Bully for the PM!

A make-up artist, Lily Fontana, reported on her Facebook page that the Hon. Hevin Rudd, Prime Minister of Australia—well known as a rude, imperious, demanding, short-tempered, conceited, self-important, egotistical and perhaps even psychopathic, petty tyrant—was a bully:

Oh boy, I have [n]ever had anyone treat me so badly whilst trying to do my job.

 Subsequently, after a swift campaign of harassment, the woman deleted her post.  Ben Packham of The Australian reported that “Rudd has no hard feelings as make-up artist removes post”:

“Didn’t think my personal page/opinion of my day would get so much attention. What a lesson to learn. I’ve removed the post & regret making the comments I did,” she said.
Mr Rudd said he wasn’t happy about having make-up applied at the best of times, and had been “in the zone” when he encountered Ms Fontana ahead of his clash with Mr Abbott.
“I think a misunderstanding has occurred,” he said.

Ah, yes, it was all misunderstanding, because he was “in the zone”.  Let’s try making that excuse next time we’re up before the beak:  “Yes, your worship, I did kick that pusillanimous PM in the orchestras but I have an excuse.  You see, I was in the zone when he passed me and, well, I think a misunderstanding had occurred.”

Ms Fontana regretted posting her remarks after she was abused, bullied and calumniated—by the bullying supporters, henchmen and minions of the man who once promised that he’d never silently condone abuse of women:

Australian men need to take responsibility for changing the behaviour that leads to violence against women and children, Prime Minister Kevin Rudd says.
It is time to end the silence which indicates a tolerance of violent behaviour affecting 350,000 women every year, at a cost to the nation of $13.6 billion, he said.
“Because for too long, silence has been seen as a form of tolerance,” Mr Rudd said in a speech in Canberra on Wednesday.
“And our national resolve must be zero tolerance. Zero tolerance when it comes to violence against women and violence against children.”

We have, for the next couple of weeks—but haply no more—a bullying, duplicitous, hypocritical coward for a Prime Minister.

UPDATE I:  

The PM’s “In the Zone” Example

Kevin Rudd, whilst having his make-up
done, acts as though he has a snake up
his arse. Perhaps we should all take up
his lead, and be mad, arrogant pricks.
This PM earns a “grabs the cake” cup
for spite, and badly needs a shake up;
the voters, I say, ought to break up
his rotten regime with well-aimed bricks.

Our dear PM chatting with his make-up artist.

UPDATE II (23 August):  adding a rather reasonable, heart-felt comment to your own Facebook page could be perceived by the media, alas, as a “precious” rant; see “Cracks now appearing in Kevin’s make-up”, by Simon Benson:

Whether Ms Fontana [were] justified in posting a rant about Rudd becomes an irrelevancy, however, in the face of the monstering she received in social media by the Labor hit squad.

No wonder her post was withdrawn.  The Labor luvvies took to Twitter like hounds to a hare, claiming a Liberal conspiracy.  A former State Labor MP said she was about to get on the phone and sort her out.

Rudd’s mood, if indeed he was in one as the Coalition was swift to suggest, may not have been helped by an event at the Broncos earlier in the day.  Officials at the club were bunkered down since morning, waiting for their own spray from Rudd.

The Prime Minister is the number one ticket holder of the Broncos, by virtue of his title presumably.

So it’s understandable that he may have had his nose out of joint when on the morning of the debate, Tony Abbott turned up at the club to make an announcement with the Premier of Queensland Campbell Newman.

The club has been lobbying for help to build a new training facility on neighbouring land.  Newman got up to announce he would give the land to the Broncos for free.  Abbott got up and said an elected Federal Coalition Government would give the club $5 million to kick start construction.

Rudd was in Brisbane on the same day and had been kept in the dark.  When he found out, he reportedly “lost his shit” according to a source.

An official of the club had told several attendees that they had their hard hats on, waiting for the backlash to come.  But to Rudd’s credit, he never made the call.

Hang on, it’s to the PM’s credit that on one occasion he didn’t furiously over-react?  So we ought to praise him for acting with the sort of common courtesy which is rightly expected from ordinary people as a matter of course?

[H]is office told the club they understood the political realities involved.
But the fact that people live in anticipation of Rudd throwing a wobbly when he doesn’t get his way says a lot about whether people believe he has changed.

