Prime Minister Julia Gillard says Liberal candidate Mal Brough should be disendorsed after a menu that made lewd and offensive jokes about her anatomy was used at his fund-raiser.
Ms Gillard slammed the menu as ‘‘grossly sexist and offensive’’ and critised Opposition Leader Tony Abbott for standing by Mr Brough.
‘‘This is Tony Abbott’s Liberals,’’ she said. ‘‘This is what they’re like.’’
The menu, used at an event in March, lists ‘‘Julia Gillard Kentucky Fried Quail’’ before going on to describe it as ‘‘Small breasts, huge thighs & a big red box’’.
Health Minister Tanya Plibersek agreed with Ms Gillard, saying she thought Mr Brough’s position as the candidate for the Queensland seat of Fisher was ‘‘untenable’’.
Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/opinion/political ... z2Vz80Ib3q
PM for lunch
PM for lunch
“If you trust in yourself, and believe in your dreams, and follow your star. . . you'll still get beaten by people who spent their time working hard and learning things and weren't so lazy.”
Re: PM for lunch
No "Furburger" and "Side Order of Thighs"?
Your collective inability to acknowledge this obvious truth makes you all look like fools.
yrs,
rubato
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oldr_n_wsr
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Re: PM for lunch
I haven't heard that terminology since high school.dales wrote:No "Furburger" and "Side Order of Thighs"?
Re: PM for lunch
A couple of things...
First, it looks to me like she's not the only opposition politician lampooned on that menu....
Second, if this is the best she can come up with, she's in even worse shape than she looks (politically speaking of course):
If she didn't get any traction domestically with that tirade at Abbott a few months ago that was received so warmly internationally on YouTube, she certainly isn't going to get anywhere with this. It makes her look silly, thin skinned and desperate for issues.
First, it looks to me like she's not the only opposition politician lampooned on that menu....
Second, if this is the best she can come up with, she's in even worse shape than she looks (politically speaking of course):
http://au.news.yahoo.com/latest/a/-/lat ... ire-polls/Australia PM digs in despite dire polls
June 11, 2013, 12:40 pm
SYDNEY (AFP) - Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard sought to play down heightened speculation she may be ousted by her Labor Party before national elections in September, saying she was confident of remaining in charge.
Gillard faces a crushing defeat in the September 14 vote and is reportedly under pressure to stand down in favour of former leader Kevin Rudd, seen as the best hope of salvaging the party's fortunes.
"I am the best person to lead the Labor Party," she told reporters, adding there were no circumstances under which she would not lead Labor to the polls.
"Yes there's rumour-mongering and speculation -- it's wasted breath."
Trade Minister Craig Emerson, a close Gillard ally, admitted there was renewed chatter about the Labor leadership but said "that doesn't translate into anything".
"We should not be going through revolving doors, going forward and back and forward and back," he told ABC radio in reference to the sudden change of leadership from Rudd to Gillard in a party room coup back in 2010.
The move shocked the Australian public, who had voted Rudd to power in a landslide, and Labor's fortunes have never fully recovered.
The renewed leadership speculation has been prompted by dire polling which suggests Labor is facing a wipe-out in the election.
Gillard has endured near-constant speculation about her leadership since taking power and she won only the narrowest of victories in the last election in 2010, which resulted in a hung parliament, forcing her to cobble together a minority government with independents.
If she didn't get any traction domestically with that tirade at Abbott a few months ago that was received so warmly internationally on YouTube, she certainly isn't going to get anywhere with this. It makes her look silly, thin skinned and desperate for issues.
Re: PM for lunch
If he wasn't responsible he should condemn the bad taste and offer an apology. That is not an acceptable style of humor in a leader and shows an inadequate regard for women for someone at a high level in government.
If he was responsible for the joke or agreed to it in advance then that is a reason not to support him in the future.
If this was a friar's club diner the rules would be different.
yrs,
rubato
If he was responsible for the joke or agreed to it in advance then that is a reason not to support him in the future.
If this was a friar's club diner the rules would be different.
yrs,
rubato
Re: PM for lunch
Red letter day
I agree with rubato
I agree with rubato
Okay... There's all kinds of things wrong with what you just said.
Re: PM for lunch
Red letter day part deux, I agree with Crackpot.
“I ask no favor for my sex. All I ask of our brethren is that they take their feet off our necks.” ~ Ruth Bader Ginsburg, paraphrasing Sarah Moore Grimké
Re: PM for lunch
Now it's the "first bloke" who's copping it...
A Perth talkback radio host has been suspended pending an internal inquiry after provoking outrage and bemusement by questioning the sexuality of Prime Minister Julia Gillard's partner.
Howard Sattler offered the Prime Minister a chance to dispel ''myths, rumours, snide jokes and innuendo'' at the tail-end of a digressive interview on Fairfax-owned station 6PR Thursday afternoon Perth time.
