Silly, Febrile Journalists

Abbott Derangement Syndrome

In New Zealand, we are familiar with what has become known as the Key Derangement Syndrome.  The reference is to Prime Minister, John Key.  For a long time, the establishment media and opposition political parties appeared to lose their ability to think when it came to the Prime Minister.  They collectively went agog and aghast whenever Key featured, seeing all kinds of sinister plots, disasters, and repeated faux pas.

Now Australia has been caught in the same syndrome, only this time it is the Abbott Derangement Syndrome.  Miranda Divine documents the nonsense pouring forth from the minds, mouths and scribblings of the media:

Lefties living in a parallel world

Miranda Devine
The Sunday Telegraph

 if you rely for your news on the ABC, the Fairfax press, the Guardian, ­Crikey, the Saturday paper, Channel Ten, a good chunk of the Canberra press gallery, Twitter, or any of the plethora of Left-leaning media outlets in Australia, you are destined to be perpetually surprised by real-life events.

As Tony Abbott stumbles across the world stage like an antipodean George Bush, Canada (or Canadia in Tony talk) becomes the latest nation to be embarrassed on Australia’s behalf.
- Chris Roylance, Paddington Qld

This is the parallel world in which Prime Minister Tony Abbott is a “Nigel No Friends”, embarrassing Australia on the world stage while copping a frosty reception from the US President.

The Age’s front page thundered last week that Abbott was endangering Australia’s relationship with the US because of his “global plan to kill carbon pricing”.

ABC’s Radio National was breathless with anticipation at the looming rift between the The Prime Minister and President Obama on climate change.  “Tony Abbott is leading the world in going backwards” was the headline on the Sydney Morning Herald’s letters pages on one of the many days of self-flagellation.

“As Tony Abbott stumbles across the world stage like an antipodean George Bush, Canada (or Canadia in Tony talk) becomes the latest nation to be embarrassed on Australia’s behalf,” wrote Chris ­Roylance of the “other” Paddington, in Queensland.

“I am embarrassed by our Prime Minister,” wailed Elizabeth Frankel from Good Hope Landing (as good a parallel universe address as could be). “Watching him during his trip abroad makes me cringe to be Australian.”

Meanwhile, in the parallel world, Melbourne radio host Jon Faine, of Winkgate fame, claimed last week to have bombshell evidence of a conspiracy to destroy Julia Gillard that the Royal Commission into Union Corruption could not examine.

Images of President Obama warmly embracing the Prime Minister must have perplexed consumers of parallel media.  Twitter had a quick explanation: that Obama was a good actor, with the diplomatic skill, patience and tolerance required of a real leader ... And Abbott should be taking notes.

Meanwhile, back in the real world, the White House dismissed any talk about disharmony over climate change policy as “all hat and no cattle”.

Similarly mystifying must have been the praise heaped on Abbott’s sure-footed diplomacy by Kim Beazley, the Labor leader turned US ambassador, and the positive reception the PM has received wherever he has travelled.