Everything’s just fine in the national capital.

“We can win this election,” the Prime Minister told Kerry O’Brien last night. And then he admitted that he and his government are charity cases.

“If the Australian people are good enough and kind enough to re-elect me again, there are a lot of things I want to do,” he said.

Good? Kind? Goodness and kindness normally don’t decide elections, yet the Prime Minister has put his party into such a state that he needs to beg for mercy from the electorate. He’d better watch the form that mercy takes. If voters are going to show him and his government kindness, they might decide it’s best to put them out of their misery.

“Everything comes to an end,” he said. “We must be honest and candid and adult about it.”

Voters may see a Prime Minister who’s lingered on beyond his time and decide on political euthanasia. So much for kindness. But the Prime Minister wasn’t the only senior Liberal using weird words yesterday. Earlier, at a doorstop, the Treasurer was asked “are accusations flying around that you lack courage. What is your response to that?”

“Well I would say it took courage to balance Australia’s budget,” he replied. “It took courage to pay off $96 billion of debt.”

It hasn’t. Courage hasn’t played a part. It’s all been done by massive streams of revenue from high taxes and a resources boom. He’s barely acted. The Treasurer has just watched the money flow in. As he’s just watched the Howard years flow on. He’s barely acted on the leadership, too. He has let the Howard years run too long, damaging the government.

Costello must now know that the PM is a problem but, equally, a leadership contest would be the death knell. He must know this is why Howard has got away with his brinkmanship. Costello must also know that the only way he will get the leadership is with a seamless transition before the election.

Afterwards, who knows what the situation will be?