Rudd meets Bush: Another pre-election myth busted

 

Many a Howard lover would have been vomiting blood today on seeing images of Kevin Rudd getting along famously with US President George W Bush.

If Howard had a strong point it was his relationship with the US and the pics of Rudd would remind them more than ever of what the Liberals have lost. They would have squirmed when hearing Bush’s comments at the news conference, like:

“(Our) friendship will strengthen and endure under the leadership of Kevin Rudd. I have found him to be a straightforward fella …  He is thoughtful, he is strategic in thought, and he is committed to the same values that I’m committed to: rule of law, human rights, human decency.

“And we’re sure proud you’re here.

“We spent a great deal of time talking about the economies. One thing we spent time on is talking about the benefits of trade between our two nations and the benefits of a world that trades freely and fairly.”

Bush also went on to say he admired Rudd for sticking to his convictions on Iraq, before using what I reckon is one of the best pieces of spin I’ve heard in a long time.

“Troops are coming out, because we’re successful. And so, I would view the Australian decision as return on success — returning home on success.”

And when Bush was asked if, like Howard, Rudd was a man of steel, Bush replied: “Yeah, heck yeah”. 

Rudd’s smooth pick up of the US-Australian-alliance baton dispels the myth that a Labor government would have spelled disaster for cross-Pacific relations -  just like how the unions aren’t killing and eating small children, the terrorists aren’t killing everyone, the wall-to-wall Labor states aren’t running roughshod on the government and the economy hasn’t gone to shit (yet).

Why not say Sorry? Oh yeah, you’re an arsehole.

 

The apology to the Stolen Generations may not mean much to many white Australians, but it means a lot to the Indigenous peoples. So why begrudge them of this? If you don’t feel guilty or sorry than simply shut the fuck up and get on with life. Why be angry? How will your life change?

Some of the reader comments in the Herald Sun show a lot of anger by people who are nothing more than racist arseholes bullshitting on about the Rudd Government turning Australia into a pathetic nation of apologists.

Here’s some snippets of insightfulness. I make no apologies for giving these comments and the people making them the contempt they deserve, or for how I phrase it.

Beware the Rudd haters

All those people who accused anyone who dared criticise the Howard Government as “left-wing, latte-sipping Howard haters” have taken it upon themselves to spread their own hatred to the incumbent, for no other reason than that he is a popularly elected Labor prime minister.

The trouble with the whole Howard-hater tag is that it deflected the reasons why people disliked the former prime minister and his government.

Despite what the pig-headed conservatives who coined the term would have you believe, John Howard wasn’t hated simply because he was a Liberal prime minister. When he first came into power and toughened the country’s gun laws after the Port Arthur massacre, Labor voters (except those who hunt and vote) agreed with him, as they did his decision to send Australian troops into East Timor.

The so-called Left didn’t oppose Howard for the sake of opposing him. He had to actually show what a bastard he really was before people started sharing more than a passing dislike based on political or idealogical differences.