Andrew Bolt: Infantile Scott Morrison bullying claims missing the point

Suggesting we dump our PM because he has sometimes not been a nice man is infantile, but in this preening Age of Twitter, seeming to be good is better than actually doing any.

SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA - NewsWire Photos APRIL 01, 2022: Prime Minister Scott Morrison arrives in Jamisontown to meet first home buyers. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Christian Gilles

OK, Labor and its media mates have convinced me.

Scott Morrison is a bully who 15 years ago said mean things about a Lebanese man to win an election.

Yep, our Prime Minister has sometimes not been a nice man.

But here’s my problem with this latest hate-Morrison hysteria from sanctimonious media outlets that have bullied Morrison for years.

So what?

Yes, yes, I’ve got it.

Morrison is accused – for the umpteenth time – of getting Liberal mates and powerbrokers to overturn his defeat in a 2007 Liberal preselection battle by Michael Towke, a Catholic Lebanese-Australian.

Morrison is again accused by Towke of telling those mates and powerbrokers running a Lebanese candidate in the seat of Cook would be a disaster so soon after the Cronulla riots.

Towke and a Liberal supporter have since signed statutory declarations claiming Morrison privately claimed Towke was really a Muslim and raised questions about his past.

There were also rumours of Towke inflating or smudging his CV.

Our Prime Minister has sometimes not been a nice man. Picture: Christian Gilles

Morrison flatly denies the allegations, but somehow went from losing his first preselection battle against Towke by a humiliating eight votes to 82, to persuading enough Liberals such as Senator Concetta Fierravanti-Wells, a Morrison hater now she’s getting booted from parliament, to switch their votes and make him the winner instead.

All right, let’s not believe Morrison’s denials.

Let’s agree he can be nasty.

Therefore we should now … what?

Dump Morrison as Prime Minister in next month’s election? Vote Labor instead?

How infantile.

This wah-wah is what passes for political debate in the preening Age of Twitter, where to merely seem good is better than to actually do any.

Wake up.

Bob Hawke was a narcissistic lecher who was still one of our best prime ministers. Donald Trump is a narcissistic liar whose foreign policies as US president were brilliant.

The question at this election is not whether Morrison is a bastard, or whether Labor leader Anthony Albanese is another.

Donald Trump is a narcissistic liar whose foreign policies as US president were brilliant. Picture: Getty Images

The real question is: What will these bastards do for you?

Sure, I’d rather my prime minister wasn’t a bastard, all other things being equal, but I’m not even sure how much of one Morrison really is.

I can’t tell what he really said about Towke, and I’ve seen no good evidence since that he’s the racist we’re now told.

In fact, in 2018, when Morrison was again accused of doing the dirty on Towke, he was defended by Jamal Rifi, a doctor and prominent Lebanese-Australian community leader who regularly had dinner with the Morrisons: “I believe there is no racist bone in that man. Absolutely.”

When Jihad Dib, another prominent Lebanese-Australian, was elected Labor MP for Lakemba in 2015, he said Morrison told him: “I’m happy that you’re going into parliament, I wish it was for us.”

I don’t often defend Morrison personally. Indeed, I’ve got plenty of reasons of my own not to like him. He doesn’t stand for much. He’s an opportunist and a populist. He lacks the insight and guts to fight the culture wars.

Oh, and he takes free character assessments like this from me so badly that he refuses to come on my TV show.

The question is not whether ScoMo or Albanese are bastards but rather, what will they do for you. Picture: Steve Pohlner

But I say again: so what? I still ask: what will this bastard do for the country?

Why isn’t the debate about that, instead of about what Morrison might have privately told some Liberals about Towke 15 years ago in his desperate bid to get into parliament?

I’ll tell you why. Labor and the media left are with equal desperation now trying to destroy Morrison’s character because they don’t want an argument about what Anthony Albanese would actually do for you. Many of his “policies” would not stand serious scrutiny.

This is not personal for me. In fact, I’ve had many more chats with Albanese than with Morrison, and like him better, but that’s irrelevant to me in this election.

I’m thinking instead, which leader will be tougher in facing the China threat? Which is less likely to divide Australia by race? Which is least likely to cut the country’s throat with crazy global warming policies? Which is least likely to let schools teach children to despise this country? Which is most likely to make this country richer and stop us sinking deeper in debt?

So I don’t care a Russian rouble if the best man for that job is a ratbag or a mate.

And if my prime minister in this suddenly menacing world really is a thug, I’m only glad he’s mine and not theirs.