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A Ruddy spectacular compendium of gaffes

Daniel Piotrowski

by Daniel Piotrowski

27 Sep 02:45pm

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Filed under: Barack Obama, Julia Gillard, Justin Bieber, Kevin Rudd, Politics

72 comments

Kevin Rudd’s head is entitled to have swollen a fair bit recently. All week newspaper frontpages have been telling him how magnificent he is and how not-magnificent the current PM is. But just as magnificent as Rudd’s approval ratings is the gaffe (or perhaps, Freudian slip) he made this morning.

This is up there with the earwax incident.

Kevin747 had just landed back home, shoulders sore after rubbing them against UN boffins all week in New York, when he said during an interview with a regional radio station that he was a “very happy little vegemite being Prime Minister - being Foreign Minister of Australia”.

It’s a ruddy spectacular slip, especially considering the leadership speculation kerfuffle of the past month. To commemorate such a brilliant verbal stuff-up, The Punch presents a few of the more embarrassing or just plain unfortunate conversational cock-ups of recent times.

1. Obama gets Jews and janitors confused

The President of the United States is having a bit of a rough patch with his Jewish support base lately. This gaffe, reported by The Los Angeles Times, might not help that much. 

“If asking a billionaire to pay the same tax rate as a Jew, uh, as a janitor makes me a warrior for the working class, I’ll wear that with a badge of honour. I have no problem with that.”

2. Jimmy Kimmel on anatomy

Callista Flockhart’s an attractive woman. And American talkshow host Jimmy Kimmel got a bit tongue-tied when she visited him on-set. He was meant to say “roll that clip”. It came out as “roll that clit”.

3. You’re not misapprehending this

Prime Minister Julia Gillard undoubtedly regretted this slip-up on the floor of the House of Reps: “I thank the Member for Melbourne for his question, and it gives me the opportunity to create some misapprehensions…”

The Prime Minister has also pronounced “hyperbole” as hyper-bowl in an interview with the ABC.

4. Justin Bieber on international relations

Bieber is in the air almost as much as our Prime Minister, so you’d think he might know a fair bit about other cultures. But he got confused when an interviewer in New Zealand started to talk to him about other languages. “German?” he asked. “I don’t know what that means. We don’t say that in America.”

5. Tony Abbott’s “shit happens” remark.

For once, I’m sure Kevin agrees with him. What are some of your favourite gaffes?

Most commented

72 comments

Show oldest | newest first

    • Dave says:

      03:03pm | 27/09/11

      The most embarrassing cock up of recent time was the election of the Gillard government.

      Reply

    • MrMac says:

      04:04pm | 27/09/11

      Nah, the most embarrassing cock-up was the Coalition realisation they would have romped in if Abbott wasn’t their leader.

    • Craig of North Brisbane says:

      04:33pm | 27/09/11

      Disagree.  The most embarassing one was almost electing Tony Abbott as PM.  Boy, would our faces have been red!

    • Non-Stooge says:

      04:36pm | 27/09/11

      Mr Mac is a labour stooge.

    • Bruce says:

      04:50pm | 27/09/11

      Rudd is just a dill.

    • TimB says:

      06:43pm | 27/09/11

      Yes, Nr Mac because Malcolm “19%” Turnbull would have done so much better than Tony Abbott.

      Tony Abbott has consistently polled better than Malcolm Turnbull, both in prefertred PM stakes and party vote. For every vote you claim Tony cost the Liberals, he gained at them at least three.

      Without Tony Abbott, we’d be smack bang in the middle of Kevin’s second term right now.

    • DrDave says:

      10:11pm | 27/09/11

      Tim B…that’s what lowest common denominator gets you, stir the pond and all the shit at the bottom pollutes the environment for a while until it finally settles back down to the bottom again, perhaps embarrassed by it’s own unpleasantness. (it’s a painful analogy but I like it)

    • TomZ says:

      11:03am | 28/09/11

      @DrDave, “(it’s a painful analogy but I like it)”. Sorry DrDave, but it leaves me a bit cold. Have you got any non-“poo, bum, weezy” analogies?

      @MrMac, Gotta love you Labor stooges who pine for a return to the Turnbull days.

    • Craig says:

      08:21am | 07/10/11

      TimB - whew I am glad we dodged that “Rudd second term” bullet and elected a different political party into government!

      Tony Abbot must have done a sterling job keeping the Labor party out of The Lodge.

