NationStates Jolt Archive

Howard scuppered by fake Islamic leaflets distributed by his own Liberal Party! (http://www.iht.com/articles/2007/11/22/asia/australia.php)


International Herald Tribune

SYDNEY: Prime Minister John Howard's struggling re-election campaign in Australia took another blow Thursday after a scandal over a phony pamphlet from nonexistent Islamic radicals distributed by supporters of Howard's Liberal Party.

The husband of a Liberal Party candidate was photographed distributing leaflets that purported to be from an Islamic group, thanking the opposition Labor Party for "support to forgive our Muslim brothers who have been unjustly sentenced to death for the Bali bombings" and welcoming the party's support for a plan to build a mosque in the marginal New South Wales electorate of Lindsay.



Ha ha! In a pathetic last-minute grab for votes preceding Australian Federal elections on Saturday, Karen Chijoff, Liberal party candidate for Lindsay and her husband have been caught placing into letterboxes, leaflets from a fake Islamic Radical organisation that purport that Labour is sympathetic to extreme Islamist interests. This is beneath contemptible. Although apparently this hasn't been sanctioned by higher ups:

Howard moved quickly to try to limit the damage. The parliamentary election is Saturday.

"I condemn it completely. It wasn't authorized by the Liberal Party, by me, it's not part of my campaign," Howard told Australia's Sky News on Thursday. "The Party organization has taken immediate action to deal with the people involved."



Something tells me he's still going to get burned for it though. Oh but wait! It gets better! Apparently it was just a BIG LAUGH!

She (Jackie Kelly, retiring Liberal rep for Lindsay) described the leaflet as satire.

"When I first read it I had to laugh," she told the Australian Broadcasting Corp., adding that the pamphlet was a parody "of various things that have happened during the campaign," without specifying what was being parodied.



Yes... This is just what I love when despicable politicians get caught with thier pants down... They then lie to the public like they are absolute morons.

So Australian NSG'ers? What do you make of this? This may just be the straw that broke Howard's campaign's back.

Howard scuppered by fake Islamic leaflets distributed by his own Liberal Party! (http://www.iht.com/articles/2007/11/22/asia/australia.php)



Ha ha! In a pathetic last-minute grab for votes preceding Australian Federal elections on Saturday, Karen Chijoff, Liberal party candidate for Lindsay and her husband have been caught placing into letterboxes, leaflets from a fake Islamic Radical organisation that purport that Labour is sympathetic to extreme Islamist interests. This is beneath contemptible. Although apparently this hasn't been sanctioned by higher ups:



Something tells me he's still going to get burned for it though. Oh but wait! It gets better! Apparently it was just a BIG LAUGH!



Yes... This is just what I love when despicable politicians get caught with thier pants down... They then lie to the public like they are absolute morons.

So Australian NSG'ers? What do you make of this? This may just be the straw that broke Howard's campaign's back.

I'd say more the straws being grasped at by a drowning party. Howard had no chance of winning, no agenda, no real desire, I suspect. Short of Rudd pulling a Hewson, Howard was going down.

Reminds me of the Protocols of the Elders of Zion.

Howard scuppered by fake Islamic leaflets distributed by his own Liberal Party! (http://www.iht.com/articles/2007/11/22/asia/australia.php)

*...*

So Australian NSG'ers? What do you make of this? This may just be the straw that broke Howard's campaign's back.

A desperate act by a campaign office in one electorate (Lindsay.) A half-dozen party members don't represent the Liberal Party.

That said, it's a sign of some panic in the ranks, and it's bad for the Coalition because they really needed today (friday) to make up some ground, and this is a distraction.

See any parallels with the viral e-mails going around the US about Barack Obama being a Muslim? Tells you a bit about the level of paranoia in both countries, when that's considered a smear.

I don't see it as having any real effect on the campaign, though. Labor-leaning voters will see it as yet another in a whole line of Liberal tricks, Liberal-leaning voters will see it as a "Chaser-style prank" that Labor is over-reacting to.

I just can't get into the mindset of someone who hasn't made up their mind yet to figure out what effect it would have on them. I mean, how could you not know by now?

Actually I don't buy that the Liberal party as a whole had nothing to do with it, one of the guys who did it is the husband of the woman who holds the seat, and he is on the Executive council in the state, and a prominent figure in the far-right faction that controls the executive. As many commentators have pointed out, the Liberal executive in NSW is out of control and many fear it is overrun by anti-Muslim racists etc. Either way this is so stupid I can't find the words for the Liberals, this means everything today and yesterday for the Liberals was totally overshadowed.

