Oz Mudflats

Sarah Palin isn’t the breath of fresh air her followers portray her to be. In fact, her entire political story has been done before, by a redheaded fish & chips shop owner in 1996 who tired of her Australian government conducting ‘business as usual’ and decided to take on the ‘big boys’, single-handedly. She may not have faked a pregnancy or paraded her children in front of news cameras, but she did drape herself in the flag, complain about her government in a loud, screechy voice and bilk a lot of donations from fellow countrymen.

The following excerpt is from a dynamic summary of Pauline Hanson’s rise to fame. It reads just like a page out of Sarah Palin’s playbook. I encourage every American to read it before deciding whether to politically support Sarah Palin or not.
[Click here to read the entire post ]

The Perils of Pauline: Pauline Hanson’s One Nation Delivers A Dangerous Wake Up Call To Australia’s Left
ANDREW HAMMER & JERI STANTON

The story of Pauline Hanson’s One Nation

In 1996, Pauline Hanson, the operator of a small fish and chip shop, decided to run for the Australian parliament. She made this decision after becoming fed up with politics-as-usual, and feeling that the existing parties just didn’t represent the interests of Australia’s hard working masses. At least that’s the story as she tells it.

The real story is a bit more revealing…

Photos and links to Pauline Hanson and One Nation:

Launch of One Nation 1997

One Nation (the voice of the people) is a trademarked brand name. Considering Sarah Palin has applied for a trademark on her own name claiming it as a brand name, I find it odd that she would impinge the rights of someone else’s trademark. Oh wait. No I don’t. This is Sarah.

Pauline Hanson draped herself in the Australian flag a good ten years before Palin. And felt just as entitled.

 Australian Gays treated Pauline with the same irreverance as American Gays treat Sarah. Coincidence?

Simon Hunt is a media critic and faculty member at the University of New South Wales, Australia. He’s also a gay man and a music producer. When Pauline Hanson and her One Nation party launched a racist campaign for parliament devoted to stopping Asian immigration, denying rights to aboriginals, subsidizing medical care for whites and ceasing foreign aid, Hunt was inflamed. He did what he knew best– used some a PC to cut together a satirical song called “I’m a Backdoor Man.” The highly danceable track was a cut-up of samples of Pauline Hanson’s voice, and put back together in a way that mocked her agenda. Hunt released it under a drag pseudonym, Pauline Pantsdown.

In 2007 Hanson shifts her focus from Aboriginals to Muslims, re-energizing her base with warnings of Islamic immigrants taking over and smothering out the Christian Right whom she claims naturally belongs here – while the immigrants do not – and begins chastizing the government for not adopting stricter immigration laws. Sound familiar?

Herald Sun 17 March 2007
PAULINE Hanson will urge major political parties to stop the flow of Muslim immigrants into Australia when she launches her bid to become a senator this year.

She didn’t get to be Senator in 2007 however as that’s the election that landed Ms. Hanson in jail for voter fraud. It seems more people voted than actually lived in certain communities – a fascinating story in and of itself complete with intrigue and backstabbing. About a year into her jail time however, certain evidence came to light which showed Ms. Hanson was innocent of the charges and she was subsequently released, all charges dropped. A trusted benefactor was to blame. Ms. Hanson faded into the background and reappeared last year to make a final, failed bid for re-election but the public just really isn’t into her that much any more. First because a lot of people feel while proven innocent, she should have been more aware of what was going on inside her own party. Second because some people feel that when you are the captain of a team and the team screws up – you belong in the penalty box with your mates.

And third – and perhaps more importantly, Pauline Hanson wasn’t re-elected this time because there just aren’t as many bigots around these days as there once were. The world is growing up. Thank goodness.

I found this 1999 political cartoon in an old Australian government archive:

It’s a cartoon of Pauline Hanson staring down an Aboriginal woman, making her stand on who does and who does not belong in her-defined Australia, absolutely clear. Scarey, no? I have the feeling, though, if and when Ms. Hanson realizes Sarah has hijacked her “One Nation” campaign a second cartoon will emerge looking more like this:

My sincere apologies to both artists – Alan Charles and Brent Noel for the merging of their cartoons. but it was for a good cause, right?

Please, please, please take a few minutes to read the first link in this post. This one. The opening paragraphs are critically important because while we may spend a lot of time laughing at these insane women – we can’t afford to ignore them.