    • iansand says:

      03:04pm | 27/09/11

      Nice to see sober, sensible journalism from the Punch team.  Hard hitting and getting to the nub of Australian politics.

      It’s no wonder Joh called it feeding the chooks, but he overestimated their intelligence.

      Reply

    • Marilyn Shepherd says:

      04:17pm | 27/09/11

      Agreed, talk about trivia.

    • Daniel Piotrowski

      Daniel Piotrowski says:

      04:59pm | 27/09/11

      Lighten up folks. There’s a large assortment of “hard” articles if you scroll down the page a lil bit.

    • Just Sayin' says:

      07:35pm | 28/09/11

      The important thing when you find an article that you think is a waste of time is to wisely invest your own time telling some strangers on the internet that it’s a waste of time.  Job well done.

    • Erick says:

      03:26pm | 27/09/11

      Tony Abbott’s remark doesn’t belong in this list. It wasn’t a gaffe or a cock-up, it was just an expression of truth which was accepted as such by his audience. It’s more an example of malfeasance by journalists who beat it up.

      Reply

    • andye says:

      03:51pm | 27/09/11

      @Erick - I am totally sure that if, say, Gillard had said that you would be defending her also.

    • Mark says:

      04:01pm | 27/09/11

      Row, row, row your barrow,
      Gently down the page,
      Merrily, merrily…

    • Erick says:

      04:29pm | 27/09/11

      @andye - Of course I would defend Gillard if she’d said that. It’s a totally inoffensive thing to say in context. The fact that some people tried to make a controversy out of it simply reflects their fanatical partisanship.

    • Geez... says:

      05:53pm | 27/09/11

      Erick…don’t waste your time trying to educate the brain dead. Riley, as a journalist, is branded for life, he will never recover….nor should he.

    • Horns Up says:

      08:14pm | 27/09/11

      The gaffe of course wasn’t the comment.

      It was his ridiculous reaction to being questioned about the comment.

      \m/

    • Noddy says:

      08:12am | 28/09/11

      Agree with Horns Up, nodding and staring like a maniac for a couple of minutes was the gaffe..

    • TomZ says:

      11:17am | 28/09/11

      @Noddy and Horns up, if it was such a gaffe, how much worse are your 26% heroes?

      Or is it possible that the Australian electorate saw Abbott’s reaction to Riley’s gutter question as entirely appropriate?

    • Horns Up says:

      12:17pm | 28/09/11

      How was it appropriate when he was prewarned of the question in advance?

      His reaction showed arrogance and a tenuous control of his temper.

      \m/

    • Noddy says:

      12:44pm | 28/09/11

      Not my heroes TomZ.. you know what they say about assuming.. makes an ass out of u..

      Staring and nodding like a dash-board ornament is not an appropriate response to anything.

    • TomZ says:

      12:51pm | 28/09/11

      Horns up, on the contrary, Abbott’s reaction was to openly show his contempt for the grubby sophistry in Riley’s questioning. Anyone who saw Abbott’s original comment and the context in which he said it would not have taken Riley’s spin on it.

      Not arrogance, but courage to stand up for standards of decency in the face of Riley’s sly arrogance.

      BTW: If you know the full context of the the journo’s so-called pre-warning, feel free to share it. Or are you trying to peddle more Labor half truths?

    • TomZ says:

      01:06pm | 28/09/11

      Gee whizz Noddy, you haven’t even got the gonads to admit your Labor bias. You are as believable as the booners that keep on calling for Turnbull’s return.

      “nodding dog”, “ass out of U”. Your clever riposte must wow them at the Newtown caucus meetings?

    • Horns Up says:

      01:57pm | 28/09/11

      http://www.crikey.com.au/2011/02/09/how-shit-happened-for-tony-abbott/

      Two and a half hours notice and agreeing to be interviewed on the topic.

      There was nothing sly in what Riley did as Abbott knew before hand the question would be asked. Abbott then stood there head bobbing apoleptic with barely rage - despite knowing what was coming.

      Too arrogant to be questioned and to angry to respond,clearly not a fit leader.

