Tim Blair

"Congratulations for not pulling a Spain, Aussies!"

Erm, maybe coz that's because no terrorist group BLEW THE FUCK out of a commuter train?

Maybe?

Regardless, well done to the Man of Steel and his Liberal team. The schadenfreude of seeing and hearing lefty reactions has made this result xxtra sweeeeeet!

I will enjoy seeing Kerry's sister crawl home with her tail between her legs.

I hope now Bush will start mentioning Australia when he lists coalition leaders he talks to. (I guess he didn't mention Howard last night because he didn't want to say anything that might affect the election.)

After reviewing Latham's concession, I was reminded of Sally Fields. Shouldn't Latham have been crying and saying, "You don't like me! You _really_ don't like me!"

The ALP secured my vote for the 2004 election a long time ago, on the evening of the 2001 election, to be precise. For the Liberal Party, that is. I hadn't put the Libs as my first preference that day, and had never previously done so. I actually believed the ALP was sincere, albeit reluctant, when they claimed to have closed the policy gap with the Libs on illegal immigration, and there was no difference between the parties on this issue. I thought that self-preservation, common decency and common sense had finally prevailed within the ALP against the Socialist Left faction's attempt to undermine western liberal democracy. But as the votes came in proving that Australians really really really didn't want a muslim invasion despite their dislike of the GST, the ALP representative on one of the TV election coverage panels began backsliding, saying that the ALP shouldn't have adopted an anti-infiltration facade. I haven't forgotten that glimpse of the ALP's true colours. It’s seared – seared – in my memory. And leftoids have the nerve to claim Howard is a liar!

To spell out the name of the former American Vice President as "Algore" is discourteous.

The correct spelling is "Al-G'ore."

Thank you.

I lloooovvvveee Australia!

Thank you for having a testosterone country.

Good job Australians.

One more bit of history separating the anglosphere from continental europe.

I think it's time for a Fosters. Or whatever Australian beer I should be drinking.

Oh, and media reaction here in the US: sound of crickets and a soft breeze through the willows.

Much is owed to the tireless (tiresome?) efforts of the Yanks Diana Kerry and Scott Forbes (who?)

BigRam: surely you haven't forgotten Bali? And isn't the second anniversary of that attack right around the corner? The perfect time to deliver a resounding F*** OFF to the whiners and the political equivalent of the Battered Wives Club - the ``Oh, it's our fault, we must have done something to make them angry'' crowd.

And OK, I realize that Margo is a loon, but doesn't she have editors? Or has she got a no-spellcheck clause in her contract?

Unless there's an Australian variant that I'm not familiar with, she also spelled 'moniker' 'monikere' in one of her rebuttals to a commenter.

F7 Margo, F7!

Margo is planning to take a month off before coming back and coralling the Forces of "Good" to defeat "Howard's Australia"? Umm, that's what I like about the looney left -- they have such a strong work ethic, and such realistic goals and objectives.

This is a perfect time for some celebratory skywriting.

Oh, and nothappyjohn.com has vanished.

Oh wait, it's back, unchanged.

Margo tells us this election marks "the begininning of a new era".

The sweetest part of the victory is lefty comments like this:

Thanks Margo, for giving dissent your best shot. Your continued optimism amazes me.

Unfortunately, after personally witnessing the concentration camps and barbarity at Woomera in 2001-2, I have lost all faith in this nation.

This election has just cemented my belief that Australians will sacrifice any ideals and principles for their own self-interest and material gain.

I'm leaving Australia permanently ASAP.

A great many lefties said they would leave the country if John Howard won again. I hope this more than any other election promise is kept.

As Sergio points out, here in the States, it's crickets chirping because Howard kicked ass.

Had thugee Latham won, they'd have interrupted college football broadcasts to say Bush's Coalition was collapsing, etc.

It's the dog that didn't bark that makes this sooo sweet for us Yanks.

PS--The historic Afghani elections went off without all the dreaded calamities occuring which means the US media will have to discredit it on that dodgy 'boycott' angle lest Bush look good there as well.

I'll be drinking Aussie tonight and cranking Cosmic Psychos' "Hooray Fuck"!!!

