John Winston Howard - what is his legacy?

[Rayzorwire]

I hope he feels like a right fu**en donkey today

All water off a duck's back for Mr Sheen after so many decades practice at pretending he was/is right.

'Absolutely no regrets': Howard on his role in Afghanistan war

As the Taliban storms the country once again, John Howard has pleaded with the current Australian government to...

www.canberratimes.com.au

Subscriber article, but I doubt there's any lies and excuses he hasn't aired publicly before.

 

[Doss]

I hope he feels like a right fu**en donkey today

Howard doesn’t strike me as the type who possesses a particularly strong tendency for self reflection. So I suspect he is sleeping just fine.

 

[Donakebab]

This worm on 7.30, still spinning s**t on Afghanistan and defending the current government abandoning the Afghanis who worked with the ADF.

 

[Pie eyed]

Dog Fker.

 

[Gough]

The Saudis must crease them selves when they watch dicks like Howard try to defend 2001. A few flying lessons and 18 odd lives versus what we've put into the post September 11 world.

 

[Gough]

He's like the turd that you can't flush.

 

[Doss]

He's like the turd that you can't flush.

I blame the eyebrows. They keep catching on the pipes.

 

[Xtreme]

Howard doesn’t strike me as the type who possesses a particularly strong tendency for self reflection. So I suspect he is sleeping just fine.

Of course he'd sleep just fine

He's Australia's best ever Prime Minister

 

[HurleyHepsHird]

Created the foundational damage that will cause Australia major grief for at least the first decades of the 21st century.

 

[Ned_Flanders]

Created the foundational damage that will cause Australia major grief for at least the first decades of the 21st century.

popularizing Horlicks?

 

[HurleyHepsHird]

popularizing Horlicks?

Pioneering the daggy dad schtick. Forever ruined matching top/bottom tracksuits for me.

 

[SBD Gonzalez]

Phuckking disgusting human being. Read this and weep for what the turd did to our once decent country.

This government’s grubby language on Afghanistan refugees shows we’re reliving Tampa times | David Marr

The Coalition is finessing its obligations to the most desperate people on earth, calculating it will help keep them in power

www.theguardian.com

 

[Bestbird]

Phuckking disgusting human being. Read this and weep for what the turd did to our once decent country.

This government’s grubby language on Afghanistan refugees shows we’re reliving Tampa times | David Marr

The Coalition is finessing its obligations to the most desperate people on earth, calculating it will help keep them in power

www.theguardian.com

Was a pretty sad and shamefull review of Tampa Bay incident

 

[kickazz]

Nothing like a good old "It's John Howard's fault" article. This one blaming the current election loss on him. Reading between the lines, it almost seems to prophesise that we are coming out of a dark "Howardism" era and that maybe a bit of compassion and common sense will be restored.

Morrison government’s fall marks end of Howard-era ascendancy

Every issue that defined Scott Morrison’s downfall had deep roots in John Howard’s prime ministership.

www.theage.com.au

 

[Magruder]

Nothing like a good old "It's John Howard's fault" article. This one blaming the current election loss on him. Reading between the lines, it almost seems to prophesise that we are coming out of a dark "Howardism" era and that maybe a bit of compassion and common sense will be restored.

Morrison government’s fall marks end of Howard-era ascendancy

Every issue that defined Scott Morrison’s downfall had deep roots in John Howard’s prime ministership.

www.theage.com.au

Nothing like an article crafted so well.

FWIW the decline of modern Australia begins with and the Libs electing Lord Downer as leader and middle aged bloke having a bit of a makeover in 1994/5 . JWH had his teeth straightened, started grooming the eyebrows and dressing a bit snappier. In short he recognised his moment.

The result is a two and half decades of almost uninterrupted punching down, of corroded civil discourse, petty small mindedness and cruelty for its own sake; leavened with the squandering of opportunity and windfalls.

We should be Norway with beaches and better weather, instead we became a jingoistic backward looking real estate market with a borderline authoritarian and criminal ruling class.

 

[SBD Gonzalez]

Reading between the lines, it almost seems to prophesise that we are coming out of a dark "Howardism" era and that maybe a bit of compassion and common sense will be restored.

