Howard's Lost His Mojo, Baby

And Dennis Shanahan never had any - but more about that brain-addled Murdoch monkey later.

First, some good analysis from a real journalist, Peter Hartcher:

Howard needed to use Monday's formal campaign launch to do something dramatic to change voting intentions. He needed to do something explosive. Instead, he blew himself up.

Hartcher says Howard was banking on voter's greed and stupidity (well, it's always worked a charm in the past) and expecting Rudd to out-bid him on $multi-$billion promises. Now it's back-fired, and the Coalition looks ridiculous on multiple fronts.

As Hartcher point out, Howard's $65 billion in election bribes is equal to the entire economy of Vietnam! Rudd's campaign, OTOH, (even with $56 billion in bribes, the economy of Libya) looks to have the touch of a tactical genius. And at this stage of the campaign, it's all about momentum.

Now over to Dennis, who claims that the multi-billion-dollar promises made in the campaign launches are just a sideshow. The real game, in Shanahan's fevered imagination, is Teh Stratergery. And Kevin Rudd has just taken an extraordinary gamble by playing right into John Howard's hands! BWAAAHHAAAHA!!!

Rudd has grabbed the tiller and steered the ALP boat confidently towards the treacherous straits between the Scylla and Charybdis of economic management and industrial relations.

Oh, yes! Industrial relations, according to Dennis, is "the one area Rudd has been able to avoid until now". Wha-a-a-at???

And apparently - well, according to Dennis - there is now "a question over whether Rudd was really being austere or had just run out of money by Wednesday because he’d spent it already". Anybody else heard that? Anyone???

Well, never mind, it's a good excuse to start talking about "Peter Costello and his credibility on economic management". And it makes a nice rhetorical bridge to some more gratuitous Howard quotes about how Australians have never had it so bloody good.

He has said it at every opportunity since the election was called but nobody has been listening and Rudd hasn’t had to respond or face questions on these tougher issues.

It's all the bloody liberal media's fault, I tell ya! But finally - finally! - the real election is about to begin!

Rudd has won the battle of the launches but the siege on the economy has just begun...

Like Ulysses and Jason, Rudd has taken a bold and risky course. He obviously feels he’ll fare better than the ancient heroes, but he’s venturing into the dangerous waters and strongholds of Howard and Costello.

My, my, my. If you hear a mighty groaning CRACCCKKK!!! on November 24th, I suspect it won't be Rudd's ship foundering on the rocks of economic credibility. It will be Dennis Shanahan's head exploding.

I don't normally post comments at News Ltd, because they usually get spiked anyway. But I was prompted to submit this one:

You forgot to take your medication this morning, Dennis. Or maybe you took the wrong pills? This crap is just hallucinatory!

And you get paid for this stuff, right???