Must take issue with this, Tim:

"Margo has lost all sense of history, as well as any ability to spell:"

I've never seen evidence that Margo had any ability to spell, so how can she have lost it?

(At least she's got a month off to wallow in self-pity.)

Annalucia, right you are! And let's not forget that deadly bombing near the Australian embassy in Djakarta recently. The Islamofascists are desperately trying to influence elections in Australia, the US, Britain, and every other Western country. This is no time to go wobbly, and Australia certainly didn't disappoint in that regard. For that, Thanks!

A lot of Americans like me are heaving huge sighs of relief today. I'd tip a VB if I could find one...

Le Monde headline:

"We all come a-waltzing Matilda today"

Or maybe not...

So, if the lefties leave Australia because Howard won (yea, Howard!), maybe this time they really will leave the U.S. when Bush wins (last time they threatened, but alas we haven't gotten rid of Streisand and Alec Baldwin and the like yet! So where will they all go? France? Germany? I personnally suggest a nice long trip to the deepest darkest Middle East, where they can learn about "tolerance".

Aussies, here's another Yank who loves you. I think it's terrific that you re-elected Howard. Don't hold your breath waiting waiting for anyone to keep a promise to leave the country if Howard won. Several of our idiot actors have previously made similar promises, but never keep them.

We'll watch your back; please continue to watch ours. We don't need the Frogs and the Krauts-we'll take the Brits and the Aussies anytime.

Congrats to the Coalition supporters.

I just love a country whose number 2 patrotic song (after their national anthem) is about a guy who steals a sheep and commits suicide rather than get arrested.

As I have said before, if fate did not make me American, I would wish my grandparents got on a boat for Australia.

If you want to read a really cool summation of the election result
check this out

I'm so stoked. What a great result.

I can't wait to go back to Uni - there are going to be some very glum lefty-loonies.

I just found out that Peter Garrett was a leading force behind the hare-brained old forests policy of the ALP that lost them nearly half of Tasmania.

That man is a gift that keeps on giving.

Margo equates this with Whitlam is 1969.

In 1969, Whitlam did indeed come close to victory, and everybody knew the Coalition would be gone at the next election.

In 2004, Latham WENT EVEN FURTHER AWAY FROM VICTORY. The only thing the ALP improved was the Coalition's majority.

No, 2004 is not another 1969. It's more like one of the many elections in which Bob Menzies kept on clobbering the ALP.

And for good measure:

Menzies beat three ALP leaders: Chifley, Evatt and Calwell.

Howard's got four notches on his belt: Keating, Beazley, Crean and Latham.

How do you like them apples.

Time for the Chardonnay Swilling, Latte sipping self satisfied inner city solipsists floating in their little fogs of moral superiority to start in on the draino.

Perhaps instead of a one-month holiday, Margo should consider a change of careers. Like, maybe she could become a journalist, or something.

STEVE: Howard never actually beat Crean in an election. Crean didn't last long enough to fight an election.

Can someone tell me, really, what is the business about being true to Green Valley really about? What does it mean to be not true to it? Was all that post-modernist campaign stuff, and books, being true to Green Valley? Is trying to get out of Green Valley as an aspirant being true to Green Valley?

Congrats Aussies!

I’ve been worrying about this election all week.

It’s comical that in the US, CNN is saying that the war wasn’t an issue in the election there. That is only because Howard won. If he had lost they would have been shitting their pants with glee saying that the coalition had fallen apart.

I was so happy when I saw the headlines!

Hooray Fuck indeed!

What a fabulous day for freedom.

1. An election in Australia supporting standing up for what is right in this world.
2. The first election in Afghanistan in over 60 years.

This day, October 9th 2004 will go down in history as a key victory for the civilized world in prevailing in the war against Islamist Facism.

"Gough led Labor to the brink of victory before truiumphing in 1975"

In a way 75 was his greatest trumph since it canonized him a bolognaise selling martyr of the left -

I've never seen evidence that Margo had any ability to spell, so how can she have lost it?

Can someone tell Toni Collette I've got the razor blades. Where does she want me to send them???

"BigRam: surely you haven't forgotten Bali? And isn't the second anniversary of that attack right around the corner?"

Exactly, Annalucia. Two years ago. Not just before an election.

