Howard's Loss

Why Howard went:

The attempt to tarnish Mr. Rudd’s character caused no lasting damage to him, but scored three own goals for the coalition. First,it brought the most vulnerable part of the coalition’s record — truth in government (cue Iraq, weapons of mass destruction, reducing terrorist threat, asylum seekers in a leaky boat being turned away with no mercy and lots of lies, more lies with children overboard, the government backed AWB as the biggest defrauder in the U.N. oil-for-food scandal, election promises broken because they were non-core, leadership deal with deputy Peter Costello that was brushed aside, ministerial code of conduct that was abandoned because too many were having to resign) — front and centre in election year.

That matches exactly what I heard from someone from down during my cycling trip - he was sick of John Howard's lies. So it was a bit surreal to hear an analyst/correspondent on CNN dismissing Iraq as a factor, and attributing the defeat almost wholly to climate change policy! Thank god for The Hindu.