"We're Being Governed By Idiots"

'Victory Day' front pages like this just look downright ridiculous now:

The Abbott Government disaster/fiasco (take your pick) drags on and on and on. The Australian Financial Review's Laura Tingle in absolutely scathing form:

"we don't seem to quite be able to take in the growing realisation that we actually are being governed by idiots and fools, or that this actually has real-world consequences.

We finish the week with a Prime Minister who has lost his bundle and is making policy and political calls that go beyond reckless in an increasingly panicked and desperate attempt to save himself; a government that has not just utterly lost its way but its authority; and important policy debates left either as smouldering wrecks or unprosecuted.

At issue is not just whether Tony Abbott loses his leadership, or whether the budget bottom line deteriorates even further, but signs that our political system really is in deep trouble – not as a polemic point, but in a very real sense. 

............................

"Idiot" is the word that comes most often in Labor's focus groups when voters are asked about the Prime Minister. And lest you're thinking this is just what Labor would spin isn't it, we had a confirmation this week from focus group polling conducted for Fairfax by one of Australia's most respected focus group pollsters, Visibility's Tony Mitchelmore, with the small caveat being that these voters didn't describe Tony Abbott as an idiot but a fool.

Tony Abbott has already lost Western Sydney. And after Rupert Murdoch's Daily Telegraph and right wing radio ranters worked so hard in 2013 to help win the area for him:

Voters in Western Sydney – selected because they had switched their vote from Labor to Liberal at the 2011 NSW election – described the Prime Minister as "incompetent, an international embarrassment and a fool".

These perceptions are not just a problem for Tony Abbott and his future, but for the broader Coalition, given that the government's conduct in the last couple of weeks can only leave voters with the idea that the idiocy stretches well beyond the Prime Minister's office.

 Worth A Full Read

Abbott On D-Day Anniversary: Now Can We Get Rid Of The Carbon And Mining Tax?

By Darryl Mason

Australia's PM Tony Abbott, or 'Toxic Tony' as he is becoming known, used the 70th anniversary of D-Day landings in Europe during World War 2 to talk up his agenda of cutting the carbon tax and mining tax. And he used images of Australian World War 2 veterans to do it.

This is a media release issued around midday on Sunday, June 1, 2014:

Here's the transcript of the above:

A Message From The Prime Minister - 70th Anniversary Of The D-Day Landings

June 1, 2014

"This week the world will commemorate the 70th anniversary of the D-Day landings.

The D-Day landings changed the course of human history.

As part of the commemoration, I will join join seven Australians who were there 70 years ago.

Over 5000 Australians were involved - including 2500 air force personnel who provided air support for the Allied landings.

Following the D-Day commemorations, I will be traveling to Canada and France and will be joined by Australian business leaders.

My message to overseas investors is that Australia is open for business.

The Government's Economic Action Strategy to lower tax, cut red tape and encourage trade will improve the competitiveness of business - so that we can build a stronger Australia.

We welcome investment and we are making investment more attractive by scrapping the carbon tax and the mining tax, cutting 50,000 pages of red tape, and ending the 'analysis paralysis' on major projects.

Our international partners can see that our Budget is again under control, we are tackling debt and deficits and we are serious about building a strong and prosperous economy.

This year Australia hosts the G20 summit to encourage growth around the world and I will be advancing that cause during this trip.

The United States, Canada and France are long standing friends. We stood together at D-Day, we trade every day and we have always shared a commitment to democracy, to enterprise and to people's right to be free."

See the way Abbott has used World War 2 bravery and sacrifice to set up the next part of the media release? This is called 'activating emotional triggers.' Mention World War 2, trigger emotions, then deliver your political agenda.

It's demented.

And this is the re-issued press release....

....note it has backdated to May 31, to give the impression that this was the intended media release, to fit in with Abbott government MPs now trying to claim the 'D-Day To Carbon Tax' release was "just a draft." The reissue has been stripped of his blatant anti-carbon tax and anti-mining tax agenda items and business-related rhetoric.

The original media release was not "just a draft", it was issued to 1000s of journalists and other media around the world, direct from the Prime Minister's Office.