Morrison government’s fall marks end of Howard-era ascendancy

Every issue that defined Scott Morrison’s downfall had deep roots in John Howard’s prime ministership.

www.theage.com.au

One can only hope we’re going to see a big rise in compassion and decency across the board, so as to head off the rise of the next Howard, who may be far nastier.

I have a half-formed theory that there were two powerful formative influences on John Howard.

The first was the vicious teasing and bullying he no doubt would have received for being hearing-impaired. As someone old enough to have started school before the more enlightened contemporary era, I can assure everyone that schools were downright mediaeval places until fairly recently. The teachers were brutal, (and all of society was in on it. If a kid lost an eye to a thrown blackboard duster, no doubt most adults would have said “well he shouldn’t have been smirking”) and the playgrounds were brutal. I think there may be a case that John Howard’s whole life has been an act of vengeance against the world for bullying him as a child.

Unfortunately, he was no Helen Keller. There was the potential for him to devote his life to the betterment of all. He might have fallen in with the labour movement and risen to the top with a passion to ensure a fairer world borne of his deep, hard-earned sense of equality and fairness.

Sadly that stood little chance, because the other great formative influence on him was the hard-right politics of his father, who historians have good reason to believe was an energetic member of one of the fascist secret militias that thuggishly stained the Australia of the 1920s and 30s. I guess if there’s anything to be positive about, we can be thankful Howard was less extreme than his father and his fascist mates. It took World War II to reveal to everyone what a nasty path we might have gone down.

Just a theory.

 

[ray1984]

Howard doesn’t strike me as the type who possesses a particularly strong tendency for self reflection. So I suspect he is sleeping just fine.

Unlike old Karen Rudd and Malcom Turmoil would be tossing and turning still thinking they were unfairly dealt with and people care what they have to say

 

[SBD Gonzalez]

Unlike old Karen Rudd and Malcom Turmoil would be tossing and turning still thinking they were unfairly dealt with and people care what they have to say

Not sure that’s the relevant comparison. Maybe try Julia Gillard, who passed a record amount of legislation despite leading a minority government, was hounded from office by a viciously misogynistic hate campaign, and almost to a fault has maintained a dignified silence since, while she knuckles down to her work as chair of several charitable trusts.

 

[ray1984]

Not sure that’s the relevant comparison. Maybe try Julia Gillard, who passed a record amount of legislation despite leading a minority government, was hounded from office by a viciously misogynistic hate campaign, and almost to a fault has maintained a dignified silence since, while she knuckles down to her work as chair of several charitable trusts.

No!
Gillard was an intelligent woman who knifed old Karen Rudd in the back, then became the queen of victim politics, then got her own back when Kevin knifed her back

She also wrote the fair work act casualising the work place & allowing companies especially mining to abuse labour hire companies

At least Gillard had the decency to retire gracefully and stay out of the spotlight unlike Karen and Turnball refuse to

 

[SBD Gonzalez]

No!
Gillard was an intelligent woman who knifed old Karen Rudd in the back, then became the queen of victim politics, then got her own back when Kevin knifed her back

She also wrote the fair work act casualising the work place & allowing companies especially mining to abuse labour hire companies

At least Gillard had the decency to retire gracefully and stay out of the spotlight unlike Karen and Turnball refuse to

I’m not saying she was a saint. I have big issues with some of her legacy. But she is an exemplar of dignity after public office.

But I suspect I’m conversing with a barracker anyway.

 

[The Cryptkeeper]

Nothing like an article crafted so well.

FWIW the decline of modern Australia begins with and the Libs electing Lord Downer as leader and middle aged bloke having a bit of a makeover in 1994/5 . JWH had his teeth straightened, started grooming the eyebrows and dressing a bit snappier. In short he recognised his moment.

The result is a two and half decades of almost uninterrupted punching down, of corroded civil discourse, petty small mindedness and cruelty for its own sake; leavened with the squandering of opportunity and windfalls.

We should be Norway with beaches and better weather, instead we became a jingoistic backward looking real estate market with a borderline authoritarian and criminal ruling class.

Post of the year.

