May 18th Federal Election

[Pies4shaw]

“I may at one time have expressed such an opinion. I was very young and looking for answers. I now appreciate fully that my opinions - in the brief moment that I held and expressed them - were and remain unacceptable. I no longer pity Carlton and I apologise for ever saying such a thing. My actions deeply upset many good, law-abiding Collingwood zealots. I deeply regret any hurt or embarrassment I may have caused them. Floreat Pica.”

[K]

"And, now that I know who my constituents are, I promise to fight to have the AFL GF played at the MCG for the next thousand years."

[Wokko]

Please remind me to run for politics one day just so someone can have the headache-inducing job of combing through my 40,000+ Nick’s Bulletin Board posts (plus over a decade of rubbish posted on Facebook and elsewhere) for the juiciest material to share with the press. Better hung for a sheep than a lamb, as they say!

Transgenderism is a mental illness that you posted when you were I think a teenager bars you from anyone but One Nation, Australian Conservatives and maybe Clive Palmer's mob

[David]

^ Good thing those parties would be happy about all my other posting since.

(Seriously, though, that was a pretty ignorant and hurtful thing of me to post and I probably shouldn’t be making light of that.)

[David]

“I may at one time have expressed such an opinion. I was very young and looking for answers. I now appreciate fully that my opinions - in the brief moment that I held and expressed them - were and remain unacceptable. I no longer pity Carlton and I apologise for ever saying such a thing. My actions deeply upset many good, law-abiding Collingwood zealots. I deeply regret any hurt or embarrassment I may have caused them. Floreat Pica.”

Precisely. It was a terrible thing for me to say. Lest anyone think that these are still my views, I can assure them, I have changed. E was even right about the percentage thing. All I can say is: Sorry. Ending my doubts about Carlton’s supreme enemy status has made my life so much better. However I can make up for these sins, I will. Even spending the next month in Nick’s Sports Bar. Lazza can challenge me to an eye-rolling competition. Plus, I will hold a ceremonial burning of Carlton merchandise. Make no mistake, I am making this apology of my own volition, and nobody is pointing a gun at my head just off-camera. Excited to be representing you all in future.

[stui magpie]

No help here I'm afraid

[watt price tully]

“I may at one time have expressed such an opinion. I was very young and looking for answers. I now appreciate fully that my opinions - in the brief moment that I held and expressed them - were and remain unacceptable. I no longer pity Carlton and I apologise for ever saying such a thing. My actions deeply upset many good, law-abiding Collingwood zealots. I deeply regret any hurt or embarrassment I may have caused them. Floreat Pica.”

Precisely. It was a terrible thing for me to say. Lest anyone think that these are still my views, I can assure them, I have changed. E was even right about the percentage thing. All I can say is: Sorry. Ending my doubts about Carlton’s supreme enemy status has made my life so much better. However I can make up for these sins, I will. Even spending the next month in Nick’s Sports Bar. Lazza can challenge me to an eye-rolling competition. Plus, I will hold a ceremonial burning of Carlton merchandise. Make no mistake, I am making this apology of my own volition, and nobody is pointing a gun at my head just off-camera. Excited to be representing you all in future.

Don't worry, you were taken out of context.

[watt price tully]

Is the Daily Telegraph's gift to Shorten (attacking his mother for goodness sake) a pivotal moment in the election?

[Pies4shaw]

It's a source of minor concern about the state of Australian politics that we are beset on all sides by right-wing extremists whose appalling and hateful views should make decent people blanch (indeed, of course, they'd like the country to blanch) - but Shorten might need the media to give him a free kick,

[Jezza]

Is the Daily Telegraph's gift to Shorten (attacking his mother for goodness sake) a pivotal moment in the election?

With the crocodile tears, I'm sure he'll get sympathy votes for it.

It wouldn't have been an issue if he clarified that his mother had graduated from Monash University with a law degree in 1985 and later practised at the Victorian Bar for a number of years, rather than omitting it when he appeared on Q&A and was recounting his mother's life story about how she was a teacher because she couldn't study law and become a lawyer at a younger age due to sacrifices she made in her life.

I don't see what the attack is. If the Daily Telegraph made a derogatory or defamatory remark about his mother, I can understand him being angry about it, but I don't see this being the case from where I'm looking. Maybe I'm missing something?

[Morrigu]

^ Yes you are missing something!!

[Wokko]

If political discourse in this country is focussed on Bill Shorten's mum then we're more $@&^# than I thought.

[Pies4shaw]

Is the Daily Telegraph's gift to Shorten (attacking his mother for goodness sake) a pivotal moment in the election?

With the crocodile tears, I'm sure he'll get sympathy votes for it.

It wouldn't have been an issue if he clarified that his mother had graduated from Monash University with a law degree in 1985 and later practised at the Victorian Bar for a number of years, rather than omitting it when he appeared on Q&A and was recounting his mother's life story about how she was a teacher because she couldn't study law and become a lawyer at a younger age due to sacrifices she made in her life.

I don't see what the attack is. If the Daily Telegraph made a derogatory or defamatory remark about his mother, I can understand him being angry about it, but I don't see this being the case from where I'm looking. Maybe I'm missing something?

It's just shocking that she had to go to Monash. Harsh and unfair.

[K]

If political discourse in this country is focussed on Bill Shorten's mum then we're more $%$ed than I thought.

Discourse should be focused on David's political career --- but maybe that's looking ahead too far.

[stui magpie]

Is the Daily Telegraph's gift to Shorten (attacking his mother for goodness sake) a pivotal moment in the election?

With the crocodile tears, I'm sure he'll get sympathy votes for it.

It wouldn't have been an issue if he clarified that his mother had graduated from Monash University with a law degree in 1985 and later practised at the Victorian Bar for a number of years, rather than omitting it when he appeared on Q&A and was recounting his mother's life story about how she was a teacher because she couldn't study law and become a lawyer at a younger age due to sacrifices she made in her life.

I don't see what the attack is. If the Daily Telegraph made a derogatory or defamatory remark about his mother, I can understand him being angry about it, but I don't see this being the case from where I'm looking. Maybe I'm missing something?

What you're missing is that he's told that story before, in full, including how his mum eventually got her wish to be a Lawyer (why, I have NFI ) and the Telegraph knew it, but ran the story trying to make him look bad. Interesting, the Herald Sun chose not to run the story at all.

I'm not a fan of Shorten but that was just a cheap shot. Even Andrew Bolt thought so.

Bill Shorten is livid about the Daily Telegraph's front page today. Despite being a Telegraph columnist, I must say this: Shorten spoke truly when he said his mother sacrificed her dream to be a lawyer, taking up teaching to help her siblings. There is no invention here.

That she decades later, after a great career teaching, finally realised her dream has been well-reported and does not negate at all her admirable sacrifice.

I note that the Herald Sun, my employer, chose not to run this story. I support that decision.

I point that out not least because there is an unfortunate tendency of critics to assume that what one paper does is part of a wider "Murdoch media" campaign.

It is not. What one paper does (or this case two, including the Courier Mail) is what one paper does.

Each have their own reasons, and I hope it is understood by people on both sides of this issue that the "Murdoch media" embraces many views - including, I hope, my own.

As for Shorten, I have found him much more personable and thoughtful than his critics like to claim. My argument with him is over policy, and nothing personal.

https://www.heraldsun.com.au/blogs/andr ... c8384ec3ff