Well, the latest Newspoll results vindicate Rudd's stance on the Haneef issue. They also confirm Australia's standing as a nation of stupid, racist sheep.
Forty-nine per cent of those questioned approved of Immigration Minister Kevin Andrews' handling of the Mohamed Haneef case while 36 per cent disapproved.In spite of this, Howard still did not get a poll bounce. Why not? Partly it's because Rudd refused to be wedged on the issue (and the poll results vindicate this as a "clever" political move). But it's also because Howard's handling of the Haneef fiasco is nothing new, as even Dennis Sham-I-am acknowledges:
The case of Mohamed Haneef is a classic point of the public refusing to give extra credit to a government doing what it is supposed to be doing. For weeks, the allegation has been that Howard, via Kevin Andrews, was trying to “wedge” Labor over counter-terrorism, was dog whistling to racists on immigration and scoring easy populist support.Someone call a doctor - Howard's looming health problem just came a big step closer. I wonder if they will do the whole rushed-in-an-ambulance-to-hospital thing? Of course it won't happen until after the APEC show next month. Only a big post-APEC lift in the polls will save his fat 68-year-old arse.
The Newspoll figures show that while more people support the Government’s decision on Haneef, Labor is not wedged, thanks to Rudd supporting the decision.
Voters backed the decision to cancel the visa but weren’t about to go the next step into backing the Coalition politically.
If it was a dog whistle, it didn’t work; if it was the Government doing its job, it didn’t get any extra kudos; and it’s going to take more than a confected “mini-Tampa” or base appeal to racism to save the Coalition.