UPDATE II (23 August):  an example of Kevin Rudd’s famed courtesy towards women: 

UPDATE III (25 August):  Miranda Devine, in “Character is destiny, Kevin”, refers to Lana Fontana’s “bombshell comment”:

It was […] devastating because it was so believable.  It crystallised underlying character assessments of both men that have slowly been forming in the electorate.

Despite his genial, cheery persona, here was a glimpse of the other Rudd we have heard about, a nasty, volatile man.

Before Fontana was harassed into deleting her Facebook post on Thursday, fellow Brisbane make-up artist Abigael Johnston added a comment:  “I second this Lily.  I have had a very similar experience!  Must run in the family as Mr Howard and Mr Costello were gentlemen with a capital G.  Mr Abbott is following in their footsteps.

“The other, I could not even Facebook how he treated the crew.  Just abhorrent!”

We have enough circumstantial evidence to say that Rudd treats people he regards as lower status as insignificant and unworthy of courtesy.

This is why Fontana’s observations were significant.  Kevin Rudd has form.  […]

A former soldier, Arthur, on duty at Kabul International Airport one wintry day in 2007, remembers Rudd’s first visit to Afghanistan as PM.

It still hurts to recall the bags of eagerly anticipated Christmas mail due on the plane.

Before Rudd landed, a senior officer warned the troops there would be no mail.  Rudd had “insisted his entire entourage fly with him on the same aircraft so they offloaded all the mail”, says Arthur.

One of the Diggers broke the silence:  “Johnny would have brought the mail.”  As in Howard.  […]

Three years later, Arthur was on his way out on leave when his plane was diverted to Tarin Kowt to pick up a VIP whose plane had broken down.

It was Tony Abbott.

Once airborne, the Opposition Leader walked to the back of the plane and told the troops:  “I just want to apologise for stealing your aircraft and holding you up.  I know you all have somewhere you would rather be.”

Arthur remembers Abbott took time to speak to each person in the cargo hold.  Reputations are built up bit by bit, through chance encounters, small connections, word of mouth.  But once they jell, it is impossible for even the cleverest spin doctor to supplant them.

Character is destiny.

UPDATE IV (28 August):  see “Rudd family hurt by rudeness claims”, by Lanai Scarr and Gemma Jones:

Kevin Rudd denies he has a rude personality and says anyone who has known him long would know he doesn’t.
Following reports last week that Mr Rudd was rude to a make-up artist at a forum in Brisbane, the Prime Minister defended himself.
He said such commentary hurt both him and his family.
“It knocks you around a bit, that’s the truth of it, because we are all human beings,” Mr Rudd told the [astonished] Seven Network [which, thitherto had believed that Mr. Rudd and his family were demigods or alien, astral beings].
“Anyone who has worked with me closely for a period of time will have a conclusion that is vastly different to what is run in Liberal Party political advertisements.”

Some of the people who worked most closely with the PM might beg to differ.

Nicola Roxon:  “He was very difficult to work with […].  It wouldn’t be good for the country to have Mr Rudd as prime minister again.

Tony Burke:  “And the stories that were around of the chaos, of the temperament, of the inability to have decisions made, they are not stories.”

Stephen Conroy:  “Kevin Rudd had contempt for the cabinet. Contempt for the cabinet members. Contempt for the caucus. Contempt for the parliament. Ultimately what brought him down ... was the Australian public worked out that he had contempt for them as well.

Stephen Smith:  “If you wanted one sentence why the cabinet and the caucus and the party moved away from Kevin, it was because it became increasingly difficult, if not impossible, to work difficult issues through with him.

Alan Ramsey:  “Kevin Rudd is what I call a PPP – a prissy, precious prick.  One with a glass jaw, a quick temper and, when he loses it, a foul tongue.  And don't imagine I’m the only one who thinks so.

