Mr Abbott's Odious Opportunism

Here's what Tony Abbott was doing while Northern Queenslanders were battening down to prepare for the arrival of Cyclone Yasi and the rest of us were either fretting over the continuing news coverage or feeling mildly peeved that our favourite Wednesday night TV viewing had been cancelled because of the impending disaster: sending e-mails to Liberal Party supporters, asking them to kick in some readies to support his campaign against the flood levy.

Impressive? John Birmingham doesn't think so. Neither do I. Tony's attempt to distance himself from the crass e-mail appeal doesn't impress either.

Mad Monk's Mealy Mouthed Apologia on Afghanistan

Tony Abbott has two big problems right now - he doesn't know when to shut up and he doesn't the gumption to speak up when he ought to either. Both problems are vividly illustrated by this short report from The Sydney Morning Herald.

Abbott & Afghanistan - Quick Links

The Australian  has made it official - it's OK to criticise Tony Abbott's remarks on the prosecution of three soldiers over the killing of civilians in Afghanistan, as long as you make it quite clear that it wasn't really Tony's fault - it was Alan Jones what sucked him into it.

And Peter Hartcher at The National Times reveals why it might have been better for Abbott's ego if he'd accepted Julia Gillard's invitation to join him on her visit:

Despite appearances, Abbott was not on the firing range to show off. Nor was he there to give anyone a lesson. It was Abbott who was being taught a lesson.

Sod the Rule of Law - This Is War

Ken Parish, of Charles Darwin University and Club Troppo has written an impassioned post on Tony Abbott’s recent appearance on 2GB, where the Leader of her Majesty’s Increasingly Seditious Opposition decried the way soldiers in Afghanistan were “being stabbed in the back by their own government and … a lot of people think that’s what’s happening.”

Just to keep things clear - Tony Abbott wasn’t decrying the fact that a lot of people (25,963 the last time I checked out the on-line petition) think “that ‘s what’s happening.” What he’s decrying is the prosecution of Australian soldiers for killing six civilian non-combatants, five of whom were children. Despite the fact that this is happening under a system of military justice that was introduced by the Howard government, Tony Abbott has decided that if Alan Jones isn’t happy with it and Alan Jones’s audience isn’t happy with it then there’s political mileage in it. Political principle is nowhere within cooee of the position that Abbott has taken.