Tony Abbott is a hack. A dog. An aggressive, carpi

[garfield]

Tony Abbott is a hack. A dog. An aggressive, carping, bitter, mindless, deceptive, dodgy, mendacious, rancid, negative, nasty, muck-raking, untruthful, obstructionist, opportunistic, sexist, political Neanderthal. He is unfit for high office. He cannot control his temper. No trick is too low for him. No stunt is too wild. He is a bully. A thug. A snake oil salesman. A poster child for vile bully-boy values. He has repulsive double standards. He hates women. He stands for nothing. He has unhealthy obsessions. He is nuts.

Abbott behaves like Jack the Ripper.

He is Gina Rinehart's butler.

Advertisement He is Nancy Reagan without the astrology. He is a douchebag.

I'm quoting here, mostly from Hansard. These are not comments from media figures, or feral demonstrators, or dredged up from 10 or even 30 years ago. These are insults delivered this year, by federal Labor MPs, directed at one person, and orchestrated by Julia Gillard. The level of personal insult has been on an industrial scale.

The Parliament is not a chamber of innocents. Many members, on both sides, including Abbott, have frequently engaged in invective, over-statement, dissembling and rampant double standards. There is also a more general coarsening of public discourse on the internet, thanks in part to the impact of social media. But it is this government's concentration on Abbott's character that sets it apart. It is the tactic on which the Gillard government has staked its survival, the politics of the personal, of targeting character, of hammering the same message about the same person, by every minister, until it seeps into the public mind.

The strategy was unveiled at the beginning of the year with some of the worst political bastardry from the nation's leadership seen in a long time. It started with an Australia Day address at the National Press Club delivered by Anthony Albanese on January 25. By convention this is a respite from political hatchet jobs, but Albanese launched into Abbott's character, describing him as ''One Trick Tony'', that one trick being ''more negativity, more nastiness, more obstructionism''.

This was standard from Albanese, but something much nastier came out of the Prime Minister's own office the next day, Australia Day. A group of Aboriginal demonstrators had gathered at the tent eyesore in Canberra. A member of Gillard's staff alerted one of the people at the demonstration and said, falsely, that Abbott was nearby and had just denigrated the Aboriginal tent embassy.

Australia Day 2012 was thus marked by a hostile mob surrounding the Leader of the Opposition, berating him, banging on windows, making threats. In an irony that could become a metaphor, the Prime Minister, herself at the same function, got caught up in the mess.

The staff member who made the call, Tony Hodges, was obliged to resign. But the tone and the strategy had been set. On the first day of Parliament, February 7, Gillard re-set the template when she described the ''relentless negativity'' of the Leader of the Opposition.

That phrase, or variations on it, can be found hundreds of times in Hansard this year from Labor members. If you want to check the original insults quoted above, I have compiled a top 40 of the government's most self-revealing personal insults so far this year on smh.com.au.

The Prime Minister set the mantra and two days later the leader of government business in the House, Albanese, took it up a notch: ''In your guts, you know he's nuts.'' Albanese thought this was so hilarious he repeated it on February 13, February 16, February 29 and June 25.

The leader's theme was picked up by her chorus. Jason Clare, a junior minister: ''He stands for nothing. He is the Nancy Reagan of Australian politics without the astrology - say no to everything, just rancid, dripping, relentless negativity.'' Hansard, February 29.

After the ''relentless negativity'' line wore thin, the rhetoric was ramped up again.

''He is Gina Rinehart's butler.'' Gillard, Hansard, May 28.

''Tony Abbott is … a dog of a candidate.'' Richard Marles, Labor MP, interview, May 29.

''Abbott is a Neanderthal.'' Rob Mitchell, Labor MP, on Twitter, May 29.

''He is a dodgy snake oil salesman.'' Wayne Swan, Hansard, June 18.

''[He] sees political advantage in people dying.'' Mark Dreyfus, Labor MP, interview, June 26.

''Like Jack the Ripper, he is going to be there wielding his knife.'' Gillard, Hansard, August 20.

''He wants to go the biff day after day after day.'' Swan, Hansard, September 11.

''He is a thug.'' Swan, Hansard, September 11.

''Tony Abbott is the poster child for the vile, bully-boy values.'' Swan, on Twitter, September 19.

Then came the climax last week, when Gillard exploded in rage in the Parliament after she had been caught in the implosion of the reputation of the Speaker, Peter Slipper, a failure by the Prime Minister in every respect, tactical, ethical, moral and political.

Abbott was ruthless in exploiting the failure and Gillard was ruthless in defending it: ''It is misogyny, sexism, every day from this Leader of the Opposition. Every day, in every way … I will not be lectured about sexism and misogyny by this man … If he wants to know what misogyny looks like in modern Australia … he needs a mirror … I am offended by the sexism, by the misogyny, of the Leader of the Opposition …''

It was mesmerising. It was great television. Of course Twitter went into a fever (Labor MP Steve Gibbons tweeted: ''That douchebag Tony Abbott.'') Of course the speech went viral on social media. The Prime Minister's outrage would have resonated with every woman who has endured boorish men. But was the accusation of misogyny true? No. Was it ethical? No. Was it a diversion? Yes. Was it part of a pattern? Yes. Was it good politics? We shall see.



