If Julia Gillard had not run up the deficit by overseeing a series of unproductive non-value adding projects which has drained the Treasury without building the tax revenue potential to pay for what they cost, had she not created an immense level of debt where none had existed before, had she not fatally weakened our border protections by dismantling the system that had been carefully put in place by John Howard, had she not brought in a carbon tax after promising in the week before the election that she would not, had she not introduced the NBN that is likely to make our communications system far worse than if she had merely left it entirely alone, and had she not decided to direct the media so that she will not have to read criticisms of her policies over the Weetbix in the morning, I might have had a different view of both her policies and her persona. But if she believes that either Tony Abbott or anyone else would have been happy had a male done all of this instead, then she is exactly as deluded as I actually think she is.
I have an article at Quadrant on Line under the title, Gillard’s Feminine Mystique which looks at the destructive politics of personal slander that, because of Gillard, now dominates the Labor approach to avoiding having to deal with actual issues.
Because there is not a single policy or decision that has not turned absolutely sour on her, causing the polls to indicate a Labor wipeout at the next election, Julia Gillard has, it seems, decided to scrape the bottom of the political barrel by arguing that the Leader of the Opposition is not merely a sexist – that is, someone who believes women are different from men and for that reason might take different roles in society – but is a full flown misogynist – an actual hater of women and womankind. She is thus poisoning political debate by dragging in arguments which, aside from being beside the point on every major issue of significance, are also absolutely untrue. That she cannot distinguish between:
(a) I don’t like your policies
(b) I don’t like you because of what you stand for, and
(c) I don’t like you because you are woman
is merely par for the course given how obtuse she has shown herself to be in every other regard. By invoking (c) when what is being said is (a) is, moreover, destructive of politics and political debate, creating animosities where none had existed before while obscuring the issues that are doing such great harm. Pandering to the worst instincts and dredging up the badge of victimhood merely for her own political advantage, she is debasing our Parliamentary political debates.
My article at QoL deals with Gillard burrowing into this pile of dirt because for her it is the only answer she has to the criticisms she so rightly receives. Since Little Miss Perfect cannot believe she is personally at fault about anything, the flaw must lie within her critics. That is what my article tries to say. Here is one para and you can go to QoL if you would like to read the rest:
For someone such as myself, who felt as strongly and positively about Margaret Thatcher as I did about Ronald Reagan, the notion that behind my disgust at the policies of such an astonishingly incompetent Prime Minister as Gillard has proven to be are attitudes based on her sex is both insulting and ridiculous. But for her such beliefs are a talisman that protects her from every criticism since she never has to take them seriously because to her they are based on biological facts, not on her personal incompetence.
But given the ways of the ALP, the media and of much else, this is an issue that is likely to play out right up to the next election, which cannot come soon enough.
She is the most incompetent, hyperpartisan and morally bankrupt PM in Australian history.
When we are finally rid of her, I pray that as a country we never again plumb the depths this screeching evil banshee has dragged us to.
JamesK
10 Oct 12 at 11:19 pm
Tony Abbott: husband, father, Rhodes scholar, breast cancer fundraiser, Aboriginal township servant, rural fire brigade volunteer, surf lifesaver, verified house fire hero.
Julia Gillard: 1000 dead asylum seekers, sacked lawyer, unelected ‘prime minister,’ liar, unwed marriage wrecker, slush fund creator, pink batts incineration overseer (4 dead), supporter and loyal friend of Craig Thommson and Peter Slipper.
C.L.
10 Oct 12 at 11:19 pm
And if I may,
I think PM JG has shown that she will never ever be invited into ‘polite society’.
And that is what really burns her administration.
Everyone in ‘polite society’ laughed at a Queensland woman who cooked fish and chips.
And can someone tell me if JG is better than PH.
And that is what labor is trying to invoke….
Tony Abbott got rid of PH and now he is trying to get rid of JG.
I ask again.
Is the Prime Minister of Australia, Julia Gillard, a better woman than Pauline Hanson?
NoFixedAddress
10 Oct 12 at 11:20 pm
Web page for Tony Abbott’s personal charity initiative, Pollie Pedal.
Read the first paragraph.
http://www.tonyabbott.com.au/PolliePedal/PolliePedal2012.aspx
C.L.
10 Oct 12 at 11:22 pm
Probably forces them to cook and darn mens socks, the bastard.
Infidel Tiger
10 Oct 12 at 11:25 pm
Don’t be silly, IT. He forces them to iron his shirts.
Gab
10 Oct 12 at 11:31 pm
AFR goes after Roxon – majorly:
Labor had Slipper texts for months.
This appalling, lying clown is quite simply the worst and most immoral attorney-general in the country’s history.
C.L.
10 Oct 12 at 11:40 pm
Also in the AFR:
Eva Cox refuses to call Slipper comments sexist.
C.L.
10 Oct 12 at 11:41 pm
To be honest what else Gillard have to fight with other then say Abbott is sexist? Her achievements in office?
nic
10 Oct 12 at 11:42 pm
Eva Cox, now there’s a surprise
nic
10 Oct 12 at 11:43 pm
Gillard is looking increasingly like Anna Bligh, despised by an electorate that had been mislead and quietly waiting to extract an almighty vengeance. Unable to run on anything remotely resembling policy achievement or good governance Labor finds itself back in the gutter of personal attacks and muck raking that characterize so much of their own internal politics.
Just as the polls failed to predict the near anihilation of Queensland Labor I think they will also fail to capture the inevitable post-Gillard wipeout.
