Just Sayin'

Paul Keating Won't Shut The Fuck Up
Look, I like Paul Keating. I liked him as treasurer, I liked him a PM, I liked him with his Banana Republic and Mabo and big gestures - and even that silly head-dress in New Guinea. But most of middle Australia don't. So it bothers me when on the eve of the election, he chimes in with his two cents worth.

The principal reason the public should take the opportunity to kill off the Howard Government has less to do with broken promises on interest rates or even its draconian Work Choices industrial laws, and everything to do with restoring a moral basis to our public life.

Without this, the nation has no standard to rely upon, no claim that can be believed, not even when the grave step of going to war is being considered. When truth is up for grabs, everything is up for grabs.

Cynicism and deceitfulness have been the defining characteristics of John Howard and his Government. They were even brazen enough to oversee the corruption of a United Nations welfare program. And when they were found out, not one of them accepted ministerial responsibility. Not Alexander Downer, not Mark Vaile and certainly not Howard. What they were doing was letting the cockies get their wheat sold through the AWB, while turning a blind eye to the AWB's unscrupulous behaviour - illegally funding a regime Howard was arguing was so bad it had to be changed by force.

Howard took us into the disastrous Gulf War on the back of two lies. One, that Iraq possessed weapons of mass destruction, capable of threatening the Middle East and Western Europe; the other, that Howard was judiciously weighing whether to commit Australian forces against an evolving situation. We now know he had committed our forces to the Americans all along.

If the Prime Minister cannot be believed, who in the political system is to be believed?

Certainly not Bob Collins. There are two explicit points that need to be made.
Explicit Point No.1: Even if you're liked, an ex-prime minister who got so resoundingly voted out should shut the fuck up in this election if he wants to help Kevin Rudd.
Explicit Point No. 2: If these things are so bloody obvious to the idiot masses, how come they didn't vote him out earlier?

Now, I dislike John Howard intensely, for whole chunks of reasons ranging from the environment to welfare to education to health to taxation to economic management, even. I am actually getting excited at the thought that the reign of little dishonest Johnnie could be coming to an end within 72 hours from now. It's actually suddenly galvanising me, though I don't know why. I sure as hell don't expect Rudd to be some kind of saviour - He's Kevin Rudd for fuck's sake. :)

I think it's because I know the Angry Fat Man will take it personally. And cry. And whine and moan and bitch, blaming the 'extreme' left-bias of the media (or some-such crapola). But mostly, I can't wait to see Johnnie's sad-ass concession speech and drink a toast to that! As Arnie tells Michael Ironside in 'Total Recall' as Ironside's character Richter falls from a great height without his arms: "See you at the Pahr-ty, Richter!"