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'Suppository' Gaffe Makes Politician The Butt Of Jokes

Australian Opposition Leader Tony Abbott.
Pool
/
Getty Images
Australian Opposition Leader Tony Abbott.

(Click here to avoid sophomoric humor.)

We've posted some corrections over the years, as Two-Way readers know, so we do have sympathy for Australia's "leader of the opposition" — Tony Abbott, the Liberal Party standard bearer who might be his country's next prime minister.

But we can't resist this video of Abbott on Monday (local time) saying that current Prime Minister Kevin Rudd shouldn't be the "suppository of all wisdom."

Ouch.

It remains to be seen whether he can put this all behind him.

The gaffe "left his colleagues squirming and reporters giggling," The Telegraph reports. It also led to much tweeting — #suppository.

Copyright 2021 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.

Mark Memmott is NPR's supervising senior editor for Standards & Practices. In that role, he's a resource for NPR's journalists – helping them raise the right questions as they do their work and uphold the organization's standards.

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Federal funding is gone.

Congress has eliminated all funding for public media.

That means $2.1 million per year that Connecticut Public relied on to deliver you news, information, and entertainment programs you enjoyed is gone.

The future of public media is in your hands.

All donations are appreciated, but we ask in this moment you consider starting a monthly gift as a Sustainer to help replace what’s been lost.

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