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| Gift of the gaffe makes Tony Abbott the star of a blunderful campaign | Gift of the gaffe makes Tony Abbott the star of a blunderful campaign |
| (12 days later) | |
| Tony Abbott rounded off four weeks of campaigning with an address to Australia's Big Brother housemates, who had been locked up for seven weeks and had only just learned an election was on. Flanked by his twentysomething daughters Frances and Bridget, the man odds-on to become the country's next prime minister told the contestants: ''If you want to know who to vote for, I'm the guy with the not bad-looking daughters.'' | Tony Abbott rounded off four weeks of campaigning with an address to Australia's Big Brother housemates, who had been locked up for seven weeks and had only just learned an election was on. Flanked by his twentysomething daughters Frances and Bridget, the man odds-on to become the country's next prime minister told the contestants: ''If you want to know who to vote for, I'm the guy with the not bad-looking daughters.'' |
| It was the latest in a series of self-described "daggy dad" moments for Abbott, who may well have concluded he wins more votes than he loses through such gaffes. | It was the latest in a series of self-described "daggy dad" moments for Abbott, who may well have concluded he wins more votes than he loses through such gaffes. |
| His biggest one came when he described one of his candidates, Fiona Scott, as having a bit of sex appeal – later trying to make amends by praising her as "not just a pretty face". The Australian media pored over the "sex appeal" remark, with some commentators asking whether a man could still praise a woman's appearance, while others criticised Abbott – who has been accused of misogyny before – for focusing on a candidate's looks when asked to list some of her qualities. | His biggest one came when he described one of his candidates, Fiona Scott, as having a bit of sex appeal – later trying to make amends by praising her as "not just a pretty face". The Australian media pored over the "sex appeal" remark, with some commentators asking whether a man could still praise a woman's appearance, while others criticised Abbott – who has been accused of misogyny before – for focusing on a candidate's looks when asked to list some of her qualities. |
| This debate hit a low point when former Labor leader Mark Latham waded in to say Abbott "must have had the beer goggles on" because in fact Scott was "a rather plain, ordinary-looking woman and Abbott has exaggerated massively here to try and win her votes amongst the blokes of Lindsay". | This debate hit a low point when former Labor leader Mark Latham waded in to say Abbott "must have had the beer goggles on" because in fact Scott was "a rather plain, ordinary-looking woman and Abbott has exaggerated massively here to try and win her votes amongst the blokes of Lindsay". |
| Abbott's gaffes weren't all about women. Explaining his opposition to gay marriage, he appeared to call it a "fashion of the moment", while his bluntness at one of the leaders' debates – "Does this guy ever shut up?" he asked of prime minister Kevin Rudd – immediately went viral. | Abbott's gaffes weren't all about women. Explaining his opposition to gay marriage, he appeared to call it a "fashion of the moment", while his bluntness at one of the leaders' debates – "Does this guy ever shut up?" he asked of prime minister Kevin Rudd – immediately went viral. |
| But Rudd was not immune to the odd gaffe, either, being accused of rudeness by the makeup artist at the same debate, and managing to get snapped in front of images of Hitler and Mussolini (they were part of a school project). | But Rudd was not immune to the odd gaffe, either, being accused of rudeness by the makeup artist at the same debate, and managing to get snapped in front of images of Hitler and Mussolini (they were part of a school project). |
| The two leaders had some company. Opposition candidate Jaymes Diaz was ridiculed for failing in an awkward TV interview to name a single one of his party's "six points" for keeping out asylum seekers, while Stephanie Banister of the rightwing One Nation party made headlines around the world when she said she did not oppose Islam "as a country". | The two leaders had some company. Opposition candidate Jaymes Diaz was ridiculed for failing in an awkward TV interview to name a single one of his party's "six points" for keeping out asylum seekers, while Stephanie Banister of the rightwing One Nation party made headlines around the world when she said she did not oppose Islam "as a country". |
| Still, as Abbott himself pointed out in a campaign remark that could have come straight from that master of the form, George W Bush, nobody is the "suppository of all wisdom". | Still, as Abbott himself pointed out in a campaign remark that could have come straight from that master of the form, George W Bush, nobody is the "suppository of all wisdom". |
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