H B Bear
10 Oct 12 at 11:52 pm
What if the shame thing has a basis……wouldn’t that be funny.
But Tony would have done it.
NoFixedAddress
10 Oct 12 at 11:57 pm
Will Gillard ever register that it’s not because she’s a woman that so many people want to see her sacked, but because she is incompetent?
I’m not sure what annoys me most, the ALP who seem convinced that they’re doing a great job, or the ALP supporters who seem convinced they’re doing a great job.
kae
11 Oct 12 at 12:02 am
Oh, and what JamesK said at the top of the comments!
kae
11 Oct 12 at 12:03 am
Dennis Shanahan: Labor continues with strategy of delusion.
What a bunch of gutter tramps.
C.L.
11 Oct 12 at 12:09 am
You don’t have such hatred of men nor women without having hatred for the men and women that have been closest to you.
NoFixedAddress
11 Oct 12 at 12:11 am
A Pickering classic.
C.L.
11 Oct 12 at 12:13 am
What’s annoying is that once she’s been kicked out of office we’ll still have to continue her upkeep, unless by some miracle her past activities somehow earn her a stay the gray bar hotel.
Lloyd
11 Oct 12 at 12:13 am
The question is, does she really believe this misogamist campaign against Abbott? Or is she just using it as part of her armory, along with the “gender shield” as Steve puts it? Seeing the way she related to Abbott a few years ago on national television, at the height of the supposed flirting that was going on, I really can’t see that she actually believes the nonsense she is now dishing out. What I think she does believe is the tactic is working. It isn’t. People are just not that stupid. The 30% ALP base will promote it, some may even believe it, but the rest? I don’t believe so. He has not actually shown the misogynistic tendencies that Gillard and her handbag hit squad [males included] alledge.
Certainly his actions belie her narrative of him, as CL has highlighted above.
I don’t know why he just doesn’t sue them for defamation.
Gab
11 Oct 12 at 12:14 am
I ask again,
Who is better,
1. Julia Gillard, or
2. Pauline Hanson?
NoFixedAddress
11 Oct 12 at 12:15 am
Hanson never got a thousand non-whites killed at sea.
C.L.
11 Oct 12 at 12:18 am
Russian President Vladimir Putin announced to the forum that Ms Gillard would not attend because of the death of her father.
“One of our colleagues, the Australian prime minister, has had a very unfortunate tragedy in her family,” Mr Putin said. “Her father passed away, so I would like, on behalf of all of us, to express condolences to her and her entire family.”
NoFixedAddress
11 Oct 12 at 12:21 am
Here’s what a courageous woman looks like:
Now watch the NewBusters video, see what she did and read the insults she so casually blows off.
Video.
C.L.
11 Oct 12 at 12:28 am
If they had those texts for that period of time its no wonder they rushed in to settle.Now she has lied to make out they settled for other reasons
…
max49
11 Oct 12 at 12:28 am
Bolt must read this blog.
He asks exactly the same question that has been asked today here: WTF are major news organisations in this country doing frontpaging porno gossip site Jezebel.com in relation to the Prime Minister?
Either they’re having a laugh at the nutty hardcore feminist thing and having a dig at Gillard, they just posted what the PM’s office sent them without looking or they’ve gone completely fucking crazy.
A Jezebel steals the hearts of our journalists
http://blogs.news.com.au/heraldsun/andrewbolt/
twostix
11 Oct 12 at 12:33 am
When the leader of our country rushes out the door to grab a taxi home and the President of a Political System that we have had disagreements with is the one that says, strapping on his underpants, “one of our colleagues has to go home…!!!!!”
F*ck off.
I died of shame that day.
How dare you f*cking Harridans ever think you represent women.
You gob snotted scum.
And to think that pussy men defer to scum like you.
NoFixedAddress
11 Oct 12 at 12:33 am
And if anyone thinks I’m ‘comin the muscle’ just remember the PM, JG will defend me.
NoFixedAddress
11 Oct 12 at 12:40 am
@C.L.
PIERS MORGAN, HOST: The extraordinary thing is the tweet that you put out under @REALStaceyDash – your follower count has been up by nearly 30,000, so congratulations – but you said, “Vote for Romney, the only choice for your future.” Hardly the most scandalous thing ever. Let me ask you this: Do you think it’s purely because you are a famous black woman, or is it because you are an actress and there aren’t many actresses full stop who are Republicans? What do you think has been the predominant factor in the fury?
STACEY DASH: You know, I really don’t understand the fury. I don’t understand it. I don’t get it?
MORGAN: Were you shocked, were you saddened, were you angry?
DASH: Yeah, I was shocked, not angry. Saddened and shocked. Really shocked, but you know what? You can’t expect everyone to agree with you.
MORGAN: These people here, this is somebody who tweeted, “You’re an unemployed black woman endorsing Mitt Romney. You’re voting against yourself thrice, you poor beautiful idiot.” And somebody else just put, “Kill yourself, you old hag.”
DASH: Wow, really?
MORGAN: I mean, really disgusting tweets.
DASH: That is. That’s pretty harsh.
MORGAN: You say you don’t feel angry but what do you feel? I mean, do you feel offended by this?
DASH: I don’t feel offended because come on, you know?
MORGAN: You think it’s stupid?
DASH: Just come on. You know? I don’t feel offended. I just feel that, you know, as a country, this is my choice. This is the man I want to lead my country. It is my right as an American citizen. It’s my Constitutional right to have my choice of who I want to vote for for president.
