Australia: Howard win 'victory for Bush'

[foreigncorrespondent]

PRIME Minister John Howard's election win could be counted as a victory for President George W Bush, a US intelligence thinktank said today.

Stratfor, a private sector intelligence agency based in Texas, said Mr Howard's win had signalled approval of his own government's policies in support of US action in Iraq.

<snip>

"Howard's return to office with a much stronger footing in parliament would give the Bush-Cheney ticket wherewithal to respond to Democratic challenger Senator John Kerry, who has claimed that the Bush administration's policies have cost Washington the support of allies.

"The Republicans can point to Australia not only as a contradiction to Kerry's stance, but also as a country where support for US policies is apparently not all that unpopular."

More (of this crap)... http://www.heraldsun.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5478,11050766%255E1702,00.html

I am really so sick of the Murdoch Rags constant spin for everything evil!

[rooboy]

1. Let's all wave bye-bye to Stratfor's credibility, children!!! n/t

[struggle4progress]

20. <snip> More than two-thirds of the people living in Australia, Britain ...

... and Italy -- three countries allied with the United States in the Iraq war -- believe the war has increased the threat of terrorism. <snip>

AP Poll: Bush allies face doubts from their citizens about terrorism
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=102&topic_id=898347

[progressivebydesign]

2. I have an idea..

let's take Murdoch, Sinclair's Smith and Hyman, Hannity, Rush, and most of Fox News... put them in a rowboat in the middle of the Atlantic, with one oar.. one box of cookies.. and an MP3 player loaded with nothing but Brittney Spears music.

[Seabiscuit]

10. Then drop

an huge bomb on their little boat.

[Skittles]

3. Bullshit

Howard was elected based on the economy, not the war in Iraq

[foreigncorrespondent]

5. You and I know that Skittles...

...but you know all too well that the sheeple are gonna believe anything Bush* spins to them!

[FlemingsGhost]

4. As close to an election victory as Junior is gonna get.

The lengths at which the corporate propagnada machine will go to spin positive news regarding Bush, has become laughable.

(edited for clarity)

[moondust]

6. That's a stretch.

As I understand it Australians have a good economy going and they are not stupid enough to take a chance on throwing it all away on an untested politician with little experience (as in U.S. 2000). I doubt that it has anything at all to do with Bush.

[sandnsea]

7. Then don't post it n/t

[aquart]

8. Pity it's not a victory for Australia.

[Violet_Crumble]

11. It could be worse, I guess...

We could have the Bush administration running the country. Oh, wait. We've got his Yes-Man doing it instead....

I'm so impressed that according to that 'think'tank, our election wasn't about a lot of silly and selfish Australians running scared at the suggestion that interest rates would rise under Labor, but it was all about a show of support for Bush and his global rampage. I know people who vote Liberal who detest Bush nearly as much as I do...

Violet...

[gemini_liberal]

9. A Victory for Shrub????

BULLSH**!

It was a victory for Coward, and against Latham.

If this were a victory for Shrub, the election would've had to have been about him, and I assure you if this were a referendum on Shrub, Coward would've lost in a landslide!

[ausiedownunderground]

12. "Warning Warning John Kerry Danger Danger Democrats"

Howard's win down here in Oz comes with "Big Danger signs" For John Kerry and the Democrats. Don't panic but let me explain how you guys can avoid the mistakes that our Labor Party made and thus allowed the conservatives to win down here. The relationship between the US and Australia is not really a mutual liking of populations. In fact in Oz we dont really like Americans that much, present company of course not included, in that slightly sweeping statement . We prefer the europeans and asians generally. The relationship is not even one between our conservative party and your Rethuglican party but in fact is based upon the personnel mutual love that exists between our "little smirking chimp" and your "slightly bigger smirking chump". Both these men are very simi-liar and it appears that both have and are running very simi-liar campaigns. Its as if Karl Rove and company have a set of clones down here. Howard like Bush ran a very negative campaign against the challenger. Continually hammering away about the challenger's capacity to lead. In our case about "leading the economy" and in yours about "Commander in chief of the troops". Howard like Bush is a compulsive liar and comes from the Karl Rove school of political thought that if you keep lying enough times about something the electorate will finally be worn down and finally believe you. In our case like yours, Howard and Bush continually lie about the state of their respective economies and the Iraq War/War on Terror situation. Both furiously paint these "Rosey pictures" that everything is great and under control - Just trust me? When in fact our economy is not great and is very similiarly positioned to yours but just on a smaller scale, although China does need our Raw Materials and Energy resources which gives us a very small amount of breathing space- but not much. We like you are an economy waiting for a car crash!!!!
Howards other major tactic like Bush was to "Scare the Pants" off us. Terror everywhere! Secure the borders! National Security! Were kicking the terorists butt in the Middle East! blah blah blah. Sound familiar???????
This Rovian political thought strategy, like in the US, is then backed to the hilt by the Owners of our mainstream media which isn't many but does include that ex-Oztralian Rupey Murdoch. Pump the lies enough and enough and hey presto you wear em down and win the election!!!
However their is one missing ingredient to obviously guareentee success and this is where the warning to you Democrats is most important!!!!!!!!!
Your opponent has to fall for this, even though he/she knows its all crap! Staying silent on Howard's key weaknesses was Labours "Biggest Mistake"!!!! There were others but this was numero uno! Labour allowed Howard and his cronies to literally get away with the lies and lies and lies and lies until maybe even they believed them. Howard got away scott free on his "booming economy myth" and "boy are me and George kicking the terrorists myth"!!!!
You Democrats musn't fall for the same tactic. John Kerry must absolutely "go for the jugular" on both these issues no matter how unpatriotic the messenger of bad news is in the US. The war on terror is a complete disaster, you have lost heaps of soldiers killed and wounded, the Draft is Coming, the terrorists are winning!!!!The rest of the world hates you!
Your economy is in terrible shape and is a car crash waiting to happen. China will pass you economically in the not to distant future. Bush and Cheney are at the wheel- you need to change direction now!!!!! We might survive Howard and his conservatives but we won't survive Howard and "The Bush Gang" together again for round 2!!!
We all know the truth here i hope!!!

