It looks increasingly like the end of the road for Australian prime minister John Howard. His anything-but Liberal Party is expected to be turfed out to make way for the Labour Party when Aussies go to the polls on Saturday.
True to his little neo-con heart, the Troll has resorted to the far right's favourite tool - fear. He warned voters this week of "enormous risks" of changing government, implying some sort of security and economic cataclysm would surely result if Australians chose a full-size prime minister.
So what's the new guy, Kevin Rudd, promising if he's elected? For starters, he'll pull Australian troops out of Iraq. He might even use those bods to increase his country's forces in Afghanistan. He's also promised to sign on to Kyoto and to take a leading role in the push for carbon-emission cuts at next months' Bali conference.
Rudd is also expected to steer Australia away from the United States and more toward Asia.
the Troll has resorted to the far right's favourite tool - fear.
ReplyDeleteFear is used by all parties everywhere. In Canada, for instance, the Liberals are always going on about the tories "hidden agenda". Trudeau used to campaign by saying "vote for me or Quebec will separate."
Hardly just a conservative ploy.
I've always thought that fear was a poor vote getter anyway. The most successful politicians tend to be relentlessly optimistic.
You have a point, Rabbit. It's just that the far right uses fear far more often and applies it much more extremely. Remember Cheney, in 2004, warning that electing Kerry would mean another al-Qaeda attack on the US? Fear delivered that incredibly close election to Bush/Cheney.
ReplyDeleteI seem to remember "Soldiers in the streets, draconian hidden agendas, abortion convictions and many other outrageous comments by the untra-left/progressives in Canada . . . only two years ago!!!
ReplyDeleteAs far as Kerry goes . . . if he ran the CIA, FBI and military like say Klinton . . . another attack probably would have happened by now.
As we all know . . . many have been stopped in the planning stage, even in Canada.
The Liberal party in Australia is a Conservative Party.fear fear, fear, is all they can think about
ReplyDeleteOldschool, you need to go back to school. You won't see Harpo's agenda unless and until he wins a majority. The soldiers in the streets business was vetoed by the Canadian military. Ultra-left? Get real. I suppose anyone who isn't wearing a brown shirt is ultra-left in your wobbly mind. Your suggestion that Cheney was right about Kerry is as laughable as everything else you write.
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