Plus it was a much much more audacious attack. And the body count of dead citizens was a lot higher too. I just thought the analogy was stretching it a bit too much, that’s all.

But why are we arguing!? Did anyone see Johnnie’s famous "nyuk nyuk" laugh make an appearance at his acceptance speech? It was bloody hilarious. Go Johnnie!

I just saw Kim Beasley explaining that Labor really "won" because they didn't lose 30+ seats which Kim believed/hoped? would occur.Ross Gittins,fashionista and alleged economist,while reluctantly conceding that Howard may have won it was due only to the economic policies of the Keating/Hawke government.

Margo says she is 'taking a month off from monday". Taking a month off from what? Surely it wouldn't be work? What work does she do? Even that deranged blog of hers is filled in by an assortment of unhappy ferals and outcasts.

Come back and take it like a man Kingston, you have made accusations and predictions and now is the time to listen to a few home truths. #%$%^$ rag.

"Margo is planning to take a month off before coming back and coralling the Forces of "Good" to defeat "Howard's Australia"?

Hmmm, having seen John Valder of Not Happy, John (well we all know which John isn't happy this morning) on Insiders this morning, I am once again convinced that the anti-Howard forces (of which I am one) have no capacity to communicate their message to the general public.

Positioning themselves as the forces of "good" is really part of the problem, because it suggests that most people are bad.

Most people will say, rightly, up yours to that.

We may not like it Margie, but the people of Australia have spoken.

I haven't read the entire thread because I was so worried I drand = um drank - to my detriment - or something. Anyhoo, I don't know whether to read this election as confirmation of the Aussie commitment to the WoT or simply a rejection of the wuss Latham.

But I am relieved. And I will say this. All the Aussies I have met can kick butt. Anywhere.

Damn!

And I was SURE that the "latent energy" that Mark Latham had built up amongst us all (according to Robert "the Oracle" Bosler) would be enough to give him the karma...er I mean votes that he needed.

Hmmm, Looks like Kofi Annan's ill-judged intervention in the Australian and US electoral campaigns didn't work. Not surprising really, the man is a proiven failure and fool.

Hmmm, Looks like Kofi Annan's ill-judged intervention in the Australian and US electoral campaigns didn't work. Not surprising really, the man is demonstably a failure and fool.

I just hope Margo takes her clan of demented followers (Bosler, Loewenstein et al.) along on her one-month leave of absence. Four weeks of sweet silence out of Webdiary, wouldn't that be something.

On the election result...Congrats Aussies for doing the right thing. Here's hoping that the U.S. voters make it 2-for-2 next month.

A massive bunch of us Yankees are relieved that the good folks of Australia haven't abandoned us to the wolves. Good show! Oh wait, fair dinkum!

TO: Darlene Taylor
RE: No

"Positioning themselves as the forces of "good" is really part of the problem, because it suggests that most people are bad." -- Darlene Taylor

You're wrong. We're not declaring "most people are bad". We're declaring THOSE PEOPLE are 'bad'. You know....

...the people who:

• Blow up women and children with car bombs, e.g., 300+ children in Baghdad earlier this month.

• Blow up some tourists in Egypt this last week.

• Blow up or shoot so many Israelis over the last four years.

• Knock down two towers in New York City.

• Crash into the Pentagon.

• Behead civilians trying to rebuilt Iraq.

• Etc.

• Etc.

• Etc.

Ad nauseum.

Regards,

Chuck(le)

P.S. "Most people will say, rightly, up yours to that." -- Darlene Taylor

Or am I 'confused'? I've been there and done that in the past.

We should follow Margo's lead but in a slightly different vein.

How about an email to our friends at Not happy, John! to tell them we don't believe John is not happy-in fact he seems very damned happy from recent pictures we've seen!

Just checked Margo's blog and it seems the 1975 has changed into 1972 with no "Update" of "edited" notice...

Seems that the Webdiary code of ethics has again been relegated to Latham-like lows.

"Hmmm, having seen John Valder of Not Happy.."

Dingo John Valder appeared, briefly, on the ABC's 'Insiders' this am. Frothing at the mouth and accusing Howard and Bush of genocide on an unprecedented scale in Iraq. Came off badly in a shouting exchange with Andrew Bolt. Man, that Valder has some serious mental health problems, hopefully the next few days headlines will send him completely off the edge.

