US won't have a bar of Latham

[Tom Yossarian Joad]

http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5744,8060918%255E421,00.html

By Greg Sheridan
December 04, 2003
A senior figure in the Pentagon, who was speaking on condition of anonymity, described Mark Latham as "the most incompetent and dangerous Labor leader in decades".

He also called Latham "dangerous and flaky" and said those members of the Right who voted for him were "a conga-line of suck-holes". He went on to say that Labor's fawning over Chinese President Hu Jintao showed they were "arselickers".

Just kidding.

No Pentagon figure said any such thing. These are all Latham's words about George W. Bush or the Howard Government's attitude to Bush. Just imagine the outrage if any senior American used such language to describe Latham or any Australian political leader. If Latham had made these comments about an Asian head of government, there would probably have been a serious diplomatic incident.

<snip>

[thebigidea]

1. what garbage...and isn't rhis an editorial?

[rooboy]

2. Greg Sheridan is a right wing shill and a national embarrassment...

don't pay him any attention - nobody else in Australia does.

[pipster]

9. Who cares what Sheridan writes

rooboy is correct.......Sheridan is rightwing shill for Murdoch....personally I think he is angling for a job on POXnews,but has not yet had an 'ethical' lapse sufficient to be offered a position.

[roguevalley]

3. I will personally carry the luggage of ANY Aussie that will tell W what

he is and do it with style. Go, OZ!

[Djinn]

4. I'm no Latham fan

he' waaay too right wing economically for my liking BUT his views on dubya coincide with those held by most australians even those who did agree with sending troops to Iraq.

Latham talks like this when describing everyone doesn't just reserve for war mongering election stealing monkeys

Incidently when made the "arselickers" comment - I was working for a media montoring firm and we found that even on the Rush Limbaugh type broadcaster's programs (Stan Zemanek you know who we mean) callers were supportive of the comment and the minority that did object, objected to the language not the actual sentiment which they thought was fair enough.

Most australians even those fully enamoured with the weasel we call PM feel that our brown nosing of the US administration is embarrasing to say the least. Sheridan however would happily kowtow to any power around - no surprise there

I wont be voting for Latham but atleast he calls a spade a spade - bush IS the most incompetent and dangerous US president.

And as for the "if he said about an asian leader..." well tell that to Keating he seemed to get away with it OK

[rooboy]

5. Correct...

and if the Americans throw Bush out on his can at the next election, there won't be any fallout whatsoever in the US/Australian relationship.

[Yerta Bulti]

7. well... we did end up Mahathir hating our guts forever

but then Mahathir is a creep so I for one didn't care.

[Josh]

8. I'm Australian and I was for Beazley

but I think there are real opportunities for Latham as he will really be able to focus on the future and paint Howard as old and out of touch - he is 24 years Howard's junior.

We'll see how he goes.

[Yerta Bulti]

6. I love this whining from the Howard conga line

and their Murdoch paymasters.

It sounds like nothing more than a little kid threatening to tell daddy what the naughty boy said. It just proves Lathams point.

Latham has stood by what he said, pointing out that the remark was made in the context of deciding whether or not to send Aussie troops to war for Bush. It is quite easy to demonstrate how statements and policies put out by the Pentagon were consistently parrotted by the Howard government within 48 hours all the way to Iraq. Howard was a poor actor for months leading up to the war putting out the lie that he had no position on participating in Iraq and as yet any such discussion was hypothetical. It was well known in Australia that he had made a decision by July of 2002.

If W is not the most dangerous and incompetent US president in memory, then someone needs to come out with who is. Latham was making an important point at a time when Aussies lives were being put on the line.

Is it not dangerous and incompetent to make plans to dominate the middle east with military force and then make those plans publicly available on the internet for years leading up to the attack? How about disrupting the alliances of the western world in the mistaken belief that US force alone is sufficient to secure the kind of global dominance the Bush cabal seeks? The list goes on...

[Djinn]

10. exactly

While I'm not a Latham person (although certaibly not a Beazley one either - one word TAMPA) I LOVED that in the all the interviews in the last couple of days he has refused to disown those statements - surely when we're talking about 2 democracies we CAN say "george bush is a dangerous ignorant buffoon" but still be perfectly willing to stick by and even strengthen the US/Aust alliance - since when has George = USA??

This morning driving to work I heard little john claiming that Latham would loose support from the young because of his attitude towards bush I nearly crashed my car I laughed so hard - he must know some really weird young people

[Name removed]

11. Deleted message

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[Moderator]

12. This is an opinion piece, not LBN....locking

DU Moderator