Tim Lambert (deltoidblog AT gmail.com) is a computer scientist at the University of New South Wales.
Earlier, Glenn Reynolds accused me of spinning because I wrote that "the [Australian] election was not about Iraq---it was hardly an issue.". Now he approvingly links to a piece by Greg Sheridan
Labor did not buy a single ad on Iraq. Nor did Latham mention his troops-home-by-Christmas pledge in his policy speech. Indeed Iraq only figured in the last line on page 13 of a 16-page speech by Latham. ... It was rather strange that we have troops at war and they were hardly mentioned in the campaign.
Why, that's what I was saying! Do you think Reynolds accuses Sheridan of spinning? Of course not, because despite the troops being "hardly mentioned", Sheridan manages to conclude
The other critical conclusion to come out of this election is that it was a total vindication of John Howard over Iraq.
By what tortured logic does Sheridan come to this conclusion?
This is actually a bigger victory for Howard than if the election had been fought on Iraq and he had won. His victory in the Iraq argument was so comprehensive that Labor did not even raise it in the campaign.
Trouble is, the Coalition did not raise it in the campaign either, so you could just as well argue that Howard's defeat on the Iraq argument was so comprehensive that he did not dare bring it up in the campaign. Both sides do extensive polling, so the fact that neither side wanted to talk about Iraq shows that it was not a positive issue for either side. Sheridan is spinning furiously.
Comments
No Tim,
You and the chatterer's got it wrong - again. Unless you support a socialist state which routinely executed its opponents.
Some of us have a problem with that - seems you don't.
So be it - We agree to disgree.
Posted by: Louis Hissink | October 15, 2004 6:28 PM
The war on terror was always a no-go area for the ALP and was clearly demonstrated by the ALP when it dumped Crean.
There were two reasons why PM Howard went to the electorate last weekend. First was for the Australians to rubber stamp another term for the Coalition and second was for a strong member of the 'Coalition of the Willing' to clearly demonstrate solidarity with the Americans in the lead-up to the reelection of President Bush.
The reality Timmy in the wake of this supurb result is that the Left's arguments in Australia have collapsed and a considerable amount of venom from the Left in America has been rendered mote.
When you read Greg's article in full you discover that Latham did in fact drone on to the media therefore he was infact trying to make it an issue via the usual suspects.
Posted by: Shaun Bourke | October 15, 2004 9:34 PM
What the hell are you talking about, Louis?
Posted by: mark | October 15, 2004 9:49 PM
Tim, The link below is to an excellent article on the ALP's Public Relations firms that participated in the election last weekend.
http://theaustralian.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5744,11063516%5E25377,00.html
Posted by: Shaun Bourke | October 15, 2004 10:00 PM
I think Louis is paid by an astroturf org to annoy Tim enough that he stops posting.
Posted by: dave finberg | October 16, 2004 6:39 PM
Louis, are you saying that anyone who says that Iraq wasn't a major issue are doing so because they supported Saddam hussein and wanted him to remain in power? Was North Korea a major issue? If you say it wasn't does that mean you're endorsing Kim Il sung?
Posted by: : | October 17, 2004 7:01 AM