Interesting Interview with Australian Politician Carr about US

[struggle4progress]

Bob Carr on the US

<snip>
Bob Carr: ... as Americans comment on it, they’re surprised by it – a little concerned by the direction it’s taking. So you’re either a Democrat or a Republican, and the nation is as evenly divided as it was in that very close election outcome that saw the Supreme Court hand the election to George Bush because of the outrageous electoral shenanigans in Florida.
<snip>

Bob Carr: ... It’s seen as being a very political White House, with every decision being filtered through the electoral calculation. And Democrats like Bill Clinton are furious. I heard Clinton say at a meeting a year ago in America, at the Aspen Institute, he said the Democrats should have walked out of the Senate – walked out of the Senate in protest when Republicans started running advertisements against Senator Tom Daschle, accusing him of being disloyal because of his position on various litmus pieces of legislation.
<snip>

Bob Carr: … There should have been resignations. There were no resignations. You look at the three reasons presented by the administration for going into Iraq. There were weapons of mass destruction. Those weapons of mass destruction were about to be put into the hands of terrorists, and there were strong links between the Saddam regime and Osama Bin Laden. They were the three foundations for the war. Not one of them stands up. Not one of them survives. And then the great symbolism of Abu Ghraib makes the case against this intervention stronger.
<snip>


Bob Carr: Well Australia’s highly regarded in America because we’ve got troops in Iraq. We’ve got to accept that. Second consideration, America is feeling wounded by how the war has gone so wrong. It is very sensitive to any ally, any friend, turning their back on American at this time. So the relationship has got to be handled with a lot of sensitivity and I know this is something that Kevin Rudd accepts as a major responsibility as the foreign minister in a possible Labor Government.
<snip>

http://www.abc.net.au/sundayprofile/stories/s1138579.htm

[othermeans]

1. Superb Article!

Well reasoned and carefully thought out responses. I'm not familiar with Mr. Carr but he sounds every bit a real student of the American body politic.

[struggle4progress]

2. Interesting things have been happening around Australia's elections.

Armitage, Bush, and Powell all attacked challenger Latham for proposing to withdraw the tropps from Iraq. This provoked reactions in the Aussie electorate with Latham backstroking some as the current PM Howard accused him of "anti-Americanism" and warned (in sync with the Bushistas) that Latham would wreck the Aussie-American alliance. Meanwhile, the Bushistas backstroked themselves in public, but seem to be keeping the pressure on behind the scenes. Howard tried to spin Carr's interview as an attack on Latham and the proposal to withdraw Aussie troops, but Carr's telling the press he weas misrepresented.

As an American taxpayer, I'm really wondering right now how many of my tax dollars are being used to jigger the Aussie campaigns.

[struggle4progress]

3. Here's an Aussie editorial from last week

IRAQ: Bush bullies Latham
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=103&topic_id=57787