Read more: www.smh.com.au/opinion/politics/abbott-suffering-a-labor-party-stoning-20121014-27krw.html#ixzz29K4w5yEJ

[garfield]

What an absolute f#cking disgrace this current mob of federal ALP scum are, I can't wait until Tony gets the last laugh on all of them come election time ;D

[slartibartfast]

Oct 15, 2012 10:26:24 GMT 10 @garfield said:

Tony Abbott is a hack. A dog. An aggressive, carping, bitter, mindless, deceptive, dodgy, mendacious, rancid, negative, nasty, muck-raking, untruthful, obstructionist, opportunistic, sexist, political Neanderthal. He is unfit for high office. He cannot control his temper. No trick is too low for him. No stunt is too wild. He is a bully. A thug. A snake oil salesman. A poster child for vile bully-boy values. He has repulsive double standards. He hates women. He stands for nothing. He has unhealthy obsessions. He is nuts.

Abbott behaves like Jack the Ripper.

He is Gina Rinehart's butler.

The truth hurts, eh Garfy? ;D

[garfield]

Oct 15, 2012 18:48:18 GMT 10 slartibartfast said:

[

The truth hurts, eh Garfy? ;D

Yep ... the truth being that the gillard labor government is currently engaged in defaming a law abiding family man and pillar of his community for grubby political purposes ... that does hurt, its hurts us all in the long run

[garfield]

Meanwhile someone that truly earns the PM's respect, union fund stealing, hooker f#cking, craig thompson, has been charged by the police over his corrupt activities ;D

[slartibartfast]

You started a topic on Abbott. Now you're changing topic.

Why is that?

[garfield]

The topic is our PM is a lying thieving back stabbing snake in the grass that can't beat her opponent in a fair fight so crawls into the gutter and engages in defamation and slander instead.

[slartibartfast]

Where has he been defamed?

All Gillard did was quote Abbott back to himself.

If anyone defamed him, it was you hero himself!

[spindrift]

Abbott has some good points as a community minded individual.....bottom line is, he is still a neonastynincompoop...a dangerous politician.

[garfield]

He who laughs last laughs loudest ;D


Two Party Preferred: 15 Oct 2012
Labor47+/-0
Coalition53+/-0



;D

[Deleted]

The "handbag hit squad" and their doomed plan to paint Abbott as a misogynist doesn't fool the majority of females in the community ...

Gender card is a loser for Gillard

Miranda Devine
The Sunday Telegraph
October 14, 2012 12:00AM


WATCHING Julia Gillard desperately flail around last week in the death throes of her government, you could wish her prime ministership had been different.

But as a woman I'm embarrassed, insulted and angry that the stocks of women in power have been brought so low.

Playing the gender card is the pathetic last refuge of incompetents and everyone in the real world knows it. It offends the Australian notion of the fair go.

Australians who were delighted, regardless of politics and the way she got the job, that a strong seemingly capable woman was in The Lodge, have been sorely disappointed, to the point of cynicism and despair, by Gillard's self-indulgent performance calling out Tony Abbott on misogyny.

Misogyny is the Taliban shooting a 14-year-old girl in the face because she wants an education, not an opposition leader directing legitimately forceful criticism against a government which, by its own admission, lost its way two years ago and has not found it since.



Gillard's impassioned speech has been praised globally, but her new international feminist fans don't realise the confected foundation on which it was built.

This was the best her huge stable of spin doctors could do to justify the accusations of misogyny.

It boils down to five charges:

That Abbott did make sexist remarks in 1998, during a discussion with then-NSW Treasurer Michael Costa about the under-representation of women in positions of power.

Costa: "I want my daughter to have as much opportunity as my son."

Abbott: "Yeah, I completely agree, but what if men are by physiology or temperament, more adapted to exercise authority or to issue command?"

Abbott wants his three daughters to have equal opportunities for powerful jobs, but asks whether men might have innate advantage. He wasn't asserting it as fact, but as a discussion point. It's worth pondering.

For instance, voice is important to demonstrate authority. Men with a booming baritone command attention.

Height is another issue. Men are usually taller than women, and height generally correlates with high office.

We all know people who command authority, male or female, just by the power of their personality. What qualities do they have that help them transcend any physiological deficits, and how can we learn from them?

The dearth of women in high places is not because of sexism any more than it is because they lack talent.

It is mainly because of individual women's choices. Many have passed up opportunities offered to them, in some cases ahead of equally deserving male colleagues, because they preferred to nurture their families. That's the real silent conversation.

