John Howard is in Washington as we all know, all too well, from the media here.
Today the Washington Post even reported on our PM's visit, but pointedly noted:
"Little wonder the president lavished such attention on his counterpart from Down Under. When it comes to Bush's "coalition of the willing" partners, Howard is virtually the last man standing."
Seemingly "blind" to what is going on in being feted as he is [I had understood Howard is a little hard of hearing] we have the spectacle of a PM seemingly fawning at the feet of Washington's B-grade team - George, Dick, Condi and Rumsie. It's all rather too much as Phillip Adams suggests in his column in The Australian yesterday:
"You may recall the outrage when Latham resorted to metaphors involving noses and buttocks. He implied that no cork was ever more tightly fitted in a bottle of champers than John Howard's proboscis in the seat of presidential power. Not merely supportive, Howard's relationship was suppositorial.
But that was back in the heady days of 9/11 when some degree of collective insanity was understandable, even forgivable. That was before George W. Bush had proved himself pig-ignorant of geography, history and intelligent strategy, before he'd embarked on a couple of doomed Vietnam-style adventures. Two wars, one vengeful, one pre-emptive, military cures that would prove worse than the disease, cost the US billions of dollars and thousands of lives, and leave the Bush administration in smouldering ruins. Baghdad on the Potomac.
Where's Latham when you need him? Only he, with his gift for the political vulgarism, could find words to describe the scene this week. There's Howard back in Washington with Bush and his whole discredited team: Dick Cheney, Donald Rumsfeld, Condoleezza Rice, the gang that can't shoot or think straight. The blundering bullies who, deciding to impose Pax Americana with all their might and missile, squandered the world's goodwill, made enemies out of allies.
Not content with telling the biggest porkies in modern history, this bunch of dills were conned by the neo-cons into a huge political, diplomatic and fiscal catastrophe. Now their collective credibility rates with shares in Enron. Yet instead of taking stock, Howard is buying stock."
Read Adams' full column here.
Today the Washington Post even reported on our PM's visit, but pointedly noted:
"Little wonder the president lavished such attention on his counterpart from Down Under. When it comes to Bush's "coalition of the willing" partners, Howard is virtually the last man standing."
Seemingly "blind" to what is going on in being feted as he is [I had understood Howard is a little hard of hearing] we have the spectacle of a PM seemingly fawning at the feet of Washington's B-grade team - George, Dick, Condi and Rumsie. It's all rather too much as Phillip Adams suggests in his column in The Australian yesterday:
"You may recall the outrage when Latham resorted to metaphors involving noses and buttocks. He implied that no cork was ever more tightly fitted in a bottle of champers than John Howard's proboscis in the seat of presidential power. Not merely supportive, Howard's relationship was suppositorial.
But that was back in the heady days of 9/11 when some degree of collective insanity was understandable, even forgivable. That was before George W. Bush had proved himself pig-ignorant of geography, history and intelligent strategy, before he'd embarked on a couple of doomed Vietnam-style adventures. Two wars, one vengeful, one pre-emptive, military cures that would prove worse than the disease, cost the US billions of dollars and thousands of lives, and leave the Bush administration in smouldering ruins. Baghdad on the Potomac.
Where's Latham when you need him? Only he, with his gift for the political vulgarism, could find words to describe the scene this week. There's Howard back in Washington with Bush and his whole discredited team: Dick Cheney, Donald Rumsfeld, Condoleezza Rice, the gang that can't shoot or think straight. The blundering bullies who, deciding to impose Pax Americana with all their might and missile, squandered the world's goodwill, made enemies out of allies.
Not content with telling the biggest porkies in modern history, this bunch of dills were conned by the neo-cons into a huge political, diplomatic and fiscal catastrophe. Now their collective credibility rates with shares in Enron. Yet instead of taking stock, Howard is buying stock."
Read Adams' full column here.
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