The Condensed Andrew Bolt

(It's like the Shorter Henderson, but slightly more noxious).

In today's column, "PM's riot rescue", respected journalist and commentator Andrew Bolt reflects on the underlying causes of the Redfern riot and the generally crappy state of Aboriginal politics in Australia. Bolt suggests that the Duck of Steel has been given a perfect opportunity to repeat his statesmanlike performance during the Tampa incident:

It took the Tampa to save John Howard from what seemed certain defeat at the last election.

Now again facing defeat, Howard may be miraculously saved by his second Tampa - the Redfern race riot.

Bolt eventually reaches the conclusion that it's time for somebody to play the race card, so long as it's done with enough finesse to avoid the appearance of racism. John Howard may not be up to this, but someone else might be:

... perhaps Redfern isn't Howard's new Tampa, after all. Perhaps it is Peter Costello's instead.