b4cc16ba8a66…

In fact, the whole election was pretty damn apathetic.

Biggest issues appeared to be the 7% interest rate under the Liberal party, which has gone up about 4(?) times since the last election. When the Libs pointed out that interest rates have consistently climbed over 10% under a Labour government, people just seemed to shrug their shoulders and go ‘ehh’

The perpetual media myth about whether or not Howard would ‘stay the full term’ (despite the fact that you do NOT vote for the leader of the party in an Australian election, rendering the whole thing irrelevant) was brought up again. When pointed out that Labour has consistently stabbed their leaders in the back for over a decade (Hawke, Keating, Beazley, Crean, Latham and now Rudd, and I bet I’ve forgotten a few), people once again appeared to shrug their shoulders and go ‘ehh’

Ultimately the election was, as I said, pretty apathetic and also very vapid. The whole thing appeared to be more about image and ‘change’ than… anything political.

What I have found to be an interesting observation is that when things in Iraq were not exactly going swimmingly, conservatives were elected/reelected in Australia, Japan, Poland, Germany and (albeit more recently) France. And now that things are definitively starting to come together over there, Conservatives are getting chucked out of office. Quite possibly (and somewhat ironically) because the news media appears to be reporting less about Iraq since there’s less bad news to be reported. Either that or everyone is just damn bored of it.

Another (shorter) rap battle. My personal favourite of the two, actually

Good point…the media will make much of Bush causing the downfall of his allies like Howard, Blair and Aznar, but when conservatives like Sarkozy and Merkel get elected, it’s got nothing to do with Bush.

flipflop on November 24, 2007 at 10:43 AM

I hate to quote myself, but did I call it or what?

Mr. Howard’s defeat, after 11 years in power, follows that of José María Aznar of Spain, who also backed the United States-led invasion of Iraq, and political setbacks for Tony Blair of Britain.

aengus on November 24, 2007 at 1:48 PM

Yes, you are correct, but I think that Australian politics might be entering a different phase. I do realize that that might just be wishful thinking on my part. Getting a no-confidence vote out of this parliament would take something drastic (not even to address standard elections), though there are lots of issues these days that might serve that purpose.

Too funny. Betcha he does the same at the next G7 summit.

Australia is not a member.

No big deal. The lefty government will fall within a year and they will have new elections.

Sometimes the instability of party-oriented parliamentary systems is a good thing.

Australian electoral trends suggests that if anything they could be in government for the next three or four election cycles.

The Aussie’s are going down the loo mates.

Hopefully this is a temporary brain fart on the part of our southern hemisphere brethren, and they will correct the situation soon.

From MM’s site:

It won’t stop the Bush Derangement crowd from crowing that the loss is a proxy referendum on America and the war. But they see everything as a referendum on America and the war.

Aussies, especially the younguns, read up well on yer history, and find out why you are so free, and who your real friends have been.

I commented before that Australia is one of the most beautiful and interesting places to visit. However, the Aussies, as adorable as they are, are way more docile than I’d imagined them to be, i.e. taxes, socialism, masses rolling over…I was saddened, having expected them to be more rugged than Americans.

This is the future of the free world, until China subjugates it all. Mr. Rudd, in historic terms, will have been just the first of the ones to make nice with the new masters. The WoT will have been but a blip.

That Mr. Howard lost to someone named Maxine, for those who know, makes it very symbolic.

Guess China and India aren’t “industrialized”.

On the war side, if Australia decided to pull their combat troops out, I would tell them to pull the rest of their troops out as well.

Sometimes the instability of party-oriented parliamentary systems is a good thing.

Which Democratic presidential candidates are in favor of signing Kyoto?

bnelson44 on November 24, 2007 at 11:40 AM

About all of them

http://www.ontheissues.org/News_Global_Warming.htm

Both of those gentlemen are great orators and would jump at the chance to get redemption of their support for US in the WOT.

I think its been proven that both of these guys are very well liked in the US