A funny thing happened on the way to the reception of yesterday’s Newspoll: Labor’s primary vote went up. Substantially. After all the dire warnings from Dennis Shanahan and crew that the only way was down… It may, of course, be that either the last one (more likely) or this one was an outlier, but it comes as no great surprise given what I’ve been saying about the politics of the carbon price debate. That, of course, is not the reason ascribed by the commentariat for this shift or by Tony Abbott, who thinks it’s because Julia Gillard met Barack Obama and Prince William (and he’s trying to insulate himself from further falls by the new concept of a “Royal Wedding Bounce”). In fact, Abbott’s own ratings are looking decidedly dodgy, and it seems a large majority don’t believe he believes in anthropogenic global warming and/or intends to do anything about carbon emissions. Rightly.
In Parliament yesterday, Christopher Pyne borrowed some tactics from blogosphere trolls, and started rabbiting on about the alleged implications of the phrase “climate change denier”, moving the debate back to precisely where the Liberal party doesn’t want it, something not helped by Abbott’s continued willingness to say “the science isn’t settled” when it suits him. This, by the way, is surely not the “gaffe” or “indiscipline” the press gallery believes it to be, but a continued attempt to keep the so-called skeptics in his tent.
We’ve seen, then, the bizarro world consequences of negativism about everything: the Liberal party, which used to trumpet the virtues of tax cuts under Howard and Costello, muttering darkly about “socialist redistribution” when Ross Garnaut suggested compensation for the carbon price be delivered through the tax and welfare systems. Tony Abbott’s “Great New Tax” line now translates into a Great New Opposition to Tax Cuts. Go figure.
And, today, we have the equally bizarre spectacle of the talk back audience and the permanently indignant blog commenters, masquerading as usual as “public opinion”, actually out in the streets. And having difficulty staying on message. Click the links – the pictures really do tell the tale.
What we have here is inside the media/political bubble and talk back/angry columnist feedback loop meeting reality. And that electoral reality won’t necessarily be to Tony Abbott’s liking. Abbott is playing to the right wing ‘base’ not to the electorate as a whole. And today’s shenanigans may well come back to bite him.
Update: Bob Brown condemns the vile signs Abbott was standing in front of at the rally and expresses a hope Tony Abbott will apologise.
Elsewhere: John Quiggin reports on the heavy One Nation involvement in the rallies, and Pauline Hanson’s presence at one of them.
Elsewhere: Pavlov’s Cat on misreporting about the signs.
Elsewhere: Crazybrave has some questions for Christopher Pyne, Helen at Cast Iron Balcony and Richard Farmer sums it up at The Stump on Abbott’s association with the banners of crazy:
If you are like most of the swinging voters I have observed from behind the one way glass over the years you will be quite turned off by it.
Tony Abbott is running a great risk by associating himself with the small shock-jock led fringe which gathered at Canberra’s Parliament House today.
Elsewhere: Sophie Cunningham, Bernard Keane.
Update: Pavlov’s Cat knew this was coming.
http://greensmps.org.au/blog/senator-bob-browns-letter-prime-minister-gillard-23-march-2011
Yep – if you lie down with clowns, you’ll wake up in a circus.
I’ll tell you how the LNP ending up opposing a tax cut: its called the sucker punch. They’re far too predictable with the “no”, and they’re going to get routed here.
Surely even the LNP has noticed that Tony is a one trick pony?
Agreed, this isn’t a good look for Abbott. But I have absolutely no doubt that the usual suspects will spin the reaction as the “elitists” making fun at the concerns of “ordinary, everyday Australians”.
The test will be whether today’s rally pictures will be enough to finally convince the great unengaged masses (the ones who aren’t rusted on to talkback radio) that Abbott is indeed a dangerous, desperate politician.
For Abbott to stand in front of those signs and say “It is important to have an intelligent response – not a stupid one.” is quite absurd.
Mr Denmore:
The Australian electorate as whole is a lot more centrist or right-leaning than the people at LP. Don’t expect them to be easily swayed by the left wing.
Nice letter Bob!
I know its old-fashioned, etc, but where are the manners of these people?
I can assure all of them I advise my daughters that decent people speak respectfully, even when they disagree.
e.g. “Excuse me, RWDB hosebeasts, sorry for interrupting your wingnut FREAKSHOW, but would you care for a nice steaming cup of STFU?”
What we have here is inside the media/political bubble and talk back/angry columnist feedback loop meeting reality.
It’s always edifying when that happens, and it’s happened so much federally in the last twelve months, too.
what does it say about the ALP at the moment that Bob Brown’s letters have a blank space for him to write the PM’s name in pen?
Ten bucks says he’ll claim he didn’t know the signs were there.
And next time we can all shout ‘Look behind you!’
Heh @ sg.
PC
Tony Abbott as the principal character in a pantomime … It sounds right.
An attendance of 3000 … pffft.
The shenanigans that Tony is going on with look increasingly desperate. I suspect even he may be starting to realise that it is not getting traction and the happy clappers in his audience represent a small minority and certainly not public opinion.
My bet is he will try to move the debate on to something else. The leaked letter to the Oz over his concern for indigenous people in Alice Springs was perhaps the first try. Climate change will be the issue that finally exposes him for the no ideas weather vane that he is. Where will Andrew Robb be though if the party turns back to Malcolm?
Katz @ 12. I posted elsewhere, the Oz is euphamisticly referring to the crowd as “several thousand”. The shock jocks who desperately want to become the Glenn Beck of Australia must be disappointed.
