Enemies use broadcaster Alan Jones's stupidity to smear Opposition Leader Tony Abbott
Andrew Bolt From
01, 2012 12:00AM
I'VE long respected broadcaster Alan Jones for his courage. Jones is also a colleague of mine on 2GB.
But telling the Sydney University Liberal Club President's dinner the Prime Minister's father had "died a few weeks ago of shame" for his daughter was cruel and shameful.
Even so, I'm also suspicious of the spin put on it by enemies of Opposition Leader Tony Abbott.
Here's what Jones said of Ms Gillard's father, John: "The old man recently died a few weeks ago of shame. To think that he has a daughter who told lies every time she stood for Parliament."
The Young Liberals listening may well be young, but the audio shows most still had the judgment to gasp or laugh in astonishment at such a vicious remark.
Jones has now apologised and said he feels "shame". But at the dinner, he protested at the students' reaction: "No, no look, hang on, this is where we are weak. The federal party's been brainwashed by the media to 'Oh back off, she's a woman, go easy'."
If Jones knew the Opposition was under that pressure, he should also have known his attack was not just in appallingly bad taste, but also appalling politics. Mr Abbott, a friend of Jones, is already being falsely smeared by Labor as too aggressive and too nasty to women - part of a tactic to build sympathy for Ms Gillard among women voters.
Down rocky road to ruin
Never mind the many equally vicious attacks from Labor and its media mates on former prime minister John Howard and Mr Abbott, actually an acutely moral man.
Indeed, not one newspaper last month even bothered reporting that former union official Rebecca Mifsud, wife of Immigration Minister Chris Bowen, retweeted a vile attack on Jones.
"Alan Jones age 71," her retweet noted. "Average lifespan for an Australian male 79. Patience my pretties."
So I'm a little sceptical now - not about the justified anger, but the use some make of it.
Take Liberal frontbencher Malcolm Turnbull's tweet yesterday: "Alan Jones' comments about the late John Gillard were cruel and offensive. He should apologise to the PM and her family."
Mr Turnbull's attack did what I suspect may have been his intention.
The Australian's Peter van Onselen was one of many to jump to the next step, tweeting: "Well done Malcolm Turnbull for coming out quickly & condemning Alan Jones. Let's see how long others take to do the same . . . " Others meaning Mr Abbott, now under pressure to attack a staunch ally.
Oddly enough, Mr Turnbull last month pressured Mr Abbott to also attack another ally, MP Cory Bernadi, by just as quickly damning Senator Bernardi's comments on gay marriage and bestiality.
Foreign Affairs Minister Bob Carr went even further, demanding Mr Abbott "apologise to the Prime Minister" for what Jones said to Liberal students, claiming it showed Mr Abbott "associated with extremists".
Fast work, turning Jones's stupidity into a smear of Mr Abbott.
Yes, Jones's attack on Ms Gillard was shocking. Just don't take all the criticism at face value.
Yes, what Alan Jones said was shameful. No excuse for it.
But if the topic is hate speech, can the Fairfax newspapers explain why they illustrate articles on Jones with these photographs?
Vilification by carefully selected photographs of the most unflattering kind seems kind of puerile.
UPDATE
Why do so many Fairfax and ABC journalists seem to love Alan Jones being so nasty? Because it lets them be every bit as vile and return - and still feel virtuous as well. Take this tweet by an ABC presenter, retweeted by an Age journalist:
An occasional Fairfax columnist and frequent ABC guest can even appeal to the inner homophobe and feel she’s just doing the moral thing:
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