Former Prime Minister Paul Keating has slammed former Australian Financial Review and Quadrant editor Paddy McGuinness “a liar and a fraud” on the eve of the conservative writer’s funeral, The Sydney Morning Herald has reported.
The Sydney Morning Herald
The legendary parliamentary debater has found that his opponents were easier to beat if he waited until they were dead.
After the late Mr McGuinness failed to repond to the post-mortem attack, Mr Keating triumphantly concluded that debating the writer was “like being flogged with a wet order of service.”
Once again, the success of Keating! The Musical has been overshadowed by the antics of Keating! The Arsehole.
The outburst dashes hopes that Mr Keating has spent the 12 years since he was dumped as PM coming to terms with the fact that he was not universally loved—and raises the possibility that the former leader has simply been getting drunk outside the railway station and swearing at passers-by.
Mr Keating shot to prominence in the 1980s after being named the World’s Greatest Treasurer and then delivering the World’s Greatest Interest Rates. After losing office in 1996, he took his skills in heaping shit on others and went into private practice as a bitter old man.
For his part, Mr Keating has brushed off criticism over the timing of his remarks, saying that he will respond when those critics are dead.
What with all the time taken to call Mr McGuinness “a liar and a fraud”, Mr Keating didn’t get the opportunity to similarly label his old friend, former Indonesian dictator Suharto.