Red Kerry Scores Big on Inflation

The abysmal 7:30 report on ABC1 with Kerry Obrien is making itself newsworthy again for all the wrong reasons. In a mild interview with Rudd last week, Rudd went to pieces answering a simple question regarding his abysmal performance as PM. Rudd could have given a non answer as Gillard or Tanner may have done, using the time to make lies about Opposition governance. Instead Rudd crumbled, got visibly angry and said "Mate" to OBrien.
However, Tony Abbott gave a brilliant, honest answer to a very difficult question to O'Brien. O'Brien, clearly unsettled, wouldn't leave the question alone, but kept coming back to it, provoking a response which he never got, despite the goading and gloating. The question was like the classic "When did you stop beating your wife?" and it shows how bad the ABC are when it comes to asking questions of the conservative parties compared to the ALP or Greens. The question was long, so OBrien shortened it to make his point, but his abbreviation was a lie. The question was to state a date when Mr Abbott had said on radio that a government of his would never raise taxes to make spending promises, and then to point out that a month later, Mr Abbott had announced a plan to tax large companies for paid maternity leave. The fact that the policy of Mr Abbott was the best around and was not onerous to business to the point of ruin as a current tax proposed by Rudd is, was ignored by O'Brien as he then claimed it showed Mr Abbott was a liar. Mr Abbott pointed out the difference between the small tax on big business and the ruinous tax on mining, but O'Brien went back to the quick lie that Mr Abbott was claiming polar opposite things. Mr Abbott pointed out that there was a difference between a throw away line in a radio interview and a party sponsored announcement. O'Brien gave the quick lie again, claiming that Mr Abbott was saying he could not be trusted to tell the truth.
Mr Abbott was extraordinarily graceful in the interview, which was a new low for the ABC. The following morning, radio station 2GB was proclaiming that Mr Abbott was hurt by the interview, and possibly that will be true as the lie is inflated for a time. But Mr Abbott was graceful in ways that Rudd is not. And honest.