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May 18, 2010
So "straight talking" Abbott comes clean--he lies to us consistently but we shouldn't take it seriously! This is the game of politics.
Abbott's admission on the 7.30 Report that not everything he says in the heat of debate should be seen as gospel truth is now being spun by the Liberal Party as more evidence their guy is "real" and "honest" and a "straight talker".
The implications is that in politics words have no basic meaning--they just mean whatever the politicians want them to mean in different situations----and this exhibits a total disregard for us in a critical dialogue in a liberal democracy. In doing so they understand effective persuasion in public forums and institutions to be disconnected from truth. They stand for sophistry and spin, just like the advertisers and marketeers of Madison Avenue.
True, Abbott's qualification was that he was not necessarily speaking the truth unless it was in the form of an official statement, such as a speech or a policy document. So that means, as Kerry O'Brien observed, every time Abbott makes a major statement we have to ask him whether it's carefully prepared and scripted or something on the fly?
A further implication is: 'How do we know that what Abbott said on the 7.30 Report is true?' After all Abbott's admission was said during the heat of discussion with Kerry O'Brien. He could be lying all the time. Whatever it takes etc etc. Just like a used car salesman or real estate agent
What we can infer is that rhetoric, for Abbott, has more to do with lies than truth or argument. It has more to do with deception than persuasion. In doing so he is trashing the rhetorical tradition, which he as a Burkean Conservative, should be defending.
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Abbott doesn't speak truth to power. He is about getting power with whatever it takes.