We've got to stay involved and ready for the unexpected. If we can't rely on our democratic institutions or media organisations to punish dishonesty, what can we do?

--Loewenstein

I thought the courts meted out punishment —after a trial— not smarmy opinion columists or newspaper editors. This is exactly what is wrong with the bloody media...Hey Antony: No one elected or appointed you or your media chums to the bench.

Got that, Pal?

TO: Tim Blair
RE: Out of Curiosity...

...you sent an e-mail to Stephen (VodkaPundit) Green about upping the action.

If we can repeat, here in the States, what you guys have done down-under, what do you think will be the next 'campaign'?

Regards,

Chuck(le)
P.S. Here are my thoughts on that.

Loved that 'Counterspin' section the SMH put up. If their definition of counterspin was to spin everything on a Labor loom, then they succeeded.

My favourite part was the photo of the spinner though. I wonder how many photos it took to catch just the right look of casually interrupted, surly insouciance.

Message: Mate you look far too young to be cynical about the world. No you haven't seen it all before, but we've seen you before - you're just another broken axle on the Caravan of Cretins that the commentariat has become... a line-up of shoddily assembled supermarket trolleys veering idiotically to the left. Well nobody's buying your Fruit Loops buddy. PLease PLEASE go now.

And how about those 'forums' (asylums) they run?! From the overloaded, slanted topics to the zoo-like conduct of the posters, it is an absolute public embarassment for Fairfax. A bunch of 20-year old pinheads (students probably - plenty of free time and can't afford the towels to dry behind their ears) competing with each other to see who can say the word 'post-modern' the most times in a sentence. Never have I seen as many Crimes Against Punctuation.

Rant rant, rave rave...

(am i being harsh?)

God I wish the big fat f&%$^er (that's Beazley)would just go and hide under a rock. He is an embarrasment to the rest of us West Australians. He will never graciously admit defeat. Thats the problem with Labor (and lefties)- it's always someone elses fault.

And how long will it take for the lefties to admit that the Liberals are responsible for the good economic mgt of Australia, not the previous failed Hawke/Keating government. It's been 8 years and still they say Labor deserves all the credit. At this rate they'll still be saying that in another 3 years time!!

Great Show Australia! I hope it goes as well in the U.S. a month from now.

Nice to see that labor lost support, couldn't hold even.

Howard's win shows that Aussies have balls. This Fosters for you guys!

Congratulations you guys!

BTW, I expect this to affect the US election, at least in a minor way.

My understanding is that Kerry sent his sister there and she essentially campaigned against Howard. Yet another US Ally that Kerry would have poor relations with.

Congrats!

Thanks to all the great yanks who have sent us messages of support!
remember Aussie is a great freindly place to visit with fantastic wildlife and beaches and you all speak the lingo ! So give Europe a miss! you ''l love it here!
Now is the time for you to repaet our success!
At no time has America needed strong leadership to combat the hatred whipped up by the Islamofascists and their cohorts of eurabian dhimmies.
Bush may not be Reagan, but he has the strength and resolve to do just that.
Kerry would be a disaster like Latham or Jimmy Carter.
You just cannot afford for a guy like him to get in at this time.
IN these dangerous times we need strong leaders not masters of appeasement like the chamberlains and chiracs of this world.

Chuck, thanks for the comments.

I was actually taking that quote from an earlier post and I meant that the problem is with a certain section of the 'left' (eg Margo) who separate the Australian population into 'good' (that is, those holding 'progressive' views) and the 'bad' (those who hold 'mainstream' views).

As I regard myself as a 'pragmatic progressive', I think this is arrogant and counter-productive to advancing one's cause. I also am aware of a lot of so-called lefties who are very good at spouting rhetoric, but less adept at treating people equally and well.

I think that fundamentalism of whatever variety is destructive and bad, and am very thankful that I live in a western liberal democracy where I as a woman can run off at the mouth when I so desire.

