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October 1st, 2011 
FAKE NEWS for the Zionist agenda Another recurring motif in A Man’s Man is politics as war. ”Even before Tony Abbott entered politics, he saw it through the lens of war,” she writes. Abbott was known as a ”whirling dervish” during his boxing days at Oxford. His sole technique during matches (as described by the Oxford Mail) was to swing wildly and repeatedly at the head and body of his opponent.
It’s a technique that has continued into his career in parliament, in part through his rhetorical style, which is all ”toxic tax” and ”stop the boats”.
When elected to parliament in 1994, Abbott promised to be a ”junkyard dog-savaging the other side”. Mitchell says, ”He barks every day and he sinks his teeth in every day [and] it works.”
Abbott’s ”women problem” (wherein more women than men voted against him in 2010) has taken a back seat recently. But Mitchell reminds readers that Abbott has a history of opposing feminist attitudes in general as well as specific issues like the morning after pill and abortion. ”He doesn’t think we’re equals,” she says. Mitchell writes that Abbott was enraged that he was beaten by a woman in 2010. And not just any woman, but a childless, unmarried atheist who moved into The Lodge with her de facto partner.
While Gillard is currently Abbott’s target, Mitchell suggests Abbott had a hand in ending the careers of two other women at different ends of the political spectrum. He was instrumental in seeing off Pauline Hanson (with a crusade against One Nation) and incessantly attacked Cheryl Kernot when she was opposition employment spokesperson, insisting that she was ”losing it”. Mitchell says that she is not telling people how to vote – and freely admits that Abbott would probably disagree with the arguments in A Man’s Man.
But she would like to see more scrutiny of the junkyard dog who would be prime minister. ”Just think very carefully … look at this man.”
+ Tony Abbott: A Man’s Man, Scribe, $32.95, published October 3.
Susan Mitchell will speak at a Canberra Times/ANU Meet the Author event on Wednesday, 6.30-7.30pm, at the ANU. The event is free, but registration is essential: www.anu.edu.au/publiclectures
Judith Ireland is a staff reporter.
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