Humble servant of the Nation

Death becomes our politicians.

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A big shout out to Dennis Hof who overcame the severe handicap of being dead to win election in District 36 of the Nevada State Assembly.

District 36 sits inside Nye County, Nevada. The county’s principal city, Pahrump, is a solid hour’s drive east to Las Vegas. It is home to 36,000 Nevadans, wedged on the Nevada-California border and ominously and perhaps auspiciously, Death Valley lies nearby. Pahrump became noteworthy (at least to me) as a part-setting and general den of inequity for the television drama, Get Shorty.

Hof enjoyed his 72nd birthday celebrations three weeks ago in Pahrump in the company of porn star Ron Jeremy, and recently pardoned former Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio, and died the following day.

Death became Dead Dennis. He not only won but won in a landslide. The obvious conclusion is the Democrat candidate, Lesia Romanov, may not have been entirely compelling. But here’s the rub — Hof, in a state of the deepest repose, was seen as a better candidate dead than alive.

The denizens of District 36 were not altogether comfortable casting a vote for a man who owned seven legal brothels.

But dead he was just fine, and the punters came out and voted for him in droves. Dead Dennis received 68 per cent of the vote. Had Still Vaguely in the Vertical Dennis run, it may have gone down to the wire.

What’s next? A dead Abe Lincoln to emerge from his tomb in Springfield Illinois? Dead Thomas Jefferson and dead George Washington to battle it out in Virginia’s sixth district for another shot at the title?

Worse things could happen.

Full column here.

442 Comments

  • Henry Donald J Blofeld says:

    Ex ousted PM Turnbull is giving the “poor me” sympathetic thing a big go, Mr. Insider but correct me if I am wrong wasn’t it sweet innocent Malcolm who tossed out a sitting PM, to wit ex outsed PM Abbott? Yes, it was he cited 30 bad Newspolls then Malcolm went on to get 38! Strewth
    Goodness is that you Malcolm in this short clip a few years ago?
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JB-qcaSD4S0

  • Henry Donald J Blofeld says:

    “Lest We Forget”
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=McCDWYgVyps

  • Penny says:

    I see some charming Liberal politicians in Melbourne are politicizing the terrible events yesterday and calling for an end to multiculturalism….if anyone ever set foot in Pelligrinis multiculturalism jumps out at you the minute you walk in the door. Both Pelligrinis and Massanis in Carlton enabled me to confidently order Italian food in Italian in Italy….I despair how shallow and bigoted Australia is becoming all for the sake of winning a few votes. RIP Sisto.

    • John O'Hagan says:

      Morrison on Sky says the attacker “violated the trust and the opportunity gifted to him by a generous nation”, because he arrived in Australia as a child in the 1990s. As if the crime would somehow be less abhorrent if committed by someone born here. Another dog whistle.

      Vale Sisto indeed. Pellegrini’s is one of Melbourne’s vital organs, and he was always a part of it and he touched many thousands of people’s lives. The first time I spoke with him was around 1978, the last time was a couple of weeks ago.

    • Boadicea says:

      I think you’ll find this sort of reaction to a terrorist attack anywhere in the world Penny. It’s not just Australian politicians

    • Milton says:

      Penny – I read that Mad Andrews backed up Mad Morrison in pointing out the obvious problem with radical, or extreme, Islam. Like any extremist, just like right wing neo-Nazi, white supremacists, they can resort to violence, rather than debate. This chap shouId have been allowed to go to Syria and not let back in. I fancy that the majority of Muslim’s are more aware of the dangers of radical Islamists than most Australians, hence the huge diaspora of predominately Muslim people to western, secular democracies. And whilst I may be at cross purposes to your comment regarding multiculturalism, religion, or for the sake of my comment, Islam for many is an all encompassing part of some peoples culture. It for some is the law, or governing body, whereas for many so called ”westernised” people, religion is just one meze on the culture platter. Of course this doesn’t translate as all Muslims bad etc. Sadly, I think, multiculturalism is viewed as solely a wonderful opportunity, which it is, to enjoy the foods from different nations and the occasional festival, but that is mostly give and take, rather than synthesis. Moreover, when absorbing various cultures into Australia I think the emphasis needs to made on adhering and maintaining this country to be secular, English speaking, democratic, committed to equality and opportunity for all. I think the USA does this so much better than other places, but they’ve had more time.
      btw, went to Pellegrinis whilst in Melbourne years back and thought it was fab.

      • Boadicea says:

        Have to agree Milton that it did seem strange to cancel their passports and keep them here to become even angrier. Why not let them go and cancel their passport once they’ve left..there must be a very good reason to do otherwise. Right now I can’t think of one

      • Carl on the Coast says:

        Milton, may I suggest “enlightened” in lieu of ” … so called “westernised”…” (9th row) is more appropriate in your otherwise excellent piece.

