Australian PM questions Obama's candidacy

Started by Sportsdude, Feb 12 07 07:27

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Sportsdude

   What a d-bag. What nerve lol, Bush has no cred anymore so now the official spokesman now for the war is the Aussie PM. lol!  Obama is right if PM Howard is so gun ho on the war then why doesn't he send 20,000 more Aussies to Iraq? Maybe PM Howard should worry about his own country, last time I checked the Labour Party was gaining on him.

[h1]Australian PM questions Obama's candidacy[/h1]MSNBC

Sydney, Australia- Australian Prime Minister John Howard on Monday denied having a political motive when he said terrorists in Iraq would be praying for Democratic hopeful Barack Obama to become U.S. president.[p class="textBodyBlack"][span id="byLine"][/span]Howard, a steadfast supporter of President Bush in the Iraq war, insisted his criticism of Obama's plan to withdraw U.S. combat troops in Iraq by March 31 next year was in Australia's national interest because Obama's plan would represent a defeat for Australia's most important military ally.[/p][p class="textBodyBlack"][span id="byLine"][/span]Howard's foray into U.S. politics dominated Monday's session of Parliament and news bulletins in Australia, and triggered a sharp response from Obama and senators on both sides of U.S. politics, including one who called the comments "bizarre."[/p]The issue overshadowed the results of a new opinion poll published Monday showing Howard, who will attempt to lead his conservative coalition to a fifth term at elections expected later this year, is lagging badly behind Labor opposition leader Kevin Rudd.[p class="textBodyBlack"][span id="byLine"][/span]In a nationally televised interview on Sunday, Howard said Obama's plan meant al-Qaida leaders in Iraq should "be praying as many times as possible for a victory, not only for Obama but also for the Democrats" at presidential elections in November 2008.[/p][p class="textBodyBlack"][span id="byLine"][/span]Rudd said Howard's comments amounted to calling the Democrats "the terrorists' party of choice" and could harm Australia's future with a possible Democratic U.S. administration.[/p][p class="textBodyBlack"][span id="byLine"][/span]"I'm doing nothing of the kind. I don't retract anything I said," Howard told Parliament in Canberra.[/p]Obama: Send more Australians to Iraq
He said the withdrawal of U.S. combat troops from Iraq early next year would be seen as a U.S. defeat that would "encourage and give succor" to terrorists in the Middle East and Asia and be "catastrophic for the West."[p class="textBodyBlack"][span id="byLine"][/span]"I hold the strongest possible view that it is contrary to the security interests of this country for America to be defeated in Iraq," Howard said.[/p][p class="textBodyBlack"][span id="byLine"][/span]"Let me make it perfectly clear, if I hear a policy being advocated that is contrary to Australia's security interests, I will criticize it."[/p][p class="textBodyBlack"][span id="byLine"][/span]Obama, in Iowa a day after formally announcing his candidacy, responded to Howard's initial comments by saying he was flattered that one of Bush's close allies had chosen to single him out for attack.[/p][p class="textBodyBlack"][span id="byLine"][/span]He then challenged Howard on his commitment to the Iraq conflict, noting the United States has nearly 140,000 troops in Iraq compared with Australia's about 1,400 forces in the region.[/p][p class="textBodyBlack"][span id="byLine"][/span]"So if he is ginned up to fight the good fight in Iraq, I would suggest that he calls up another 20,000 Australians and sends them to Iraq," Obama said. "Otherwise it's just a bunch of empty rhetoric."[/p][p class="textBodyBlack"][span id="byLine"][/span]In the latest ACNielsen poll published Monday in Fairfax newspapers, 48 percent of respondents named Rudd as their preferred prime minister, compared with 43 percent for Howard. Five percent were undecided. The national telephone survey of 1,412 voters was conducted Feb. 8-10 — before Howard's comments on Obama — and had a margin of error of 2.6 percentage points.[/p][p class="textBodyBlack"][span id="byLine"][/span]Howard said in a radio interview that Australia's troop commitment "very significant and appropriate" given the country's relatively small population of about 20 million.[/p]
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[/p][p class="textBodyBlack"][a href="vny!://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/17113465/"]vny!://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/17113465/[/a][/p][p class="textBodyBlack"]
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[img]vny!://farm1.static.flickr.com/128/385693111_e1c9b81ea2.jpg?v=1171132364"]
Obama in Springfield, IL on Saturday morning. 17,000 people showed up. Beat that Hillary.


[img]vny!://farm1.static.flickr.com/132/385710642_c65a575cac.jpg?v=0"]
He's running for President.
     
"We can't stop here. This is bat country."

CK

I know nothing of this Obama. He has really only been in Canadian news a lot lately. How does Sports feel about him?

  I think you could put a overflowing outhouse in power, and it would do a 10000 times better job than Bush.

kingy

is there any doubt that the democrats will be in power after the next election?
...

Sportsdude

If history is correct the Democrats will be in power in that address coming Nov '08


Me? I'm a HUUUGE Obama fan.  Plus he got my conservative grandmother to vote for him (probably the first time ever she voted democrat).

