View Full Version : Hey, John Howard, STAY OUT OF US POLITICS!
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/6352785.stm
Is there not enough to do in Australian politics for this guy? First, his comments are ludicrous. Second, and more important, he is meddling in the US electoral process, fellow democracies don't do that, and allies certainly don't do that.:nope: I could care less about whether its George Bush or Barak Obama, you don't publicly say things like that about a foreign candidate for a foreign office, (once they are elected, the rules change a bit but the elector process itself is sacred) in the end, all it does is strain our friendship.:down:
Konovalov
02-12-07, 04:05 PM
I was actually astounded to hear him make such a ridiculous statement. I say that because a couple of years or so ago Prime Minister Howard attacked Kim Beazley (Labour opposition leader at the time) for making remarks about President Bush or something along those lines. Prime Minister Howard said that Beazley was interfering in another countries internal affairs which he said was wrong. John Howad has become a hypocrite. I am embarressed by his behaviour. He is starting to look like a desperate man who probably knows that he will not win another election. So as to what Bort has said, I fully agree. :yep:
bookworm_020
02-12-07, 04:54 PM
John Howard is being cained here in Australia at the moment. His approval rating is down to it's lowest level in years and many issues, both here in Australia and overseas, that he got involved with are turning against him.
The fact we have an oppisition worth voting for and not fighing amongst it's self, may mean a change in government in the not to distant future. I would say good riddence it that happened.
I have to admit Obama's remark about Australia sending 20,000 troop if we were serious was out of line. That would be half our army! It's not like we aren't doing anything else at the moment. East Timor, Solomans, Boganville, Afganistan and various peace keeping mission elsewhere around the globe mean our forces are streched at the moment.
Maybe he was trying to interfear in Australian politics??:hmm:
waste gate
02-12-07, 05:36 PM
I have to admit Obama's remark about Australia sending 20,000 troop if we were serious was out of line. That would be half our army! It's not like we aren't doing anything else at the moment. East Timor, Solomans, Boganville, Afganistan and various peace keeping mission elsewhere around the globe mean our forces are streched at the moment.
Maybe he was trying to interfear in Australian politics??:hmm:
Good point bookworm_020.
TteFAboB
02-12-07, 05:54 PM
The Australian people, few as they are, have managed to build a succesful nation, prosper, wealthy, functional, with good living standards, no, not only decent, but Good. Australia is a consolidated democracy and for all its faults, shared with other democracies, it is still far better than more than half the world, still living in darkness, misery and serfdom.
No matter how hard Barak ****ama tries, or however Howard reacts, may nobody break our Alliance with Australia.
waste gate
02-12-07, 06:17 PM
Australia is a consolidated democracy and for all its faults, shared with other democracies
You have a better system?
What a bonehead of a remark. :down:
Wait, did you even read his remark in full? :huh:
(I have other thoughts, but I'll withhold them - this goat doesn't want to climb his mountain today :88))
waste gate
02-12-07, 06:28 PM
What a bonehead of a remark. :down:
Was that directed at me? If so what is a better system?
baggygreen
02-12-07, 06:37 PM
Hey, im sorry but its simply another case of something being taken out of context, in my opinion. He was asked for his own, personal opinion about the candidates race and their positions on iraq. It is his view that pulling out would be disastrous. Its a view shared by many!
As for the 'how dare australia comment on other countries..' crap, well i think we've contributed more per capita than most other nations in the world to peacekeeping, we're doing our darndest to stabilise a notoriously unstable region in SE Asia and Oceania.... i think we've earned a right to have a say.
As for Obama, i wonder if he's ever heard of something called proportions? in NYC you yanks have got more people than our entire country. Asking us to send 20,000 troops is asking us to send half our armed forces. why the hell not ask england or poland or someone to send half their entire armed forces? if theres a winner for the stupid comment award, obama wins
What a bonehead of a remark. :down:
Was that directed at me? If so what is a better system?
No. :lol:
At Australian PM John Howard. :down:
baggygreen
02-12-07, 06:50 PM
I get extremely frustrated when people bag out johnny.
He has done more for the country in the past 10 years than all leaders combined the 20 years before that! (who, by the way, were pretty much all from the ALP:88) ) The opinion polls against him at the moment, well thats courtesy of the leftist media reporting everything he does in a bad light, failing to look at the facts of the issues...
Bookworm you say you've got a labour team worth voting for.... on what premise? all i've seen of their policies is reverting to things Howard's team has changed in the past few years. Labour's appointment of gillard, for example, is nothing but an attempt to encourage support from women "oh look, equal opportunity, hooray". Load of crock.
Dont get me started on the bloody IR policies of the ALP and the trade unions. I just love the fact that proof the advertising for it was entirely false and blatant lies in every case was given a tiny, tiny amount of coverage.:nope:
Konovalov
02-12-07, 06:56 PM
I get extremely frustrated when people bag out johnny.
