vegemite on toast

its all starting to look sickeningly predictable. howard calls an election when he was behind in all the polls (apart from his own internal polling - which somehow justified the decision). the election is called in october, before the US election, theres a pre-emptiove attack on the ozembassy in indonesia, and the madrid analogy finally gets attention in the press.
* "Madrid provides electoral precedent" http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5744,10721430%5E2702,00.html

* murdocks oped whore "But it totally transforms the campaign environment.National security will now dominate the election, at least for some of the time, playing automatically to Prime Minister John Howard's strengths and drowning out Labor's message." and "If the terrorists could have hit us at home, they would have, and they still might. But it is easier for them to hit us in Indonesia." quick question: how difficult is it to explode a car bomb anywhere? seriously.
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5744,10719703%255E25377,00.html

* "Mr Howard said "Everything will be done to ensure that such incidents do not occur in our country." which presumably means absolutely nada
http://theage.com.au/articles/2004/09/09/1094530767379.html

* "In announcing the October 9 election, John Howard asked: "Who do you trust to lead the fight on Australia's behalf against international terrorism?"" http://theage.com.au/articles/2004/09/09/1094530764777.html

* i (still) wonder whether anyone here has considered under what conditions they'd cancel an election.

* cnns question of the day: "will the bombing have an impact on the oz election?"

* despite international media reports (both since and b4 the jak bombing) that the war will be a major factor in the oz election "The war is not a major election issue here" seems to be much closer to the reality http://theage.com.au/articles/2004/09/09/1094530764777.html

* " the Prime Minister vowing Australia would never be influenced by terrorists, and insisting the attack would not change Australia's military role in Iraq. "The day any country surrenders decisions on those things to the dictates of barbarism and terrorism is the day a country loses control over its future." http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5744,10722789%255E601,00.html

* "Terrorist expert Rohan Gunaratna last night warned that because no Australians were killed it was "very likely" JI would mount a second attack on an Australian target.
"Australia can expect more of this. It could be in Indonesia, in another overseas country or at home. It is difficult to say whether it will come before the end of the federal election campaign but it is possible," he told The Australian." (Murdoch uses this Gunaratna guy all the time, even tho he has been outed as a fraud)

* "Without reference to the Madrid train bombings which took place in the last days of an election campaign in which, as in Australia, the governing and opposition parties had conflicting policies on the war in Iraq, the Prime Minister, John Howard, vowed that Australia would not be intimidated by acts of terrorism." http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2004/09/09/1094530771726.html?from=top5

* "Especially after the Madrid bombing before Spain's election, any country with a high profile in the war on terrorism and troops in Iraq has to be nervous. Arguably, that risk is increased where an opposition says it would pull the troops out."
* "Richard Clarke suggested that with the Government and Opposition divided over having troops in Iraq, "you could understand how al-Qaeda or some terrorist group related to al-Qaeda might think it could affect the outcome".
* "Howard said Australia had been in the "target sights for terrorism" for quite a long time. "We are a target because of who we are - not because of what we have done,"
* "With security dramatically back to centre stage - just before the anniversary of September 11 and a month before the Bali anniversary - the political climate seems likely to move in Mr Howard's favour. He is cast in part above politics"
* "Mr Latham has always argued that Mr Howard's foreign policy increased the risk of Australia falling victim to terrorism. This has now become the worst time to mount that case."
http://theage.com.au/articles/2004/09/09/1094530767542.html

apparently errorists will try to throw out howard, which means that howard will re-elected. make sense? sound familiar?



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