MORGAN: And I think you should be allowed to have it.
DASH: And I chose him not by the color of his skin but the content of his character.
PIERS MORGAN, HOST: Have you heard from Mitt Romney at all?
DASH: Yes, well not Mitt Romney, Paul Ryan.
MORGAN: Paul Ryan rang you today?
DASH: Yes, he did.
MORGAN: What did he say?
DASH: He said, “Thank you so much for your support,” and that I was brave, and they support me, and I thought that was so generous and kind. You know? Lovely. Really
MORGAN: Have any of the Obama campaign been on?
DASH: No, they haven’t.
MORGAN: What does it say to you about the state of the political discourse and the debate in America that one innocuous tweet from you, purely because you’re an actress and the color of your skin, sparked this kind of mayhem?
DASH: I think it tells me that our, the state of our country is that we are not united. You know? We need to be united, and we all need to understand that we’re all capable of achieving the American dream. And, but that has to be something that is self-realized. And also to demonize someone for achieving the American dream is unfair.
Story Continues Below Ad ↓
For those missing the “character” reference, Dash was referring to Martin Luther King Jr.’s line from his famous “I Have a Dream Speech” when he said, “I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.”
Brava, Stacey! Brava!
Also of note, earlier in the interview, Dash told Morgan that she’s a Democrat who voted for Barack Obama in 2008. She’s voting for Romney now “because of the state of the country and I want the next four years to be different.”
Dash came to this decision while watching the Romneys on NBC’s Meet the Press a few weeks ago.
“They spoke to me and they seemed authentic and genuine in what they said about this country and the need for us to be united and move forward,” Dash said.
NoFixedAddress
11 Oct 12 at 12:49 am
Maybe she’s just a bully.
Gab
11 Oct 12 at 12:57 am
I’m with you Gab. She’s basically trying to make any criticism Abbot throws at her will now be put through the lens of sexism.
It was a disgusting speech.
WadeJ
11 Oct 12 at 1:12 am
But if she believes that either Tony Abbott or anyone else would have been happy had a male done all of this instead, then she is exactly as deluded as I actually think she is.
You need to put this in a para all its own, bold it and at least double the font size. And then you need to clarify that this level of complete political failure (albeit not necessarily the specific detail) is exactly why conservatives despised Kevin Rudd.
Yes, Julia – it really is about your performance and not about your genitalia.
perturbed
11 Oct 12 at 1:23 am
@Gab—-Maybe she’s just a bully.
That’s a terrible thing to say.
I believe Tony made you say that.
There is no way that a person who does not have the integrity of Pauline Hanson would say or do the things she is doing without wanting to suck up to Obama, Putin, the entire UN,
without being benevolent and sweet.
NoFixedAddress
11 Oct 12 at 1:41 am
To put it a little more bluntly.
I dont hate her because shes a woman
I hate her because shes crap.
Sometimes it really is that simple.
thfrollickingmole
11 Oct 12 at 1:43 am
So, how do we change the constitution to make sure that a segment of the working population….ie…unions…never but ever take over a political party again.
And how do we make sure that we can stop rabid green froth from killing our body politic.
And how do we check the unfettered sway of legalism in Australia.
But Julia Gillard is so much more advanced than Pauline Hanson.
But Tony probably said that.
NoFixedAddress
11 Oct 12 at 2:10 am
or lobbyists for that matter
Lord Rexington
11 Oct 12 at 2:52 am
So, how do we change the constitution to make sure that a segment of the working population….ie…unions…never but ever take over a political party again.
So, so not with you on that one. ANY section of society has a right to organise, form a political party and contest for seats in Parliament. That is a non-negotiable aspect of Parliamentary democracy. The real issue is ensuring that no political party or body of people forming a political party or government shall have special protection under the law or a right to evasion of scrutiny.
There should be exceptions to enable a nation to keep its military capabilities and intentions under wraps, for obvious reasons, but there is no reason why the Leader of the Opposition and the Shadow Defence Spokesman could not be permitted to sit on a War Cabinet and provide oversight.
Ultimately in the ALP’s case, the problem was, as Kim Beazley Senior rightly stated, the transformation of the party from the cream of the working class to the scum of the middle class. No decent “worker’s party” with half a brain and the nation’s interests at heart would rape and sodomize the industrial base the way these parasitic numpties have been doing.
When you parachute rock stars, disproportionate numbers of women, and Asian lesbians into your Cabinet just so you can flog your opponent and dazzle your sheep-like followers with the image of how “inclusive” you have become, you’ve already demonstrated your intellectual bankruptcy. It took a while for the moral bankruptcy also to become apparent, but the Carbon Tax which would never exist under the government Julia Gillard led took that mask off for good too. What we have seen in the last few months (e.g. the Thomson and Slipper fiascos and the increasingly shrill denunciations of Tony Abbott) is only an accentuation of the moral stain that had long been spreading over the face of the ALP.
perturbed
11 Oct 12 at 3:48 am
Hang on everyone!
I just scrolled down on that Pollie Pedal site of Abbott’s.
Guess what the logo is on the Manly Women’s Shelter paragraph?
A CLAMSHELL!!!*
Documentary proof** that Abbott is a mysogynist!
*True, it’s got pearls in it, but there’s no denying the mollusc connection.
**Proof enough for a Labor media adviser (or a climate scientist.)
Eddystone
11 Oct 12 at 4:56 am
@perturbed
And any person that stands for The Australian Parliament, particularly labor, should declare their affiliations and work record.
