Post Punk Kitchen Forum

Someone threw their shoes at John Howard during Q&A as a comment on his enthusiasm for the Iraq war.

http://www.smh.com.au/national/shoes-thrown-at-howard-during-qa-20101025-170zh.html



I laughed.

I laughed a bit back when it happened to Bush (mostly because of the startled expression on his face) but I have to admit, watching last night, I thought it was a pretty poor effort. I agree with the anger of the thrower, but I don't think it was the place (and honestly, I felt really bad for the Silver Fox). Worst of all, Howard handled it in a really calm, gracious manner, even thinking to reassure Tony Jones like a kindly uncle. Blech.

From screamediablog on Twitter: "Tony shouldn't have said sorry to Howard re #shoegate - after all, he didn't throw the shoe. He should have expressed regret. #qanda" *

Mostly, the man hasn't changed a bit. The part when Hicks turned up with his video question was my favourite, if only because of the way Howard failed to engage with the question, and reached for that old chestnut that some people regard Hicks as a hero. Bullshiitake. He's no hero of mine. But he deserved a fair system.

*For any non-Australians reading — a reference to Howard's refusal to deliver an apology to the Stolen Generations on behalf of successive Australian governments.

To be fair, I didn't actually see Q&A, I just read the news report.
A friend of mine posted on facebook that he was really frustrated with the shoe-throwing incident because it obscured the real issues ("children overboard", war, mandatory detention for refugees) - allowing Howard a reprieve from answering some of those questions. I definitely do understand the anger as well, and hearing that John Howard had shoes thrown at him was pretty funny, but when it comes at the expense of an opportunity to talk about some of the awful things he instigated or allowed to happen as Prime Minister, it's not good.

my preferred twitter hash tag for this is #shoeanda

I like that, unsurprised!

I've just been watching more about it on The Drum on ABC24. Seeing the footage again, I was reminded that it was captured in a long shot from the side, rather than showing Howard's face, so it just emphasised what an out-of-place and largely futile gesture it was. No doubt a close-up of Howard's face would have yielded funnier results. I assume Peter Gray didn't intend to actually hit Howard, so I'm glad it's mostly being shrugged off.

Oh and apparently Howard asked QandA producers beforehand whether David Hicks or his father would be in the audience, and was told no... and damn, now I've forgotten whether or not he was told the video question was coming. The man really is quite the canny politician; I just loathe his politics.