Don falls into the common trap of portraying John Howard as just another Australian politician - not much better or worse than any other. A lot of us have learned by harsh experience over the past 11 years that this just is not true - that Howard is something else altogether. He makes our flesh creep, because we have seen the way he ruthlessly uses his power, indifferent to the hurt he causes to defenceless people. He has schooled a compliant administrative, federal police and military operational culture that dutifully expresses his values and prejudices.

He isn't just any old politician. He is special, one-off, and a lot of us will be very relieved to see him gone at last. Don, we don't need to hate our political leaders - with Rudd as PM vs whoever the coalition elect as their new Opposition leader, I hope federal politics will begin to return to a civility and normality that in recent years we have lost. Howard has been a polarising figure. With him gone, a lot of things will get better in Australia.

Tony Kevin, Csnberra

I agree with Kevin and persons such as Robert Manne who put a very persuasive argument re how John Howard has degraded the quality of the body politic since he has been in office---including the way that the affairs of Parliament are conducted---even the theatricaladolescent petty point scoring HOONERY that is now a constant feature of Parliamentary sittings.

Meanwhile it would be fair to say that most of the people who write for the Australian (which constantly mis-informs us) are very much against Keven Rudd.

Funny how no one calls them Rudd haters.

Don, your article is mildly amusing, and it seems a pity to write a serious reply. But it is based on a false premise, and one that is widely adopted and being pushed by the far right wing shriekers who dominate radio, newpaper and television commentary. That is, that there is nothing wrong with Coalition policies, so strong objections to them must be motivated by hate of Howard.

The view is being propogated as part of a deliberate attempt to shut people's ears to critics of the policies. I'm not sure whether it is a lie, or whether the shriekers listen only to each other and have come to believe it.

In any case, it is false. It is corrosive of political debate. And unfortunately your article supports this piece of malicious ideology.

Dear Bob I think history will view Howard and his GOVT as the most corrupt,dishonest destroyers of our countries values that we have seen thus far,the sooner he is gone and his Govt with him the better.
Hopefully then we can start to pick up the bits and try to repair the damage

Can Tonykevin1 be our very own Tony who used to write first hand rubbish, but has now been reduced to the humble role of a pleb with an opinion like the rest of us?

He lives in “Csnberra” – presumably Canberra – where all the funny, embittered old lefties seem to congregate unable, as they are, to fit in anywhere else in the country; so it probably is him.

If it is THE Tony Kevin, it’s good to have him back. Laughs have been few and far between since the demise of his Howard-bashing, anything not to his lefty liking-bashing articles.

He is still ‘special’. John Howard singled him out and made his “flesh creep”. How bitter can you be, Tony? I hated Hawke and Keating as much as you hate John Howard (I don’t like Howard all that much, either), but never, ever have I felt that any Australian politician has been as bad as you do. Even most of the resident lefties on OLO don’t claim to have been as badly served by JH as you claim to have been.

When Howard goes, I don’t think anything “will get better in Canberra” for you, Tony, you poor old thing.

While some might find this amusing, I find it a waste of space. Useful comment about media behaviour and politics (aimed at any candidate) is worthwhile, but I would hope that the site moderator would be more selective rather than allow this kind of pointless (and not at all funny) irrelevance.