Dear OTB,

I notice that you addressed your last post to me.
Can't respond in depth though, as I no longer read your
offensive rants. You go right on thinking though, that "your
ignorance is just as good as our knowledge," if it makes
you feel happy.

Cheers.

Come on Foxy. Remember the misogyny speech?

That was dripping either with hate, or feigned hate. It really doesn't matter much, it showed us the woman, & apart from a few radical ratbag feminists, we were appalled.

It also showed us that truth had no place in her world.

She was an appalling PM. She is an appalling person, & we are well rid of her. The women's movement would be well advised to distance themselves from her as quickly as they can, the mere thought of her brings a nasty taste to the mouth of most people.

Dear Hasbeen,

I went back and re-read what McTernan had to say about
that misogyny speech. And I fully agree with him that
what's surprising is that it took so long to speak up.

Julia Gillard faced misogyny from 1998, when she was first
elected to federal parliament. It followed on when a leading
member of the Opposition called her "deliberately barren"
in 2007. Signs of "ditch the witch," and terms like, "witch,"
"bitch," were common referrals to the prime minister of
Australia. "Non-productive cow," and "Julia Gillard:
Kentucky fried quail - small breasts, huge thighs and a big
red box," made their appearances. Imagine asking a
prime Minister of Australia on radio if her partner was gay.
And wanting her tied up and dumped in the sea.

In retrospect what is surprising to me is that it took so
long for her to speak up. The lady had guts. Not many in
her place would have remained so calm.

In the end two million people watched that speech. And with
it the PM defind herself in the minds of young men and
women worldwide. It was a speech that also hit a nerve in
Australia. She spoke to every woman who had ever been
slighted by men in a business meeting or experienced sexism in
the workplace. And it went even wider. Every other group
that had ever felt opposed in Australia knew she was lifting
a cloud in their society.

So say what you will, (and no she wasn't anti-men, and neither
am I), but she had had enough of the serial abuse, unfair
treatment as a woman on a scale that is unprecedented in
modern politics. No one should have to put up with such
negative, corrosive, and anti-woman rhetoric that she
was forced to endure. And certainly not a Prime Minister of
this country.

Gillard's gender and class wars as advised to her by her imported spinmaster Tiernan resulted in her being tipped out on her (r)ear by her own mob, including by the other members of the notorious Handbag hit Squad.

Nobody, just nobody, believes that radical feminist *bleep*.

Julia Whatshername was lucky enough to be in the right place at the right time to ride the feminist bandwagon into the second highest public position in the land. It was her own incompetence and poor judgement that betrayed her.

No PM before has ever enjoyed the understanding, support and latitude allowed her AS A WOMAN by the Australian people. But she let everyone down in a multitude of ways. Finally her own Party removed her. Otherwise Labor would have been wiped off the political landscape. Labor was saved from extinction by the very man she knifed and still hates(!).

Foxy, you are right about Gillard.

She never had a chance from the moment she was declared PM, and both Rudd and Abbott felt utter despair and anger that they are the first male politicians to be beaten to the PM post by a woman!

Abbott was obviously the most upset, given his self appointed, god given right to believe he is superior to all women.

Whether or not Gillard was right or wrong with her brand of politics, she never had a chance because she was treated so badly as a female politician.

Nothing that Good Ol' Boy Hasbeen and He-man OTB can say will ever change my mind about that.

Abbott needs more than a token female minister to 'assist' him with women, he needs a sodding miracle!

Dear Suse,

Our first woman Prime Minister was treated disgracefully
while she was in office and now it seems that some
people are going to try to deny her achievements as
being recognised as well.

However, it is interesting that she has come out of
her self-imposed "exile" and will speak at two public
forums in the next coming weeks at the Sydney Town Hall
and at the Sydney Opera House. Tickets have been sold out
for both events. Not bad for a supposedly 'unpopular'
PM.

It seems that there are many people who do remember the
facts. That there were 590 pieces of legislation that were
passed during her time in office - including such landmark
reforms as Disability Care Australia, equal pay for low paid
women workers, The Royal Commission into Institutional
Responses to Child Sexual Abuse, Australia in the Asian Century
White Paper, and major educational funding changes, as well as
carbon pricing, despite leading a minority government.

And she did this while enduring relentless vilification.

Can't wait for her book to come out.