In this photo, Ducklips brags about Iraq while Afghanistan creeps up from behind.
I don’t need to invent any more vitriol about John Dubya Ducklips Howard. Anthony Albanese has already done it for me in Parliament, nine years ago. Here I shall quote you Anthony Albanese's very own words (quoted in 'The Australian', March 13 2007):
Anthony Albanese: "Today my grievance is against the Prime Minister for his failure to provide leadership. You can trim the eyebrows, you can cap the teeth, you can cut the hair, you can put on different glasses, you can give him a ewe's milk facial for all I care. But, to paraphrase a gritty Australian saying: “Same stuff, different bucket.” In the pantheon of chinless blue-bloods and suburban accountants that makes up the Australian Liberal Party, this bloke is truly one out of the box. You have to go back to Billy McMahon to find a prime minister who even approaches this one for petulance, pettiness and sheer grinding inadequacy.
"In John Howard, here also is a man small in every sense. Some have said that he is the worst prime minister since Billy McMahon. That is unfair to Billy McMahon. (Consider) the gulf, Mr Deputy Speaker, between the man in his mind - the phlegmatic, proud old English bulldog; the Winston of John Winston Howard - and the nervous, jerky, whiny apparition that we all see on the box every night. When he looks on the box he gets to see what we see, not the masterful orator of his mind but the whingey kid in his sandpit. Spare a thought for us, Mr Deputy Speaker, because we have to watch his performance every day, the chin and top lip jutting out in full duck* mode.
"Here is a man who lived at home until he was 32. You can imagine what he was like. Here were young Australians demonstrating against the Vietnam War, listening to the Doors, driving their tie-dyed Kombi cars, and what was John Howard doing? He was at home with mum, wearing his shorts and long socks, listening to Pat Boone albums and waiting for the Saturday night church dance.
"This is the man we have leading the country: yesterday's man, a weak man, a little man, a man without courage and a man without vision. This is Billy McMahon in short pants."
*I’m just a tad jealous that Anthony Albanese pre-empted me on the “attack duck” image ;-)
Nine years on, little about Howard has changed, but we are all living with the consequences of the narrow, anally-retentive short-sight. His tightening up of the Gun Laws was the best thing he ever did, but wasn't the inspired action of a visionary statesman: rather, it was thrust on him by chance circumstances. It's all been downhill since then.
"We will fight them on the beaches..." John Dubya Ducklips Howard has threatened to violate the shores of Indonesia... and the Solomons... and Fiji... and Iraq... and now threatens sanctions against Iran too? Howard is actually more of a threat to Australia: the enemy within.
Howard's nuclear-tipped anti-shark weapons for the Australian Defence Forces...and what is his re-election message to the australian public?
His message is simple. TWO WORDS:
Now, thanks to Johhny's fear campaign, australian children can have proper nightmares at last...
. . . all about "Suspicious Persons of Middle Esatern Appearance", Predatory Strangers, Terrrrrrrrrists, and Bogeymen. They're ALL foreigners, mind you, especially short people with difficult-to-pronounce names, such as "Albanese")... Errrr, that no longer includes the Italian or Greek communities, you understand. Sudanese refugees have been painted as the latest enemy-we-must-hate, and with the assistance of Mr Howard's droned instructions, we can soon learn to scapegoat Sudanese as well as Muslims.
(For the information of non-australians: John Howard manufactured and distributed millions of anti-terrorist fridge magnets giving telephone numbers for australian citizens to call if they noticed anything suspicious. I'm not kidding - that is for real).
The reception desk at the PM's Department, Canberra.
Here’s another animated cartoon from Nicholson of ‘The Australian’ newspaper. I hardly need to explain its title, Ugly Johnny.
…and another one in which an innocent phone call reveals the truth about Howard’s comically botched visit to Iraq, his worst-ever media goof-up.
(A brief word of explanation to non-australians: When australians accuse someone of lying, it is customary to say “Liar, liar, pants on fire”.). . . and finally, this week's R-rated Howard "joke":
Some Coalition back-benchers were concerned about Howard’s stuffy boring public image, so decided to help to make him feel more cool, dashing and desirable. They despatched an attractive ‘escort’girl round to Kirribilli House.
When Howard answered the door, the alluringly-clad girl cooed “Hi, big boy, I’m here to offer you super sex, you hunk you”.
Howard replied: "Er... I'll have the soup, thanks".
Where Ducklips shops for his wife (she's too timid to go inside).