Just how DESPERATE and out of touch is Gillard
But more importantly, the image perfectly illustrates not just that Julia Gillard is obsessed with spin, but is so bad at it that everything screams “fake!”:
The remarkable image, on sale tomorrow in the latest Australian Women’s Weekly, was not the magazine’s idea. Instead, the concept of a cosy PM knitting a toy kangaroo - while in the company of her cavoodle Reuben - came directly from Ms Gillard’s own staff.
The Prime Minister’s chief press officer John McTernan is credited by the Weekly for coming up with the idea.
After the magazine approached Ms Gillard’s office in April for an interview, Mr McTernan responded that the PM wanted to pose for shots as she knitted a toy kangaroo for the baby of Prince William and expectant wife Catherine.
“It was a no-brainer,” Mr McTernan told the magazine…
Ms Gillard took five hours out of her schedule on May 25 to pose for the photograph at a studio in Alexandria.
Six prime ministerial staffers, including personal stylists and make-up artists, accompanied Ms Gillard to the shoot.
The PM brought several changes of outfit but ended up choosing clothes selected by Women’s Weekly…
“I think I can explain (why I’m doing it),” Ms Gillard tells the Weekly about posing for the photograph. “If there is something I hope that I’ve done for the image of women in public life is that we can go into an adversarial environment like parliament and we can dominate it and make it our own, and we can conquer it.”
Despite being an avowed republican, Gillard said she was happy to knit a royal baby’s gift…
During the actual photographic session, Ms Gillard seemed to have second thoughts. As she took her place in the armchair and took up the knitting needles, the Prime Minister told staffers: “This feels slightly absurd.”
Slightly absurd?
- She’s a republican knitting a present for the baby of the monarch’s grandson
- She’s a Prime Minister who has spent five hours of her day- with six staff in attendance - simply to pose with knitting needles.
- She is a modern feminist posing with the tools of a domestic lifestyle of a pre-feminist era.
- She uses stylists to pose is a dress that classes violently with the chair.
- She is showing she is her own woman by adopting a PR stunt dreamed up by her male PR adviser.
- She is giving encouragement to young female politicians by plying a hobby now synonymous with mad old aunts/
- She is showing her authenticity by pretending to knit for five yours in a photographer’s studio.
I thought the “blue tie” speech marked the nadir of her spin. Now it’s knitting the bush kangaroo.
http://blogs.news.com.au/dailytelegraph/andrewbolt/index.php/dailytelegraph/comments/man_makes_prime_minister_gillard_knit_him_a_kangaroo/
My mum used to always buy the womens weekly when I was young, the queen was always on the front, it is probably fitting that she was in their mag knitting something for royalty.
The readers will love it!
Did anyone watch magazine wars? One of the best things I have seen in ages.
