Day 18- Really, no

So interest rates remained where they were, the real JG took to Vile and Jackie Ho's morning program on her 'Feel the Real' tour 2010, and Tony Abbott dropped the biggest one of the campaign so far. 

As perfectly summed up by David Penberthy, Tony's 'does no really mean no' clanger is just stupid. Nevermind the chorus of 'slander!' and 'smear!' that Abbott and his friends will spill on the topic- it's just an ugly, stupid use of language, something that goes right to the heart of the Lib's worst concerns re the brawler and his relationships to the lady voters. The fact that he repeated the term four times further confirms the worry. Once is a mistake. Four times, with the speaker assuming he was onto a cute riff, shows an insensitivity that his campaign has done so well to avoid in the past week and a bit. Since the debate infact. Of which we might not see another, thanks to Abbott's schedule and ugly dismissal. Watch this space on the debate front. It'll be an excellent micro-study on how short the national memory is. To suggest it on the night of the Lib launch, while perhaps being off the cuff (in response to Today Tonight's harangue), is a little too cute. But if folk are thinking that Abbott is soft for 'running from a fight' in a weeks time, well then- national amnesia might require funding in the next health budget.

LATER

Gillard heads to 730reportland for the second of campaign appearances and escapes by a nose (ha! Here all week try the veal etc). But O'Brien's line of questioning wasn't forcefully unpleasant- it just sounded that way. Here's the rub for Labor. A collection of perfectly reasonable questions sound like an attack. Holes in all the arguments- on not calling Rudd, on not taking the community cabinet thing idea to proper (traditional, not gang of four style) cabinet, on the real v the fake, on calling out Abbott on the debate, so on. There is just so much mess. But Gillard escaped, and occasionally looked strong. Prime Ministerial almost...


And in semi-related news, Andrew Bolt is threatening to sue Twitter's @andrewbolt. Question being- who is the real Andrew Bolt? And why is realness so important all of a sudden? In Bolt's case, 'his' twitter is far more readable than his column.