Sound & fuehrer

GODWIN’S Law states that the longer a discussion goes on, the more likely it becomes that someone will be compared to Hitler.

GODWIN’S Law states that the longer a discussion goes on, the more likely it becomes that someone will draw that longest of bows and compare someone or something to Adolf Hitler and the Nazi regime. Some go on to suggest that whoever reaches for the swastika immediately forfeits the argument. Such thoughts do not appear to cause so much as a ripple in the tranquil lake of Clive Palmer’s mind. He was at it again yesterday, as sensitive as a Panzer division through the azaleas as he got stuck into Queensland Premier Campbell Newman: “He is a Nazi, of course he is a Nazi, he wants the Gestapo. Look at his popularity, he is just below Hitler when he got elected.” At the risk of sounding a bit hairsplitty, Hitler was never elected, scoring just 36.8 per cent of the presidential election in 1932. But it wasn’t long until he was appointed head of state anyway — which, we suppose, could be vaguely encouraging for anyone suffering in Newspoll. As for Germany’s federal election the following year, the Nazis scored 43.91 per cent. Compare and contrast to the Liberal National Party, which scored just 32 per cent in Newspoll, but 49 per cent on two-party-preferred. So we suppose Palmer was semi-correct. Later, at the National Press Club, Palmer was presented with the opportunity of backing away from comparisons with a regime that ultimately led to the deaths of tens of millions. Can you predict how that panned out? Let’s see how you went.

Journo: “I wanted to ask you about Campbell Newman, the man you today described as a Nazi.”

Palmer: “He is a Nazi, yeah.”

Hitler, of course, just went on to get rid of the other parties, though we suspect there isn’t a lesson in this for the LNP. Wishful thinking, maybe, but no lesson.

Back in the house

EVER since Family First’s Steve Fielding packed his bottle suit and left Canberra, a small corner of Strewth’s heart (insofar as an organ thus shaped can have a corner) has been in mourning. So the re-establishment of a Family First presence — in the shape of Bob Day — in the Senate yesterday was buoying. As Day said of the freshly minted crossbenchers: “I think we’ve variously been described as a mishmash, flotsam and jetsam, a bunch of barnyard licorice all-sorts, Star Wars, aliens ... so look, all those things we think are hilarious.” He added a vow to prove critics wrong. Also rather enjoyable was the Liberal Democratic Party’s David Leyonhjelm, who was touchingly frank about his first day at the big new office: “It scares the crap out of me.”

Casting opportunity

GIVEN how famously sweary David Mamet’s Glengarry Glen Ross is, it seemed only right when the Melbourne Theatre Company announced yesterday that the ailing Steve Bisley had been replaced in its production by John McTernan. For better or worse, it turned out to not be Julia Gillard’s former communications director. But the titles of some of the shows the actor McTernan has been in would suit the other McTernan, not least The Crucible, Boy Gets Girl, Take Me Out, Born Yesterday, Shark Fin Soup and Assassins.

Safe to enter

MEANWHILE in South Australia’s parliament, a solitary yellow Post-it note was spotted adorning the office door of Health Minister Jack Snelling yesterday. On it was this simple yet reassuring declaration: “No leaks in this room.” Apparently it was left there by Building Services and had no political subtext whatsoever.

A magical moment

TASMANIA’S Eric Abetz cracked a joke in the Senate yesterday. And on Sunday, he was spotted smiling on ABC1’s Insiders. Yea verily it is a sign.

Hanging Barry

THERE are possibly one or two people who’d love to see Media Watch host Paul Barry on the canvas. In the meantime they’ll have to make do with this happening in the artistic sense. Yesterday he tweeted an image of his freshly done portrait, writing, “One of 100s of Archibald entries but this is from up and coming artist Sean Hutton. Hoping he gets hung!” Thoughtfully, the painted Barry has a copy of this august organ on his lap. We would have preferred it if he’d had it open at Strewth, as it would have been nice to find out what sort of emotional cocktail one gets when one mixes “chuffed” with “apprehensive”.

Chocs away

A QUIZ on The Sydney Morning Herald website yesterday: “Which chocolate bar are you?” No, we don’t know what’s going on there.

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