Extend that pfft several f’s, Katz : the AFP said 1500.
I saw buses – were they bussed in from Sydney, and who organized it?
Pyne’s confected outrage at being compared with Holocaust deniers was amusing. If he doesn’t like the label, he should stop associating with people who exhibit the same kind of cognitive dissonance as my namesake.
Also David, where is Pynes outrage at the references to the PM as Jew liar.
Seems something to go to the barricades over.
How cruel that Bronwyn Bishop and Sophie Mirabella are photographed standing in front of a sign saying “B*TCH”. Both lovely ladies!
I agree with the sentiments Bob Brown expressed in his letter to Julia Gillard
Well, unless its the signs linked to here, I haven’t seem yjem yet as I haven’t put on the TV yet. Can’t wait. Of course, Julia has been stirring this pack of loonies up a bit with her very publicf attacks on A. Jones and co. and good on her, my heart thrilled at seeing a politician not afraid of these far right jerks and ready to give as good asa she got.Maybe she know they all crawl out from whatever rocls they were under and would all be proudly supportin Tony (The Earth can on;y be Warmed by God) Abbott at today’s rally. Making him look positively dangerous and very, very mad.
Yes, that cracked me up too.
sg@16; I heard it was a bottom-feeder Sydney talk back host named Chris Smith, who looks as though he’d like to take over the Alan Jones mantle when the great one calls it a day.
Indeed snorky. Chris Smith was exposed on Mediawatch the other night.By the sounds of it I better get some of that popcorn for the SBS/ABC News tonight.
@ Sg @ 8 – it says nothing. It’s a parliamentary tradition when members write to each other that the letter is typed showing their office (“Dear PM” “Dear Senator” etc.) and the sender then strikes through the formal title and hand-writes the person’s name. It’s a practice that upholds the respect of the office but allows the sender to also acknowledge a personal relationship.
Sorry to ruin your nice quip
Not the first time that Angry Anderson has associated himself with chronic naffness.
Get a day job AA.
Here are Abbott’s bedfellows. The profoundly anti-semitic League of Rights supported the “rally” and condemns AGW as a Jewish plot. This further envenoms the “Jew-Liar” jibe.
It’s the oft-repeated “JULIAR” that pisses me off. The protestors probably think it’s catchy – some sort of motto that will leak into the community. It just gives me the shits.
Some signs make you think. Other signs make you think the holder’s a wanker.
A wide and representative cross section of the Australian wingnut community!
And for the record, wot Christine said I think actually nails it re: the rally today –
“One of the disappointing things about today’s rally has been the number of sexist placards. I think it’s about time we had a mature discussion in Australian politics that didn’t stoop to the denigration of female parliamentarians.”
Kind of hard to imagine this kind of commentary being aimed at a male PM.
Btw the guy holding the ‘Gillard is Bob Browns [sic] Bitch” sign had on a t-shirt saying “Don’t Disturb. Already Disturbed.” Really.
The Nats are npt going to be happy about the League of Rights association. They’d been trying to distance themselves from them for years.
I guess we just have to hope this nonsense doesn’t grow into something really big. I know nobody will take me seriously, but they used to scoff at Hitler in the early days too. Just sayin’.
#7
…except in Cronulla *shiver*.
Really you lot are upset about those rally banners?
(rolls eyes heavenward)
Rallies for leftist themed causes have far been far worse:
http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_QiK6VH488uU/SUB9ZrWkULI/AAAAAAAAAm4/58kdUEXa7PA/s400/behead.jpg
and I seem to recall John Howard getting far worse as well
It got a bit much for me watching the news when they started up about Gillard as
Brown’s Bitch.
Abbotts presence indicates authorship for this new and grotty brown shirt low in Aussie politics.
Not upset, just amused.
Thanks for amusing me more, btw.
Have you been amusing for long?
Those pictures are from a fringe group in the UK who attend soldiers’ homecomings. I don’t think they fit into even the fringe of the left, Iain Hall. And perhaps you can recall slogans aimed at Howard that were worse than those we saw today?
You really are an idiot aren’t you Iain Hall. Aren’t you even upset by the missing apostrophe?
BTW, why do you ‘seem’ to recall? Can’t you just recall?
“It’s the oft-repeated “JULIAR” that pisses me off. The protestors probably think it’s catchy – some sort of motto that will leak into the community. It just gives me the shits.”
It’s deeply unrespectful but how are signs like ‘HoWARd – Bush’s Bitch’ which were in profusion at demos during the Howard years all that different? I could be wrong but I’m pretty sure that Bob Brown didn’t find it necessary to write to Howard expressing his sorrow at the unspeakable lese majeste involved, on those occasions. Nor should he have.
There’s an inevitability about ideological positioning and political partisanship playing into notions of acceptability here and we may need to get over ourselves, just slightly.
The line of the day in my opinion was Julia Gillard declining Abbott’s QT invitation to go outside to meet the rally – “I believe you’ve already got one red-headed mate out there” – she quipped.
Elsewhere: Pavlov’s Cat on misreporting about the signs.
I once referred to Howard as a “fuckwit” in conversation, if that helps Iain any.
Abbott and Bishop standing in front of the JULIAR BOB BROWNS BITCH placard – now there’s class!
… and Sophie Mirabella.
Iain needs an example of the Left’s nasty words for Liberal politicians.
The Victorian Left use Kennett as a swear word interchangeable with a part of the female anatomy. Weak, I know.
