NPR News and Music Discovery for the Four Corners

'Suppository' Gaffe Makes Politician The Butt Of Jokes

Australian Opposition Leader Tony Abbott.
Pool

(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.

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • LinkedIn
  • Email
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.
Related Stories
  1. This ancient amber in Lebanon offers a glimpse into Earth's history
  2. Scotland's first minister resigns
  3. This could be the impact if China's affordable EVs were sold in the U.S.
  4. The latest on the high-stakes negotiations happening in the Middle East