Tony Abbott

Does it matter what happened when Tony Abbott was at University?

No not really.

He was 19-20 so what!

what is strange is his reaction.

He was given a load of time by David Marr to deny the allegation when Marr was backgrounding his essay with Abbott.
Abbott could have denied it after the essay was released but all he said was he didn't recall the incident.
Something highly implausible.

Unfortunately for Abbott his media friends 'beat up' the issue ( pun intended). Greg Sheridan was over the top in defence of his friend. Gerry Henderson was more sober but he too fanned the flames making the 'issue' larger than it should have ever been.

Both then looked incredibly foolish when various people came forward to say the incident did indeed take place.

Abbott then looked very 'nixonlike' in saying the incident never happened and this was in accord with him saying he could not recall it.

He also looked poor when claiming this was coming from an ALP 'dirt unit' and then had to admit it wasn't. He also looked quite shifty when he couldn't deny his own staff had 'offered dirt' on ALP Mhrs.

All in all I think the only interesting aspect to come out of this is how bad Abbott is in defensively responding to questions about him etc.

This has election repercussions as in the next campaign Abbott will not get the gentle ride he got on the 2010 election campaign. He will have to act quickly on on his feet.

If this issue shows anything Abbott will not shine at all.

Whether this will matter or not is another subject.