I, for one, am sick and tired of finding out after an election that some scum member of parliament is aligned with this or that and take there directions from faceless ‘dictators’ who have nothing to do with that member’s electorate.
Democracy…
NoFixedAddress
11 Oct 12 at 5:13 am
@perturbed
Apart from the mandatory Tony Abbott slur and my previously posted point about faceless politicians, I agree with you.
NoFixedAddress
11 Oct 12 at 5:20 am
I suspect that by the time this is over, there will be the same degree of stigma attached to the word ‘misandry’ as there is to ‘misogyny’.
Not only because Julia is providing a public demonstration of what misandry is, which we have never had to to this extent before. But also she is lessening the significance of the word misogyny by extending its definition to include people who are clearly, evidently, not so.
A misogynist is becoming merely someone who criticises a woman for her choices.
Just like a liar, for those on the left, is becoming merely someone who disagrees with generally accepted bullshit.
Driftforge
11 Oct 12 at 5:34 am
The political debate has been totally debased if not poisoned for a long time by the same stenographers who are now revealed by their conga line of suckholing all the way down to the level of Jezabel.
There can be no properly functioning democracy while we have such entrenched poor attitudes, low-brow partisanship and outright dishonesty (at all intellectual levels)in the media.
Blogstrop
11 Oct 12 at 5:34 am
While that may be generically true, given the current arrangements I’d disagree.
Even under the current arrangements it probably isn’t correct; although I haven’t checked, I suspect that a ‘prisoners party’ is not on the cards.
More generally though, we are lacking the required restraint on political involvement for those whose income is publicly funded. Rightly, this is the function of the upper house, but we’ve given that over to the states.
There is a need for reform of the nature of the upper house; either the states need to fund the federal government on their whim, or the upper house needs to be reorganised so that the election of people to the upper house is restricted to those not in the pay of government.
Driftforge
11 Oct 12 at 5:47 am
.
Is how jezebel.com describes it. I’m sure most Australians will be proud and suportive that they are being led by a badass motherf***.
Biota
11 Oct 12 at 6:06 am
I posted this in the open forum but the Tony Julia stoush in parliament has run several times on CNN
brc
11 Oct 12 at 6:27 am
I posted this in the open forum but the Tony Julia stoush in parliament has run several times on CNN
brc
11 Oct 12 at 6:27 am
I wasn’t a stoush. Abbott was once behaved like a gentleman and Gillard and inept screaching harpy.
Of course the lefties globally loved it.
Did CNN explain she was acting like that to keep as Speaker a man who sent the most obscene texts about women?
_______________________________
I heard AJ talk to John Howard this morning. It was great to hear an adult after the prattling of the children who are in power now.
JH was talking about the Bali bombing and all I could think was we have to thank God he was in power when that disaster happened.
Token
11 Oct 12 at 6:56 am
I don’t think there should be a “merely” in that sentence. Sexism is more than believing their are differences between the sexes, which is a scientific fact… it’s discrimination against women (or men) because of their sex; or treating women (or men) as inferior because of their sex.
dd
11 Oct 12 at 6:58 am
RE Jezebel. Cut & Paste summarises that well:
That is the attitude of the magazine to women.
Token
11 Oct 12 at 7:00 am
Julia Gillard called Tony Abbott a sexist.
This is, as far as I know, unprecedented in parliament – to use the floor to attack someone not for policies or decision making or even governing sytle, but for character traits.
If ‘sexism’ is an acceptable accusation, then why not other personal failings and flaws? Why not racist, narcissist (or lack of self-regard), drinking too much, or failings in love?
It’s a bizarre political tactic. Why is sexism an acceptable attack, and if so, why are other personal failings not? Or is everything now on the table?
dd
11 Oct 12 at 7:06 am
I’d love to know how the membership numbers of the ALP are running at the moment. Specifically, how many people, by gender and by year, have joined the party over the last five years, and how many, by gender and year have left the party.
If Gillard’s “speech” was meant to rally the base, what does the base look like in terms of gender composition and in terms of growth/decay.
Keith
11 Oct 12 at 7:08 am
Open SMH website and see how all the shrill Abbott haters including the woman who told Margy Abbott “to cook a roast” are celebrating the attack.
She is screaching like a harpy to her base and from the bile and dung I saw thrown around on twitter last night they are loving it.
Token
11 Oct 12 at 7:10 am
Could there be an underlying psychological disorder present?
http://depressiond.org/sociopath-sociopathic-personality-disorder/
A Lurker
11 Oct 12 at 7:14 am
The sturm and drang being fueled by the knee-padding Stenographers will be over soon and the substance will soon remain.
Kevin’s forces are on the march as the truth is not being surpressed.
Token
11 Oct 12 at 7:15 am
These are important women’s issues Tokes, you eebil heteronormative misogynist!
Rabz
11 Oct 12 at 7:17 am
When she denied the fact people were dying at sea due to her failed policies it was clear she is a broken person.
Over 1000 people have died and she shows no remorse.
Token
11 Oct 12 at 7:19 am
But yet still couldn’t bring themselves to vote against the retention of the musselman as speaker – you know, because they’re just so principled and non partisan…
I’m not sure who despise more, dullard and her band of criminal thieving incompetents or those fucking lobotomised inbred nobodies windbore and oakeshitt.
Rabz
11 Oct 12 at 7:21 am
Because nothing screams “compassion” as loudly as hundreds of dead bodies floating in the Timor sea.