      \m/

    • Does TAB run NRL? says:

      03:29pm | 27/09/11

      The Australian 27 Sept 2011 says
      “Kevin says that he was a very happy little vegemite when PM”
      ABC News 26 Sept 2011 says
      “Tony Abbott has put all Coalition MPs, voters and supporters to keep a lookout for a possible December 2011 federal election with Kevin Rudd as Labor Leader”
      The Australian 27 Sept 2011 and ABC News 27 Sept 2011 say
      “Kevin Rudd made the PM gaffe in reference to himself due to jet lag and fatigue”
      However The Australia 27 Sept 2011 says
      “Newspoll Sept 27 2011 finds that Labor is on the mose in every mainland state but warns that Labor is more popular than the Coalition with women voters, city voters, the poor and the intellectuals”

      Reply

    • hot tub political machine says:

      03:29pm | 27/09/11

      A public figure made a public speaking gaffe. In other news, the 24 hour news cycle is being blamed for trivial reporting….

      Reply

    • Geez... says:

      05:55pm | 27/09/11

      Hey….....look over there, a unicorn!

    • Nafe says:

      03:31pm | 27/09/11

      The $hit Happens remark wasn’t a cock up or anyhting of the like. It was a discussion that was taken way out or proportion by the MSM.

      Reply

    • Does TAB run NRL? says:

      03:31pm | 27/09/11

      NEXT Federal Election is Sept 8 2013

      Reply

    • Steve says:

      03:32pm | 27/09/11

      Labor government = Epic Fail

      Reply

    • Against the Man says:

      03:34pm | 27/09/11

      Kevin you gonna be PM again? Or you gonna keep up the disgrace Gillard has spewed upon you and your family, Mr Millionaire-Ex-PM-Crybaby? wink

      Reply

    • Does TAB run NRL? says:

      03:38pm | 27/09/11

      in 1999,Tony Abbott told women university students to use their bodies ,while they are young and beautiful, to make money rather than get welfare or student allowances.
      That was no cock up ! His entry was noted and spurned ! He cannot get it up !!

      Reply

    • Pastor Sauce says:

      03:50pm | 27/09/11

      Thanks for your comments once again acotrel

    • marley says:

      04:04pm | 27/09/11

      The spacing on the exclamation marks is a dead giveaway.

    • MadKat of Melbourne says:

      04:28pm | 27/09/11

      Didn’t acrotel use this one the other day also -

    • Anon delivers says:

      06:42pm | 27/09/11

      If I didn’t know better I’d suspect he enjoys your tanties.

    • zhm says:

      04:51pm | 07/10/11

      Is that true? Could you provide any source or reference?Never thought he is such a pervert

    • Krudds a dopey little vegemite says:

      03:41pm | 27/09/11

      I cant believe people have such short memories,this bloke is an embarrassement,who talk like he does,always has someone or something to blame,never him..Krudd/Gillard and there filth belong in politcal dustbin for decades to come.

      Reply

    • MrMac says:

      04:06pm | 27/09/11

      watch his body language when he speaks ...

    • MadKat of Melbourne says:

      05:02pm | 27/09/11

      Do I really have to watch his body ... :(

    • Julia says:

      06:48pm | 27/09/11

      As the most popular Australian Prime Minister on record, Kev’s sense of entitlement is understandable. It’s a wonder he hasn’t joined the Liberal party.

    • Andrew says:

      03:42pm | 27/09/11

      This is hysterical! Ruddy is so funny and the Labor supporters are furious and frothing at the mouth that it’s even made the news. lol
      It’s only funny and newsworthy when Tony’s budgie smugglers make the news apparently.

      Reply

    • Chris L says:

      06:18pm | 28/09/11

      Umm… all of the complaints I’ve read so far are from conservatives against gaff number 5. Do you do any reading before posting a comment?

    • Does TAB run NRL? says:

      03:43pm | 27/09/11

      As usual. with The Punch and The Daily Telegraph, Labor does no right and only Labor makes mistakes. The Coalition can do no wrong and are always flawless.Labor is the enemy and the Coalition are the “Saviours Of Australia”
      However one look at the perfect excellent flawless Coalition Parties in office as state governments in NSW ,Victoria and WA reveals the opposite. Yet the views of the Punch And The Daily Telegraph never change despite changes of government, time, voter sympathy and writers.

      Reply

    • JT says:

      04:22pm | 27/09/11

      ‘‘However one look at the perfect excellent flawless Coalition Parties in office as state governments in NSW ,Victoria and WA reveals the opposite.’‘

      It reveals all three governments riding high in the polls.  Are you actually aware of your surroundings acotrel? There must be some drug or mental deficiency to explain the vast gulf that exists between reality and your opinions.