Sergio and Helen: Australians DO NOT DRINK FOSTERS! It is a girly-girly malt-flavoured drink. This terrible misapprehension goes back to the 1972 cult film The Adventures of Barry McKenzie - Carlton & United Bteweries decided to capitalise on the placement of Fosters in the film by hawking it madly *outside* Australia. Fosters is not advertised in Australia. Real Australian men drink VB. There will be a small supply of Fosters on the shelf of the local bottle shop in case anyone's maiden aunt requires a shandy.

I forgot to add, apropos my previous post on Fosters, BBC Drama is notorious for perpetuating this myth. If they need an Australian for a part but can't get one from casting, they get a local, make him speak with a strangulated Cockney accent and stick a can of Fosters in his hand, in case the accent doesn't quite cut it. It's cringingly embarassing - for the BBC.

On the Backpage blog I read one of the pitiful lefty lamentors say, 'what would the ANZACs think of us today?'

Hey wait a sec, weren't the ANZACs a bunch of anglo-saxons invading a sovereign Islamic nation....?

Bush is already mentioning Howard's victory in campaign speech here in Minnesota where I was this afternoon (Chanhassen)...talk about security...

Things are looking up.

Annalucia

"The perfect time to deliver a resounding F*** OFF to the whiners and the political equivalent of the Battered Wives Club"

Geez, that's perfect. It's the analogy I've been searching for. May I use it please??

>Real Australian men drink VB.

Like in Vermin Brewing? http://home.earthlink.net/~omniron/aboutvb.html

Jorgen
(running away fast, shouting: just joking, just joking)

Real Australian men drink VB.

Only Victorians drink that shit, mate.

:)

Stop and read before you respond. Darlene's post was decent and honest and thoughtful.

Thank you, Darlene

Hey wait a sec, weren't the ANZACs a bunch of anglo-saxons invading a sovereign Islamic nation....?

Eerr...does whoever wrote that realise that the return of the WWII vets after the end of the Japanese Occupation resulted in a glorious victory for Menzies and the Liberal Party.

As we note over at our tiny site, we Diplomads are dancing with joy over John Dubya Howard's victory. We note that the lefty media had been proclaiming the Aussie election a referendum on Iraq when it looked like Howard might lose. Now that he has won BIG, suddenly the election wasn't about Iraq, at all; it was about interest rates, employment, Aussies desire to drive large SUV's, whatever.

Congratulations to the Aussies and let's see if the Yanks can do the same!

thank you helen

australians will graciously accept whatever they are offered if they have any manners at all

most do (but forgive the others if they are a little 'tired and emotional' today)

>Sergio and Helen: Australians DO NOT DRINK FOSTERS!

Back when I lived in Washington, the best happy hours were at the Australian Embassy. $1 beers, but no Fosters was allowed!

XXXX is all I have ever seen people drink, but in other parts of the country there are obscure "foreign" brews such as Toohey's, Swan, Coopers, Carlton, Boags, Emu, etc etc. But NEVER in my life have I seen anyone actually DRINK *ugh* Fosters or VB or stuff like that *puke*puke*

Note on the spread of the virtually unknown (in australia) brew, John Elliot stated that he would "Fosterise" the world, & I'll be hanged if he hasn't done that, despite his subsequent failings, the only beer you will see in more places is Budweiser. (small note, the only country mentioned on the label of Busweiser is AUSTRALIA.....*tah dah*)

Australia rates the Euros: THEY'RE PUSSIES!

Bravo, Aussies. I read many comments from your leftists saying they were moving to New Zealand. I'll take one of their places in Sydney, Melbourne or Adelaide if Komrade Kerry wins the US presidential election on Nov 2...

walterplinge -- I find the best way to fake an Aussie accent is to start with a strong Down East accent (NOT Boston, more like Maine), since the two dialects began to diverge from Pommie at about the same time. The big difference is that old Down Easters take about three days to finish a sentence, so put that LP on the turntable and play it at 78 and you're pretty close...

TO: Darlene Taylor
RE: I Apologize

"I was actually taking that quote from an earlier post and I meant that the problem is with a certain section of the 'left' (eg Margo)..." -- Darlene Taylor

My confusion. Sorry about that.

Also, one of the reasons I use the formating that I do, despite complaints from some who think it rather memo-esque. Giving attribution does help to cut down on mis-communications/understandings.

Keep up the good work.

Regards,

Chuck(le)

Sheil hasn't learned a thing:

I think the forests policy was excellent, but in retrospect was managed dreadfully.