Rabz
11 Oct 12 at 7:24 am
Rabz, that is why I found listening to Howard this morning a breath of fresh air.
Sheehan has the character of the whole mob correct.
Token
11 Oct 12 at 7:25 am
Julia is a prime example why women generally, with very few CEO exceptions, are regarded as piss poor decision makers on the larger scale……they believe disagreement must be personal, never factual.
Julia sounds menopausal. That will explain everything.
Alfonso
11 Oct 12 at 7:25 am
Could she have been handed a better chance to champion women’s rights? Jules, what happened?
jules
11 Oct 12 at 7:28 am
The feminist ‘badass motherf***er’.
C.L.
11 Oct 12 at 7:34 am
Of course! Better get germie greer in on a high paid consultancy to help juliar learn to love “the Gift”.
Rabz
11 Oct 12 at 7:34 am
It’s a good point. What sort of ‘man’ would join the ALP?
C.L.
11 Oct 12 at 7:39 am
Nobody – Julia Gillard or any other political figure – spoke out against the denigration and mockery of Gina Rinehart on the national broadcaster’s QandA TV show, including the entire panel guffawing at a joke about her ‘hole’.
Now that was sexism.
dd
11 Oct 12 at 7:45 am
Reads better now. We are different – celebrate it! Rejoice in it!
Helen Armstrong
11 Oct 12 at 8:03 am
Which wayward constituency is she trying to woo back to labor with such a dishonest line?
If she’s trying to drag some small percentage of sturdy ankled militant feminists from the greens, has the brains’ trust considered how many labor will bleed from the other end of the spectrum?
lotocoti
11 Oct 12 at 8:29 am
Mr Kates I have just read through you piece at Quadrant.
To say Im speechless is an understatement,rare is it that I have read such a misguided asnd ill informed piece.
Sorry but I have been trying to approach everything you write at Quadrant and here for that matter, with an open mind and objectivity. But really your latest piece at Quadrant is just…….well sadly lacking in judgement at the very least.
Xevram
11 Oct 12 at 8:46 am
I actually see her falling back to the deranged rhetoric of university politics.
How much difference is there between the shreiking of the harpy in parliament and the words of the proven serial liar Ramjan?
Token
11 Oct 12 at 8:47 am
Julia is a prime example why women generally, with very few CEO exceptions, are regarded as piss poor decision makers on the larger scale……they believe disagreement must be personal, never factual.
Julia sounds menopausal. That will explain everything.
WTF are you serious, no way you cant be.
Nope you have to be posting up as a kind of troll type joke surely.
Xevram
11 Oct 12 at 8:48 am
But yet still couldn’t bring themselves to vote against the retention of the musselman as speaker – you know, because they’re just so principled and non partisan…
Hey good popint Rabz and you are in the right of it, I guess they proved their care and empathy by offering the past Speaker an honourable way out, but that is of course what you are saying.
Xevram
11 Oct 12 at 8:51 am
Care and empathy, yeah that’s our government to a T
Tal
11 Oct 12 at 8:55 am
Alas for your worldview, Xev, airlines and various militaries that have women pilots provide on request official / unofficial leave during bio cycle time. Reality is an ideological bastard sometimes, eh comrade?
Alfonso
11 Oct 12 at 8:55 am
Interesting, the ALP, Greens & Independence voted to endorese the many vile statements texted over a long period of time by the speaker as a sign of care & empathy.
Strange how they didn’t choose to show the same type of care and empathy for a man who said some boorish statement at one private function only?
Keep talking Lefties!
Token
11 Oct 12 at 9:00 am
Yeah that’s why they embarrassed the entire ALP and Gillard.
To help out their old mate Peter “mussleman” Slipper.
Not to ensure Abbott didn’t get a win, no nothing to do with that.
twostix
11 Oct 12 at 9:00 am
But yet still couldn’t bring themselves to vote against the retention of the musselman as speaker – you know, because they’re just so principled and non partisan…
Wrong lodge brother, reality is just that and no more.
Do you approve of a work life balance in our lives, that is like you know getting off work early so we can call in to the school and pick up the kids. Or even, have some time off for the vasectomy or bowel cancer screening.
Intersting worldview there Alfonso, Reality is idealogically based, and that idealogical reality is a bastard, not a …….bitch.
Xevram
11 Oct 12 at 9:01 am
Spandex, your point makes absolutely no sense.
Please try again, employing sound grammar, spelling and logic.
Rabz
11 Oct 12 at 9:01 am
Care and empathy, yeah that’s our government to a T
I love how most of you guys divert and distort, cracks me up no end.
The independents are on public record as wanting to give Mr Slipper an ‘honourable’ way out. That is the facts. Nothing to do with the current govt or the lib/coalition, purely and simply about the independents.
Personally I am and have been mystified by the decision to appoint Mr Slipper as speaker in the first place, it just was not neccessary so why do it. A poor decision I believe. But hey we all do that.
Xevram
11 Oct 12 at 9:05 am
Slipper decided not to embarrass the ALP because he is their creature now. Honour had nothing to do with it, they did a deal with him, just like with windsor/oakschott/thomson. They are all Labor creatures.
candy
11 Oct 12 at 9:09 am
Never before have the tools existed for our opinion makers to really get a bead on the nation’s pulse. Never before have so few bothered to do so.
Watching Julia Gillard over a live parliamentary feed on Tuesday with Tweetdeck cued up was illuminating. Reading and watching the mainstream coverage was not.
