Pixelated Semantics

Mutiny

Calling the invasion of Irak a "a massive crime", Former Liberal Party federal president John Valder says Prime Minister John Howard should be "tried and punished for war crimes" over Australia's involvement. Valder's comments follow former Liberal PM Fraser's more politley phrased attack on attempted US manipulation of the Australian electorate, and reveals a leader increasingly isolated from his own support base. Man of Steel has remarkably undercut his own support for the FTA in recent days with comments to a Australia-Israel Chamber of Commerce meeting that US "trading practices are as not as pristine when it comes to openness as sometimes their spokesmen articulate", despite having lambasted Labour for failing to offer "unconditional support". There seems to be increasing hubris in Howard's approach: at the July 14 press conference to announce a ministerial re-shuffle, he justified his leadership with the declaration that "as long as the captain is tried and true and experienced and knows where he's going... ultimately he determines the direction of everything". Speaking of yourself in the third person while reinforcing your own status is definitely not characteristic of the "chattering classes", but rather imperial.

Item posted by AutoEditor at 9:29 am ::