Abbott + women = disaster?

You'd think one of the biggest news stories in Australia right now might be the High Court's decision that to hold a Tamil man in detention because he was assessed a security threat to Australia, but also a genuine refugee at the same time.

But no.

On Friday, this woman sparked a media storm when she came out in defence of her allegedly ''misogynistic'' husband.

This woman. 

Don't know who she is? Don't feel bad. I don't think anyone knew until yesterday when she was splashed all over the front pages of News Limited dailies.

She is Margie Abbott, wife of federal Opposition Leader Tony Abbott. And she's a woman on a mission.

Yesterday Margie attended a lunch, where she sang her kind, loving husband's praises. She had also appeared on the Today Show with Tony where she stressed what a gentle man he was because he loved to watch Downton Abbey more than football.

WHAT?

This is news?

One TV news story said Tony Abbott was regularly portrayed as an 'áction man,' over footage of him shooting a gun and stepping out of the ocean in his budgies.

This guy.

WHAT?

Since when did shooting a gun for a media opportunity and swimming in the ocean make a man an alpha male? You didn't need to convince me that he loves Downton Abbey in order to believe he has a softer side.

Politically, all I see is soft!

When I hear from Tony Abbott, I tune out. All I hear is "Blah blah Julia, negativity, false promises, blah blah, negativity, rhetoric, blah blah'.

I don't believe Tony Abbott is in danger of losing the female voters through his perceived chauvinistic attitude. (For the record, he has publicly spoken against abortion and tried to use his power to veto the abortion drug RU-486's importation into Australia.)

I think his biggest problem is failing to appeal to anyone!

But Margie Abbott was wheeled out to play the spouse card (perhaps inspired by Ann Romney over in the US) in a move as discreet as a sledgehammer.

I agree with Nicola Roxon (famous T-Abb hater) when she told ABC's Insiders that Tony Abbott wasn't in the running for husband or father of the year, he was in the running to govern this nation.

And no amount of flowery speech, from probably the only woman who would have a good opinion of him if all other women detested him, will convince me of his ability.

He could be the nicest, most genuine, caring bloke on earth. This doesn't mean he is equal to the task of leading Australia.

I can rattle off all 50 American states in alphabetical order and once I helped an elderly woman reach for a packet of Weet-Bix.

Maybe I should do it.

Spiel x

PS. This post is dedicated to my friend Toby, who encouraged me to be less of a 'fence-sitter'. Hope you're happy!

Too PC? Or not too PC?

You'd be hard pressed to have not heard master of controversy Alan Jones' latest mishap.

If nothing else, the whole business has provided the photo of the week.

But just in case you live under a rock, or drank too hard this weekend, I can fill you in. Shock jock Jones made a crack about Julia Gillard at a Liberal-affiliated 'do. In short, Jonesy made a comment that Gillard's recently deceased Dad must have passed away from the shame of having such a daughter.

Yes, it's a rude comment. No, he probably shouldn't have said it at an official function.

Is it funny? I'll leave that to you.

And now his 2GB radio show's advertisers are pulling the plug, including Woolworths and Freedom.

Liberal frontbenchers at the event seem to have suffered collective amnesia and/or deafness: none of them can recall hearing the comments. How odd.

Unfortunately for Jones, they were recorded. So there's no denying it happened. And it should be noted, people were recorded laughing too. So someone found it funny.

So now we ask ourselves the question, amid universal condemnation of both his original comments, and criticism surrounding his 'inadequate' apology, how far is too far?

Have we all not made similar questionable comments amongst friends? Obviously there are few of us who have a captive audience in front of which we can insult public figures.

But are we too precious these days? We leap on people for making mistakes. Then we jump on them again when they apologise: it's always too little too late.

I don't like what he said either. But I know in my heart I have said similar things to friends, that I shouldn't have, for a laugh.

Do we really need to fall over ourselves to tweet our disgust and blog our hatred?

Are we taking everything too seriously?

I doubt Julia Gillard is crying herself to sleep over his comments. She probably has the sense to write them off as a crappy attempt at humour.

I don't want to give the impression I think we should go at each other in a no-rules fashion.

It's just in this era of 24/7 news and media saturation, how much is too much?

Food for thought.

Here's a different perspective from writer Anne Summers with a feminist slant.

Spiel x

Happy Birthday to Papa Spiel! Much love to you xxx