Possum Comitatus on the 'coalition of the stiffed'

Selected quotes Possum Comitatus yesterday in Crikey.com.au:

 "The "It's Time" factor seems to be on the tips of politically fashionable lips everywhere at the moment, but what is interesting with the whole "It's Time" thing is the underlying dynamics of it that have been going on over the last six years or so. One of the more well argued theories about the Howard government is that there has been two Howard governments, the one that went from 1996 through to the Ryan by-election of 2001, and the one we've had since. The former was the fiscally prudent, measured and relatively cautious government, the latter is the big spending, whatever it takes, wedge first and clean up the mess later government. The Responsible vs. Populist faces of the Howard administration writ large. ------People have good memories when it comes to being on the wrong side of a wedge, the losing side of a porkbarrel or the neglected side of a voting demographic. That alone reduces the long term power of the populist approach. People remember when they've been screwed far more than they remember when they've been electorally smooched."