Thick plottens in Aussie political iconography

First there was Government junior minister Christopher Pyne blathering that “the cast of characters behind Kevin Rudd would make the Addams family blush.”

• The Australian, 15 January 2007

Next we had Glenn Milne quoting an unidentified Liberal MP who likened the ALP leadership team of Kevin Rudd and Julia Gillard to the 1970s British sitcom George and Mildred.

• The Australian, 5 February 2007

This was soon followed by shadow Attorney-General Kelvin Thomson invoking the 1970s sitcom Happy Days to characterise the Prime Minister as “the Fonz of Parliament”.

Then this week comes the most lurid pop-culture reference of them all:

Nationals senator Barnaby Joyce accused Mr Rudd of playing Hannibal Lecter to the Prime Minister’s Clarice Starling in his bid to “play with the Prime Minister's mind”.

• The Australian, 27 February 2007

This is perhaps the most sensational claim to underdog status in Australian political history. Joyce has evoked an image of Kevin Rudd/Anthony Hopkins monstering John Howard/Jodie Foster that just doesn’t bear thinking about.

Poor widdle Pwime Minister Clarice Howard wilts as Hannibal Rudd drools over culinary recollections of liver, fava beans and a nice chianti...

Where will it all end??