Civilians

Occasionally, even a hardened Radio National listener like myself looks up into the shaving mirror and asks his reflection 'Did she say what I thought she just said?' This morning, the normally fairly sensible Fran Kelly was talking to Foreign Minister Alexander Downer about the latest 'Osama Bin Laden' tape, and led with this observation:

"...again, the main target of the war on terror remains on the loose and now he's essentially threatening not just governments, but civilians..."

Obviously, it's a gaffe, and if she'd thought a little harder, she wouldn't have said it, but in the end, your mindset determines the kinds of gaffes you make.