John Howard is like Adolph Hitler – I wouldn’t have even run that line in the greenest of my school boy debating days. So why would Paul Keating?
Paul is either (a) barking mad or (b) up to something. I’ll go for the latter. Howard’s ratings start to improve, so Labor needs a diversion, and one that underlines the fact that Kevin Rudd isn’t Paul Keating. The government lacks discipline and falls for the line, while Kevin Rudd sales blithely by talking up the chances of getting the price of bananas down.
One of the keys to Keating defeating Hewson was the way that Hewson was positioned as the trouble-making minority – always in a fight. I remember Hewson deftly catching an egg that was thrown at him at an open-air rally in Brisbane’s King George Square – all the public remembers is the brawling.
Next time Keating steps up for a fight the government should just let his own weight work against him and step away.