Voters won’t decide to back Labor on the basis of BuzzFeed making a series of gifs depicting Gillard’s speech, or Jezebel calling her a “badass motherfucker”, but in the moment as it happened Julia Gillard impressed the hell out of a lot of people. And social media reflected that.
When something “goes viral”, it’s because it strikes a chord or hits a nerve. Julia Gillard hit a nerve this week. But the mainstream media — at least in Australia — didn’t feel it when it hit.
Here is some TRUTH and a balanced piece of writing.
http://www.theglobalmail.org/feature/old-media-lessons-in-missing-the-point/420/
Granted it may not refelct what all you Catallaxy people WANT or even NEED to hear but it is TRUTH.
I wonder if you can get your head around that concept??
Sadly I suspect not, and that is at the end of the day YOUR loss.
Goodbye.
Xevram
11 Oct 12 at 9:09 am
Nice to see some new trolls on the site:)
Variety is the spice of life!
Rafe
11 Oct 12 at 9:10 am
Yes Rafe,bless them
Tal
11 Oct 12 at 9:13 am
Withered old crank and ALP hack Anne Summers lecturing us on how Twitter is a good indicator of the nations pulse.
Oh.My.God.
twostix
11 Oct 12 at 9:13 am
So what? Videos of dancing dogs go viral.
Steve of Ferny Hills
11 Oct 12 at 9:15 am
Xev’s link shows that the Goebbels Snail has given up scrolling sideways. I suspect that was the purpose of Xev’s visit.
Steve of Ferny Hills
11 Oct 12 at 9:23 am
What the people want:
Cat gets caught barking by a human and resumes meowing
( My youngest daughter swears she has watched this 50+ times – it is must be TRUTH ).
Myrrdin Seren
11 Oct 12 at 9:31 am
Quote from Anne Summers in AFR talking about the speech where Gillard got the ALP, Greens & Independents to endorse the texts from the Speaker:
Token
11 Oct 12 at 9:39 am
Agreed, I want to know why Wayne borrowed $10B last month and how he intends to pay it back. ‘Abbot made me do it’ isn’t an answer.
Forester
11 Oct 12 at 9:55 am
Our heroine is being hailed on a US women’s website,according to a report in the SMH,as “one badass motherf..er”.Surely that should read,”one bigass fatherf…er”. I think it might be regarded as sexist to describe Bruce,Craig,Timmee etc as “mothers”.
Lew
11 Oct 12 at 10:00 am
http://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/julia-gillard-lets-women-down-on-pay/story-fn59niix-1226493234843
AS a gender war rages in parliament, Julia Gillard’s home state of Victoria has accused the PM of reneging on a deal for higher wages for low-paid community sector workers and of robbing the poorest single mothers.
Julia Gillard is facing a revolt from Victoria over her promised pay rise of up to 45 per cent for 150,000 low-paid community sector workers. Sources have warned that the federal contribution will be so low it will lead to job losses and service cuts to programs for the nation’s most vulnerable.
Gab
11 Oct 12 at 10:07 am
Has feminism become a euphemism for misandry?
Driftforge
11 Oct 12 at 10:30 am
Hope Abbott never makes the mistake of politely opening a door for Gillard. She’ll have him beheaded for the offence.
Gab
11 Oct 12 at 10:35 am
Meanwhile,back in the real world,the rate of unemployment in Australia has just gone from the previous 5.1% to 5.4%. Nice one Wayne.
Lew
11 Oct 12 at 10:36 am
My message to the PM. You reap the seeds you sow. When you call maybe 1 million plus Australian’s deniers you might get called some names back at some stage. You could have just referred to us as people with a different view you know. I have 0 sympathy for you.
kelly liddle
11 Oct 12 at 10:41 am
…And I think it raises the question about the role that Tony Abbott’s playing.
Gab
11 Oct 12 at 10:43 am
Ah, the power of a comma to crystalise truth.
Aqualung
11 Oct 12 at 10:49 am
LOL!
Gab
11 Oct 12 at 10:51 am
Misogynist.
Tom
11 Oct 12 at 11:02 am
Time for the truth to be revealed.
The AbbottAbbottAbbott is The Beast.
Ivan Denisovich
11 Oct 12 at 11:15 am
According to , Gillard is more likely to be referred to by the female members of the Emerson and Wilson families as a “big ass husband fucker” rather than a “badass motherfucker”.
St Hubbins
11 Oct 12 at 11:41 am
Gillard is more likely to be referred to by the female members of the Emerson and Wilson families as a “big ass husband fucker” rather than a “badass motherfucker”.
St Hubbins
11 Oct 12 at 11:42 am
Xevram I find it hard to believe you’re not a troll.
You reckoned the ALP would win in the NT easily since everyone wanted them to shut down commercial fishing.
Either that your perception is rather poor and your claim to be a font of truthiness is misguided.
It’s simple. Gillard is an affirmative action dope. She has no capacity for policy and the ALP Cabinet may be the worst ever. Not only are their policies poor, they are crappy administrators.
The sooner an election is held, the better off the ALP will be.
.
11 Oct 12 at 11:55 am
Dot, he looks like a troll, behaves like a troll, IS a troll.
Tom
11 Oct 12 at 12:05 pm
One more small point, the man with the most punchable face in Parliment (Albersleazie) ended his interview with the 7:30 report with a small sook at how he had to cop abuse outside his offices after he insulted people on the “convoy of no confidence”.
I believe he thought it clever to call it the “convoy of incontinence” based on the ages of some of the participants.
Oh when will the mighty ALP fight this terrible scourge of ageism?