Victorian women are watching the NSW elections with our hearts in our mouths with the news that Kennett is advising O’Farrell on trimming the state budget by firing 8000 teachers and closing 100 schools. When he has cut nurse numbers and fired NSW public servants in the clerical ranks NSW women will realise that Liberal policies are an attack on their careers.
We giggled when we heard that his wife had appeared at a womens refuge one easter, 1995 I think. The rumour mill said she returned to the marriage while he was still in power.
Kennett is generally seen as the father of Beyond Blue not the spokesperson because his policies saw thousands of people fired, 55% of whom never worked again.
Geoff: It’s the shitness of ‘Juliar’ that Saigon is lamenting, not its appropriateness. I don’t think much of ‘HoWARd’ either, but people will do these things.
It doesn’t take a Foucault to notice the gender/power issues that make “Julia is Brown’s bitch” more severe than “Howard is Bush’s bitch” (whether that is fair or not is a whole other story), and it doesn’t take a genius to see why (besides the obvious political points) Brown might be compelled to write to Gillard after these particular signs were waved.
SG
All I’m saying is that is horses for courses when it comes to sloganeering in any political context and the faux indignation from Bob Brown et al is just ridiculous.
Adrian
Yes I do normally express concern about the misuse or omission of the apostrophe, but in my experience it is the minions of the left who are more often guilty of that sin than we conservatives
Geoff Honnor
I think that the “Juliar” thing is quite a clever play on words and a potent reminder of just how Gillard will say anything t=she thinks will give he any momentary advantage at the polls.
Geoff: it’s not the disrespect of “JULIAR” that shits me – it’s that the placard holders mistake posturing and in-group membership for advocacy. Kinda like “HoWARd”, although there’s a clearer message lurking in there.
Yes, I’m biased. Since I was overseas for most of the Iraq war, I didn’t have to live with that particular catchword. And at least it’s not in fuckin’ all-caps. Just some.
Typography is everyone’s friend. If a protestor had written something like “Julia Gillard” (geddit?), he wouldn’t have looked like he copied the same talking point from one hundred other nongheads like him. Ditto for “Howard”.
Am I making sense, Geoff?
I’m an older sheila and I find this uttterly deplorable. First off I read that the one trick phony is railing against Julia and her fella going to the wedding ’cause she aint married,don’t believe in the monarchy and doesn’t believe in god. As I shake my head at this latest act of a desparate man I listen to the ABC and hear some of the stuff from this “rally”. I put the telly on and am confronted by this vile act by this total imbecile who will stoop to any low level to become PM, and his coeterie of idiots, who collectively have never had a single idea between them acting as his cheer squad at this shamefull display by a bunch of right wing nutters.
Some of the protesters may be in their second childhood.
“The only thing that could make this better would be glued on, spray painted pasta shells” (@peregrinari7)
http://twitpic.com/4ca7ha
From Twitter:
Just remember that one next time a wingnut complains you’re brainwashing your kids by bringing them to a rally – and/or complains about the foul language from Kids These Days!
I like the guy who tweeted “I’ve been proven wrong – apparently Sophie Mirabella can go out into direct sunlight”
The Daily Mash on Twitter revolutions
Over at Crikey Bernard Keane is saying the Tony Abbott is a weather vane saying “climate change is crap” in public and saying that anthropomorphic global warming is real in cabinet.
I don’t know what’s more repulsive an ignorant Mr Rabbitt or a ruthless Mr Rabbitt
@4 Y Says:
Ah ha ha ha …. ROTFLMAO
You have seen your own gravatar, haven’t you?
Helen@47
Yes, that 11 year old should apologise to all female canines immediately.
Anyone else annoyed by Chris Uhlman’s Liberal propaganda on 7:30 Report. He said that the Canberra rally had 3000 attendees, gave Simon Shiek from GetUp a soundbite, without mentioning that GetUp has organised rallies around Australia where many more people supported a Carbon Tax.
Next story has a serious Liberal slant as well
“@jodiespeers the “Ju-liar Gillard is Bob Brown’s Bitch” sign … was painted by [an] 11 year old”
Entirely plausible, Helen, given that teh yoof are much given to taking up lingustic constructions derived from Rap and Urban Hip Hop which has led to ‘bitch’ and ‘biatch,’ for instance, increasingly taking on a gender-neutral meaning that aligns with ‘pwned.’ I blame it on a lack of standards in Australian education, the erosion of the centrality of the Western Canon and quite possibly, the deep lack of respect accorded the King James Bible.
There should be a law against it, etc.
Yep, this is the kind of thing that gets the anti-Defamation League in the US all riled up. Trivialising the Holocaust is what Pyne was doing. The Holocaust should properly (if that is the right word) be invoked only when talking about genocide. Not when whining in Parliament that one feels offended by the use of the term ‘denier’.
They are now denying they are deniers! Classic!
It’s even more ironic, Mercurius, because the Right never shut up about how the Left are always denying people their Freedom of Speech and impose PEE-CEE RULES so that you JUST CAN’T SAY ANYTHING ANYMORE. If you complain about any use of language you’re just a humourless feminist looking to be offended – except when Christopher Pyne is offended, and then it’s VERY SRS.
(Except that he’s not really offended – it’s a ploy, of course, as you pointed out.)
Helen@46: Oh my. Did the protester steal his children’s fridge magnets to make that sign?
