Doing history slowly: Paul Keating’s After Words

December 12, 2011 –  by Bethanie Blanchard - Crikey.  

Though the Keating era was somewhat before my time, there’s been many an afternoon I’ve spent happily watching Keating rants on youtube (such is the excitement of life as a PhD student). In the utter linguistic banality of our current political period, it’s sometimes heartening to watch lively political debate, and in clip after clip Keating consistently delivers – weaving verbal assaults on the Opposition with improvised tirades, riffing off the frustration of his opponents, at times turning Question Time into linguistic performance art.
Since those days, Keating has become something of a dark, almost mythical figure in Australian politics – emerging intermittently on Lateline or ABC Radio to deliver one of his bon mots, only to seemingly disappear once again into the ether. No other Aus politician could invent the kind of evocative, slashing insults as his characterisation of Peter Costello: ‘all tip and no iceberg’, and his recent attack on Q&A ‘if you go on Tony Jones’s [show] you need a hip flask of mace.’ Whatever you think of Keating politically, he has a command of metaphor and imagery rivaled in Australia only perhaps by Myles Barlow.
Of course, part of Keating’s charm has always been his arrogance, but there is far more to his vision than the negative words and insults for which he has become notorious.

Part of the review published on Crikey a daily subscription news service out of Australia. A free trial is available.