Oh and Albersleazie, suck it up sweetheart
thefrollickingmole
11 Oct 12 at 12:08 pm
Like everyone, Gillard has a complex of subpersonalities (or aspects) that make up the whole. What we saw on those flirty videos was the girly girl aspect – funny, even warm and quite appealing. Unfortunately the power mad, “feminist” nemesis bitch persona was always there waiting in the sidelines …..
Viva
11 Oct 12 at 12:53 pm
“Unfortunately the power mad, “feminist” nemesis bitch persona was always there waiting in the sidelines …..
Once she stole K.Rudd’s job she has had to do anything, whatever it takes, to prove she is capable of it. So she’s in a trap of her own making.
candy
11 Oct 12 at 12:58 pm
Why? They’d not have extended the courtesy had the scandal occurred while he was sitting as Liberal. Nor should they have. He does not deserve an honourable way out.
wreckage
11 Oct 12 at 1:37 pm
Yep, nothing screams “I am an honourable man” louder than:
Bawling your eyes out as you publicly resign in disgrace from one of the highest parliamentary positions in the land for being a serial sex pest and expenses rorter.
The musselman of honour.
Rabz
11 Oct 12 at 1:54 pm
Really, Dot? I find it hard to believe that it’s anything useful at all.
blogstrop
11 Oct 12 at 2:39 pm
I think the “honourable” way out had to do with Slipper’s post-Parliament entitlements. If he had been sacked as Speaker, he would have lost the extra pension and allowances accorded to a retired Speaker.
Scratch the surface with these grubs, and you usually find they were persuaded by the “what’s in it for me” argument. And who better to counsel the grub in such matters than Windsor and Oakeshott.
Gotta pay all those legal bills somehow….
Keith
11 Oct 12 at 2:51 pm
I have to admit I had a bit of sympathy for him during his resignation speech. He’s a deeply flawed human being, and he absolutely had to go, but his saving grace is that he knew both of those things were true. He knows and admits that he’s weak, and was prepared to stand up and say so, even after being defended by the entire government, and that’s at least something of value.
dd
11 Oct 12 at 2:55 pm
Spot on Steve.
This parallel between Obama and the Crayfish had occurred to me as well, in that any criticism of performance or policy is viewed as racism or sexism respectively.
The fact that the fawning Meeja falling into line with this paradigm was illustrated just the other day in the US when a Republican called Obama “lazy” in a TV interview.
The interviewer was horrified and she offered the interviewee the option to withdraw the remark.
He repeated it but she could not see it at face value – it was criticism of a black man, ergo it was racist.
Leigh Lowe
11 Oct 12 at 2:58 pm
Only if it’s a landslide result dot.
Otherwise the remnant will retain too much bile and hate, and the divisive poison will continue to be spewed from the opposition benches, and labor dysfunction will take even longer to resolve itself.
Keith
11 Oct 12 at 2:59 pm
dd,
I think your sympathies while honourable in themselves, are misguided. There are plenty of people who have done time for embezzling far less than Slipper has. How much time will Slipper do ? He gets to walk away into the sunset.
Keith
11 Oct 12 at 3:05 pm
I strongly suspect there were other drivers of the venomous dummy spit by the Crayfish on Tuesday.
I think she was counselled against taking Slippery on board in the first place but revelled in the media fanfare after this ” masterstroke”. She extended the middle finger to the redundant Wilkie and probably to the nay-sayers in caucus as well.
I believe she may have copped a huge dose of “I told you so” from colleagues, along with the polls resolutely returning to wipeout territory.
Leigh Lowe
11 Oct 12 at 3:09 pm
If he’s genuinely sorry (and not just sorry about losing the Speaker’s job) I hope he can make amends to the family he’s embarrassed and pay back the money he owes, and clear his conscious and start afresh.
candy
11 Oct 12 at 3:09 pm
Yes, fair enough Dave. We all have our flaws.
Rabz
11 Oct 12 at 3:11 pm
“genuinely sorry”…..relevant how?
Pollies love the idea of an apology = clean slate to do it again but more carefully next time.
My hero Kerry Packer said it best…..”never complain, never explain”.
Words to live by.
Alfonso
11 Oct 12 at 3:26 pm
Tell that to the ATO, if you ever happen to make a significant error and can’t pay, and see if they let you “resign with honour”.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m all for sympathy and forgiveness in personal matters, but in public matters, I get a little ruthless. These people are on public duties funded by revenue extracted under threat of violence.
Keith
11 Oct 12 at 3:36 pm
Slipper has gone a long way counting on the good will and kindness of others.
Typical spiv, he’s willing to cry like Conroy does over a fake nuclear accidents or Gillard does when the thinks of rockets going to the moon, to get a break.
You can bet he’d lay the boot in like the Unions did to AJ a few days ago if the tables were turned.
Token
11 Oct 12 at 3:40 pm
That was very even handed Rabz, guess DD is a great contributor so deserves to be treated with respect.
In the past calendar years we’ve had crocodile tears from some of the slimiest most disgusting people who have ever graced a parliment:
* “Mussell-man” Slipper
* “Use my dads death for anything” Gillard (2 or 3 times)
* “Shagger” Thomson
* “Nuclear Milk” Conroy
* “Tragedies Happen” Sarah Heartless-Hypocrit
Did I miss anyone?
Token
11 Oct 12 at 3:44 pm
I can’t agree with Senator Hanson Young being criticised in such a way.
In practical terms she might be misguided, but she never proposed that refugees be sent to Malaysia where they are treated very poorly and legally they are virtually personae non grata.
