A fat chick in a tracksuit keels over near a passing politician.

Big deal!

Howard was right not to apologise here. If he did he'd have opened up an avenue for a dodgy and massive litigation case which inevitable would have been funded by the poor taxpayer. (That means you too, Graham.)

No, Howard's instincts have, as usual, served him, us and the nation well here.

A previous NSW Premier potentially put his own life at risk defending Prince Charles from an attacker in Sydney some years ago. A selfless act of leadership, and the complete opposite of pretty much every example John Howard has given us.

If Howard is still the canny political tactician he used to be, then he should know that in this campaign -- of all campaigns! -- he needs to take every opportunity to show he's not selfish or out of touch. He just missed a really big one.

You would have to see a full animation of this scene to really cast judgement?Taking a single snapshot out of context does not tell a fair story.

Leaders who are perceived to be heartless more often than not,toughen us up for the real challenges,rather than the likes of MR nice guy Kevin who pretends to be the solution to all things that challenge us.

Graham,are you still a memeber of the Liberal Party?

It's not his fault that she fell over, but it is his fault he left her there. It's the parable of the Good Samaritan - the priest and the pharisee passed by on the other side. Howard's doing a good impression over the course of this election of doing impersonations of both, and this is just the sharp end of it.

If he'd been down there on the floor helping her and directing traffic, people would have said - Gee, what a guy. But he doesn't look like he really knows what to do so sails imperviously on.

As Wayne Swan will no doubt say "clueless".

As you say Graham, not his fault, but unfortunately for JWH it offers pictures to go with the "mean" part of the "mean and tricky" picture that we're told that voters have formed over the years. Just goes to show that it never rains, it pours.

Look, I'm sure he is sorry that she fell over and would be happy to say so, but apologising is just a bridge too far.