''Tim's gay,'' was the first rumour Mr Sattler raised.
''Well, that's absurd,'' the Prime Minister replied flatly.
''But you hear it - he must be gay, he's a hairdresser,'' Mr Sattler said. ''It's not me saying it.''
The Prime Minister dismissed the suggestion. But Mr Sattler pressed the point.
: Prime Minister Julia Gillard with her partner, Tim Mathieson. .
Prime Minister Julia Gillard with her partner, Tim Mathieson. Photo: Getty Images
''You can confirm that he's not?'' he asked.
''Oh Howard don't be ridiculous, of course not,'' the Prime Minister said, while remaining cool and composed. ''On the internet there are lots of [. . .] nutjobs, people who peddle and circulate vile things.
'Howard let me just bring you back to earth, you and I have just talked about me and Tim living at the lodge, we live there together as a couple, you know that.''
The interview comes towards the end of a week in which the Prime Minister has been subject to personal attacks, and gone on the offensive about sexism in politics.
Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/opinion/political ... z2W94K4RNK
“If you trust in yourself, and believe in your dreams, and follow your star. . . you'll still get beaten by people who spent their time working hard and learning things and weren't so lazy.”
Re: PM for lunch
Okay, let me make sure I've got this straight....
Gillard goes on a shock jock's program, (from what I've been able to find on the guy, he seems like the Australian Howard Stern) and she's appalled by the fact that he asks questions...surprise surprise...that are shocking and outrageous...
Which is what the guy does for a living...
This is starting to look a little Machiavellian to me ...
It seems to me that the Prime Minister, in desperate political straights both within her party and with the electorate at large, is trying to rally support by making herself "the victim"...and deliberately putting herself in situations where she is likely to be the object of personal abuse to try to gain support by making people feel sorry for her...
She apparently sees this as her only path to political survival and electoral victory...
It's funny in a way, because in her effort to decry sexual stereotypes, she invites another one:
"cries like a little girl"....
I'm certainly no expert in the dynamics of Australian politics, but I can't imagine this strategy succeeding...
From all the polling I've seen, that rant at Abbott a few months ago did absolutely nothing to improve her political standing or the standing of her party, so you would think she would have learned from that experience that this "I'm the victim of sexist work place abuse, vote for me" approach is not the path to victory....
But by highlighting juvenile jokes made about her on a fund raising dinner menu, and then going on a shock jock's program and then being shocked that the shock jock shocks, she seems not to have learned this lesson...
Sexism in the workplace is a real problem, but at this level of politics, where you are the leader of the country, I suspect that the average person isn't much impressed with the argument...They expect you to be stronger then that...
As I'm fond of quoting from the late great Harry Hopkins, "politics ain't bean bag"....
People do not naturally rally to political leaders who portray themselves as victims, or who show themselves to be thin skinned types who can't take a joke...
I think Gillard is in danger of turning herself into a laughingstock...(if she hasn't already)
When a "big league" politician is made an object of ridicule over things like their personal appearance they have two good options...
They can either ignore it, and not bring more attention to it...(which is pretty much what Hillary Clinton does) or they can make light of it and poke fun at themselves (like Chris Christie)..
Crying like a little girl is not a good choice; it's unseemly and diminishing.... it makes you look very small and insecure...
"Small and insecure" may work if you're a celebrity with personal problems who's on the PR path to redemption, but they are not qualities that the public generally finds compelling in those who would run their country...
I've been trying to imagine how Margaret Thatcher would have dealt with this sort of thing...
It would probably have been a combination of poking fun at herself and turning the tables a bit by tossing the same sort of joking remarks about personal appearance right back at the guy who designed the menu, or the opposition leader...
She certainly would not have cried like a little girl...
Gillard goes on a shock jock's program, (from what I've been able to find on the guy, he seems like the Australian Howard Stern) and she's appalled by the fact that he asks questions...surprise surprise...that are shocking and outrageous...
Which is what the guy does for a living...
This is starting to look a little Machiavellian to me ...
It seems to me that the Prime Minister, in desperate political straights both within her party and with the electorate at large, is trying to rally support by making herself "the victim"...and deliberately putting herself in situations where she is likely to be the object of personal abuse to try to gain support by making people feel sorry for her...
She apparently sees this as her only path to political survival and electoral victory...
It's funny in a way, because in her effort to decry sexual stereotypes, she invites another one:
"cries like a little girl"....
I'm certainly no expert in the dynamics of Australian politics, but I can't imagine this strategy succeeding...
From all the polling I've seen, that rant at Abbott a few months ago did absolutely nothing to improve her political standing or the standing of her party, so you would think she would have learned from that experience that this "I'm the victim of sexist work place abuse, vote for me" approach is not the path to victory....
But by highlighting juvenile jokes made about her on a fund raising dinner menu, and then going on a shock jock's program and then being shocked that the shock jock shocks, she seems not to have learned this lesson...
