Joerg Haider Has Met His Maker

I'll bet that a damned interesting conversation was had and that Haider was none too happy about the substance -- or outcome. None too happy at all.

Police say Austrian rightist Haider dead at 58

Austrian politician Joerg Haider, whose far-right rhetoric at times cast a negative light on the Alpine republic, has died in a car accident at age 58.

Carinthian province police official Friedrich Hrast said the accident happened early Saturday in the south of the country when Haider's car veered off the road near the city of Klagenfurt and overturned while trying to overtake another car. He said Haider suffered severe injuries to his head and chest and was taken to a hospital where he was pronounced dead. Haider was alone in the car at the time of the accident.

Haider, who was born Jan. 26, 1950 in Upper Austria, was governor of the province of Carinthia and leader of the far-right Alliance for the Future of Austria at the time of his death.

"For us, it's like the end of the world," Haider's spokesman, Stefan Petzner, told the Austria Press Agency.

Austrian President Heinz Fischer described Haider's death as a "human tragedy."

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