Charge number two against Abbott:

That in 2004 he did say: "Abortion is the easy way out." The line comes from a nuanced speech which Abbott gave in 2004, in which he concluded: "Even those who think that abortion is a woman's right should be troubled by the fact that 100,000 Australian women choose to destroy their unborn babies every year."

Any reasonable person would conclude that he was no extremist, was respectful of different views, and compassionate about the plight of women with unwanted pregnancies.

This is the line which so offends the PM, in context: "To a pregnant 14-year-old struggling to grasp what's happening, for example, a senior student with a whole life mapped out or a mother already failing to cope under difficult circumstances, abortion is the easy way out. It's hardly surprising that people should choose the most convenient exit from awkward situations."

Abbott's offence is to hold different views on abortion to those of most Labor women. But is that a crime?

Opposition foreign affairs spokeswoman Julie Bishop said she, too, disagreed with Abbott on abortion, "but I respect his views. They happen to be different to those that I hold. That doesn't make him a sexist at all."

And she pointed out "when he was the health minister, at no time did he seek to change the laws in relation to abortion in this country".

So what Gillard objects to is that Abbott holds a different opinion to hers. That is a worrying trait in the country's most powerful person.

Charge three against Abbott: That he did make a throwaway remark about "housewives" ironing. Big deal.Charge Four: That he did say: "If the Prime Minister wants to, politically speaking, make an honest woman of herself." Whether he intended or not to use a turn of phrase associated with marriage, Abbott certainly has made the prime minister's honesty a central criticism, and one which bites electorally because of her broken promise on the carbon tax.

Charge Five: That he stood next to a sign that read: "Ditch the witch."

Abbott didn't know the sign was there when he addressed that carbon tax protest. He didn't create the sign or organise for it to be there. For sure it was offensive. But it's dishonest to pretend he was responsible. The elderly protesters that day behaved properly otherwise. They didn't smash down the doors of Parliament House like unionists had done, and they were offended at being branded a "convoy of incontinence" by Gillard ministers.

So Labor's entire case of misogyny against Abbott is a joke, yet all week long, ministers hit the airwaves to claim Abbott hates women.

Nicola Roxon, when pressed, could recall only one instance of Abbott's misogyny, complaining he "would refuse to acknowledge me and turn his back at functions". Even if that's true, it just means he has difficulty feigning regard for someone who has constantly taunted him.

For instance in 2010, Roxon stood in parliament with a box of golf balls and made raunchy "balls" jokes at Abbott's expense.

Sexism cuts both ways and if anyone cared to assemble a dossier of "mincing poodle" and other jibes from the government the game could go on forever.

But to what end?

With unemployment rising, the non-resources economy flatlining, the mining industry having peaked, carbon tax biting and superannuation under threat, the electorate views dimly the people who are supposed to be running the country running around playing gender politics instead. Especially on the 10th anniversary of the first Bali bombing.

We don't care if the prime minister is a woman or a man. We just want rational, prudent, even boring government. We want to be "relaxed and comfortable" again.

[slartibartfast]

Prime Minister Julia Gillard's parliamentary speech accusing Opposition Leader Tony Abbott of being a misogynist has gone viral.

The ABC video of her speech has had hundreds of thousands of views on the ABC News website and YouTube.

It has also been shared by popular international outlets including the Huffington Post and The New Yorker.

North coast social media expert Dean Power said it took powerful content to achieve such attention.

"You could ask why this doesn't happen with every piece of content," he said.

"This was obviously a video that resonated with a lot of people.

"It's still about stories. When a story is powerful and it moves people, people feel inclined to share it."

Mr Power said the 'sharing' of the video was the key to its success.

"It's the velocity with which this happens that has a big influence on how much something spreads," he said.

"Soon after the video was online, people were sharing it, which means that video then makes it onto 'most watched' lists and because of the velocity of sharing it starts to get so much attention, and then it's getting attention for the fact it's already become a little bit internet famous.

"We've seen the ABC page where the video was originally shared, promoted on Twitter almost 10,000 times.

"What we're seeing is the Canadian, US and UK sites are picking it up, so it becomes a perpetual motion machine where each little bit of sharing feeds the next."

www.abc.net.au/local/stories/2012/10/11/3608849.htm

[garfield]

Thankfully overseas leftist f#ckwits don't get a vote in aussie elections so gillard the snake woman is still on track to get her arse kicked into electoral oblivion just like her scumbag mate Bligh ;D

[garfield]

Gillard will be happy to know that she can still count on Mike Tyson the rapist for support though

[spindrift]

Just a nice way to state a chauvenistic pig dog bastard....

[garfield]

Geez lefties are a funny bunch, they try and portray Abbott as some sort of a woman hater when he's not then when a real woman hater like david taliban hicks, part of a pack of the worst woman hating arseholes ever to grace the planet comes along they line up to suck his dick, who'd be a lefty hey?, farkin weirdos the lot of them