The other proof it wasn't "just a draft" is the fact that PM Abbott actually recorded a YouTube video of his media release, and it included historic photos of World War 2 veterans, before switching over to his political agenda and right-wing propaganda.

That video, also titled 'A Message From The Prime Minister - The 70th Anniversary Of The D-Day Landings' was posted and made public, and links publicising it were sent out on Twitter and Facebook. It was only after Twitter lit up in shock and disgust, the video was retitled and then finally pulled.

The title was changed to 'A Visit To France...' but the original title remained the redo, as seen above, and in Google search, and archives. Here's a copy of that original video:



The original media release is a perfect example of tawdry, cheap and cynical exploitation of World War 2 and its veterans by the prime minister. Our Australian veterans. That the Prime Minister's Office is trying to spin Abbott's way out of this disgusting use of veterans to push his political agenda just makes the whole thing even worse.

I spent every Saturday for almost three years, with a wonderful, kind man who was at the D-Day landings, and all this makes me feel extremely ill. He's gone now, but I can only imagine his reaction at seeing Australia's prime minister exploit his sacrifice and the sacrifice of his friends and colleagues in this crude, tacky way.

If you still don't get it, Abbott was using words and imagery of brave men from World War 2 to trigger an emotional reaction in the reader, and viewer, of his written and video media release.

This is an ugly, utterly cynical PR technique to soften you up with emotional triggers, so that what follows - his agenda relating to the axing of the carbon and mining taxes, cutting of red tape and "open for business" propaganda - will lock into your emotions, will etch his messages into your thoughts and memory. This is why the 'D-Day To The Carbon Tax' media release begins and ends with lines about the D-Day landings and World War 2.

The veterans got 5 lines, his right wing, IPA think-tank propaganda got six paragraphs, in a release headlined '70th Anniversary Of The D-Day Landings.'

It was an attempt to purposely link events from World War 2 with his current agenda, and make you feel less opposed to his plans, and his Budget. And also to pressure his political opponents to dropping their opposition to his policies.

It wasn't a "blunder."

It was extremely purposeful.

They did exactly what they intended to do, Abbott read it all aloud in a video, and his office only changed it all around when people were literally repulsed and sickened.

Think about the political agenda, the PR techniques, the emotional triggering, behind all this the next time a politician tries to use past wars to ram through whatever the people are currently opposed to. It's a foul, odious and downright dirty trick. Exploiting war veterans to push unpopular political agendas has been used before, and no doubt it will be used again, as long as politicians aren't held to account and made to pay for this kind of emotional abuse.

It's hard to believe Tony Abbott hasn't announced his resignation.

Instead, he's going to tour World War 2 cemeteries and memorials in Europe, and pose with veterans for photos and hold media conferences to cash-in further, to further plunder the D-Day anniversary for his political ends.

'This is the way it's always been,' some might say, 'this is what politicians do.' That doesn't make it right.

They will stop doing it, when the public says, "Enough."

(Images and screengrabs via Twitter)


From The Orstrahyun Archive....

Tony Abbott's Gruesome Attack On A Dying Man

Tony Abbott: What A Scumbag Part One

Tony Abbott: What A Scumbag Part Two

Abbott Threatens "Very Dire Consequences" For Australians If They Don't Vote Howard

Abbott Attacks Australians For Demanding The Very Best From Their Politicians

You Don't Commission A Poll When You Don't Want To Hear The Results

Rupert Murdoch's The Australian newspaper couldn't commission Newspolls fast enough when Tony Abbott and the Liberal/Nationals coalition were riding high. Once a fortnight was standard. But when they got really excited, it was every week, sometimes twice a week.

But as the reality of Tony Abbott as prime minister settles over Australia, and unsettles Australians, The Australian newspaper has decided it really don't want to know what Australians think, anymore.

Below is the last Newspoll commissioned by The Australian newspaper, eight whole whole weeks ago. Since then nothing. Did The Australian's editor Chris Mitchell see something in the last Newspoll results he didn't like? Let's take a look:

Oh. The Australian Labor Party was leading the Abbott government by a healthy 2PP margin.

Oh.

And here's a snapshot of how the Abbott government has delivered for Australian families, after just five months of government. Image via @GeeksRulz