Fall from grace.
'Liberals feared for Howard in July
By Tim Clarke
March 21, 2007
The Coalition held fears for the welfare of Prime Minister John Howard as long ago as last July, Foreign Minister Alexander Downer admitted today.
Downer also said that he did not know whether Howard would lead the party in future, but he expressed confidence that the three-time election winner could revive his career.
Downer was speaking publicly for the first time since the party expressed concern about the current state of the leadership and colleagues Peter Costello and Tony Abbott physically clashed twice over the issue.
"It is really up to John to decide when he is right to communicate the issue he is dealing with," Downer said after declining to specify the exact nature of Howard's problems.
"It came to light for us strongly in July last year, and we sat John down and actually wrote a letter to he and his press officer to outline our concerns with him - about not being able to fulfil his leadership obligations.
"Since then, we have had a few other issues ... and he was fully aware that it had got to this stage that he was facing a suspension.
"He ... was apologetic that he had not been able to avoid that, and made a pledge that he would like to get back and repay the faith the party has showed in him.
"His family is fully supportive of him, and he has a lot of good friends that will help him through it.
"I am very confident he will overcome his issues and get back into politics - ideally here with the Liberal party."
Downer said Howard had missed Question Time without excuse five times since last July, with his absence on Monday being "the final straw".
His absence on Monday was compounded by the fact that parliamentary drug testers required his presence.
Downer said Howard was "more than happy" to comply with the test once he had been contacted.
"I am very, very confident the drug test he had on Monday would not be a positive," Downer said.
"And ... he is very confident there will be no positive with that test."
Downer said about the recent altercations involving Abbott and Costello that both had been spending time with Howard in order to help him, and the emotion of the situation had got the better of them.
"They had a stoush that came about because both men have been under a fair bit of stress and working really hard to help John," Downer said.
"Those stresses boiled over yesterday.
"I have met both men individually this morning, and then together, and they are well and truly over that."
When asked about the perception of an overall drug problem in the Coalition, the Foreign Minister said that his concerns about possible substance abuse among MP's had become so acute that he quizzed members before Christmas.
But he said that he was confident the party was now drug free - and Liberal party president Chris McDiven had been wrong in asserting that some MP's still had a problem.
"I believe over the last six months we have identified some issues that we believe we may have had with some members," Downer said.
"As far as we know, we have not had any MP's - that we have been notified of - that have had positive drug tests.
"In talking to our leadership group as recently as yesterday, I am strongly confident our party is in better situation that it just about ever has been."'
It really is the only explanation, isn't it?
GET IT TOGETHER JOHN, YOUR PARTY NEEDS YOU.
233 days til the next election.
Comments
How many football fans would you count amongst the devoted readers of your pop-culture/politics/hipster blog?
I think you just outed yourself as number one, anon.
i like football.
that's the one where you kick the ball-shaped thing through the high poles, right?
Fuck, anon, what're you trying to say? I go to pretty much every St Kilda game in Melbourne, does that mean I'm not allowed to read about pop culture and politics and hipsters?
I better move to the outer suburbs stat.
Just gotta read the papers, and have a taste for the tabloid.
A hankering for gladitorial sport simpley makes it all a touch sweeter.
...
btw: There's a yarn that's only mentioned as an aside in the Cousins coverage; his alleged "criminal" links, a couple of journos have mentioned the story as asides, but no-one's gone hell for leather. Any WA journos out there who've spent time in the seedier bars?
Aren't there rumours regarding WA footballers' links to bikies in those parts?
's a hell of a drug
It amazes me that this preconception that arty/boho/hipster sorts and football fans live in two seperate worlds still persists. Carn the Pies!
Nothing a bit of rehab can't fix. Maybe Camp David?
Lurker, most WA journalists are either ex-Wiggles players themselves, or idolise the team and have trouble finding a bad thing to say about them.
That the Melbourne papers are likely pushing this so hard is the main reason that it has gotten as big as it has. Little will happen unless they jump onto that story as well.
Fitsy, nice work :)
Very, very clever post! Highly amusing and inspired work. Well done. :)
So, Marieke Hardy prefers Family Guy to the Simpsons.
Frank Hardy would turn in his grave (is the old coot dead?) if he could see the empty headed pop culture trollop into which his granddaughter has evolved.