 

[The Cryptkeeper]

One can only hope we’re going to see a big rise in compassion and decency across the board, so as to head off the rise of the next Howard, who may be far nastier.

I have a half-formed theory that there were two powerful formative influences on John Howard.

The first was the vicious teasing and bullying he no doubt would have received for being hearing-impaired. As someone old enough to have started school before the more enlightened contemporary era, I can assure everyone that schools were downright mediaeval places until fairly recently. The teachers were brutal, (and all of society was in on it. If a kid lost an eye to a thrown blackboard duster, no doubt most adults would have said “well he shouldn’t have been smirking”) and the playgrounds were brutal. I think there may be a case that John Howard’s whole life has been an act of vengeance against the world for bullying him as a child.

Unfortunately, he was no Helen Keller. There was the potential for him to devote his life to the betterment of all. He might have fallen in with the labour movement and risen to the top with a passion to ensure a fairer world borne of his deep, hard-earned sense of equality and fairness.

Sadly that stood little chance, because the other great formative influence on him was the hard-right politics of his father, who historians have good reason to believe was an energetic member of one of the fascist secret militias that thuggishly stained the Australia of the 1920s and 30s. I guess if there’s anything to be positive about, we can be thankful Howard was less extreme than his father and his fascist mates. It took World War II to reveal to everyone what a nasty path we might have gone down.

Just a theory.

Paul Keating mentally destroyed John Howard.

Howard’s revenge was to tear down the house that Paul (and Bob) built.

He really is just a vicious little weasel. The most overrated PM we have ever had who set this country back decades.

 

[Kwality]

Nothing like an article crafted so well.

FWIW the decline of modern Australia begins with and the Libs electing Lord Downer as leader and middle aged bloke having a bit of a makeover in 1994/5 . JWH had his teeth straightened, started grooming the eyebrows and dressing a bit snappier. In short he recognised his moment.

The result is a two and half decades of almost uninterrupted punching down, of corroded civil discourse, petty small mindedness and cruelty for its own sake; leavened with the squandering of opportunity and windfalls.

We should be Norway with beaches and better weather, instead we became a jingoistic backward looking real estate market with a borderline authoritarian and criminal ruling class.

A woeful attempt to excuse the Rudd/Gillard/Rudd/Abbott/Turnbull/Morrison era of Government.
Howard didnt lock that mob in, they were ALL too weak to address the changed economy that Howard left behind.
Albo is not locked in either, does he & Dr Chalmers*have the cohunas or will they stick to finger pointing/blaming as you do Magruder.

* After Labor won the 2007 federal election, Chalmers returned to work for Wayne Swan in the Department of the Treasury, as deputy chief of staff and principal adviser (2007–2010) and then as chief of staff (2010–2013).[3]

Jim Chalmers - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

 

[The Cryptkeeper]

A woeful attempt to excuse the Rudd/Gillard/Rudd/Abbott/Turnbull/Morrison era of Government.
Howard didnt lock that mob in, they were ALL too weak to address the changed economy that Howard left behind.
Albo is not locked in either, does he & Dr Chalmers*have the cohunas or will they stick to finger pointing/blaming as you do Magruder.

* After Labor won the 2007 federal election, Chalmers returned to work for Wayne Swan in the Department of the Treasury, as deputy chief of staff and principal adviser (2007–2010) and then as chief of staff (2010–2013).[3]

Jim Chalmers - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

Mate, that is a look over there post if ever I have seen one.

Rudd/Gillard/Rudd was a shambles although history will almost certainly judge Gillard more favourably than the present.

However, the systematic dismantling of much of the social and fiscal progression brought about by the Hawke/Keating government started with Howard.

We ought to be 30 years more advanced than we are as a society.

 

[Kwality]

Not sure that’s the relevant comparison. Maybe try Julia Gillard, who passed a record amount of legislation despite leading a minority government, was hounded from office by a viciously misogynistic hate campaign, and almost to a fault has maintained a dignified silence since, while she knuckles down to her work as chair of several charitable trusts.

What a self serving analysis of Ms Gillards demise by the Labor caucus.
She doesnt need anyone to rewrite her history - why would you?