Yes definitely annoyed, billie@52,but perhaps this is because I had already checked the internet before sitting down to shout at the television at 7.30. I had already watched Shiek from GetUp say very clearly (and precisely for the benefit of the news cameras) that the “police estimate was less than 1500″. That authorised count was cut off by Toolman, who told us that “thousands” were at the rally. And the young woman, who I earlier saw presenting a petition with 10,000 signatures, was reduced by Toolman to a snip about “young people blah blah”. In both cases, the significant numbers were deliberately omitted from Toolman’s report, giving a distinctly unbalanced impression. Gah.
billie@53, as a devoted member of the media cheer squad for the liebrals ulhman has no choice but to put the best possible spin on his one true hero bebasing himself to the lowest level. To do otherwise would expose the rabbit for the fraudulent, grovelling and nasty piece of work he is.
@48, hehehe.
That report on the deniers rally on 7.30 was truly appalling. Obsequious and arrogant, how CU can do it without blushing is beyond me. He must have ‘I hate Labor’ tattooed somewhere, surely.
That report on the deniers rally on 7.30 was truly appalling. Obsequious and arrogant, how CU can do it without blushing is beyond me. He must have ‘I hate Labor’ tattooed somewhere, surely.
The Liberal Party are battling for their brand name in the history books: TONY ABBOTT IS GONE!
YOU CAN’T PUSH THE PROPAGANDA OF ALLAN JONES AS THE LIBERAL PARTY LEADER AND THAT IS ALL SHE WROTE!!
Let us not forget that the Sunday before last ANDREW BOLT ACCUSED TONY ABBOTT OF ACTING ON CLIMATE CHANGE WITHOUT BELIEVING IN CLIMATE CHANGE!!!
The Liberal Party is in an unsustainable situation because of Tony Abbotts lack of leadership!!!!
In Helen@46′s twitpic does anyone know what the spanish style mo and goatee signify? It makes the whole thing seem kind of silly to me, the facial hair and the big nose turn into a party mask. The PM doing Errol Flynn.
The bottom right one is nasty though, I wonder if it’s based on the one the Terror and/or Hun had of Julia as aged pensioner before the election
It’s amazing to think that Abbott is now leading a rally that Pauline Hanson attends, after the demolition job he did on One Nation. I always thought Abbott’s antipathy towards One Nation was because he could see they were eating his “base”. Now he is actively out there procuring the votes of the former One Nation crowd.
All he can do is wreck — he was one of Howard’s most ardent foot-soldiers wrecking the Republican referendum, he’s out to wreck the NBN and carbon mitigation strategies, he even wrecked One Nation ‘cos they were cannibalising his voter base. Wreck, wreck, wreck. That’s all he’s capable of. What can the man actually build? Anything positive? At all?
In One Nation, Abbott has become what he beheld.
Oh, and that whirring noise you can hear is Robert Menzies spinning in his grave…
I H @ 31, it would seem the Howard lovers were waiting a long time to get revenge ay?!!?
This exact motive will be assuredly examined in the papers tomorrow and for a long long time to come but we all know Abbott will get the boot for this poor judgement as going to war over oil is a way way different kettle of fish!
Trevor @ 13, Julia Gillard certainly said that there were signs his Carbon Tax shennanigans had reached crescendo in Question Time today!
Y says:
March 23, 2011 at 3:53 pm
For Abbott to stand in front of those signs and say “It is important to have an intelligent response – not a stupid one.” is quite absurd.
<<
Really?!!? Geez, he really is in trouble!
Paul @ 5, we don’t all believe the crack makes us hardcore either!
We’ll see how middle Australia reacts to the Brown’s bitch slogans. About as well as they reacted to Latham beating up a taxi driver, I suspect.
Most people don’t have the mentality of a Sophie Mirabella. In fact, most Liberal voters don’t.
Grigory @51
Nuh uh, your face is!!
Yes I’ve seen my gravatar and I find it quite amusing. If you are seeking to insinuate a comparison between my gravatar and the gendered slur placards, I hope you’ll note that I’m not standing in front of a an xkcd comic at a public rally making a political statement. Though if I did it would probably be quite absurd :-p
And try to imagine any other demo that attracts a crowd of 1500 becoming lead story on the ABC news!
It’s a “Guy Fawkes” mask, as seen in the movie V for Vendetta.
What it means is a matter of perspective. The original Guy Fawkes wanted to overthrow the asshole King James. Fawkes has subsequently been portayed adversely as an anarchist revolutionary by authoritarian assholes.
Gillard is the P.M., though, so who is it she’s trying to overthrow, or what sort of pre-ordained order is she trying to disrupt? Apparently it’s the authority of right wing asshloes that’s under threat here.
Elsewhere: Crazybrave has some questions for Christopher Pyne, Helen at Cast Iron Balcony and Richard Farmer sums it up at The Stump on Abbott’s association with the banners of crazy:
Although HoWARd is slightly childish, the difference between that and JuLIAR is profound: Howard certainly did lead us into a couple of (probably illegal) wars on the back of a lie, whereas Gillard has merely been forced to change her mind by circumstances.
Link to the Stump is borked, btw Kim.
Oops, thanks, David:
http://blogs.crikey.com.au/thestump/2011/03/23/bob-browns-bitch-is-not-a-good-look-for-tony-abbott/
It’s worse than that. Suppose you have a feral anti-Iraq war rally where someone holds up a sign that says “HoWARd is Bushs bitch”. Would Kevin Rudd have been photographed addressing a crowd standing in front of a sign like that? Would Beazley? Would Latham? Well… Latham might have, actually. And therein lies the rub.
It’s not the sign being particularly nasty that’s the problem. It’s that the man who claims to be the alternative Prime Minister is photographed standing proudly in front of it.
