The Pencil Guy: Hourann's illogical blog

Castro resigns, and the opposition implodes

Tuesday 19 February 2008 at 5:29 pm

So Fidel Castro has resigned in Cuba — and in a sign of the times, the announcement was made online! (There’s no official English version yet.)

Venezuela took over a while ago as the far-left’s poster child, so this isn’t as big a deal as it might otherwise have been, but it’s still a little sad to see one of the world’s leading stick-it-to-the-man figures go. That said, it’s also good to see the world rid of another tyrant — he did take power by force, after all.

Meanwhile, back in Australia, the Liberal Party is clearly in something of an “oh dear” moment. Not long ago I’d have said that the Canberra crew weren’t doing too bad compared to their state counterparts, but completely backflipping on their core policy of the last three years? Either they’re stark raving mad, or they’re completely and utterly desperate to get the public to love them now that Labor policies are in vogue. Opposition is a hard place to be, indeed …

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Gee, that was quick

Wednesday 28 November 2007 at 12:10 pm

Wow, only a couple of days out from an election loss and already the Liberal Party is descending into something of a splattered mess. (Why are they even questioning whether to support a dumping their own policy?)

Perhaps it was fortunate that the Liberals lost last weekend; John Howard had previously emphasised the unified strength of his team, but now that’s looking like it was just a facade. Or maybe the party is full of back-knifers.

And then there’s the race for a new leader. Malcolm Turnbull is indeed the best of the three, while Brendan Nelson has suddenly grown a conscience, but neither they nor Tony Abbot have the nous that made Howard so good at holding votes.

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