And so this is Christmas?
Well wow.
Just wow!
What an extraordinary weekend.
It still feels a little unreal. In fact so unreal that I keep remembering all over again, like a goldfish with a two second memory. And it's wonderful.
I go about my business, doing this and that and then something bubbles to the surface: VSU; Kyoto; Andrew Bolt; Kevin Andrews; Work Choices; Phillip Ruddock; AWB; Alexander Downer; Teh History Wars !1!!; Caroline Overington, Piers Ackerman and Dennis Shanahan; and the little devious prick himself, John Winston. Oh the wonderousness. I remember that they're gone, or silenced, or humiliated and a little beam of sunshine peeps into my life.
Sure it's uncharitable. I'm quite content to admit I'm not being particularly gracious. But quite frankly, fuck that. We've put up with it for eleven and a half LONG years. And with EVERY ONE of the conservatives' four consecutive victories, we of "The Left" have had to stay silent and absorb the gloating, accept the scorn, remain quiet as we are reminded that nobody (in fact) likes us, and that perhaps we should consider eating some worms.
So I'm going to enjoy it for at least a week. I think I'm entitled.
I've thought for some time that we had it in the bag and even on Saturday my deepest suspicions were that we'd get home comfortably, but that didn't stop the terror of those final polls.
And then for it to unfold the way it did - slowly at first with only narrow margins in Bass and Braddon, the smirk on Nick Minchin's face creeping back onto our screens once again in an echo of 2004, then with growing pace as the swing swept through Victoria delivering the seats we weren't supposed to win at all. Then NSW: Robertson, Page, Linsday. And then here comes Eden-Monaro the true-to-form bellwether and Bennelong! Sweet Bennelong.
Anthony Green was getting angsty as QLD lagged in the counting, and as we waited with bated breath, our confidence growing with the list of gains, in came Kingston and Wakefield in SA.
And then the final cavalcade. The Queensland booths began to roll in. First the smaller, more conservative rural polling places - something wonderful was happening. The wave grew. Nick Minchin began to look ashen. Eleven years I have waited to see that smirk wiped off his face! Oh joy!
A dash to a nearby election party, we squeezed into a heaving room packed with True Believers just in time to see Maxine McKew take to the stage. How astonishing.
And then as the minutes ticked on we heard the news. Howard had called Rudd to concede!!!!
I woke yesterday with a hangover that couldn't dint the happiness. And then went Costello. And today went Vaile. Mal Brough is gone already. Howard has lost not just the election but his own seat as well.
Even the fact that I'm currently sitting at home nursing a large hole in my head whence a wisdom tooth was ripped this morning cannot effect my mood. I am, as one might say, ebullient.
Congratulations Australia, or should I say Comrades. You have done the country proud!
And so we turn and watch and wait and hope that a new era is about to begin. But I'm in no rush. Who knows if Rudd will deliver what many of us hope for and quite frankly, at this point, who cares? Howard is gone and with him his deceitful, selfish, mean-spirited Government.
Woot!
UPDATE: And so it begins...
Just wow!
What an extraordinary weekend.
It still feels a little unreal. In fact so unreal that I keep remembering all over again, like a goldfish with a two second memory. And it's wonderful.
I go about my business, doing this and that and then something bubbles to the surface: VSU; Kyoto; Andrew Bolt; Kevin Andrews; Work Choices; Phillip Ruddock; AWB; Alexander Downer; Teh History Wars !1!!; Caroline Overington, Piers Ackerman and Dennis Shanahan; and the little devious prick himself, John Winston. Oh the wonderousness. I remember that they're gone, or silenced, or humiliated and a little beam of sunshine peeps into my life.
Sure it's uncharitable. I'm quite content to admit I'm not being particularly gracious. But quite frankly, fuck that. We've put up with it for eleven and a half LONG years. And with EVERY ONE of the conservatives' four consecutive victories, we of "The Left" have had to stay silent and absorb the gloating, accept the scorn, remain quiet as we are reminded that nobody (in fact) likes us, and that perhaps we should consider eating some worms.
So I'm going to enjoy it for at least a week. I think I'm entitled.
I've thought for some time that we had it in the bag and even on Saturday my deepest suspicions were that we'd get home comfortably, but that didn't stop the terror of those final polls.
And then for it to unfold the way it did - slowly at first with only narrow margins in Bass and Braddon, the smirk on Nick Minchin's face creeping back onto our screens once again in an echo of 2004, then with growing pace as the swing swept through Victoria delivering the seats we weren't supposed to win at all. Then NSW: Robertson, Page, Linsday. And then here comes Eden-Monaro the true-to-form bellwether and Bennelong! Sweet Bennelong.
Anthony Green was getting angsty as QLD lagged in the counting, and as we waited with bated breath, our confidence growing with the list of gains, in came Kingston and Wakefield in SA.
And then the final cavalcade. The Queensland booths began to roll in. First the smaller, more conservative rural polling places - something wonderful was happening. The wave grew. Nick Minchin began to look ashen. Eleven years I have waited to see that smirk wiped off his face! Oh joy!
A dash to a nearby election party, we squeezed into a heaving room packed with True Believers just in time to see Maxine McKew take to the stage. How astonishing.
And then as the minutes ticked on we heard the news. Howard had called Rudd to concede!!!!
I woke yesterday with a hangover that couldn't dint the happiness. And then went Costello. And today went Vaile. Mal Brough is gone already. Howard has lost not just the election but his own seat as well.
Even the fact that I'm currently sitting at home nursing a large hole in my head whence a wisdom tooth was ripped this morning cannot effect my mood. I am, as one might say, ebullient.
Congratulations Australia, or should I say Comrades. You have done the country proud!
And so we turn and watch and wait and hope that a new era is about to begin. But I'm in no rush. Who knows if Rudd will deliver what many of us hope for and quite frankly, at this point, who cares? Howard is gone and with him his deceitful, selfish, mean-spirited Government.
Woot!
UPDATE: And so it begins...
It is, quite simply, fucking brilliant. To be able to use "Howard" and "was" in the same sentence at last... ahhh, life begins.
ReplyDeleteAnd by the way: hope your tooth feels better soon. Owww.
ReplyDeleteIndeed it is sweet. I watch news items on several channels, each of them repeating the same things: howard humiliated, costello gone, vaile steps down... and I can't get enough of it. The world is surely a better place now. We are ALREADY a more decent place with the announcement on "sorry" and the signing of Kyoto.
ReplyDeleteWelcome back, Australia
And speaking of which... did you read Andrew Bolt yesterday? I may have even detected a tiny bit of humble pie. He certainly ripped into the Libs something fierce. Bliss.
ReplyDeleteI just read it. Lovely to watch him squirm. Since we're on the topic of articles, did anyone read either Keating's article in the age or Phillip Adams' article in the Oz? Both wonderful at destroying the Howard mythologising before it even got started.
ReplyDeleteSweeter than a bucketful of Lindt balls and a tankful of red! We've already noticed some writers in the Australian and Age we've never heard of before - thank god they were allowed to chew through their restraints at last!
ReplyDeleteWhat'll Bolty boy do now? Flog the Democrats with wet sponges?