This, today from a Prime Minister who spends 4.3 million of taxpayer dollars monitoring social media, and employing spin doctors to “offer strategic communications advice” from the information gleaned:
I’ll leave social media to its own devices [said Abbott today]. Social media is kind of like electronic graffiti and I think that in the media, you make a big mistake to pay too much attention to social media,” Mr Abbott said. You wouldn’t report what’s sprayed up on the walls of buildings…
In spite of that 4.3 million taxpayer dollars’ worth of strategic communication advice, in spite of the iron control reportedly exerted over the PM by Chief of Staff Peta Credlin, Abbott continues to make the most astounding, cringe-worthy gaffes that stretch all credulity, and nobody wants him anywhere near them.
So it would seem the spin doctors and Ms Credlin are catastrophically useless at their jobs, because just when you think Abbott can’t get anymore bizarre, he goes and smashes all his previous records of stupid.
If Credlin and the strategic communications advisors were employed by anyone other than the LNP government they’d be sacked. I wonder how any of them will ever find alternative employment, given their unbroken record of spectacular failure with the Prime Minister.
Please do leave social media to its own devices, Mr Abbott, and stop wasting our money on monitoring it to see what it’s saying about you. It’s never anything good, you can be sure of that. How many millions of our dollars do you need to spend to find out what an absolute fool we think you are?
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again. You can’t make a silk purse out of a pig’s ear. No matter how many dollars and spin doctors you throw at it, you just can’t. A pig’s ear is a pig’s ear and right now, on Australia Day 2015, we have a pig’s ear in charge.
(I suppose I should say sorry to pigs, who are really pretty smart animals.)
(Which Tony Abbott is not. A smart animal, that is.)
No Place For Sheep 
Right let us start with Rudd and Gillard and start throwing stones at the true 24/7 media cycle. You really have to get the hate out of your system while you are still a functioning person
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I don’t know what you mean?
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Robert West, when I read Jennifer’s articles, I see honesty, not hatred..
I think the hate is in your system.
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Robert West, no one here is denying that the Murdoch press “did for” Labor.
If you are referring to Dr Wilson, no “ressentiment” there, just an appetite for the truth.
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Afterthought, “Robert West” -scroll to posters further down the thread… tryTeam Oyeniy for a start, who offers a simplified explanation concerning the actual thread subject and issues, for the Perplexed..
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He’s vanished
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True, that.
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Did “he” ever exist in the first place? What’s with some of the personalised rubbish lately from some, the issues themselves are significant enough, surely?
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It gets like that every now & then. Somebody turns up wanting a piece of me! Proof they actually have no opinion or argument
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It’s an ugly trait, not shared by normal people.
The sports equivalent, say football, is the thug employed to wipe out the skilled player rather than compete for the ball
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He does seem to have remarkable difficulty in selling his message.
Although he is being a little harsh on social media, I think some cynicism about it wouldn’t go astray. The previous government seemed to place a heavy weighting on social media, which was a mistake that cost them dearly. It’s a problem that seems to be more of a trap for the left, due to social media’s demographics, but it can trip up anyone who conflates ‘trending on Twitter’ with ‘likely to translate into votes on election day’.
Many journalists are drawn to social media. Maybe this explains the low esteem in which they are held and the disconnect between their coverage (topics and tone) and the views of their audiences.
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Social media is fickle, and what matters intensely one day is forgotten the next, or in even less time. It’s an instantaneous sort of thing. But I think there’s a overall impression created that probably is more lasting, and that’s what so detrimental to anyone who gets on the wrong side of it. Abbott is a fool for dismissing it as unimportant. Social media will bring him down IMHO
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God Willing..
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If not for social medai I would not have known about Credders view re natural justice. Something along the lines of ‘justice does NOT have to be done but must be seen to be done’. Therein lies the problem over any issue one may care to name. And pigs do fly. Not even Credders can tame the gaffe.
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And that is where social media shines. The mainstream media is not too good at finding things out and often seems to willfully neglect certain topics.
Where it can lead people astray is when they think that the reactions and views of any given party of the social media universe can be used as a surrogate for those of the wider population. It can be something of an echo chamber in which like-minded people say things that are popular with similar people. I think this really goes to the idea that politicians should get out and about to see find out what people are really thinking. Social media offers a lazy way to do that, but it can sucker one into a non-threatening false reality.
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Agree with that possibility, Mayan. I have a politically-minded Twitter feed, left-orientated I’d have to say, and I use it to check on what’s going on, as well as other media. Would never rely on Twitter alone.
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Yes, that’s right, it was all about the appearance of justice, not justice itself. Pretty much sums up the Credlin/Abbott moral and ethical position, sadly.
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Glorious, Russell.. why I am in recall of Rebekkah Brooks?
The bit at the end belled the cat..the patronisng lecture that, “unlike YOU lot (full Koala bum with pike, lips down, disdainful
ly, cheese-cutter nose UP) some of US have work to do”…..you little VIRTUE!!
As for telling the truth, next time Peta..next time.
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Yes, the 4.3 million was my first thought too. Or was “electronic graffiti” the final assessment from the 4.3 million deliverables?
On top of giving a prince a knighthood, I think Abbott’s days are numbered. They must be, SURELY!
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As Jane Caro tweeted to me, he’s totally jumped the shark today. Yet every time he always manages to come up with something worse.
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Just off the planet.
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I loved Jane’s comment about jumping the shark.
And when Abbott spoke of “spraying up a wall”, of course I thought of Oscar Wilde and the joke about the stream of bat’s piss. 😃
Today was an insanely comedic day on Twitter. Some of the best I’ve read in a while.
Your post sums it up well.
‘Night!! Or is it morning? Whatever.
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He is dead meat. What we need to focus on now, us what happens next, Yes, they will if they have any brains, vote in a clean skin, someone not in cabinet or on front bench., One hat has no connection to Howard.
Bring in a budget full of tax cuts with the aim of having an election before any honey moon has run it’s course, If this is allowed to happen, we will end up with what we have now, endorsed by a new election. Not good for Australia,
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Mr Abbott do you listen to anybody or anything. Ignore the social media and blogs at your own peril, Seems you also have to ignore the polls at this time as well. Even the MSM are out of step with you.
Yes might be little more than graffiti but many are writing it. Yes, and all have a vote.
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Abbott should have gone months ago. is being allowed to hang on for a reason. Reason being to get a budget passed and move quickly to an election.,
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Au contraire, Guinevere! Abbott really does need to monitor social media. If he takes it all to heart, he’ll call a federal election right away, resign straight after, and commit hara kiri at his leisure. LOL
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Well why is he spending 4.3 million of our money monitoring social media and blog sites? That amounts to a serious interest. The reason it appears fickle is that Abbott daily, no almost hourly creates new issues to speak out against, forcing us to move on. The list just keeps growing. Yes, issues put aside but never forgotten,
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I think he just says anything that comes into his head
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Here is an interesting question from someone well qualified to ask it:
It should be remembered that the wheels were set in motion for Michaela Banerjee’s (@LaLegale) dismissal under the previous government.
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Yes, yes, yes…better than sex!
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When the writing is on the wall, one can choose to ignore it, to heed it, or try to wipe it off.
Trying to wipe it off clearly appeals to the Looters & Nutters Party.
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