You should watch this:
http://www.abc.net.au/reslib/200711/r205464_781647.asx

See any parallels with the viral e-mails going around the US about Barack Obama being a Muslim? Tells you a bit about the level of paranoia in both countries, when that's considered a smear.

I don't see it as having any real effect on the campaign, though. Labor-leaning voters will see it as yet another in a whole line of Liberal tricks, Liberal-leaning voters will see it as a "Chaser-style prank" that Labor is over-reacting to.

I just can't get into the mindset of someone who hasn't made up their mind yet to figure out what effect it would have on them. I mean, how could you not know by now?

This one's pretty polarising, all right. I can see the Liberal supporters' point; Howard has been quite good regarding the economy, has held us to the Australian/US Alliance (which, despite everything, is still the single most important relationship the Commonwealth has). And, regardless of the rightness of the actions themselves, Howard's "Pacific Solution" actually did reduce illegal immigration, by making Australia a less attractive target.

But nobody except big business supports the workplace "reforms", and Howard, literally, has no new ideas. Rudd does; they might or might not work, but at least he's got some clue as to trying to improve things.

Welcome to the planet of Australia. I am the mayor of Australia. George Bush should be king of Australia.

Actually this is indicative of the entire Howard campaign, polarizing. Instead of trying to bridge out to the centre, Howard is hammering away further to the far-right, I saw a page-sized ad in my paper today from the Liberals talking about how Labor will let immigrants into the country to destroy everything, so this stunt doesn't surprise me. Howard came to power in 96' because he was able to portray himself as the 'every-man' of politics, and Keating as an elitist. These days it seems the tables have turned. The 7:30 Report recently had these tests on individuals regarding the Liberals' ads, but the overwhelmingly response to them was polarizing - people who agreed or disagreed had already made up their minds for one side or the other. If you don't know which ads I refer to, it's the anti-union 'labor will stuff the economy' ones.

While Howard is only campaigning only for the hard right, Rudd has been able to bridge out on both sides as a centrist figure, much like Blair was in Britain.

Welcome to the planet of Australia. I am the mayor of Australia. George Bush should be king of Australia.

Thank you for making our nation look more stupid than it already does.

*snip*
While Howard is only campaigning only for the hard right, Rudd has been able to bridge out on both sides as a centrist figure, much like Blair was in Britain.


And that's why Rudd will probably win!

Welcome to the planet of Australia. I am the mayor of Australia.

Nice South Park reference.:D

Howard is an ass and I'm glad to see him go.

Polling shows Howard, Turnbull and Hockey aren't safe in their own seats.
If the coalition does win, we might see a few missing senior members! :p

The betting agencies still have Howard winning in Bennelong. Depends which poll you believe, the professionals or the punters.

Then, too, the swing just can't be uniform. Play with the swingometer on the ABC election website and see what a difference it makes if the Coalition picks up even 1% in the marginals between now and the poll.

I've got supplies in, but they can be for celebration or for anaesthesia. I've been to too many Don's Party parties. I'm scared to get too excited in case I put the mockers on 'em.

Whether people higher up are responsible or not this is horrible. Maybe if the parties would spend more time talking about what they'd do right as opposed to attacking each other, there'd be less of "lesser of two evils" mentality, because that's really the way that the parties seem to like to campaign. It would be nice to see some more prominent "We will do ________ right" instead of "At least we'll do _______ better than these guys"

http://imagecache2.allposters.com/images/pic/DES/D834~Smokey-Bear-Only-You-Posters.jpg
GIVE A DAMN ABOUT AUSTRALIA

Smokey the Bear (http://imagecache2.allposters.com/images/pic/DES/D834~Smokey-Bear-Only-You-Posters.jpg)
GIVE A DAMN ABOUT AUSTRALIA

And this species you are proposing to introduce. Is it likely to upset Australian ecosystems?

And, just how good is it at fighting fires? It looks rather flammable.

It'll eat your children if you give them a bottle of honey.

Wow. Someone gets caught trying to play t3h 3b1l m05l3mz card. The Liberal Party is certainly heading towards an iceberg.

And to finish this story off, this particular seat ends with a total destruction for the Liberals.

http://www.abc.net.au/elections/federal/2007/guide/lind.htm

And to finish this story off, this particular seat ends with a total destruction for the Liberals.

http://www.abc.net.au/elections/federal/2007/guide/lind.htm

A 9.5 swing in Lindsey. There is justice in this world. :D