    • Pastor Sauce says:

      04:22pm | 27/09/11

      ‘However one look at the perfect excellent flawless Coalition Parties in office as state governments in NSW’,  acotrel, they’re only flawless when compared with the relevant state Labor governments.  mwahahaha

    • Against the Man says:

      10:35pm | 27/09/11

      Aussie Battler you assume that Gillard/ALP actually gives a stuff about the Australian people!

    • Christian Real says:

      07:07am | 28/09/11

      Against the man
      And you, I suppose think Tony Abbott actually gives a stuff about the Australian people.
      Tony Abbott only cares about full filling his ambition to become Prime Minister at any cost,he is an opportunist that will say or do anything to become Prime Minister, even if that means destroying and trashing the the Office of Prime Minister .
      Abbott is the most arrogant, ego driven politician in our Parliament that is more concerned about his own interests and ambition of becoming Prime Minister, than he is concerned about the interests of the Australian people,the Australian Parliament and our great Country.
      Being of Aboriginal origin, I love our Country and I have no time or respect for a person like Abbott who is more concerned about himself,than the Country and the people that he would be representing should he ever become Prime Minister.
      One of the things that I dislike about Abbott is his blatant attempt to overturn the Wild Rivers legislation,that protects our Country’s pristine rivers and wilderness in the far North.
      If, he had succeeded in overturning this legisation it would have destroyed these beautiful, untouched rivers and wilderness and allowed his mining friends to pollute and destroy them.
      Australia and Australians should be proud of the Queensland Government protecting these rivers and wilderness with their wild rivers legislation that they have put in place.
      Australians,future Australians and overseas visitors and future overseas visitors will be able to see these pristine rivers and wilderness in their natural form, untouched, unblemished ,unsilted and unpolluted by these mining companies that Abbott would appease should he ever become Prime Minister.

    • Super, super bowl? says:

      04:01pm | 27/09/11

      You can excuse the occasional slip of the tongue, but when the prime minister of the country doesn’t know how to pronounce a fairly common word - that’s just embarrassing.

      Reply

    • Against the Man says:

      10:33pm | 27/09/11

      But she is a Leawyar!

    • Christian Real says:

      08:09am | 28/09/11

      Super,super bowl? & Against the man
      It would be more embarrassing to have Tony Abbott as our Prime Minister because he would go into shock and become speechless when interviewed by the media.
      Tony Abbott might be a Rhodes Scholar, but he was sure stuck for words when Mark Riley interviewed him

    • Felipe says:

      11:16am | 28/09/11

      Christian,  Tony Abbott did the right thing by not saying a word because he was in an angry state when Riley spun and twisted the whole episode.  Tony had more to lose if he had voiced what he had in his mind at that time.  What follows was a condemnation of Riley and he had not recovered from this because everytime he showed his face on TV everybody remembered how he made a fool of himself.

    • Super D says:

      04:13pm | 27/09/11

      I’m just glad Kevin is back.  Why should taxpayers have to foot the bill for international calls just so he can do the numbers.  I’d bet the house that our Kev doesn’t have a folio full of cut price international phonecards or use skype.  More likely just uses his mobile.

      Reply

    • (re) tired from voting says:

      05:45pm | 27/09/11

      Australia : suck it up! You voted for the bunch..

      Reply

    • thatmosis says:

      06:52pm | 27/09/11

      Have to agree with Erick and Abbott, shit does happen and its happening every day we have this government in office.Little did Abbott realise that what he said would take on such huge proportiuons since he said it.

      Reply

    • Kipling says:

      07:46am | 28/09/11

      Ironically, shit never happens without an arsehole being behind it and politics seems to be a great seat for arseholes.

    • Against the Man says:

      10:33pm | 27/09/11

      http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/more-news/parents-plea-for-nation-to-support-pm/story-fn7x8me2-1226148450288

      You know if your parents have to start asking people to trust you despite having record low polls…...........I’m guessing you should get the hint that you suck at your job as fake PM. If the ALP had been doing a good job since coming into power in 2007, I’m guessing they wouldn’t have dumped their less incompetent leader for Gilllard and continue to be the policy f@#k up government that they are.

      Well another fail…..............the fall is going to be a hard one for Gillard and the ALP, too funny smile

      Reply

    • Mouse says:

      08:17am | 28/09/11

      Well, she’s had Timmy on the front page of the Advertiser telling everyone to stop being saying mean things about her, so I suppose it wasn’t going to be long before she dragged out her parents to push her barrow.  Now that she has scraped the bottom of the barrel, hopefully there can’t be many more relatives to parade about!