Sexism in the workplace is a real problem, but at this level of politics, where you are the leader of the country, I suspect that the average person isn't much impressed with the argument...They expect you to be stronger then that...
As I'm fond of quoting from the late great Harry Hopkins, "politics ain't bean bag"....
People do not naturally rally to political leaders who portray themselves as victims, or who show themselves to be thin skinned types who can't take a joke...
I think Gillard is in danger of turning herself into a laughingstock...(if she hasn't already)
When a "big league" politician is made an object of ridicule over things like their personal appearance they have two good options...
They can either ignore it, and not bring more attention to it...(which is pretty much what Hillary Clinton does) or they can make light of it and poke fun at themselves (like Chris Christie)..
Crying like a little girl is not a good choice; it's unseemly and diminishing.... it makes you look very small and insecure...
"Small and insecure" may work if you're a celebrity with personal problems who's on the PR path to redemption, but they are not qualities that the public generally finds compelling in those who would run their country...
I've been trying to imagine how Margaret Thatcher would have dealt with this sort of thing...
It would probably have been a combination of poking fun at herself and turning the tables a bit by tossing the same sort of joking remarks about personal appearance right back at the guy who designed the menu, or the opposition leader...
She certainly would not have cried like a little girl...
Last edited by Lord Jim on Sat Jun 15, 2013 7:30 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Re: PM for lunch
Seems to me the PM could learn a thing or two from this guy about how to handle personal criticism...
You diffuse it with humor; you don't magnify it with petulance...
You diffuse it with humor; you don't magnify it with petulance...
Re: PM for lunch
I have to say I've been somewhat puzzled by the consistently low political standing of Gillard and her party...
Gee whiz, from what one reads on this board, Australia sounds like Paradise On Earth...
High incomes, low crime, virtually endless vacation time, and The Healthcare Fairy paying full boat for every conceivable medical need...
You'd think that a government presiding over such a Garden Of Eden would enjoy an 80% approval rating, and be a dead cert for a landslide re-election....
What a bunch of ingrates the Aussies must be....
Gee whiz, from what one reads on this board, Australia sounds like Paradise On Earth...
High incomes, low crime, virtually endless vacation time, and The Healthcare Fairy paying full boat for every conceivable medical need...
You'd think that a government presiding over such a Garden Of Eden would enjoy an 80% approval rating, and be a dead cert for a landslide re-election....
What a bunch of ingrates the Aussies must be....
Re: PM for lunch
That means you are 99.9% likely to be wrong, you know!Crackpot wrote:Red letter day
I agree with rubato
Treat Gaza like Carthage.
Re: PM for lunch
Jim, it's because we want to keep it that way that Gillard is in deep shit!
Julia Gillard's controversial attempt to rescue Labor by claiming Tony Abbott would marginalise women and change abortion rights has backfired, with support among male voters collapsing.
In a finding certain to ratchet up pressure on the Prime Minister's besieged leadership, the latest Fairfax-Nielsen poll has found Labor's standing has continued to slide, led entirely by a 7 per cent exodus of men, while failing to lift substantially among female voters.
According to the monthly survey, the ALP's primary vote now has a psychologically devastating ''2'' in front of it with less than three months to the election on September 14.
Ms Gillard also has gone backwards as preferred prime minister, giving her the lowest approval rating in a year.
The poll coincides with the final sittings of the 43rd Parliament and shows that at 29 per cent, Labor's primary support has slipped below the 30 per cent barrier for only the second time this year. With the Coalition attracting 47 per cent of first-preference votes, Labor trails by a staggering 18 points on primary votes, putting the overall two party-preferred vote at 43-57 in favour of the Coalition or 42-58 based on how the 1400 respondents said they would allocate preferences.
If reflected at the election, that would mean a 7 per cent swing to the Coalition on the 50-50 hung Parliament result of 2010, and mean the loss of 30 or more seats, virtually halving Labor's representation now.
But the poll also shows that with Kevin Rudd in charge, almost the entire advantage to the Coalition would be wiped out, taking Labor's primary vote up to 40 per cent, the Coalition's down to 42 per cent, and the two party-preferred split to a dead-heat 50-50.
As nervous Labor MPs gather in Canberra for what many fear will be a tumultuous session in which the leadership issue may explode, the poll confirms Mr Rudd remains personally more popular than Ms Gillard with a preferred Labor leader rating of 58 per cent to her 32 per cent.
But among Labor voters, Ms Gillard still holds a 6 point lead. Mr Rudd's 26 point lead over Ms Gillard overall was beaten by the gap between former Liberal leader Malcolm Turnbull and his successor Mr Abbott.
Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/opinion/political ... z2WQVOehfL
“If you trust in yourself, and believe in your dreams, and follow your star. . . you'll still get beaten by people who spent their time working hard and learning things and weren't so lazy.”