No you dumbass. It wasn't an excellent policy WHERE IT COUNTS (john and sally average, capital city australia). It's not a great policy with shit management. It's a SHIT POLICY that sucks up to the greens with fuck all for anyone else.

Fosters... something important at last.

As I understand it, the Foster's beer that is exported is different from the local brew sold in Australia under the Foster's name. That stuff is apparently too nasty to export (even to Americans, heh), so what you'll find in the exported Foster's can is actually sold in Australia under the name Crown Lager.

I'm getting mixed messages...Which brew should I be buying by the truckloads, Fosters or VB?? As I now ONLY purchase Aussie wine ( for some time now, the stuff is GOOOOD), I MUST know the beer of choice down under. I'm hosting an election party Nov. 2, and we'll be toasting Australia regardless of who wins ( but please God, let it be BUSH!!!!)The criteria for the beverages served is simple - Nothing that Nuancy Boy would ever drink or has ever heard of, of course.

You could drink Cascade, the oldest beer in Australia, and one of the best, due to the fact that it uses the purest water in the world that flows down from the mountain forest streams in - yes! - Tasmania, the state Labor and the Greens would have had you believe was virtually bereft of trees at all.

VB's pretty good. Also known as Very Best or Vitamin B. XXXX's not too bad and Cascades a worthy drop to spill down the gullet as well.

Steve at the pub, where's the pub? Don't say Cunnamulla! Got trapped there for two weeks in floods and ended up thinking I was in the movie "Wake up in fright".

Always remember when I got some beer from a drive-in bottle shop when I used to live in Melbourne, many years ago. Asked for six large cans of fosters, thinking I'd get tubes, but ended up getting depth charges. Lucky I didn't ask for Darwin Stubbies!

Big Ramifications —

"Erm, maybe coz that's because no terrorist group BLEW THE FUCK out of a commuter train?"

The Muslims slaughtered innocent people in Spain and the Spanish government cut and ran,

The Muslims slaughtered innocent people in New York and we jumped down the throat of half the planet.

Push comes to shove, I think I know which way Australia would jump.

TO: ilibcc
RE: The Purest Water?

"...it uses the purest water in the world that flows down from the mountain forest streams in - yes! - Tasmania." -- ilibcc

I thought the purest water in the world was found in the small streams flowing through the sandy hills of Elgin AFB, Florida. Continually refreshed by the regular thunderstorms.

But then again, maybe it was a matter of perspective. Where those streams wound up was the sluggish brown swamps where the water mocassins would play with our patrols.

Regards,

Chuck(le)

"Push comes to shove, I think I know which way Australia would jump."

I think I would know and I think our answers would be the same. So what's your point?

Spain: If you prick us, we bleed.

Australia, US: If you prick us, YOU bleed.

Australia: Spain - you are loser macho bullfighting pricks. Get a life, European loser terrorist-loving, limp-wristed, animal-killing-wankers.

And get a fucking shave, already.

*

And Chuck, sorry, the water is purest in Tasmania, Australia. Come down and try it. Or the beer. I'll shout you one. Or six.

(I posted this earlier today but the comment mysteriously disappeared)

I had a good laugh out of the comments posted above. You Yanks really think you are the center of the world, don't you, and that your concerns are necessarily ours as well. If you had followed the campaign here you would have known that Iraq and the alliance with the U.S. had very little to do with it. The issue played a minor role in the debate between the main contenders (which allegedly Latham won) and after that virtually disappeared out of sight.

Howard mainly campaigned on the economy and the claim that under Labour interest rates would inevitably rise (a palpable nonsense seeing that interest rates have global rather than local causes). Labour campaigned on issues of social welfare (public education, Medicare etc.). My guess is that Howard's claim on interest rates won the day. Many Australians are mortgaged to the hilt and are far more worried about interest rates than about Al Queda which so far has operated far from their beds. Also, the number of Australian troops in Iraq is negligible (800-odd) and they have taken no casualties.

A poll last year seemed to show that 70 % of Australians were against the country's involvement in Iraq but both candidates seemed to have understood that the issue provided no 'traction' for them and that domestic concerns weighed far more heavily with the electorate.

Aram