The left, if they had any dignity, would have dumped her at once.
You wouldn’t call Sinc and myself similarly heartless for being more open borders.
Let me have a try
Tony “lets save the koalas where they don’t live” Burke
Penny “double the sea level rise of the IPCC” Wong
Greg “look Mum no reporters at ma press conference” Combet
etc
.
11 Oct 12 at 3:49 pm
“her” being the Prime Minister, Julia Gillard.
.
11 Oct 12 at 3:52 pm
Lets not forget Joe “double the price of meat in Indonesia” Ludwig, master of disaster.
thefrollickingmole
11 Oct 12 at 3:57 pm
Keith,
Your observations are sound.
I have repeatedly commented here that there is an expectation that politicians be held to the highest of standards and that corruption, misappropriation, embezzlement, etc are hanging offences.
I would never behave this way myself and will not tolerate public officials behaving that way. They must be deservedly punished so that public confidence in our political and legal system is not further undermined (a forlorn hope, I agree).
Oh and the ATO are a bunch of c***s…
Rabz
11 Oct 12 at 4:12 pm
You cannot call her “her”. It’s almost as insulting as “she”.
From now on *** will be referred to as it. Because shut up.
Tom
11 Oct 12 at 4:29 pm
It’s not relevant at all in terms of what had to happen and what may still happen. It was just a personal response and in no way means he should get off scott free.
Absolutely. We can acknowledge his insight, while not resiling from the fact that he must face the consequences.
dd
11 Oct 12 at 5:22 pm
Well geez, thanks I guess. :-/
dd
11 Oct 12 at 5:22 pm
“You have to treat me in exactly the same way you would treat a man (white man), because otherwise you’re a misogynist/sexist (racist). But if you have anything negative to say about my performance or policies, you can’t, because I’m a woman (black man).”
Ellen of Tasmania
11 Oct 12 at 5:27 pm
Good dd…you don’t commit the Christian religious error of confusing Justice with Forgiveness.
Forgiveness may come after Justice but never instead of…….
Alfonso
11 Oct 12 at 6:10 pm
Okay, I’m officially disgusted with our Australian media. Is there not a single news outlet that seeks to give the audience something that the public would love to hear about…. the joke told at the ALP event?
It’s not about protecting Abbott, his family, or his chief of staff. They have already been insulted and denigrated (apparently… seeing as we’re not allowed to judge for ourselves whether this is in fact the case). It’s about finding out the truth.
In any case, it’s not up to the media to protect Abbott or those around him from hurtful jokes.
They certainly didn’t protect Gillard or her family from the Alan Jones comment. They relayed it endlessly… so why so coy this time around?
Gillard made this a front-line issue, so a front-line issue it is. Let’s hear the bloody joke and we’ll decide for ourselves.
dd
11 Oct 12 at 8:40 pm
Has feminism become a euphemism for misandry?
More a synonym.
give Mr Slipper an ‘honourable’ way out.
There was, I believe, a period in the history of the British military, and possibly also the Civil Service, where the “honourable way out” constituted leaving the disgraced one alone with a bottle of gin and a loaded revolver.
We probably would not tolerate this now, but I understand that in Japan, Ministers and CEOs have been known to resign on principle after disasters occurred on their watch. A few have resorted to traditional methods, if you know what I mean.
perturbed
11 Oct 12 at 10:08 pm
Snowcone’s interview on Lateline with Swan was surreal.
I switched off when Jones switched to jobs after a prolonged questioning of Swannie’s sincerely held belief that Tony Abbott hates women and girls and the Lying Slapper’s rant was a brilliant take down of Abbott (I sh1t you not)
JamesK
11 Oct 12 at 10:18 pm
agreed, where was this censorship when it came to photos of the st kilda footballer, and that other Rugby bloke and his doberman doing tricks.
Rex
11 Oct 12 at 10:28 pm
And almost without doubt there are some who are far worse and they are still serving members who haven’t been outed yet. All that Slipper did is go against parliamentry guidlines with expenses and have to pay some back and behaved like a footballer in other matters.
kelly liddle
11 Oct 12 at 10:41 pm
Just posted this on a thread I just realise has disappeared from view, as this soon will, but it fits here too and like JamesK I have just watched Swan’s latest and it really riled me too:
Indeed, housewives (including aspirant ones like me) do iron, and I would like everyone who has followed here my anguishes over ironing Da Hairy Ape’s shirts to know that I am improving. My laundry skills are on the up and up. My skills at logistic regression and stochastic analysis are probably fading and good riddance, I do declare. This is my choice and my life, so piss off Julia and anyone else who tells me I can’t make my choices. Diamonds, after all, are forever. Love matters.
Back from Sydney and just had to put a word in here on a borrowed computer (mine is still kaput) for a different sort of feminism, one that is not man-hating and one that is sympathetic to women’s real lives, our children, our careers and our choices. To every thing there is a time …
And look, another Elizabeth is commenting on the Cat. Well, there are many good Elizabeths around. All power to them and to all Cat women. What a week of fun it has been so far, with me off-line and stuck in Sydney traffic digesting 2GB (station set to this in the hire car, as they always are; scraped the wheel hubs a bit, as I always do) and coming back to find this long thread of comments. What a lot of hissy, spitting, unpleasant females Labor is currently nourishing. They are soooo dated. Younger women should beware. They could end up like them. Erk.
Elizabeth (Lizzie) B.
11 Oct 12 at 11:15 pm