I for one am hoping it's true that we all get our just desserts in the end. I doubt that posterity will be tossing too many bouquets Gillard's way.

The above might be one of the 'must do's' that have come from focus groups. I reckon there's something Orwellian going on there: 'Repeat something often enough and people will believe it'. Repetitive advertising works the same way.

The focus groupos have probably identified that some voters might be swung if they think Abbott has a 'woman problem', so, Labor's goods little drones bring it up at every opportunity.

They're doing the same thing by trying to attach the word 'negative' to Abbott as a kind of Pavlovian response. They also repeated ad nauseam 'the 11 long hard years of the ________ government'. It's not hard to fill the gap, is it?

RJM, I agree with you 100% on Labor's tactic of the oft-repeated big lie, and I have to tell you, on the younger population who only listen to FM radio, it's working a treat. My daughter, otherwise a very canny, intelligent young woman, has fallen for the line Labor spins on Abbott - (a line she hears over and over and over again on FM radio) - hook, line and sinker. When I ask her to cite something Abbott has done to back up her ire for him, she just shrugs her shoulders and cannot answer.

Dogma and mantras - pretty much par for the course for the left. And you don't have to travel too far from here to witness it.

I still think he comes across as unlikeable. So does Gillard though so it may not be a big issue...:E Routinely abusing the PM comes under the job description for Leader of the Opposition. Whether the PM is male, female or hybrid shouldn't change that. Is he supposed to be overly nice because the PM is female? Gimme a break. :rolleyes: As one of very few women working in my particular industry I get very cranky when Roxon et al claim the Malibu Stacey card ('don't blame me, I'm just a girl') every time someone has a go at one of them. There are a hell of a lot more females working in politics and law than there are in my game, but I don't snivel off to the sidelines complaining that some smelly boy stole my dolly whenever things don't go my way :cool:.

Personally I think Australian politics has become far too abusive, but that goes for the bloke on bloke exchanges as well.

I am well aware that he has a female 2IC (The Weekend Australian Magazine did a very good article about her some time ago) and I don't buy the Abbott, Woman Hater spin, but I still don't think he appeals to many women. I have female relatives who have voted National Party their entire lives but even they don't 'like' him much.
Maybe he's a bit aggro.

Of course what the press and the lefties frequently forget is that people don't have to like a pollie to vote for them. Howard and Keating were both supremely unlikeable (particularly to women IMO) but they still got voted in.

P.S. He also has a gay sister who stands by him.
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The mind boggles! :rolleyes:

Is it ideology, blind ignorance or just the good old usual Liberal hypocrisy that pretends that Abbott does not have a serious problem with women, and especially women in authority?

Of course he has a problem, a deep seated and serious problem. Well documented and going back many years.

One can only speculate on whatever it was that sparked the sudden flurry from the LibeRatty apparatchiks to prematurely sanctify Saint Anthony. Did the recent reversal in the polls reveal Abbott as vulnerable?

Whatever,sometimes it is better to let sleeping dogs lie - rather than poke them with a pointed stick. I'm more than happy to remain silent and let Abbott continue on his merry way making an absolute goose of himself as he did on the 7:30 Report last evening where he was comprehensively eviscerated by Leigh Sales.

But Liberal apparatchiks furiously asserting that their beloved Leader is NOT a misogynist is an insult to any thinking person which cannot be left unanswered.

Praise de Lord. OH PRAISE DE LORD !!

What we need in a PM is competence to lead. Anything else is a bonus.

Matt
Since YOU say it is WELL DOCUMENTED, please provide EVIDENCE of
"Of course he has a problem, a deep seated and serious problem. Well documented and going back many years."

Or is this the same single catch cry documented so many times that it has now become fact as per what RJM said !!!


I agree with Worrals
"but I still don't think he appeals to many women. I have female relatives who have voted National Party their entire lives but even they don't 'like' him much."

He doesn't appeal to women in a different way to Howard being unpopular but was still voted for and elected. Can't put my finger on it exactly but they won't vote for him.

He can be a bit smug, a bit like Costello was IMHO.

[quoteOf course he has a problem, a deep seated and serious problem. Well documented and going back many years][/quote]

Agree with 500N. Citations please.

Two asylum boats intercepted - The West Australian
I listened to the ABC news and AM this morning. Unless I missed it, which is quite possible, this didn't rate a mention on either. Neither, of course, did Julia Gillard's conttiued refusal to answer ANY question about the AWU rorts and rip offs. The recent photograph of her once dashing ex-boyfriend showed that, (as it is for many of us), time has not been kind to him.