Its really down to Hillary, Obama, Edwards

Clintonites love Hillary (mainly the 50 and over crowd) while Obama is loved by the younger gen (40 and under).

I'm rooting for a ticket of Obama and Richardson (hispanic gov of New Mexico) mainly because it would be the complete opposite of what the republicans are going to offer.

McCain for the republicans is too old and he's for more troops in Iraq
Guiliani the ex mayor of NYC is for abortion rights, gay rights, stem cell, and anti gun. The social conservatives won't vote if he gets the nomination
Romney is a mormon 1 and 3 americans have said they WILL NOT vote for a mormon.  They're seen as cultish folks
And Brownback is a bush light super social evangelical conservative and if he was nominated for the republicans he'd get landslided because people are tired of evangelical politicians.


 
"We can't stop here. This is bat country."

Raver

I really hope that Obama wins the '08 Election.  

  Maybe he's as full of crap as all politicians but he's the first one to come along in a long time, that actually seems like he may have some fresh ideas with the peoples intrests in mind, and capable of winning.  

  He's a very charismatic speaker, I'm gay for Obama

Sportsdude

lol gay for Obama thats a new one.  
"We can't stop here. This is bat country."

Gunta

Let's be freaking real here.

  Obama is black, he is not going to become president.

  No racism intended, it is just the truth.

  This move is just going to sway away the swing voting race eccentric social conservatives.

  When are the democrats going to use their brains?    

Sportsdude

the right wing social conservatives aren't going to vote in '08 look who they have on the Republican side:

Romney: a mormon who now has flipped flopped on all the social conservative issues saying he's anti abortion, anti stem cell, anti gays when he's on the record for saying the opposite

Guiliani: 'america's mayor' he's for gay rights, abortion rights, stem cell research and he's strongly anti gun

McCain: he's really old, he's not really a social conservative and he's for the environment, which is a no no in the right wing christian conservative circles.


My friend's parents would strongly fit the far right wing voter and they are on the record that if Romney or Guilani are nominated they will not vote.
 
"We can't stop here. This is bat country."

Raver

Gunta wrote:
 Let's be freaking real here.

  Obama is black, he is not going to become president.

  No racism intended, it is just the truth.

  This move is just going to sway away the swing voting race eccentric social conservatives.

  When are the democrats going to use their brains?

 


 
 He's only half black.  He's also not a thug  and therefore non-threatening to middle america.  He's the Fresh Prince of DC

kingy

is al gore running? or john kerry?
...

Raver

I don't think Gore will run.  He's pretty focused on the global warming stuff and being president would distract from that.

  Kerry, should really not bother but I think he will try.

Sportsdude

"We can't stop here. This is bat country."

tenkani

Nice thread, SD.

  #1: Yes, the terrorists will cheer if Obama becomes president because...

#2: Obama's plan to pull our forces out of Iraq will constitute a massive military defeat for the U.S. (and by extension her allies). Is there really any debating this?

  Pulling our troops out will be humiliating and will most likely lead to an immediate (though hopefully temporary) worsening of the security situation in Iraq, in other words, increased ethnic cleansing. But considering the alternative (remaining bogged down in a civil war for the foreseeable future), it is the lesser of two evils, at least in my opinion.

  I saw a black intellectual on the Colbert Report the other night explaining why Obama is not black. He is not the descendant of slaves and thus is like a "step-brother" to African Americans. Whatever he is, the question will become whether white America feels threatened by his skin color, his middle name, and all the other petty, superficial bullshit that our mass media thrives on.

  I'm betting that he will be knocked out of the running but that whites will feel wonderful about themselves because they considered voting for a "black" candidate and see it as proof that our nation has moved beyond the scourge of racism.            
For thou art with me; thy cream and thy sugar they comfort me
Thou preparest a carafe before me in the presence of Juan Valdez
Thou anointest my day with pep; my mug runneth over
Surely richness and taste shall follow me all the days of my life
And I will dwell in the house of coffee forever.

Sportsdude

But here is the counter agruement to Iraq will go to chaos if we pull out (which it will)
Vietnam

We are now trading partners with Vietnam, we like the Vietnamese. These are the same people that we 'hated' 30 some odd years ago.

The thing is the USA public or Washington has never gotten this.  WE ARE NOT GOOD NATION BUILDERS.

We are good at selling you things.  Look what we did to the Soviet Union.  We didn't go to an offical war with them (although we had a bunch of 'proxy' wars with them).

The Soviet Union fell because of captialism.  Look at China. They are basically capitalists now under communism. Same with Vietnam.

If you look through history we cannot rebuild countries from scratch.  The Balkans was rebuilt by NATO not just the US.  Europe in World War II already had a democratic history. Japan and South Korea was a little bit of asian idealogy on life + capitalistic ideas.  They saw a path and went for it.

The Middle East does not have this history.

When the US goes alone in 'nation building' you get a Haiti which is a complete mess.  And if Washington was smart they'd stay the hell away from Cuba when Castro dies but they won't.  
 
"We can't stop here. This is bat country."

CK

Nation Building? Is that what they were trying to accomplish?

so confused...