Howard would not have been snapped in that picture. Keating wouldn’t. Hawke wouldn’t. Menzies wouldn’t. Abbott chose to go there.
1500 or 5000 people who cares? They were all bussed in and many from out-of-state. Not hard to get a crowd out for a day or give a special interest group a chance to vent if you offer transport and a meal. I was at a pro Carbon Price rally today, organised by Climate Action Now! (CAN) and agreed with a newspaper reporter I talked to who estimated the crowd in front of the Perth Convention Centre at 400 plus, who had turned up on public transport, on foot, bike or by car. There were dozens of bikes chained up nearby. The ABC reported some 150 anti-tax demonstators at a protest elsewhere in Perth and ‘the same number demonstrating for the tax at the Convention Centre.’
The really important thing, I thought, was the atmosphere at the CAN rally. Smiling people of all ages, positive placards, hope for the planet and the future of their children. No insulting angry slogans. No whingeing about being over-taxed. No attacks on politicians or political parties by speakers. These people weren’t protesting. They were expressing support for a positive initiative to meet the serious challenge of our changing climate.
Well, yes, defixio @ 77. Abbott has demonstrated (for about the 4,000th time) that he’s completely unsuitable to lead the country, but my point was more general.
Abbott has put the Lib/Nats in a very interesting position. It is becoming increasingly clear he is electoral poison and will not lead the Opposition to government. However, if they ditch him, his replacement will most likely be Hockey or Turnbull.
Not sure about where Hockey stands on climate change but he is certainly a lot more moderate than Abbott. If Turnbull got up and acted on principle and personal belief, he would have to take the Libs on a 180 degree turn on climate change policy to where they were when he was sacked.
What happens then to the ilLiberal right? The party becomes a house divided and as Abraham Lincoln rightly noted, a house divided cannot stand, particularly when everyone can see the division for themselves.
What also would become of Abbott’s running dogs? Behind which caravan would Jones, Mitchell (Neil and Chris), Bolt, Akerman, Hadley, Pearson, Devine, and all the other non-elites working in the left-dominated media run barking themselves mad then?
Perhaps this is Abbott’s model, just without the conviction:
link
@81: Nah! Mr Rabid is copying the teabaggers.
I can see why Abbott is doing this. But it won’t work the same way as it does in the US. Not yet anyway.
In the US this tactic works because it shores up your suppor base while sapping the will for others to vote. “FFS, politics has turned into a circus. I know, screw them. I won’t go vote.”
Once Tony gets in the first thing he needs to do is make voting voluntary. Then this sort of thing will get traction.
On the other hand I went to BOlt’s blog to cheer myself up with some stupidity and…well they have some photos of Howard effigies there which really make some of the boards look a little tame. To be fair Abbots done a new thing, I don’t remember Rudd giving a speech in front of that sort of mob but hey it’s worked for past world leaders. Abbott wouldn’t be the first.
FOr now I’ll just continue avoiding Cronulla.
I liked when Abbott admitted that climate change was happening, though in doubt of the cause, there was a short silence broken by some muttering.
I guess you can’t please all of the nutters all of the time, but I think we can be pretty sure he was talking to the TV cameras and the less extreme majority of climate change “sceptics” at home watching the news, not the fringe nutters in the crowd who tend towards outright denial.
I’ve always taken his ‘climate change is happening’ thing as a knowing wink. As in ‘understand I have to say this in order to get votes. Don’t worry, once I’m in I’ll declare it crap.’
I think the most striking thing about today anti PM Gillard Rally was the number of Coalition members that did not show up.
Even so Triple J’s hack covered it in a way they didn’t the GetUp rallies. Super awesome.
Remember kids. 3000 people bused in interstate represents a broad cross section of the voting public. We need to listen respectfully and take these people very very seriously. We might learn something.
(And of course the tens of thousands of people who marched against John Howard in several major capital cities, who in Sydney closed down the harbour bridge for their protest were of course un-representative swill best dismissed by a waving of the hand and calling them ‘the mob.’)
” I think the most striking thing about today anti PM Gillard Rally was the number of Coalition members that did not show up.”
Indeed, where was Cory Bernardi? He obviously played a big part in bankrolling this thing and then seemed to disappear.
Tony Abbott:
Tony shouldn’t worry too much about yesterday’s fiasco. The Beer Hall Putsch also failed.
I am, of course, likening Tony Abbott to Erich Ludendorff.
Yes. Antiwar or other “leftist” rallies = The Mob.
Anti-tax or other right wing rallies = Fine Australians Standing Up for Democracy.
(Thanks for the link, Kim!)
I assume that was an attempt to make the strings look less obvious.
I thought they were a rabble. Not especially dangerous and crates of weetbixes, and what a pack of dings.
Yet the grubbiness and infantility of it still stands out.
What will future generations think of our era when they review us on the history tapes fifty years hence?
The last time the crazy right took over the Liberal Party we had the Cronulla Riots. I don’t know with what atrocity this lot will ultimately culminate, but at least this time round it won’t be so easy for the Liberal Party to disown it/
Here’s an example of the company Abbott was keeping at the rally.
@83
The Teabaggers love Goldwater, or they would if they had a collective memory that went back that far. Instead they valourise Reagan who, in the end, was about as conservative as Richard Nixon.
There is almost nothing at all in the online Australian today about the rally: a thumbnail of photos in ‘Latest News Galleries’ and an indirect mention in ‘Strewth.’ The Herald Sun has a link down the home page under ‘Also Today…’ The Daily Telegraph ignores the rally on its home page. Murdoch’s minions seem to want the story to go away.
