where the "interest rates are lower now than... etc etc" line falls flat on its face.

BTW people should be watching ACA tonight, it looks like they are going to have an epic story where they systematically tell you why every foreign race is evil.

Wait there while I feign surprise.

online gamblers

facebook addicts

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Oooh, Turnbull would appear to be losing Wentworth.

Just imagine if this is a comprehensive slaying. Just imagine.

gambling/facebook = internet victims, rather than broadband ones?

xp

very lovely. noting that her electorate offices are in NAILSWORTH

Yeah - the Libs would have their electorate office in UNLEY.

Speaking of Kate Ellis, not that I need any more encouragement to vote for her, but she sent me TWO fridge magnets today...compared to the shitty letter that the Fourth Reich sent to me yesterday.

Whatever who r you? *curious*

noting that her electorate offices are in NAILSWORTH

-- whatever

Ha! I just got that one. Took a while.

I thought it was because Nailsworth is home of The Big Scotsman??

Ah, the Big Scotsman. I used to live just up the road from that. It is truly hideous.

By the way, what DO you people here do on election night? Our tradition is having a few like-minded friends over, eating comfort food and getting horribly pissed to dull the pain (and it's been pain every time--the first election I was old enough to vote in was '96, when Howard got in).

Usually we watch the ABC and cry.

Last night I realised a couple of things:

1. Is the rate rise good for Labor? Given the amount of time and energy Rudd and his ministers have invested since Wednesday talking about it, I think that answers the question. Expect Labor swings. (Incidentally, Sportingbet's and Centrebet's odds are still fiercely against the Coalition.)

2. Everything Howard has gotten away with since 1996 is biting him on the arse right now. First indigenous affairs (the weird Damascus road conversion two days before he called the election), then the findings about Haneef's extradition being rigged, then his interest rate promise on Wednesday, and yesterday his refusal to say sorry. It's a bit like his life is flashing before our eyes. Expect more.

3. Last night on Lateline, Rudd mentioned being influenced by prime ministers including Whitlan, Hawke and Keating. If Latham or Beazley had mentioned any of them in a positive light, it'd have been political suicide. This more than anything indicates how much perceptions of Labor have changed since 2004.

Regarding sorry not being an apology: Howard's been playing this game for decades. He knows that if he says sorry in any context, the country will (a) see it as an apology and (b) will draw links to his stubbornness over the reconciliation issue.

The fact that Wednesday's "sorry" was definitely an apology, and that he is now definitely backpedalling, shows just how greatly he's lost his touch.

Oh, and he's blaming Labor for taking his "sorry" out of context, a statement which will piss off Labor, all the press and every voter with a mortgage.

http://www.pollbludger.com/689

"I am the Prime Minister, I am not an English teacher," Mr Howard said.

You're the one playing semantics, you ugly fuck.