Two years ago today it was the Tuesday before the Saturday election that saw the Howard government swept from office. Everyday until the 24th, I’ll repost an article from this day in 2007 – reliving the last rather hectic/tragic/comedic days of that historic election campaign. A trip down memory lane if you will.
It’s also really worth reading the comments sections of the original articles to not only get a feel for the vibe of the day, but also to laugh at the nervous ALP supporters! 
I’ll drop a link in to the original comments section at the bottom of each of these posts.
Today’s article is:
It’s true – they’ve gone mad and eaten Mark Textor.
OK, let’s try to follow the logic.
We have the Coalition that is well behind in the polls and where one of the primary reasons, if not the primary reason for the thumping the electorate is giving them is the impact (real and imaginary) of Workchoices on peoples lives.
It’s electoral poison. The policy that dares not speak its name is not spoken of for a reason – very bad things happen to the Coalition vote when it starts getting mentioned.
So Howard, in his current state of madness, thinks it’s a really spiffy idea to come out and not only throw the focus back onto Workchoices, but say:
“If we win on Saturday then the reforms that we have brought about will never be reversed by a future federal Labor government…. They will become part of the furniture. They will become so embedded in our business and workplace culture that no future Labor government would be able to reverse them.”
WTF?
Vote for us and the policy that you hate the most will be guaranteed to exist forever?
What sort of madness is that?
It makes Howard look like he’s not only arrogant, but that he hates the part of the electorate that changed votes because of Workchoices, and is hell bent on punishing them for it.
I don’t know what drug induced focus groups that intellectual gem came out of, but I’d be asking for my money back. Even if the Coalition is cutting its losses over the Workchoices vote in the east and is just trying to shore up support in WA where they think Workchoices plays better (as well as with the nonsense conviction vote spiel) – they’re still risking a further swing away from them in their soft vote in the East. Especially from those people that don’t like Workchoices but aren’t yet convinced to vote Labor. Looking arrogant, out of touch and having the whiff of retribution about you is simply not a good look.
When we take into account the fact that the Coalition knew that their Workchoices Mk II documents were going to be raised in public as they successfully blocked FOI attempts over them, and that this would inevitably make them look devious and untrustworthy over further IR reform – why would you say what Howard said above?
Either the Liberal strategy team are complete tools, or they’ve all gone mad and eaten Mark Textor.
UPDATE:
To add fuel to the fire, now we have Barnyard Joyce saying he’ll support the ALP IR legislation in the Senate.
What a circus.
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The original comments thread can be seen here.
15 Comments
“Barnyard Joyce saying he’ll support the ALP IR legislation”
A) I’m fascinated that he was already dubbed Barnyard back then, i didn’t remember that and
B) I can’t remember, surely he didn’t end up voting for it?
As for it being a circus, correct me if i’m wrong but wasn’t this also a day or two BEFORE the Lindsay leaflet scandal?
Oh good grief
Great stuff poss, i’m hanging out for tomorrow now.
Possum I remember when we all felt nervous and YOU kept dragging us back from the brink of despair, glory days. My one regret is that I did not set my vcr to record the early ABC election coverage, my other half and I were driving back from handing out for Mike kelly up at Kosiosko and heard the early predictions on the radio. It was all over bar the shouting by the time we reach Queanbeyan leagues club. Keep up the good work.
I bought a 5-hour tape for the occasion and have watched it once since, but the wife thinks it just plain wierd when I suggest we watch it instead of Jennifer Aniston’s latest offering.
I think the nerves were partly due to the fact that Labour had been in winning positions within 6 months of each of the previous three elections and choked, combined with the nonchalant attitude of most conservative commentators with regard to the polls. It was as if they knew something the rest of us didn’t.
William, if you live near Queanbeyan then we don’t live too far apart. We might be able to come to an arrangement with copying that video?? Seems an awful shame for anyone to be deprived of it. My favourite bit is when Nick Minchin tries to suggest that Labor would be gutted by their failure to pick up Sturt.
That was a pretty funny moment!
I was unfortunately out of the country at this time in ‘07, so watching it for the first time with the knowledge that there’s a happy ending is a lot of fun.
I wasn’t even near a TV or radio, as it happened, so lived off 3 week old newspaper clippings that my beloved mailed me. Ah, good memories.
DrMick I live in Canberra and would be delighted to back it up to a disc.Then I could relive the moments in my dotage just thinking that just once we all made a difference. perhaps possum can put us in touch via email whatever.
Yeah. I live in Canberra so if we both send Poss emails, he can exchange them for us. I’ll make sure the video still works too. Its been sitting in a filing cabinet in the garage for ages.
Drop me an email and tell me the mail address you each want the other to have.
I watched the election until 7-30 pm when the kids started watching “The Empire Strikes Back” on another channel, and I went to the internet (but in the same room to keep trak of Star Wars!). I videotaped the ABC election coverage but didn’t notice when one tape ran out and missed the crucial ten minutes or so around about 9 pm when it was obvious Labor had won. Always wished I had had a VCR in 1993!
I am always a bit amused by everyone in these broadcasts talking about “how we will get better as the night goes on” etc – the reality is that after the polls close nothing that any of them say will make a difference.
Rudd to Howard (about his father) “He told me enough! He told me you killed him.”
Howard “No, I am your father.”
I decided after that election that I will never ever work for the AEC at a polling place again- stuff being part of the Democtratic process, I didn’t get to enjoy watching the Libs suffer in their jocks, and by the time I got home it was well and truly all over…
I told my colleagues a few days before the election we were on a winner cos a Possum told me so, handed out HTVs in redneck country and made it back to the candidate’s post election party venue a bit early, staffed the phone that was sending in the local individual booth results which consisted of me shouting out loud “We’ve got a 19% swing to us at such and such a booth” to the surrounding mob who were watching the big TV and then repeating that a few mins later with an equally stunning result from another place and then another and so on, whilst the mob were getting progressively more and more inebriated on alcohol and excitement as the TV was mirroring what I was shouting and the only sober person in the place was the candidate and then the cherry on top arrived on the TV with Maxine exacting just retribution on Honest John.
What a night, the sun rose after years of darkness.
nothing worse than being the only sober one in the room or arriving late and trying to catch up but a great result
I noticed the St Kevin moniker in the ‘Going, going’ comment on Nov 20 2007. I didn’t realise that was used way back then. Does anyone know the first usage of the term?
1. Going, going…
Posted November 20, 2007 at 2:05 pm | Permalink
@hergs, why should St Kevin expend the effort digging JWH’s grave when JWH is happily digging it himself?