One has been trying in these dark pre-election days to stay a bit cheerful and upbeat and not to visualise what the phrase 'Prime Minister Tony Abbott' might mean for oneself, one's loved ones, one's fellow Australians and, of course, Australia's image in the eyes of the world, considering the damage done there during the Howard years. Or to visualise it at all, if it comes to that.
Little about the campaign has helped with attempts at cheer and upbeat-ness. Julia Gillard has come good in her personal appearances, perhaps sufficiently so to win over a big enough fraction of the population for Labor to stagger over the line, but in terms of a high standard of policy innovations and solutions, or of an even barely adequate standard of public debate either in the meeja or from the leaders, it's been pretty consistently woeful.
But I didn't realise quite how woeful I'd thought it all was, deep down in the dark crevasses where no conscious thought can penetrate, until I saw this headline this morning in Campaign Crikey -- Morning Edition:
Election Tracker: Day 32 -- Julia's trip to the west ... Abbott tours QLD ... Election hangman: _ _ R _ I _ _ L
Turns out the Hangman word was, of course, M A R G I N A L, as in 'They're scuttling around the marginals in the home stretch.' But not at that point having yet read the piece to which it referred, I looked at the Hangman thingy and my eye, with no conscious thought going on behind it, sketched out F A R C I C A L.
How sad is that.
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3 comments:
Kerryn - I've just found out about the Australian Secular Party (http://www.secular.org.au/). Where have they come from? I like what I read on their site (with some small exceptions). I dream of a rational alternative to the current madness!
How sad is that?
As the mister does, from time to time, say: 'very fucking'.
(but I must note he does not generally swear, and would not like to be represented on the interwebs as one who does)
And also, I don't mean to say your thoughts are sad, only that things in general are a bit sad right now.
'Faricical' is spot on.
Who precisely did Mr Abbott think would be impressed by him staying awake for 36 hours?
Am also deeply unimpressed that today's paper mentioned that both of them drank a single beer (although one was a shandy and one was a Tooheys Old) is separate pubs last night.
There's a 22-year-old flight attendant running in my electorate who could probably do with some encouragement.
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