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Oooh! Look at the brave 'Anonymous'! See how he/she strikes Ms Fits down where she stands with such cutting observations as:
- Knowing her name (we all do)
- Reading her column (we all do)
- Knowing her family lineage (we all do)
- Offending her for her writing style (we all do - wait, no we don't)
- Being a dickhead for no reason whatsoever (that's usually my job)
- Speaking ill of the dead (that's usually Hitler's job)
Do you feel bigger for having posted that comment, you little, little, insignificant person?
If you're so anti-Ms Fits, why do you come here? Why do you read her column? Why do you read up on who her family members are? Why do you care?
Usually if I don't like someone or something, I leave well enough alone. You seem quite obsessed.
Incidentally, if you actually knew Ms Fits (which you clearly don't), you'd know that she considers the tag "empty-headed pop culture trollop" to be quite the compliment.
More fool you.
Note that I corrected your poor grammar when I quoted you, Anon. Now crawl back into obscurity, if you please.
(Yes, I said dickhead. I can't stand idly by and watch someone TRY POORLY to offend a friend of mine. I wouldn't usually fight someone else's battles for them - particularly not Ms Fits, who has an excellent way of ignoring such bibes from cowardly anonymous sources - but the way this person so obviously thinks they've been "twelve parts of clever" meant I just couldn't resist.)
sigh.
some anon (nony?) bores us yet again with alame-arse troll.
bevis' impulsive response bores even more.
what knee-jerkery!
What is 'bibes?
Re: Family Guy vs Simpsons comment ...
Is the Simpsons the choice of full-headed, high-culture nuns?
People who think they are defined by their tv show preferances (esp the Simpsons? WTF?) probably shouldn't go judging others, hon
Bibes are BEVIS jibes.
Probably a bit above your station.
Ooh, I love Family Guy...
"That's it boys, get in there. Eat up Steven, you're the weakest..."
Ahh Family Guy, I am now of the "Its better than the Simpsons" Tribe, as last nights episode contained a parody of the moment in Flying High 2 (??) where the passengers line up to give that woman a good old slappin "Hey youre wanted on the phone." I havent guffawed so much since I saw the pinball thing from Sesame Street on an episode (you know when they choose a number and the funky music comes on thats impossible to relay on a blog). Family Guy is like Hip Hop. It takes from everywhere yet it gives back so so much. Simpsons at least still has semi decent storylines but its getting a bit long in the old tooth. I cant even begin to bother with American Dad as that is just bland. Sth Park dissed FG once and thats why we have American Dad. Anyway, Im wanted on the phone.
Yeah, even though American Dad is Seth Macfarlane as well, I hate it. The alien is so annoying.
I heard that he made that because he was getting stick from conservatives about FG.
Anyway, I'm confused. Did you write the above article Ms Fits?
Excuse me, I have a migraine and my brain's on HIGH.
Bibes are BEVIS jibes.
Probably a bit above your station
Priceless.
** btw: There's a yarn that's only mentioned as an aside in the Cousins coverage; his alleged "criminal" links, a couple of journos have mentioned the story as asides, but no-one's gone hell for leather. Any WA journos out there who've spent time in the seedier bars? **
Just to help out (but I'm sure that this will be placed firmly in the "tell-us-something-we-don't-know" file for the majority of RYWHM readers:
In W.A Sports media circles, negative pieces on the Eagles [Inc] are like writing your own resignation letter - moreso in a one-newspaper town. Just ask any Fairfax sport scribe.
Many a print hack has attempted feature articles on the links between players, past and present, and some of Perth's more seedier/nefarious elements, only to see their access to West Coast players and officials seriously curtailed and life in general made very difficult and in some cases, nigh on impossible to file copy and thus, keep their jobs.
No AFL club, Collingwood included, has a more powerful and influential network of supporters/members at their disposal to ensure that information that the club doesn't want in the public domain never makes it into the pubic domain.
This may explain why the Murdoch papers have even sent one of their most senior footy scribes (Mark Robinson) to Perth, instead of using copy any by-lines from "The West Australian" as they usually do when it comes to Eagles content.
As for the other comments here: It is possible to like both the Simpsons AND Family Guy. Why such polarity people????
Wait.
I get it now.
"It is possible to like both the Simpsons AND Family Guy. Why such polarity people????"
*tenses*
That's the sort of question a Liberal would ask...
Simpsons
American Dad
Family Guy
the simpsons is my personal fave but the family guy certainly has some great moments. check this out...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ioqO5mDE7u8
That. Clip. Is. Gold.
I want to marry it and kiss it on the lips.
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Comments are closed.