    • Carl on the Coast says:

      Well, at least Daniel Andrews agrees our Prime Minister has “struck the right balance” regarding his remarks concerning radical Islam.

      However, I see the charming Member for Cowan disagrees. But then, her particular tertiary quals would probably require her to have a contrary view to ordinary folk.

  • smoke says:

    remembrance day 2moz
    100yrs have past
    still as dumb as woodbugs

  • Milton says:

    This is worth a read; highlighting the disaster that would be a labor/green govt, and at a time we can ill afford it.
    https://www.spectator.com.au/2018/11/labors-quagmire-of-incompetence/

  • Carl on the Coast says:

    Yes, it was inevitable that when Hof ran out of puff he’d end up in a landslide. Unless, of course his Testamentum required his mortal remains be placed on the mantle piece, or elsewhere.

  • Milton says:

    Death hasn’t impeded Kevin Andrews political longevity. Even a Madame Tussauds effort couldn’t help but make poor Kevin look more lifelike, and probably more stimulating company.

    • BASSMAN says:

      No wonder….he is known as The Undertaker. This idiot cost us $7.5million chasing the innocent Dr Haneef. Then we had to cough up more millions in compensation to him…why? The Politics of Fear that the Looters invest in.

    • Bella says:

      Maybe ScuMo should have a chat to Daniel Andrews to learn how to lead Australia forwards Milton instead of dragging it backwards just hellbent on appeasing only their filfthy coal donors.
      Victoria is teaching the other states what “good government” actually is by listening to the people and tackling climate change by forging ahead with six new renewable projects, in stark contrast to the Fib’s do nothing about emissions approach.

  • smoke says:

    so Australia win a one-dayer but nobody saw it, so it didn’t really happen?

    • Perentie says:

      I was there. On a comp ticket. If you take out the SACA members and the comp tickets there would of only been a few thousand paying punters. They would of only made money on the ridiculous price of food. They’ve also upped the price of beer but that doesn’t bother me so much as we all know that every time the price of beer increases it’s merely getting closer to its true value.

      Good game though. Terrific bowling and fielding effort by the home team. Did I witness the resurgence of Australian cricket?

  • Not Finished Yet says:

    If a woman is unwise enough to report a sexual assault in the United Arab Emirates, she is likely to be considered immoral and will face persecution and may face legal action. In Australia it’s much the same. But at least in the United Arab Emirates and Australia she is unlikely to be publicly mocked by the nation’s political leader, which, I suppose, shows us to be very slightly more civilised than the United States.

    • John O'Hagan says:

      The Australian’s flyer on the Foley/Elliot debacle read “ABC FEMALE JOURNALIST TRIGGERS ALP CRISIS”, managing to victim-blame, irrelevantly bag the competition, and bring the term “female journalist” back from the 1970s, all in six words. Quite an achievement.

      • Not Finished Yet says:

        It was a terrible headline. In fact it was so poor I am almost surprised it didn’t read “ABC FEMALE JOURNALIST PLAYS GENDER CARD AND TRIGGERS ALP CRISIS”.

      • Razor says:

        JOH what absolute unadulterated rubbish. How you can draw those conclusions from those words is beyond me.

        1./. How does it victim blame?
        2./. How does it bag the ABC?
        3./. Unless I’m terribly mistaken but I think Ms Raper is female.

        Truly you need to get out more!

        • Not Finished Yet says:

          Razor, The Australian may be my paper of choice, but it’s coverage of this issue is disappointing, to put it mildly. The issue is neither about the ABC nor the ALP. It’s about too many men seemingly unable or unwilling to keep their hands to themselves.

        • John O'Hagan says:

          There’s no point in asking rhetorical questions if they’re so easy to answer:

          1) The “crisis” was triggered by Foley’s alleged groping and Elliot’s publication of it, not by the journalist, who was a victim of both. So, victim blaming.

          2) Who the journalist works for is irrelevant to the story, but they make a point of squeezing that in to the valuable space on the flyer, presumably to associate the ABC with the crisis. Would they have said “Newscorp journalist” if she was one of theirs? I doubt it.

          3) If you honestly don’t understand why terms like “female journalist”, “lady doctor”, “woman driver” etc. are sexist, I suggest you get out more yourself, and while you’re out, approach one the aforementioned people and describe them that way to their face. I anticipate they will then explain it to you.

      • Bella says:

        They just can’t help themselves John.

    • BASSMAN says:

      I remember the case of a 15yr old Arab girl who was raped by her taxi driver. She went to gaol for years for being a person of ‘loose morals’. The taxi driver? He got off of course!

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