“The worm doesn’t like me”

Pity poor Mr Abbott – it’s so unfair. Apparently he’s expecting the “worm” to turn on him again in the coming debate:

Certainly I know the worm dislikes Liberals, the worm’s always hated Liberals, and I suspect that the worm’s not going to change its character.

So I’m expecting to see a pretty unenthusiastic worm tomorrow night, but I know that I have good arguments on my side.

The worm, as you might know, is merely the aggregated reactions of a set of randomly-chosen people. Thus, though a little crude, it’s not really unfair to substitute the word “people” for “worm”. That’s essentially the point of the worm, after all. So let’s give it a try:

Certainly I know people dislike Liberals, the people have always hated Liberals, and I suspect that the people are not going to change their character.

So I’m expecting to see a pretty unenthusiastic people tomorrow night, but I know that I have good arguments on my side.

Just as well he has those arguments, because apparently we all hate him.

Abbott is, of course, merely trying to inoculate himself against the effects of his own oratory skills, or lack thereof, which I think is somewhat in vain. Personally, I’m not expecting much insight from the worm, or indeed the entire debate. Indeed, political debating is really nothing more than a democratic sheen on crass and adversarial political propaganda. At the end, proponents for both sides claim victory on behalf of the candidates and everybody watching is just a little bit dumber.