He has done more for the country in the past 10 years than all leaders combined the 20 years before that! (who, by the way, were pretty much all from the ALP:88) ) The opinion polls against him at the moment, well thats courtesy of the leftist media reporting everything he does in a bad light, failing to look at the facts of the issues...
Bookworm you say you've got a labour team worth voting for.... on what premise? all i've seen of their policies is reverting to things Howard's team has changed in the past few years. Labour's appointment of gillard, for example, is nothing but an attempt to encourage support from women "oh look, equal opportunity, hooray". Load of crock.
Dont get me started on the bloody IR policies of the ALP and the trade unions. I just love the fact that proof the advertising for it was entirely false and blatant lies in every case was given a tiny, tiny amount of coverage.:nope:
All of which has absolutely nothing to do with the topic thread by Bort. New topic perhaps on our current Prime Minister? :hmm:
baggygreen
02-12-07, 07:02 PM
apologies, true enough.
like i said, i get frustrated by ppl bagging him.
/hijack
If, according to Obama, howard cant state his own personal opinions on something, well doesnt that bode poorly!!!!! A potential leader who cant take any sort of criticism on a controversial, divisive topic!:down: :down:
And yet he's so popular......:hmm:
TteFAboB
02-12-07, 07:18 PM
Australia is a consolidated democracy and for all its faults, shared with other democracies
You have a better system?
Nope and I bet neither of us will ever live to see a better one. None of the existing alternatives are better. Demarchy, gladly first coined by an Australian which barely keeps me on topic, is a good idea but still far too infant. In a sense. Because in fact you may be right to tell me that Demarchy is simply a revision of Democracy. The problem is that all the tools necessary for the destruction of our representative democracies are contained inside them. It won't take a Makedonian invasion, we'll vote ourselves into some other worse way.
/hijack
Errr, both of these popular public figures can probably rather easily find each other's phone number to solve this thing in private.
The problem is that all the tools necessary for the destruction of our representative democracies are contained inside them. It won't take a Makedonian invasion, we'll vote ourselves into some other worse way.
/hijack
Continuing the hijack, yep, that's what I essentially wanted to say when I said I'll keep my goat in the stable :hmm: And though I'm way the heck on the left of the spectrum, I don't see anything as an alternative to the current liberal (i.e. capitalist) democracies - rather as a preferred successor to when (and not if, in my view) they come crashing down.
Gah! Someone please take us back on topic already :damn:
bookworm_020
02-12-07, 08:51 PM
Both sides (U.S. and Australia) are getting ready to go to an election, so both want to score points. Johnny could have used a little more tact as he may have to deal with Obama and the Democrates in the future and Obama needs to grow a thicker skin and do a little more research before responding in future.
BTW Baggygreen: Johnny has done some great things and Done things well, but he's been pushing some buttions of my buttons as of late. I don't particularly like Labor, some of there members give me the creeps (then again most politicians do!) I just want a change as I think the libs have run out of steam.
If you want to ask me anything or bag me out baggygreen, just PM me. Then we will stop this thread from getting too far off topic.:up:
MadMike
02-12-07, 09:22 PM
Why should Australia send more? Wouldn't that violate the "troop surge" policy of the leftists (particularly Obama) here in the states?
Australian Specops in Afghanistan-
http://www.defence.gov.au/media/download/2006/sep/socb060927/images/gallery/20060927/index.htm
Yours, Mike
Obama isn't trying to be literal with his troop figures, nor do I think that he is trying to be disrespectful to the ADF, I just think he's tring to say that if Howard cares that much about Iraq, that he should step up his own support of the conflict. One would imagine that Obama hadn't exactly been plotting a witty retort to a verbal assault by the Australian prime minister until today.:roll:
NefariousKoel
02-13-07, 12:10 AM
I don't think Obama's reply was called for at all.
This is the second time I've seen him snap back angrily at a criticism from someone. He seems rather childish and it doesn't reflect well on him.
I don't think Obama's reply was called for at all.
This is the second time I've seen him snap back angrily at a criticism from someone. He seems rather childish and it doesn't reflect well on him.
It's called politics, and it happens to be the Senator's job. I would be far more concerned if he rolled over and said Howard was right or hid under a table and wept. What Howard said was more than mere criticism, and more to the point, was way, waaaayyy out of line. If I was on the recieving end of that shot, my response would have been far more colorful and emotional than Obama's.