And I thought the “fine australians” comment was a classic Nixon/Howard move. It basically means that the rest of us are less than fine, a subtle smear. Of course it doesn’t work if you’re smearing the majority.
That was from memory from an item on RN this morning, so it may not have been accurate. But if not “fine Australians”, it was something equivalent – upstanding citizens, whatever.
I agree with your analysis there Patrick. It’s a reverse dog whistle.
Can anyone imagine Menzies standing in front of a sign – lacking the correct apostrophe, of course – calling the PM a bitch?
After the “shit happens” episode I think many voters will conclude that Abbott simply isn’t PM material. It also shows how the kooks have taken over the Liberal Party and its policies.
I once posted on an American forum.
And I left it very quickly. Too abusive. There was barely 4 replies in a row that could keep civil. They would brag they had total free speech which reflected their constitution. My parting shot was that with total free speech, nothing gets said. It ends us just all braying, slogans, and swapping insults.
And of course, pictures of political opponents in cross hairs.
I think that is where they get this culture from.
Ditch the Bitch is a horrid thing to say about the nation’s leading broadcaster. If I were Alan Jones, I would be very upset.
Reverse dog whistle. The remnants of Alan Jones hey day in the nineties are dog whistling Abbott; it is the death throes of those consigned by obsolescence to the wilderness by Howard’s vanity and the narcissism of Minchin, Joyce and Abbott.
Good linx and agree with “takes”; it really smells of a rat.
Inoted someone referring to Paul Austin’s post, 5. I’ve pondered the reality of a centre right party (now labor) against a reactionary right party,as is the case at hemoment.
Deindustrialisation and the social and political changes from that era, as well as an aging demographic, point to the forces that might be at play outside of the short term and people’s cosciousness.
Good point, Ginja. Menzies was adept at sharpening the gender gap in his favour by recognising the importance that women voters of my mother’s generation placed on gentlemany behaviour by political leaders and their distaste for the aggressive comportment of militant male trade unionists of the period. Somewhere along the line this message has been lost on the modern Liberal Party, as exemplified by the “Jeff F***in’ Rules” slogan under which the Kennett Government lost the unloseable election in 1999.
@99
I prefer “arse whistle”.
I couldn’t imagine Menzies standing in front of a sign lacking the correct apostrophe, regardless of what it said. The same would go for Curtin or Calwell, or anyone else of the WWII generation.
Maybe every modern day rally needs their own grammar police, ready to go from placard to placard and point out typos.
“Sorry mate, but you can’t march with us unless you texta (hands one on) in the apostrophes in the right places on your sign, and whiteout (liquid paper proferred) the ones in the wrong places. Yes, you’ve got the right to free speech, but “its” is not the same as “it’s”, and do you want some journo tarring us all as stupid yobs?”
Although, even some journos don’t know the difference – as hard as that may be to believe.
When Tony came on and started to address the crowd, he told them that climate change was both real and man-made. That crowd, to a person, would have been a denialist or skeptic, so Tony was basically telling them he was not one of them!
Fine Australians Resisting TaxeS, Helen?
When Tony said that the carbon tax would not just apply to the polluters, but would fall on each Australian, he was being dishonest. If Labor’s carbon price on the polluters is a tax, then so is his “direct action.” He knows that the $30 billion required for his “direct action” will cost each Australian $1500. Spread out over 5 years, that is $300 per person, the same it would cost each person under labor’s carbon tax.
Likewise, if his direction action is not a tax, then neither is a carbon price.
The poster boy emerges on Allan Jones shows. Dig the bogan/ocker vernacular (he probably went to Shore)
http://www.smh.com.au/environment/climate-change/protester–defends-his-gillard-poster-20110324-1c7qk.html
@109
That organisation has a funny smell about it.
Paul @104, I think you’re confusing the 1950s “not in front of the ladies” and “chivalry” with a modern feminist desire not to slur people according to their gender, (and in particular women since they have been the “sex class” and slurred/marginalised accordingly – no, men and women are not oppressed “equally”), which is quite different. It’s also about Tony Abbott not displaying the gravitas we expect from a potential leader, which is different again.
Additional note to Paul – The bit in brackets above was a pre-emptive reply to one of the usual squares on the Bingo card, not an insinuation that you would have said it. I can see it could read that way.
How about:
Fine Australians Towards a World of Abbott or FATWA for short.
A cunning tactic for Gillard would have been to appear before the corwd and ask if they wanted to hear from her. If they’d said no, then she would have won. If they’d said yes she could have had the crowd to nominate “an ordinary Australian” to join her on the podium to articulate his or her concerns rather than a politician.
One wonders whom they’d have nominated — but the person — unprepared, ignorant and almost certainly a ranter, would have made the entire crowd look stupid by default. Abbott would have been unable to keep the person on message and would have had to then do damage control as a calm PM would, simply by remaining calm, have provoked the person and the crowd into utterly embarrassing their patron.
And if the person had not gone nuts, she could have invited him or her to endorse or reject the “Ditch the Witch”, “Bob Brown’s Bitch” or “UN/IMF genocide signs” — after all, she could have added, Mr Abbott tells us that references to genocide in this context are wrong and offensive …
That would have been my advice … good old fashioned politics, Sydney Domain style.
No-one at the rally thought the poster was ‘offensive’ so it’s all ok ? From that SMH article linked by PatrickB: “If one of those people at the rally had thought that was offensive I would not have put it up again.”