[cali]

13. Thanks

for both the terrific analysis of your election and the advice to our candidate. I do think that Kerry is agressively chasing down the lies perpetrated by rove et al. Frankly, Kerry can't be too tough, and I believe he and his campaign realize this.

[Guaranteed]

15. We've got Bush by the balls at this point.

I don't know how the campaign went in Australia, but here in the U.S. it's not good news for a sitting president when he's struggling just to keep his head above water.

Kerry has the momentum right now, and the lead in many polls. We've also got one more debate, which are moving the polls Kerry's way.

Bushco is desperate. We've got this under control.

[no safe haven]

17. If we survive Howard, we'll be back in the 50s

Every social program that Labor has achieved - universal health care, labour laws, superannuation, and basically a society with some integrity, will all be pulled down. 30 years of struggle down the plughole. The elections gave Australians a tough choice - one of voting on a moral conviction to oust the liar, or, a practical choice of (perceived)"economic stability". Practicality won the day. Australians voted on economic issues, not on national security or a love of *.

* is so full of himself. When Howard posed with * in the WH Rose Garden and bad mouthed Mark Latham, he made himself a laughing stock. No one was impressed. When Armitage and Powell criticised Latham for wanting to withdraw troops, there was anger across the board, from the right and the left. And when the US Ambassador Tom Scheiffer(sp) told Australians they were being anti-American and he criticised Australian ABC radio for running a story biased against the Iraq war, Australians were ropable. There is no love for * here, and if he thinks his antics had something to do with Howard's win, then he's delusional, which we all knew.

I would say though that Australians do not hate *Americans* as such. It's just that US foreign policy sucks big time - it's the face of the US that is presented to the world. No one likes being patronised, threatened and shit on.

US cultural imperialism is a sore point, but then, there are many cultural positives that people genuinely love, like music, literature, the arts. There are many wonderful things about US culture and many great minds, like Chomsky (my favourite), that enrich us all. I do believe most of the world respects America's liberal traditions, but loathes what * is portraying as "Murkan". It's therefore easy and probably satisfying for non-Americans to criticise and to stereotype Americans as being little better than guests on Jerry Springer. This is where *'s self-loathing has brought America.

Tell Kerry that Australians did not endorse * by voting for Howard.

[Guaranteed]

14. LOL well it's gonna be pretty short-lived. nt

[Larkspur]

16. So why did Australians re-elect Howard?

[Polemonium]

22. Simple answer - fear of interest rate hikes on home loans

that was the big one or so it appears.

[Josh]

18. That's just not true -

I was right in the thick of this campaign and I can tell you that Iraq was NOT an issue. It decided NOTHING. This campaign was about the economy and interest rates only - a failing on Labor's part not to be able to steer it anywhere else, but true nonetheless.

Iraq decided nothing here; most people disagree with Howard's decision to go to war but no one cared enough for it to be anything close to decisive as an election issue.

[wickywom]

19. I can't think of a single democracy in the world that

would even consider electing our current President...

Not a one...

[K8-EEE]

21. The Arrogance -- The World Revolves Around GWB

God, if they are going to frame it like that then why don't they say the elections in Spain & Italy were a 'Loss' for Bush, as well as Costa Rica, Poland et al wanting out of the "coalition?"

[daleo]

23. An election over interest rates?

I don't quite get it. Here in Canada, interest rates are set by the Bank of Canada (actually by an auction process, I believe). In the U.S., they are set by the Federal Reserve Bank. I know there is a political dimension to interest rates, but it seems a bit arm's length to me. Is the situation different in Australia?

[foreigncorrespondent]

24. Nothing is differen here in Oz!

The Reserve Bank does the interest rates here as well, but what the Howard government did was play a fear/smear campaign saying that interest rates would go up under a Labor government. The one thing the Howard bullshitters forgot to mention however was, that regardless, the interest rates will be going up. There is no way possible Howard can keep the election promises he made, plus keep interest rates from going up!

Because the Aussie dream is to own their own home, Howard's campaign worked. People thought about short term furture rather than long term future!

Boy are the idiots gonna be crying in their beer when they realize their loan repayments are going up!

[daleo]

26. Thanks for the reply and information

I agree that national governments (especially smaller countries that are very export oriented like Australia and Canada) have a limited ability to affect interest rates. But scare campaigns can have their effect, and home ownership is a powerful motivator.

I can't help wondering, though, whether Australia doesn't suffer from the inverse problem that Canada does. We are so close to the U.S. that its looming presence dominates our politics. You are so far from the U.S., that perhaps its absence (or potential absence) dominates your politics, or at least your foreign policy. I am thinking here of the willingness to go along with U.S. ventures such as Viet Nam and Iraq, at least on the part of the political classes. I have always assumed this was due to isolation and fear of being abandoned by Great Britain, and/or the U.S. in a foreign crisis (such as nearly happened with Japanese aggression in WWII).

No offense meant - Canada has only occasionally managed to avoid the colonial entanglements of Great Britain and quasi-colonial entanglements of the U.S.

[LynnTheDem]

25. Majority of Australians OPPOSE bush, Iraq invasion

Nice try tho, rightwingnut "think" tank.

[AspenRose]

27. Maybe the Australians need to take a cue from the Norwegians

and put an ad in a major US paper expressing their disgust with American foreign policy and support of a 'regime change' in DC.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x899134