The great difference between Sarah Palin and Stephanie Banister is that SP was endorsed by the Republican Party, a major contender, and SB was endorsed by the One Nation Party, a minor lunatic fringe party.
The Wikipedia description of One Nation is
One Nation is a right-wing and nationalist political party in Australia. Pauline Hanson founded the party after being elected as an independent due to her disendorsement as the preselected Liberal Party candidate for the Australian House of Representatives. It gained more than 22 percent of the statewide vote translating to 11 of 89 seats in Queensland's unicameral legislative assembly at the 1998 state election. Federally, the party peaked at the 1998 election on 9 percent of the nationwide vote, electing one Senator in Queensland. The party has never approached these heights again, and while it nominally still exists it attracts a negligible percentage of the vote.
SB has withdrawn her nomination. ABC reports
"One Nation leader Jim Savage says she was not disendorsed, but made the decision to withdraw following ridicule and threats.
"Stephanie Banister has withdrawn her nomination to stand following the disgraceful way she has been portrayed by recent media [and] ridicule over a minor gaffe in a statement she made to Channel Seven," he said in a statement to the ABC.
"She is taking this action following threats received by her and in the interests of her family and of the party.
"She had one phone call where somebody said under sharia law, 'we'd take care of people like you'.
"She's had a lot of criticism on Facebook and on Twitter. People saying very nasty things about her and it's just been so overwhelming."
On Thursday, Ms Banister told Fairfax Media she felt her comments had been taken out of context to make her look like a "stupid moron".
She said she had meant to say "Islamic countries" and had corrected herself many times, but that was cut from the interview that went to air.
The controversy surrounding Ms Banister came after Liberal candidate Jaymes Diaz made global news for being unable to detail the party's asylum seeker policy during an interview with Channel Ten."
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One can understand the ridicule but must deplore the increasing use of the Social Media to bully and threaten.
More amusing is the response to Tony Abbot's gaffe.
(CNN) -- Australian opposition leader Tony Abbott set social media abuzz on Monday with a memorable slip of the tongue.
"No one -- however smart, however well-educated, however experienced -- is the suppository of all wisdom," Abbott told a Liberal Party event in the city of Melbourne.
A suppository is "a small piece of medicated substance, usually conical, ovoid, or cylindrical, introduced into a body passage, as the rectum or vagina, where body heat causes it to melt," according to Webster's New World College Dictionary.
Not quite the same as a repository (a place in which things may be placed for safekeeping), the word typically used in the expression "the repository of all wisdom."
Abbott's unwitting switch of the two words both shocked and amused his audience.
"There was an audible gasp in the room, a few people snickering," said Jonathan Swan, a political reporter for Fairfax Media who was at the event.
As news of Abbott's unfortunate utterance filtered out, social media users quickly seized on the gaffe. The hashtag #suppository began trending on Twitter in Australia.
Ands people couldn't resist exploiting the situation's comic and crude potential.
"Oh dear. Abbott - "we are not the 'suppository" of all wisdom.' Not sure where to stick this one," wrote Marcus Priest, a political reporter for the Australian Financial Review.
'I feel sorry for Abbott & his accidental use of the word suppository. Stop going on like he's the enema," quipped Felicity Reynolds, the head of a non-governmental organization in Sydney.
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Most Australians are fed up with the non-stop campaigning we have had to endure for the last 3 years but perhaps we can look forward to more amusing gaffes over the next 3 weeks.
Enjoy.
