Wednesday 24 August 2011

Are the wheels falling off Tony's little red fear truck?


Federal Opposition Tony Abbott is a becoming a classic example of how to cast aside political momentum.
After managing to dominate the Australian news cycle for months on end, he then decides to take a short holiday overseas.
Just in time to be out of camera and microphone range when America's credit rating is downgraded, European sovereign debt becomes an even bigger global issue than before and international stock markets panic.
Big mistake.
Not only did the Australian media largely forget to play his favourite fear cards to the max; journalists also forgot to be hypercritical of the Labor Government's economic record and is some cases actually talked up the nation's balance sheet.
Then Tones arrives back in the country without anything novel to say and the news cycle all but ignores him for days.
Even usually gullible butchers began to reject his stunts.
Help seemed to be at hand when the Convoy of No Confidence drove onto the scene, but alas, this wasn't to be the Opposition Leader's life line.
Shaping up as it did to be an expensive embarrassment ACT taxpayers have to fork out for.

Not only did truck, ute, car and trailer numbers arriving in Canberra fall far short of the mooted mob supposedly calling for Gillard's blood and Tony's sainthood - some of the state convoys were nothing more than a handful of vehicles driven by people with a mistaken idea of the Australian constitution, no common complaints or coherent political agenda.
Indeed the first 'wave' of trucks due to hit Canberra early on Monday 22nd August failed to materialise due to lack of interest, the grand trek route map (above) proudly drawn by those faceless convoy organisers was shown to be just so much political mythology and the Canberra rally figures fell far, far short of the previous week's hyped 10,000 angry voters.
The turnout must have left Abbott and the rest of the 11am rally speakers, Barnaby Joyce, Warren Truss and Bazza Haase sorely disappointed - as well as totally confusing the climate change denialists contrarians, conspiracy theorists and one egotistic demagogue scheduled to share the podium.
After all, they thought they were the vanguard of a grassroots movement.
Even Tones practiced spin couldn't disguise the non-event:

"Now, ladies and gentlemen, there are hundreds of you here, there are thousands of you who would like to be here and there are millions of you who are sick of being ripped off by a bad government."
Haven't laughed so hard in years.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

The poor little wingnuts certainly were delusional in Canberra that day.
This is one posting at Just Grounds;
Hello everyone, I have just witnessed the waking up of Australia. There were cars and trucks and campervans and big rigs and I was on foot, attempting to capture the day that the course of our country changed.

Anonymous said...

Apparently the Libs had to put at least one vehicle on the road to try to pad Convoy numbers.

Bob Baldwin MP gave the game away in an email.
"I know first hand the support the convoy received as it moved along the Highways, as my Mobile Office Van was a part of the convoy from Raymond Terrace to Canberra on Sunday."
http://justgroundsonline.com/forum/topics/the-rally-convoy-of-no-confidence?id=3535428%3ATopic%3A269825&page=9#comments

Wondering how much money from taxpayers pockets are used to support this mobile office when it is operating outside of his electorate? I know I am.

Petering Time said...

The Convoy of No Confidence organizers were not just foolhardy - they were irresponsible and uncaring.
"Country towns have been left with a huge clean-up bill and piles of unused food after ''thousands'' of truck drivers rallying against the Federal Government failed to show up.....The publican said she received a call from the rally organisers almost two weeks ago asking if she could cater for an influx of visitors.
She said the event was badly organised and had inconvenienced small country towns."

{http://www.canberratimes.com.au/news/local/news/general/convoy-no-show-hurts-stocked-up-pubs/2267087.aspx}
They made also genuine rural and regional folk laughing stocks by their antics in the Visitor's Gallery at Parliament House.

Anonymous said...

No wonder Tony Abbott could only talk about hundreds at the rally.
The Age said; This was an angry crowd but a small one, with 300 people gathering on the Parliament lawns as 200 vehicles from all over Australia rolled around Canberra blowing their horns.
Read more: http://www.theage.com.au/national/convoy-of-no-confidence-runs-short-on-revs-20110822-1j6sk.html#ixzz1Vt34zAUg