On the other hand, any other interpretation available – that everyone at the rally was a ‘fucken dickhead’ to use good Aussie vernacular, for example – doesn’t occur to this guy.
Elsewhere: Sophie Cunningham, Bernard Keane.
Update: Pavlov’s Cat knew this was coming.
If you haven’t see this you really should
First Dog has surpassed himself.
Most of us serious Lefties have decided, at one point or another, not to attend a particular protest because it didn’t smell right, it seemed to be spoiling for an ugly confrontation. If Tony Abbott couldn’t take one look at the bunch fruits at this rally and turn right back around he has no business even being considered as an alternative PM. He is a joke.
John Howard was called many things as PM, but to call a female PM “bitch” is something else again.
“Thick description” of this rabble ? (Geertz, Clifford)
Well, they’re just THICK.
And Tony faced such searching questions on it from Chris Uhlman on 7.30 tonight. I know what Abbott’s answer to the abuse of Julia is. He’s such a sexist pig it doesn;t even really occur to him its offensive.
What I don’t know is what was he doing supporting the League of Rights and what do the Nats who went to consiferable trouble to clean the League out of their party years ago feel about it.\?
Does Tony Abbott share the anti-semitism of the anti Semites he was encouraging?
Since he obviously now supports the One Nation Party has turned into an opponent of globalisation and Asian migration? If so, when?
Why didn’t he apologise to Julia in their meeting today?
Why doesn’t his appalling lack of judgement demonstrate he will never be fit to be PM?
Jesus, I should go and apply for Uhlman’s job.
To-ny
grasps
for the
populist
vote.
How demeaning for
a great
liberal tradition.
Paul Burns nails it 123. They are such ignorant pigs.
I saw a bit of Tony being interviewed last night. I was overly tired so I might be mistaken but please tell me he wasn’t actually using the “it’s regrettable this happened but she bought it on herself” line?
Because that would be…er…regrettable.
tskm
i think ge was, but really, did you eexpect Uhlmann to have the political sophistication to point out to Abbott that Kulia’s situation has arisen because she now has to negotiate a minority government and Labor is not in a position to govern in its own right? (An exp;anation which got a considerable ammount of applause on Q&A which for all its faults is considerably more representative of Australian society than Abbott’s rabble.
What upset me most was the way Uhlmann just sat there and allowed abbott to spew forth Liberal Party propaganda/spin, to the point he was actually asking leading questions which Abbott leapt on with glee.
I got so upset I lodged a complaint with 7.39 about Uhlman. Don’t know if its been published or moderated to death. Haven’t looked.
I’m wondering about the placard “My Mom is Cold”. It’s either the meanderings of someone really stupid or razor sharp Zen wit, but can’t make up my mind. What I would really like to know is why the use of the word “Mom”, and does that indicate that the astroturfing Cory Bernardi and other puppetmasters of this “people’s revolt” are actually importing tea party activists from the US? or is it simply the creeping influence of US spelling on the younger revolting protesters?
(Tsk! Literacy standards!)
Nope! 7.30 didn’t publish my letter.At least there were a couple of people there that savaged Uhlman and got themselves published.
Reminded me of the greens burning an effigy of Howard while chanting “die Howard die” in the early 2000′s. How enlightening. How fortunate this the loon freakshiw now runs the ALP.
I was afronted by Abbotts claim that he has never made a claim before an election to gain voter favour then withdrawn is straight after. Lets not forget the Latham failed election bid in which Abbott as shadow minister for health promised to match the ALP’s health plan for the aged (the Gold Card plan as I recal it) the backed down just months after the election with no apology at all.
Not only that level of massive lie, he also lied barefaced in the ABC interview about it where he said, to begin with that the cost blowouts used as a reason to abondon the scheme were not known before the election, then just sentences later admitted that the cost blowouts were known at the time of making the promise, but the he and Howard were going to dishonour the pledge anyway.
This was done so that the Coalition could post a huge surplus in that budget year. ie tax and take the public’s money then do nothing with it.
The trouble with Abbott is that he has created a new kind of dishonesty immunity. He tells so many lies that this is what people expect of him so no-one takes notice any more, especially the press gallery. And because there are so many of them they are hard to remember.
In his mind his “well that was all in the past” line has whitewashed his very dubious character.
Kitney today in the AFR reports on the “anger” in parliament as if there’s an equivalence with Abbott and his far-right moonbat racist mates and his public endorsement of their sentiments, and ALP outrage at Abbott’s continuous and unrepentantly destructive behaviour.
And no, Tony Dancer, there is no equivalence between Abbott’s endorsement of the CEC, La Rouchies, etc, this week and your evidenceless assertion of “the greens burning an effigy of Howard while chanting ‘die Howard die’”. Which Greens exactly?
Tiny Dancer and others, you just don’t get the difference: Undergraduates in the first flush of their political enthusiasm and anger vs… The alternative would-be PM of Australia and two of his shadow cabinet. Of course we should expect high standards of behaviour from everyone but in reality we do expect higher standards from the people who aim to govern us… don’t we?
BilB @131
And the fact that ABC reporters have completely forgotten this appaling example of political dishonesty in their token gesture interviewing of Abbott on the honesty subject demonstrates their clear bias.
But even worse I am amazed that on this ALP heartland blog the issue never even raises an eyebrow, suggesting that the interests of the over 75′s lightup on no-ones radar at all. Maybe it is that the exorcism of Latham has expunged averything about him and that election. But this was a high profile Howard/Abbott promise which significantly influenced that election. Obviously, though, we are keeping Mum about this. Shh!
