Lewis Black, Glenn Beck and that wimp Tony Abbott

Contemplating life in the Qantas lounge, and another trip on the airline - it's not the airline it once was - and brooding about that self-confessed wimp Tony Abbott, all strut in his budgie smugglers and on his bike, but a gutless wonder - as we used to say in Tamworth - in the party room, and unable to hand out 10k to all the stay at home moms, because he got rolled by the hard men, when he knew that the answer to WWJD is that John would offer a decent hearty bribe, and because we know deep inside he's a true believer in Catholic and agrarian socialism, as if his devious cynicism and hoarse "caught out" shallow laugh on the Neil Mitchell show, as lovingly featured in all the papers on this wind down Friday, isn't enough to establish that he's more than a naughty boy, more like a devious politician who understands that a white lie will get you power and perhaps only a short stay in purgatory, because where else can you get better training in deviousness and power plays than from the Jesuits and the Catholic church hierarchy at large ...

... and phew, perhaps thinking that a long rant in honour of James Joyce was the only way to survive the lounge, we thought the Glenn Beck meme currently doing the rounds might be the only way to get through the weekend with a laugh and a smile.

Sadly, Australia doesn't do political comedy on the tube anymore - Clare and Dawe don't cut it, and not just because it's five minutes of talking heads with no add ons but because it's soft. Wimpy, like Abbott.

And the public broadcasters have been degutted by politicians, and the commercial stations simply don't care. They provide political satire, in the manner of fools sending themselves up shitless, but if it lacks any insight or self-reflection, is it genuine satire? As opposed to a morning breakfast show of donkeys or a Current Affair of foot in the door used car salesmanship?

Never mind, there'll be no rubbery chicken send up of Tony Abbott being a wimp, or Chairman Rudd being passionate about global climate change, and certainly no Spitting Image.

So we're left with the Daily Show, and luckily that's as good as it gets.

Normal ranting will resume as and when and if we survive Melbourne. Now if you'll excuse me, I must totter off to the bar for another rough red to help me survive another round with the Qantas club ... take it away Lewis Black:

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