ABC: throw pies at Abbott’s face, page-88

A stupid question?

come on mate - you know that's NOT why everyone here is crying into their morning coffee ... the old codgers on here don't get this upset about a "stupid question" ... they're upset because it was a brilliant question and their old mate didn't have a good answer ... so instead of focusing about the lack of answer they're pretending it was too rude or impetuous ...

"*cough* *splutter* ... well I say, what a downright horrible question that was ... far too rude for my liking ... mmm ... indeed .. indeed "

they've gotten their morning pills all mixed up because it was 120 seconds of absolutely CUTTING journalism

Q. "who are you?"

A. (a perfectly acceptable answer) ... "well Leigh, I'm a man who firmly believes that the Government is NOT the answer to people's problems. I believe the Government is there to provide all the assistance possible to help people help themselves. Whether that's supporting low income earners get re-trained in a new skill (as we're doing with the xyz million dollar package for all the auto workers to get re-trained) or helping new mother's get back to work quickly and confidently knowing their new child is in the best possible day care. I believe elected officials has the duty and the responsibility to the tax payer to run Government services as efficiently as possible and that's why we're implementing new efficiency dividends across all major branches. By improving efficiency we can offer extra services or we can gradually reduce taxes or we can do some fraction of both. I believe Australia's near term economic future depends on us becoming the food bowl of Asia over the next 50 years and that's why we've put together a ABC million dollar package to invest in new soil and water research programs to achieve the highest crop yields possible in this dry continent of ours."

I mean, how hard is that?? ... now let's look at what actually happened?

A. (Tony's answer) .... aahhhh, well, let's focus on the Captain's picks ( ... and by implication, COMPLETELY ignore your actual question) ....aahhhh .... uummm..

repeat twice!

A. (Tony's answer) ... ahhh - WHOA what's that? ... Hey everyone! look over here!! let's look over here at the previous Government's stuff .. Labor, debt, deficit ( you know, the stuff we've told you 483263 times before, but we REALLY think that you need to hear it just ONE MORE time )

Now the REAL question, is WHY wasn't he able to produce a REAL, off the cuff answer?

Because, REAL answers have SUBSTANCE ... belief -> planning -> consultation -> selling the message -> action -> track record .... and that is what this Government absolutely lacks