masters of war

Oh, John Howard, the gift that keeps on giving. I spent three years (*) in a barely controlled fury - oh all right, a complete, insane, illogical ball of seething hate - searching for the words to describe, to encapsulate the essence of, the previous Prime Minister and so seek to explain why he did what (I thought he) did to the country.

Norman Abjorensen does far, far better:

"It was watching this that made me think what it is about Howard that provokes
such antipathy in many of us, and it is this: Howard is the resentful reactionary that we all seek to overcome in ourselves."

"...Howard and his own peculiar small dream of suburban Australia."

And as for Alexander Downer ("who seems to have been interviewed after lunch") describing himself as a a "warrior": what is it about the self described "hard right" that deludes them into thinking themselves as hard men when, inevitably, it's other people who pay the cost, with their livelihoods in a domestic sense and their lives in the case of war?

Puke.

You know what, I'm starting to feel cleansed.

Sort of.

(*) It probably felt like 30 to Mrs VVB.

*Update - the gift that keeps on giving, indeed.

I asked them what their leader's secret might be, given he seemed to have all the
charisma of a stoat, and yet he had a habit of sneaking through to victory at the hustings. 'Dog-whistling', they replied."