The angel of death?
It started with a comment by an unnamed Liberal quoted in The Saturday Paper describing former Prime Minister John Howard as “the angel of death” as he ventured forth to rally support for Josh Frydenberg in the battle for Kooyong.
John Howard
Simon Holmes à Court, who is backing the teal independents, reacted to the article by tweeting
Nazi Dr Joseph Mengele has been known as the “angel of death” since the Holocaust and using the term to describe John Howard raised the ire of Wentworth’s incumbent Dave Sharma and radio shock jock Ray Hadley.
Both Kooyong and Wentworth are home to a large number of Jewish voters and their respective incumbents Josh Frydenberg and Dave Sharma both having battles on their hands with the Holmes a Cour financially-backed teal Independents.
Sharma stated: “These comments and Holocaust comparisons are disgraceful and reprehensible.” He questioned said Independent teal rival Allegra Spender “whose main financial backer is Mr Holmes a Court, must inform us whether she agrees with his views”.
J-Wire posed the question to the Allegra Spender team receiving the comment “Your question would be best referred to the Liberal Party as to what the anonymous Liberal quoted meant”.
John Howard
Simon Holmes à Court further tweeted:
The Daily Telegraph reported 2GB’s Ray Hadley addressing Holme a Court saying “You are an absolute disgrace. It’s the only word for it – disgrace”.
J-Wire accepts that the term “angel of death” has been been used in many contexts. Wikipedia lists 17 contemporary individuals described as an “angel of death”. The only well-known one is Dr Mengele.
For reference, the relevant paragraph in the article “Liberal polling predicts losses for Josh Frydenberg and Tim Wilson” in The Saturday Paper (Edition No. 398) is:
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“I look at John Howard as the angel of death,” the Liberal says, of the significance of his presence. “You don’t send John Howard somewhere you don’t need him.”
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Generally, if one agrees with a “tweet”, they retweet it, or like it. In this case Simon a Court did not retweet or refer to the earlier tweet, he began a new discourse referring to the Liberal Party’s “angel of death”. He had no link to the earlier tweet to indicate in any way he was referring to it. Only after 2GB and others referred to it as “vile”, did a Court say that he used the term following some comment by a Liberal(?) in the left wing Saturday Paper.
We all know Josh Frydenberg has large shoulders but………