October 10, 2004
Australia votes also and for the Good Guy!
Howard wins his place in history
Prime Minister John Howard swept the Coalition to a fourth term last night, cementing his place in Australian history and banishing Labor to another period in the political wilderness.
[Ozzie Labor sounds just like our Democrats!]
[...]
And to tumultuous cheers and applause, the fourth-term exuberant Prime Minister claimed victory at 10.40pm, declaring that Australia had not seen such an "extraordinary" electoral feat since the 1960s.
[...]
Australia stood on the threshold of "a new era of great achievement" and could achieve "anything it wanted", the Prime Minister said - seemingly close to tears.
The swing to the Government in what was expected to be a tightly fought contest, but ended up being a comfortable victory, was about 2 per cent on a two-party preferred basis. It was helped by preferences from the right-wing Family First Party, first-time entrants to the political arena whose strong vote suggests that the "religious right" has arrived in Australia.
Even the strong Greens vote - which topped 10 per cent in some electorates, with preferences flowing strongly to Labor - failed to dent the extraordinary swing to the incumbents, who campaigned heavily on mortgage belt issues.
[As astute Ozzies noted, if the Labor's Latham had won and the election had gone the other way, it would have been called a "referendum against the war in Iraq."--Jen]
[...]
That would allow the Government, for the first time since the 1980s, to pass its controversial legislation without bartering with the left-wing parties.
[Wouldn't it be fabulous if the GOP controlled the Senate in the same way?!--J.T.]
"This swing to the Government is almost unprecedented," exuberant Liberal Party strategist Nick Minchin said, putting the emphatic result down to the unity of the front bench team and Mr Howard's intense focus.
Voters didn't just ignore Labor's $40 billion restructure of health, education and other social policies, they spurned the party's entire thrust.
As Australia goes, so goes the U.S.?
We can only hope and pray that America will re-elect President Bush and spurn the DNC's entire Socialist thrust as personified by their Congressional and Senate candidates (as well as John F'n Kerry), as Oz has done by reelecting Howard and choosing his conservative party to represent them in Parliament.
Good on you, PM Howard!
The Coalition and our alliance is saved once again and remains solid.
God Bless Australia!--We'll toast this victory with a bottle of fine Ozzie Chiraz.
