- Joined
- 16 June 2005
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- 6
Thanks Ruby - I felt it is something that's been largely missed in all the barrage of comments over this issue.
Thanks Sails. I have just read the article and I think it puts everything into the proper perspective. Great post from you too.
On a broader front, the knives are missing at the house of the Liberal Party.
Surely that's just unthinkable, Sails? She has never been mentioned as a party leader.I hope it's not Julie Bishop trying to do a Julia...
Surely that's just unthinkable, Sails? She has never been mentioned as a party leader.
She would last about a minute and a half if her colleagues were stupid enough to put her in such a position.
Surely that's just unthinkable, Sails? She has never been mentioned as a party leader.
She would last about a minute and a half if her colleagues were stupid enough to put her in such a position.
I don't quite know why she was chosen as deputy unless there are other political party reasons for her being there.
Clearly, in this case a television program has chosen to promote its own interests by dishonestly seeking to damage Mr Abbott. Along the way it has caused offence, produced additional distress for the soldier's family and patronised its own audience. Seven underestimated the intelligence of viewers who seemed to realise that being wrongly accused of a transgression as horrible as belittling our fallen might render many people speechless. Public reaction has overwhelmingly supported Mr Abbott and criticised Riley and Seven.
But what of the rest of the media? As a conservative Liberal, Mr Abbott is seen as fair game by many in the press gallery with some holding him in open contempt. So while they agreed the Opposition Leader had said nothing wrong in Afghanistan, many journalists still attacked him for his awkward response to Seven's claims. It seems like something of a witch trial to condemn a man for his reaction without taking into account the egregious nature of the allegation to which he is responding.
This is symptomatic of a culture of "gotcha" journalism, where one reporter strikes and the pack feeds. It also amplifies suggestions that hunting conservatives is a favourite sport of the Canberra clique.
For the Coalition, it is hard to imagine a more unconvincing week. Abbott's immediate task is to show it is the exception not the new norm. Showered with evidence of Labor's vulnerability and confusion, Abbott stumbled into personality, tactical and media mishaps. He was guilty of serial blunders. He made the Coalition the issue, triggered a rift with deputy leader Julie Bishop and had a bizarre meltdown before the television cameras when the Seven Network staged a cynical ambush chasing its gotcha moment.
Abbott's problem, however, was that the Coalition via media interviews stumbled into the commitment to identify its own spending cuts to substitute for the levy. This decision emerged on the run. It was formalised in a leadership group phone hook-up. For Abbott, this was a decisive moment - at this stage he concluded that with the Coalition pushing for a change of government it could not reject the levy without tabling its own alternative spendings cuts. It was a tough decision but high-risk. Deputy leader Bishop was convinced this was the wrong approach.
"There was no strategy," she told colleagues. A fortnight ago during a phone conversation Bishop told Abbott it would be a mistake to identify spending cuts. She said the cuts would be theoretical, the Coalition was not in office and such a list would make the Coalition the issue instead of Labor. But Abbott rejected this advice. "Julie, to be credible I think I must identify the cuts," he said.
Yes, in this instance, she was right.Gives Bishop more brains than I thought
Bishop understands they are not in government.
I have no idea who the leakers would be. Anyone have an opinion about this?Worth a read if only to see the detail of the leak reports and wonder who
http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/opinion/abbotts-back-foot-stumbles/story-e6frg6zo-1226004666539
Julie Bishop was right. They've gotten the politics all wrong, and made themselves the story...Bishop understands they are not in government..http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/opinion/abbotts-back-foot-stumbles/story-e6frg6zo-1226004666539
hard to believe but the mad monk is doing a workman like job of looking more stupid
than george bush
dead man walking
abbott is a threat to the planet
as is anyone who can't read a simple graph
And I could respond with a statement "Gillard is a threat to Australia".
However, most of us here prefer an intelligent debate rather than wasting bandwidth with these sorts of unsubstantiated words.
However, I get the drift that labor obviously are desperate to get rid of Abbott and it looks like you have signed up here for no other purpose than to write labor propaganda.
People will not vote for a government that has an addiction of spending and increased taxes.
So why are you disagreeing with Sails on this?As much as I agree with you sails I have to disagree with you on this one. Ummmmmmm ...... Obama administration springs to mind. On the addiction to spending that is. Ireland is another. We all know the outcome.
So why are you disagreeing with Sails on this?
Given that the Obama administration plus that of Ireland are both deeply unpopular, aren't you actually proving Sails' point by your observation?
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