Now I as much as the next person am a huge fan of the occasional bagging of our fallible politicians, so you can imagine the disappointment that filled me upon switching on the morning news to find I felt as though I needed to defend opposition leader, Tony Abbott.
After initially being filled with glee, (not of the horrible TV show variety, however the thought of me prancing and singing my way around the house does somewhat entertain me) that Tony Abbott had suffered another bout of the foot in mouth disease that had plagued him pre-2010 election campaign; sadly my day was about to take an unpleasant turn.
Now I know getting excited about Tony Abbott saying something stupid is like getting excited over Warnie sending a text, but lets face it the man has to be considered a comedy genius alongside some of the greats.
Abbott had come under fire over comments he made in which he dismissed the death of an Australian soldier stating, “sometimes shit happens.” At least this is how it was presented by Seven News’s political correspondent Mark Riley.
However on closer inspection and in its original context the statement made to Lance Corporal Jared MacKinney during Abbott's trip to Afghanistan, was little more than Abbott trying to be one of the boys.
So then the real attention needs to be turned to Mark Riley and the media’s sensationalizing of news events.
Journalists are supposed to abide by a code of ethics which states that news should be reported with accuracy and fairness. By taking this statement out of context Riley has turned it into something parading as news and something intended to diminish the publics perception of Tony Abbott. A blatant yet somewhat ironic form of ‘leftish-wing shock-jocism.”
Now in a return to normal programming I will leave you with a few of my favorite Tony Abbott moments:
“Why isn't the fact that 100,000 women choose to end their pregnancies regarded as a national tragedy approaching the scale, say, of Aboriginal life expectancy being 20 years less than that of the general community?”
“On asbestos sufferer and social justice campaigner Bernie Banton: "I know Bernie is very sick, but just because a person is sick doesn't mean that he is necessarily pure of heart in all things." He called Banton’s campaign a “stunt.”
“women’s virginity is a gift not to be given lightly.”
"What the housewives of Australia need to understand as they do the ironing is that if they get it done commercially it's going to go up in price, and their own power bills when they switch the iron on are going to go up."