Complete change of subject:
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Did Martin clear that comment with Labor Party HQ? It doesn't sound like particularly good news for Wayne and his promised surplus. (To give the ABC news item its usual "balance", Penny Wong followed immediately explaining "what Martin really meant".)

And Matt. If you really believed Abbott is the disaster you say he is, you really WOULD keep quiet because you'd want him to lead the Coalition into the next election. With your continued calls for his sacking, if you weren't full of it, you prove you see him as a danger to your cause and are doing your damnest to get rid of him. Look at the difference in attitude of people with opposing views - we WANT Julia Gillard to lead Labor into the next election, and are praying that your bosses in that same building you type your missives from in Sussex Street are delusional enough to leave her there to be at the rudderless helm when the time comes for her to face the wrath of a very unhappy electorate.

Well, she cracked !

Am waiting for the newspapers to write up more of what she said
but it is interesting that she did what she did.

Now we will just have to wait and see if it saves her, because to use a well known phrase "Well may we say God save the Queen,
because nothing will save Julia Gillard":O

What did she do??? Im not in Oz at the moment.

Best to have a read.

The Age - Business, World & Breaking News | Melbourne, Australia

"Sexist Smear Campaign???"

I bet she's 'spewin' she can't use the Race card....oh hang on... :ooh:

Quote
"Her involvement in setting up the controversial AWU entity was ‘‘to provide advice as a solicitor’’

She certainly provided a "service", not sure if it was professional or personal
but I bet the boyfriend was pleased with it !

It's a shame that todays culture of the worship of vapid "slebs" and reality TV seems to extend to electing a party to lead the country, a trend started by Bliar and co and valiantly continued by KRudd, where the cheesiest grin (and massive private wealth) gets the job of wrecking the country.

So shallow.

PLease can someone show me where it says I can "vote for a Prime Minister" under our system? I thought you voted for a local candidate and trusted them to elect the party leader on your behalf. Do they teach this stuff in Australian schools? :confused:

Welcome back Worrals! :ok:

misogynist nut jobs on the internet'
 

It seems we now have a new name and even Pickering gets a mention.
misogynist nut jobs on the internet'

"But previous fiery performances have not seen the Prime Minister highlight comments and derogatory remarks that are clearly based on her gender. This afternoon she did. Not once but twice.


First there was the reference to ''misogynist nut jobs on the internet'' who continue to traffic stories about Ms Gillard in much the same way bloggers continue to question whether Barack Obama was born in the United States despite the White House releasing a copy of his birth certificate.


Then there was this: ''He [Larry Pickering] would still be propagating sexist and vicious stuff about me until the end of time.''


Is this the start of Ms Gillard calling out sexist behaviour? I doubt it. She can't, and won't, play the victim. But it was good to see her do it just for once."
.

OK. She's said her piece and Fairfax has exonerated her.

I wonder if the Australian will be so forgiving. :E

Given also that the push on this seems to have come from within the labor party and some associated with the legal profession, rather than the opposition, I wonder if it will now go away.

I think she has confirmed that she advised her boyfriend on how to set up an association and filled in a lot of the application for him. Perhaps the question will now be "Why didn't you advise Wilson that he should have AWU endorsement to set up an association bearing its name?"

More fun to come watching Gillard, Roxon and Shorten try to bury this. :D

Meanwhile, in the real world, do we believe Ferguson or Wong when it comes to economic reality?

I watched part of the Bowen/Gillard press conference announcing the annual refugee intake increase to 20,000. Was it just me who thought Chris Bowen looked really uncomfortable and even distracted on the podium? He was continuously switching from foot to foot, to the point where he was almost going off screen as he bobbed to and fro, closing his eyes repeatedly - and giving (to me, at least) the distinct impression that he wished he was anywhere but up there on the podium beside his once young and naive leader.

If there's a body language expert out there, I believe he or she would have a field day analysing Bowen's performance. As for Ms G.... she was looking rather haggard, and that bloody put-on "working man's" accent... Arrggghhh! I had to switch channels; just couldn't bear to listen to her any longer - and thus missed her grand revelation when she announced that she would address the issue of her young and naive days working for (and some would say, against) the AWU.

And I see in 'The Australian' that the Nauru processing centre will be ready to take guests by September.

It has a capacity of 1500. My guess is that at least another 3000 new self-sponsored settlers will have availed themselves of the Australian taxpayers' lifetime assistance by then, hence Chris Bowen's carefully phrased comment that any asylum seekers who arrived here since the change of policy "risks" being processed offshore.

It's going to provide for some interesting television when they try putting the first load of asylum seekers who've made it to the Australian mainland onto an aeroplane or a ship to take them to Nauru or Manus Island. I wouldn't want to be skippering that flight, even with five Serco or AFP guards per "refugee".