Skip to main content

Howard v Obama: What US bloggers say

From today's Crikey [on subscription only - worth getting by the way]:

"Howard v Obama: what the US blogs say

When Obama's President, We're Bombing Australia: Is there a reason Howard’s so upset about Barry, considering that all the Democrats running for president are running against the Iraq War — including the usually bloodthirsty but ever-adaptable Hillary. Not even Republicans are in line with Bush’s crazy bullsh-t these days ... One reason might be that Howard noticed Barry’s complexion; John Howard’s government doesn’t care much for the dark-skinned folk -- especially dark-skinned Muslim folk, and we all know Barry was raised in a madrassa by his mom, Mama bin Laden ... John Howard’s not exactly a smarty jones. -- Wonkette

President Bush, however, has not spoken with Prime Minister Howard of Australia since Jan. 9, the White House maintains, with a not-so-thinly-veiled attempt to dispute suggestions that Bush had put his good friend from Sydney and ally in the war in Iraq up to criticism for the Illinois senator who announced his candidacy for the Democratic presidential nomination over the weekend. -- The Swamp, Chicago Tribune blog

Australia's Slime Minister: We all know the Dems have been in bed with Al Qaeda for years but couldn't do anything about strengthening their alliance until they got into power. But it took the clarity of Howard to sum it up, and when you break his statement down, you can hardly disagree with its validity. -- The Huffington Post

Howard’s position is completely understandable: despite taking risks at home to back America, allies will be abandoned when it’s inconvenient for America. If being a friend of the United States will bring you no rewards and hurt you, nobody will be a friend. Indeed, it pays to be neutral or antagonistic. Nevertheless, Howard was clumsy in his criticism. He didn’t need to mention Obama by name; all he needed to do was note that setting a timetable would encourage terrorists. -- Snarky B-stards

As I headed over to Memorandum today, I expected to see a slew of liberal attacks on Aussie PM John Howard after he had the audacity to speak the truth about Barack Obama and the Democratic Party ... Surprisingly, at least so far today, the lib bloggers don't seem to be up to the challenge. Maybe that's because the liberal activists don't like Obama as much as the Democrats in general or maybe it's just because what Howard said is absolutely true. -- rightwingnews.com

Howard has been criticized as a "chickenhawk," for supporting Australia's military involvement in Vietnam and Iraq while personally passing on the opportunity to serve in Vietnam. So I guess this makes him a "double chickenhawk." -- Mark Weisbrot and Robert Naiman, The Huffington Post

Neither Howard’s use of the word “pray as many times as possible” nor Obama’s characterization of Howard as “George Bush’s” ally can be entirely coincidental. Both men were speaking to a domestic political audience. -- Pajamas Media



Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Robert Fisk's predictions for the Middle East in 2013

There is no gain-saying that Robert Fisk, fiercely independent and feisty to boot, is the veteran journalist and author covering the Middle East. Who doesn't he know or hasn't he met over the years in reporting from Beirut - where he lives?  In his latest op-ed piece for The Independent he lays out his predictions for the Middle East for 2013. Read the piece in full, here - well worthwhile - but an extract... "Never make predictions in the Middle East. My crystal ball broke long ago. But predicting the region has an honourable pedigree. “An Arab movement, newly-risen, is looming in the distance,” a French traveller to the Gulf and Baghdad wrote in 1883, “and a race hitherto downtrodden will presently claim its due place in the destinies of Islam.” A year earlier, a British diplomat in Jeddah confided that “it is within my knowledge... that the idea of freedom does at present agitate some minds even in Mecca...” So let’s say this for 2013: the “Arab Awakening” (the t

The NPT (Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty) goes on hold.....because of one non-Treaty member (Israel)

Isn't there something radically wrong here?    Israel, a non-signatory to the NPT has, evidently, been the cause for those countries that are Treaty members, notably Canada, the US and the UK, after 4 weeks of negotiation, effectively blocking off any meaningful progress in ensuring the non-proliferation of nuclear weapons.    IPS reports ..... "After nearly four weeks of negotiations, the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) Review Conference ended in a predictable outcome: a text overwhelmingly reflecting the views and interests of the nuclear-armed states and some of their nuclear-dependent allies. “The process to develop the draft Review Conference outcome document was anti-democratic and nontransparent,” Ray Acheson, director, Reaching Critical Will, Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom (WILPF), told IPS. “This Review Conference has demonstrated beyond any doubt that continuing to rely on the nuclear-armed states or their nuclear-dependent allies for l

#1 Prize for a bizarre story.....and lying!

No comment called for in this piece from CommonDreams: Another young black man: The strange sad case of 21-year-old Chavis Carter. Police in Jonesboro, Arkansas  stopped  him and two friends, found some marijuana, searched put Carter, then put him handcuffed  behind his back  into their patrol car, where they say he  shot himself  in the head with a gun they failed to find. The FBI is investigating. Police Chief Michael Yates, who stands behind his officers' story,  says in an interview  that the death is "definitely bizarre and defies logic at first glance." You think?