The Avon Lady
02-13-07, 03:03 AM
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/6352785.stm
Is there not enough to do in Australian politics for this guy? First, his comments are ludicrous. Second, and more important, he is meddling in the US electoral process, fellow democracies don't do that, and allies certainly don't do that.:nope: I could care less about whether its George Bush or Barak Obama, you don't publicly say things like that about a foreign candidate for a foreign office, (once they are elected, the rules change a bit but the elector process itself is sacred) in the end, all it does is strain our friendship.:down:
Ah, yes. The truth hurts.
John Howard has committed to staying the course, however if US troops pull out of Iraq, then ours must obviously follow. Therefore, our Iraq policy is directly linked to the outcome of the US election. So, when asked about it on an Australian TV interview, in the context of Australian foreign policy, the Australian PM should be able to give his view.
NefariousKoel
02-13-07, 03:27 PM
John Howard has committed to staying the course, however if US troops pull out of Iraq, then ours must obviously follow. Therefore, our Iraq policy is directly linked to the outcome of the US election. So, when asked about it on an Australian TV interview, in the context of Australian foreign policy, the Australian PM should be able to give his view.
Agreed. The situation is intertwined.
And I still believe Obama has been a bit out of line for lashing out, at least in the way he did. I thought the Democratic Party are the ones who complained about not alienating our foreign allies. I guess they only proclaim that when it suits them. :shifty:
Ha Ha! Stephen Colbert has weighed in on this situation- and it's priceless!:-j
http://www.comedycentral.com/motherload/index.jhtml?ml_video=82065
It's about half way through this video. For those who don't know, Colbert is a comedian who plays a conservative commentator hosting a show parodying real life commentators, especially Bill O'Reilly. Please don't take offence to this Australians, Colbert makes fun of everyone!:lol:
SUBMAN1
02-13-07, 05:28 PM
I think the Autrlian PM is right though. We now know who Al-Qeida is voting for.
-S
Howard made a stupid remark, that's for sure, but I can understand his reasons.
This whole thing with Iraq goes back to september 11, a tragic day, I was watching this in Australia around midnight, live, when the first tower collapsed I was horrified & wept, and I think most decent people reacted the same way, this was indeed WAR with terrorism.:cry: Unfortunately after a huge effort trying to find Osama proved impossable, the little snot found plenty of holes to crawl into!!:lol: the people, or more so George Bush Jnr, wanted blood for September 11 so lookout Suddam (did I spell that right?) here we come!!
The main reason the Bush government used to declare war with Iraq is the "weapons of mass distruction", and I thought then that this was crap, if he had them he certainly would use them, at the time we all, Tony Blair & John Howard joined the Bush government with this war, sure Suddam was a piece of sh_t, but I thought the excuse to invade (not defend), was poor. Ater a few years now and a lot of lives lost, the situation over there has gone from bad to worse, but to pull out now would be a terrible mistake, the first was going there, but to leave now would be a total disaster! We have to finish what we started!!:-?
Can you imagine what would happen, certainly the attempt to create a democracy would fail, and the terrorists (Muslam extremists) would win - take over the whole country. I think we, the USA, Australia, & England, should finish what they started, the innocent people over there deserve that!:yep: A most frustrating situation I know, if only we could have learned from the Vietnam war.:damn:
Summing it up, You can't just go into a country, rip it apart, then leave!!
OK Guys, you may tear me appart!!:rotfl:
Hey, im sorry but its simply another case of something being taken out of context, in my opinion. He was asked for his own, personal opinion about the candidates race and their positions on iraq. It is his view that pulling out would be disastrous. Its a view shared by many!
As for the 'how dare australia comment on other countries..' crap, well i think we've contributed more per capita than most other nations in the world to peacekeeping, we're doing our darndest to stabilise a notoriously unstable region in SE Asia and Oceania.... i think we've earned a right to have a say.
BG has got it spot on! Howard was not injecting himself into the US Presidential race, the media did it for him. I think he's being smacked a bit too hard for speaking his mind. Is this not one of the tenets of US society? Where is the support for free speech?:nope:
The Avon Lady
02-14-07, 12:12 AM
Hey, im sorry but its simply another case of something being taken out of context, in my opinion. He was asked for his own, personal opinion about the candidates race and their positions on iraq. It is his view that pulling out would be disastrous. Its a view shared by many!
As for the 'how dare australia comment on other countries..' crap, well i think we've contributed more per capita than most other nations in the world to peacekeeping, we're doing our darndest to stabilise a notoriously unstable region in SE Asia and Oceania.... i think we've earned a right to have a say.
BG has got it spot on! Howard was not injecting himself into the US Presidential race, the media did it for him. I think he's being smacked a bit too hard for speaking his mind. Is this not one of the tenets of US society? Where is the support for free speech?:nope:
Ain't it funneh' how the media and others didn't behave similarly back then (http://littlegreenfootballs.com/weblog/?entry=24428_Aussie_PM_Taking_Heavy_Flak)? :hmm:
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