His [Abbott's] irresponsibility was also on view in parliament over the government's decision to support improved resourcing of the International Monetary Fund as it deals with Europe's financial crisis.

Pointing to Australia's budget deficit, he thundered: "Why is the government planning to provide money it does not have to prop up the Eurozone, which is the world's largest economy?"

Abbott knew - or should have known - that Australia's contribution to the IMF would be a loan, with no impact on the budget bottom line. In fact, it will earn interest. He also knew - or should have known - that money provided to help the IMF will not go towards any European rescue package.

Shadow treasurer Joe Hockey, who sometimes shows a disturbing tendency to match his leader's cheap populism, asserted that "the suggestion that we should be putting money into the IMF to bail out the Eurozone when not even the British are prepared to do so is extraordinary".

But Hockey knew - or should have known - that the British Chancellor of the Exchequer, George Osborne, had also said: "There may well be a case for further increasing the resources to the IMF to keep pace with the global economy."

Within hours of Abbott and Hockey advocating their feral version of economic isolationism, British PM David Cameron left them egg-faced by calling for a boost in IMF funding at the G-20 summit. Australia has a vital interest in global financial security.

That's why support for our IMF contributions has always been bipartisan - until now.

http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/opinion/the-scary-world-of-attack-dog-abbott/story-e6frezz0-1226186141127

As mentioned on this site in other comments, both Abbott and Joe Hockey are populist opportunistic idiots... They should be sacked from their shadowy positions... They are an embarrassment to proper Australian values...

From Michael Pascoe

It's not just Europe and the United States where base politics can make for bad economics. There's a danger that cheap populism is about to lock in a bad outcome for Australia in the next financial year and, depending on the extent to which you can trust political leaders to lie, worse beyond that.

For all the opinion poll perceptions though, it's not the government that's guilty of a gross failure of economic credibility. It's the opposition, both in the short and medium terms.

The immediate test of whether a party is fit to govern is the minerals resources rent tax (MRRT). In economic terms, it's a no-brainer, which is why the opposition's stance is such a worry. Either there are no brains, or the leadership is so pathetically shallow that they are prepared to damage the country to get the keys to the Lodge.

It's not often that Rupert Murdoch's local tabloids or broadsheet blow Opposition Leader Tony Abbott and Opposition treasury spokesman Joe Hockey away, but that's just what Laurie Oakes did in his Saturday column.

He gave "attack dog" Abbott both barrels for his plain dumb stance in rejecting the RRT in any form plus slapped down Abbott and Hockey for "advocating their feral version of economic isolationism" in opposing the possibility of Australia increasing its loan to the International Monetary Fund.

Liberal backbencher Michael Pengilly has made more comment on his embarrassing tweet in which he called the Prime Minister "a real dog".

He has blamed his slur against Julia Gillard on his lack of "digital dexterity".

Mr Pengilly, a Liberal member of the South Australian Parliament, later deleted his tweet and apologised if Ms Gillard had taken offence.

His leader, Isobel Redmond, said she would speak with him privately about his remark and some other Liberal colleagues condemned his behaviour.

Mr Pengilly now says he meant to say Ms Gillard was "a dog of a Prime Minister", but he was not familiar with Twitter.

"She's the worst Prime Minister Australia has ever had and that things are in a mess, debts ballooning, everything's going wrong, more taxes," he told 891 ABC the day after the incident.

"However my terminology and my digital dexterity on tweeting failed dismally and I think in future I'll leave it to the kids."

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2011-11-25/twitter-real-dog-prime-minister-michael-pengilly/3694288

If one is a honorable parliamentary representative one has to stick with decorum... If one is a journo like Bibendum (see top story), one can call Abbott a rabid dog... and if one is a not-so-funny satirist like me — a dog, one can use low blow ugly eloquence all around....

Cartoonist Lindsay Foyle has disputed the claim that violence would not have been in the young Abbott's character, telling a story about the future Liberal leader wanting to knock his block off in an argument over contraception. But Abbott says that didn't happen either.

A lot of people are making stuff up if you believe the Abbott camp.

Abbott himself claims a Labor Party dirt unit is behind the whole thing.

That angered the publisher and the editor of the respected Quarterly Essay, who said it was "completely implausible" that an author and journalist of Marr's standing would be connected with a "dirt unit".

Journalist Greg Sheridan, Abbott's best friend and staunch political ally in their university days, put forward another explanation for the emergence of the allegation.

"This is the most disgraceful sectarian anti-Catholic campaign I've ever seen," he said yesterday.

"It comes down to anti-Catholic sectarianism on behalf of the ABC and David Marr."

Wow! Quite a conspiracy if that's right. At this point it all starts to feel just a bit weird, don't you think?

Abbott made one admission yesterday, though, that his critics will regard as having relevance to today's politics.

As a female SRC president, Ramjan asked to be called "chairperson" rather than "chairman - but Abbott confirmed that he referred to her instead as "chairthing".

read more: http://www.news.com.au/national/actions-undermine-his-fitness-for-office/story-fndo4bst-1226474485053

See toon and story at top...