Cheap charade by Labor's spin doctors stripped bare

They were witless men, not faceless men. The Liberals' constant invocation of the faceless men who overthrew Kevin Rudd and installed Julia Gillard was good politics but bad history.The term ''faceless men'' was coined by Sir Robert Menzies, who used it remorselessly in the 1963 election. Its effectiveness stemmed from an incident that had dramatised the inherent problems with Labor's power structure.The Daily Telegraph had just published a politically devastating photo. Arthur Calwell and Gough Whitlam were caught waiting under a lamppost in the Canberra night while nearby the ALP executive decided the party's policy on allowing US bases in north-west Australia.Menzies went for the jugular. Labor was endangeri...