A brief excerpt of the PM trying to film a polite response to those who call him rude: 

UPDATE V (28 August):  Louis XVIII is supposed to have said, “l’exactitude est la politesse des rois”; whilst punctuality is the politeness of princes, tardiness is the discourtesy of insolent leaders.  See “Abbott’s dirty tricks? Consistency and class”, by Miranda Devine:

If you measure a candidate by the logistical execution of their campaign, then so far, according to the travelling media pack, the Abbott camp wins, hands down.
“Chaos” and “late” are the two words most frequently used to describe Rudd’s campaign.
On Monday afternoon for instance, camera crews were told to assemble at Circular Quay for a Prime Ministerial picture opportunity.
After waiting more than 90 minutes, during which time Rudd conducted an interview with the ABC’s youth radio station Triple J, the waiting crews were told he would not be arriving.  No explanation.
No one expects sympathy for the media.  But there is talk of other, far less forgivable delays, such as Aborigines in Arnhem land kept waiting for three hours for Rudd to arrive for a brief stump speech, soldiers in full kit in Townsville languishing for two hours in 35 degree heat.
The delays are chronic and inexplicable, often involving Rudd sitting in his VIP RAAF jet.
There are stories of RAAF crews and AFP officers left cooling their heels on tarmacs all over the nation, delays which play havoc with rosters.
Even the one night Rudd put on media drinks at a pub in Townsville, he didn’t arrive till 10.30pm, by which stage some of the media, who had been up since 5am, had given up waiting and gone to bed.
Rudd’s tardiness has become such a hallmark of his campaign that one photographer created an online video called Waiting for Kevin, showing people standing around, just waiting.
These may seem like small quibbles in the context of an important federal election, but the logistical differences between the two campaigns are a clue to each candidate’s temperament and leadership style.

UPDATE VI (2 September):  Thérèse Rein, the wife of our incompetent prime minister, relates how Kevin Rudd can’t be trusted to perform simple tasks correctly:

“I want to introduce a husband who was sent to Bunnings for a mozzie candle—one mozzie candle.  He comes back with Roman flares, Blu-Tac, an extension cord, potting mix, a step ladder, secateurs, but no mozzie candle.”

Thérèse Rein is a woman, by the way, whom her husbands’ friends in government sent to help unemployed and disabled people but returned, not with a sterling record of successfully assisting anyone, but with a couple of hundred million dollars appropriated from taxpayers.

UPDATE VII (2 September):  at Labor’s campaign launch, the PM said:

To those who say that Mr Abbott has already won this election, I say this:  never, ever, ever, underestimate the fighting spirit of the Australian Labor Party.  I have been in tougher spots before and come back from behind.

When, however, has the PM been in tougher spots?  When, because of his growing unpopularity and remarkable incompetence, he was sacked as PM by his own party and felt obliged to engineer his return “from behind” with a three-year campaign of destabilising his own party and Government?  Oh.

UPDATE VIII (3 September):  on the ABC’s “Q & A”, the Kevin Rudd mocked Christians and attacked a pastor, who asked a general question on the PM’s good faith, on the PM’s recent support for same-sex “marriage”:

Pastor Matt Prater:  I’m just curious, for you, Kevin, if you call yourself a Christian: why don’t you believe the words of Jesus in The Bible?”
Hon. Kevin Rudd:  Well, mate—well, mate, if I was gonna have that view, The Bible also says that slavery is a natural condition. [Wild applause.]

So, he’s not a Christian, then.

UPDATE IX (5 September):  see Outburst a pointer to Labor fall”, by Andrew Bolt:

Rudd used to argue—just like [Pastor Matt Prater]—“marriage is between a man and woman” and “it’s just been our traditional, continuing view”.  Was he then a gay-hater?
But with a convert’s zeal, Rudd showed no respect for the opinion he used to hold or for the pastor.  He sought to win an argument by bullying, not persuading.  Hasn’t that been Labor’s way?  To denigrate people for holding opinions Labor itself once held or has since adopted?
Remember how Labor abused as “racists” those of us warning its lax border laws were luring boat people here?  See how Labor has since decided, too late, its laws were indeed too soft?
Remember how Labor branded as “misogynists” those of us warning Julia Gillard was incompetent, preaching division and hatred?  See how Labor has since admitted Gillard was too divisive?
Remember how Labor vilified as “deniers” those of us warning the carbon tax was a useless fix to a global warming that's paused?  Remember how we were abused, but never answered?
This is the most important lesson from Rudd’s attack.  Given the chance to persuade even a fellow Christian, Rudd abused him instead and insulted his faith.  He made an enemy of Christians who could have been his allies.
“I thought he was a bit rough,” Prater later told The Australian.
“I was a bit shocked because I feel we have to have a reasonable rational discussion about this.”
Yet Rudd’s camp thought this his finest moment, wife Therese Rein retweeting, “You were bloody brilliant tonight Kevin”.
No, he wasn’t.  And until Labor realises why, it’s finished.