    • Chris L says:

      06:23pm | 28/09/11

      It’s a poor look for our PM, and if she put any of these people up to it she was dreaming. I can’t help feeling, however, that this is no bigger an issue that Abbot’s interview in Women’s Weekly. For the record, I posted a “get over it” comment on that one too.

    • NESLIHAN KUROSAWA says:

      11:38pm | 27/09/11

      Hi Daniel,

      Why are you calling Mr Kevin Rudd, Kevin747 he is not a airplane after all!!  Even though he jets around the world.  He happens to be   the Minister for Foreign Affairs & he is supposed to travel anyway!!  It is hard enough being a well known around the world & they all suffer the consequences of their fame & fortune immensely.

      We can not pick on Mr Justin Bieber, Mr Barrack Obama, Mr Tony Abbott, Ms Julia Gillard for not speaking another language.  It is not their fault if English happens to be their first & only language.  They seem to be struggling with all that, already !!  The political stuff ups & gaffes, life goes on merrily for rest of us, just the same.  Best regards to your editors.

      Reply

    • Chris says:

      01:53am | 28/09/11

      No, there was no “pause”.
      Rudd said:  “...very happy little vegemite being Prime Minister—being Foreign Minister of Australia…”.
      There was no gap in the delivery; Rudd cleared himself immediately (i.e. within three seconds).
      There is nothing in this.
      Allow me to jump in on the “pop journalism craze”.
      The writer of the article should go back to:
      a) bed
      b) University
      c) The future
      d) the drawing-board

      Reply

    • Matt says:

      08:06am | 28/09/11

      You could have filled a whole page with gaffe’s from the master of gaffe - Mr George dubbya Bush..  Here are some of my fave’s -

      “Amigo! Amigo!” he called out to the Italian PM..

      “Your eminence, you’re looking good.” - to the Pope..

      ‘‘One of the great things about books is sometimes there are some fantastic pictures.’‘

      So many silly quotes..  Personally I think Kevin R does it on purpose, with his popularity rising he stirs the pot to remind his party of what they did to him.

      Reply

    • Craigt says:

      11:16am | 28/09/11

      Have to agree. I can’t believe there were no GWB quotes. That guy is a comedians idea of heaven.

    • Felipe says:

      11:24am | 28/09/11

      What I don’t understand is how Gillard has allowed the press in her parent’s home.  She can stop the news if she wants to, this is evidenced by her powerful phone call to News Corp CEO to stop news about her ex union boy friend.  Wives, husbands and families of politicians should be out of the spotlight unless they are prepared to cop the criticisms too.

      Reply

    • palone says:

      02:03pm | 28/09/11

      Didn’t Abbott “invite” us into his home, in fact into his daughters’ bedroom when he set off the whole “sex before marriage” rules he had shown preference for?
      Howard had the press corp of whichever city he was in “invited” to camp outside his door. And I’m sure I can remember being “invited” into many world leader’s homes, via TV.
      Abbott has given Howard an assurance that he will avenge that little man’s
      absolute thrashing at the polls, (the one that counts), and will stoop to any depth to do so. That mad stare he gave Riley was a little eye-opener of the man within. A bully who does not like being bested.
      I sometimes imagine Abbott addressing the UN and getting booed because he is an ungracious fool. Off he goes into super-ego land, with his ears flapping, his eyes rolling, and his mouth trying to get into first gear, so that he can catch up with his brain, (which ain’t really that quick off the mark, anyway).
      Tomorrow is poetry day. I’m going to write a nice poem about our present Leader of the Opposition. That should be fun.

      Reply

    • Lorraine says:

      04:46pm | 28/09/11

      Best gaffe I’ve heard from Julia is ” Democracy has nothing to do with public opinion”
        when asked about results of an opinion poll.
      Now I thought…...,.

      Reply

    • Just Sayin' says:

      07:42pm | 28/09/11

      It’s old, but I particularly like the Paul Keating gaff: “Get a job. Do some work like the rest of us.”  He said this to a student in 1995 when youth unemployment had been over 15% for the entire five years he was Prime Minister.  Idiot.

      Reply

    • Gerard says:

      10:50pm | 28/09/11

      These guys have got nothing on Murray Walker.

      Reply
 
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