The political words identified by the writer are alleged to be of concern, as they were used by the Opposition.

It appears that use of misleading and deceptive words such as "climate change is the greatest moral challenge", "carbon dioxide is pollution", "Tony Abbott is a misogynist", and other spin too numerous to mention, does not debase our political language because they were uttered by members of the Government

One way of improving the standard of Parliament is to ban solicitors. They are using the same dishonest abusive tactics they use in court to defame victims of crime in their quest to gain money and keep their grubby "client" out of jail.

Let he who is without sin, cast the first stone.

David

Sarah,

That's for sure there are far too many lawyers in this world without ethics.

Oh and your hypocrisy! Forgot about the misogynist accusation. Thanks, above posts.

I'll say it again:-

I'm repeating something I put in another post (don't know how to do link).

More importantly is what the calculating PM Gillard did to Tony Abbott on accusing him of misogyny, of all people, just because he is a bit blokey. What she has done is softening the real meaning of misogyny, and then the idiots (latte sippers) try to change its meaning in the Macquarie Dictionary. In the end comparing it with sexism. Which is so demeaning to the women who have already suffered misogyny abuse. It is so disgusting what Gillard did, and then she gets applause from the insensitive dumbos. Where are the so called feminsists in all this.

One award winning Australian author, Wayne Grogan (crime writer) who knows the real meaning of misogyny, as he has written about it, has since challenged Gillard. Good on him, I say!

www.storycentral.com.au/.../terror-australis-author-takes-aim-at-gillar...

http://www.6pr.com.au/blogs/6pr-perth-blog/misogyny-defined-for-pm/20121105-28uco.html

I agree with R0bert, this article would be a lot more credible if it acknowledge that both sides of politics are stooping to vicious, overblown and inappropriate rhetoric. Is Abbott really a misogynist?

Not all of the instances that Sarah cites strike me as inappropriate. There has always been a place for hyperbole and metaphor in political debate, and some of it can be quite entertaining.

The movie Downfall depicted a man and a regime in the process of collapse. Comparing a government in disarray to a scene from the movie does not imply that the government is Nazi; it implies it is, well, in disarray. Downfall also has particular popular resonance for the dozens of youtube videos overlaying unrelated subtitles on Hitler’s famous rant. Here is one from WA, mocking Liberal Premier Colin Barnett. Does this deserve sanctimonious outrage for comparing Barnett to a Nazi? I think not.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M7TONKIKLjY

“Night of the long knives” is a standard journalistic cliché for a successful plot to overthrow a political leader. Abbot’s comments on “knock on the door” are a similar analogy. No-one really equates such rhetoric with the reality of life under a military dictatorship.

I agree the use of “protection racket” was odd and wrong though.

poor attempt to disguise the rotton nature of this Government. Whether it is protection of rotton unionist, pretending to be naive in your thirties (maybe young naive 30 year old females should not be allowed to vote), backing Slipper and then having the hide to bang on about misogyny, lying to the public about a carbon tax or overseeing thousands of drownings due to pigheadedness it all stinks. Election please!