Chris Uhlmann nails his flag to Tony’s mast
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2011/03/25/3173608.htm
I’m going to write a litter about the bias shown by the 7.30 report presenter. That fiend. Oh hang on. It’s not ‘Red’ Kerry? And he’s somewhat supporting the Libs?
Outrage cancelled then.
But seriously here’s why I won’t be writing a letter complaining about bias.
-It’s on a page dedicated to opinion pieces. Not the 7.30 report.
-As a leftie I’m very much for the view that free speech should never be muzzled.
-I loathe the clockwatching bias rules at the ABC. Even though I feel that they’re all projected one way, at looking for bias against the Libs, I won’t be drawn into a tit for tat revenge fest according to my own political biases.
I do hope that when Julia goes on the 7.30 Report Uhlman goes in all guns blazing. I’ll be complaining if he doesn’t. As for Tony getting the soft treatment, I think he did but I’m not going to complain about that. After all, I have to recognise my biases. I know some Lib supporters who would prefer that the 7.30 report be like Friday afternoon art class. The host asks an easy question and then sits back for the next half hour reading the newspaper while Tony scribbles out the answer for us.
Well, last night it was like a Friday afternoon art class. That’s what was wrong with it.
Uhlmam has been copping a lot of flak for his substandard journalism last night. His on line piece sounds very much like justification after the fact to me.
pterosaur @ 135. He certainly does. He even uses the specific word Abbott has been using to describe the responses to the signs – “precious”.
Plus he’s plainly outed himself as a climate change denier.
Ulhman is televisions answer to the parrott. When abbott makes a major f+#k uo, lead him some soft question to enable him to deflect the attack and enable hime to apportion the blame elsewhere. The parrott does it every time he stuffs up and now the ABC,to their shame are allowing uhlmann to use the same approach to get this neanderthal of the hook.
Uhlmann, like all journalists is required by the Australian Journalists Code of Ethics to : Report and interpret honestly, striving for accuracy, fairness and disclosure of all essential facts. Do not suppress relevant available facts, or give distorting emphasis. Do your utmost to give a fair opportunity for reply. (For the complete version, go here http://www.australian-news.com.au/codethics.htm)
In fact thats the very first principle in the code. I think that he, and most of the MSM are seriously violating every precept of this requirement, particularly the one relating to distorting emphasis – through the mechanism of giving equal weight (or time) to the deniers as to legitimate science.
Speaking of Uhlmann: China to adopt an ETS. http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/china-expected-to-apply-tax-on-carbon/story-fn6b3v4f-1226027657359
What line will he run on 730 now?
Settle settle. What Uhlmann is doing is fine and fearless.
However…as an off topic question. If Kerry O’Brien had written something similar to what Uhlmann did…zigging left in tone where Uhlmann zagged right…what do you think the response from the media and public would have been? How many complaints and newspaper columns would have been devoted to the politicising of the ABC?
Just musing.
Fine and fearless, yah – running an fairly naked editorial line in an interview, and then further straight to camera.
Kerry was never that predictable.
Well – now the worlds largest popualtion and largest pollluter is onboard I guess there’ll be no more of his “but Montana and the haven of New Bumpshire dropped out – whats the point!!” line.
tssk, O’Brien was smart enough never to do that.
It’s not that journos aren’t allowed to have opinions; but they’re not supposed to parade their biases so publicly.
In Adelaide they held an anti-carbon tax on the same day at the steps of Parliament House and only about 50 turned up. Former SA Premier Steele Hall had been asked to address the mob but didn’t attend.
lolz
The sight of Abbott with that fixed rictus of a manic grin on his face while sorrounded by the truly lunatic right was a wonder to behold and one that will cause many genuine liberals to shudder. A perfect eff-up for Abbott. The problem for the Tea-bag partiers of Oz is that they are pepole who have for all of their lives sen footage of demonstrators and thought to themselves “look at those effin idiots”. Finally, however, at their own first evah demonstration, incapable of comprehending the civil nature of protest, they behaved like effin idiots themselves because this is what they thought they were supposed to do.
A disgrace but funny into the bargain.
What I find most refreshing out of this whole episode is that the RW jocks who believed they held disproportionate power look feeble. Chris Smith, Alan Jones et al deluded themselves they could command an army to rise up but despite the urgings it did not.
For those who did take the trouble to get the free bus trip I hope they had a nice day out. Even the most deluded can have their say. Holding up misogynistic and racist signs with bad grammar said more about those protesting than the targets of the protest. It also provided an opportunity for Tony to display his lack of judgment again, desperate for a headline and thinking the MSM will look after him.
I just hope it gives others the courage to take on the shock jocks more often. They are bullies with glass jaws who have now been exposed as not wielding the power they thought they had
True Trevor. The shock jocks remind me a bit of the Wizard of Oz who was supposed to be so scary but was just a feeble old man.
Here’s video from Get Up about the carbon tax rally in Melbourne. I know there’s a few people here who don’t like Get Up (fair enough), but note how people are managing to protest without denigrating anyone.
The level of coverage given to a few gatherings of a few hundred people starts to look a bit silly when you consider this little group get-together in London!
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/up-to-500000-protestors-attend-anticuts-demo-2253791.html
I suspect Mr Rabbit would struggle to get that kind of turnout for his ‘people’s revolt’!
Mind you, having lived in the UK for nearly 20 years I can tell you they have plenty to complain about!