The Latham Debacle just keeps on giving
MARK Latham’s new life as a stay-at-home dad is being funded by a generous $66,000-a-year pension scheme that he slashed for the next generation of MPs.
But yesterday on 2UE radio in Sydney, the former Labor leader said if he had become a merchant banker he would be earning $300,000 a year.Who on earth would pay Latham anything after his dummy spit? On reflection though, the country and the ALP would have been a lot better off if Latham had picked merchant banking as his career. Any commercial enterprise would have picked Latham as useless quicker than the time it takes to fracture his fragile ego with the result that he would never have occupied a responsible position in Merchant Banking or in politics. A definite win-win situation Lathams verdict: The system is sick Australia’s verdict: Latham is sick. Over at Silent Running a Kiwi has a message for Latham The post starts with this plain spoken message;
In the unlikely even I need some asshole comment about my countries apparently enviable pro-terrorist position we have plenty of home grown f**kwits already thanks.Latham still has plenty of supporters though, and one of them comments on Anthony Lowenstein’s blog
I want to be able to vote for a party that is public in it’s mistrust of this American administration. I want candidates who assert the primacy of Australian sovereignty in matters of war, fo-po, trade, media law, etc. I want a party that will guarantee that ID won’t end up in our schools on their watch; that there will never be computer screen voting in this country; that someone like Scott Parkin would not have even been questioned by their government; that dares to call Israel on it’s sins.I note he says …mistrust in this American administration to cover himself for the unlikely event that a left leaning Democrat gets to the White House. Glen just wants an anti-Bush/US party. You’re dead right Glen…don’t hold your breath. Australians think deeper than US evil…Bush dumb. I trust by now the Libs have all his most outlandish quotes databased on their laptops for quick reference in the House at question time. It’s going to be fun.
Facebook
Twitter
Glenn strikes me as another one who complains about “receding sovereignty” only in regards to the US and not the UN.
“I trust by now the Libs have all his most outlandish quotes databased on their laptops for quick reference in the House at question time.”
I expect you’re right. Just the sort of stupid, sound-byte mentality that has the political system in this country in such a mess, and illustrative of one of the many very valid points Latham is making in his book.
Rebekka,
It would appear you’re left wing and thus nothing short of an ALP totally dominated by the left will ever please you. The truth, unpalateable as it may seem, is that mainstream Australia is not left wing and therein lies the rub. Latham has attracted some of the flack by virtue of policies that lean too far to the left and thus do not feed the aspirations of 80% plus of the population. His anti-US diatribe left most cold and his public denouncement of Bush was an embarrassment and politically stupid.
It may be a surprise to you but the majority of the country do not view America as evil as Latham obviously does and whereas you may well agree with his anti-US/Bush approach, most Australians view the US in a more pragmatic light. Imperfect, a contradiction in terms, sometimes erring but on the whole, a well intentioned society.
He may be speaking some truths but his freedom to speak his mind brings with it a responsibility not to mention the unpalateable and not to give great offence to the population.
This statement has offended literally millions of Australians.
I detest war and the meatheads who volunteer to kill other human beings. The US alliance is a funnel that draws us into unnecessary wars; first Vietnam and then Iraq.
If the ALP is gutted of all it’s non-left MPs it will become unelectable and the ALP has it’s work cut out to prevent that happening.
In the end I think he will be condemned to the rubbish bin of ALP history. A huge mistake and the public’s disgust that the ALP put him up as leader and an alternative to Howard will dog them for along time.
Kev
‘sometimes erring but on the whole, a well intentioned society.’
There may be some in Australia who ‘view America as evil’ but most critics of US foreign policy share your above-quoted view. It’s just that when the US errs, we would like Australia to be able to have an independent position, instead of following in step like the poodle we’ve become.
‘Poodle’ is an emotive word, the use of which would suggest that anything Howard did was following in step. I wonder if Hawk’s foreign policy that heralded his sending troops to Kuwait was following in step or was that independant thinking?
I doubt you and I would ever agree on foreign policy and I wouldn’t presume to try and change your mind. Just be aware that there are a lot of Australians who think that to be apart of the civilized world brings with it responsibilities much broader than any fortress mentality. The Middle East has been a hot bed of radicalsim since forever and while some of them murder our citizens then we have to do something about it. We can’t just sit back and wait for them to reach the same century we live in.
The US have a plan to install a democracy in the middle of the maelstrom and I agree with it. I strongly believe that if the young people in the ME are educated, as we see education, then eventually they will see the world in more than black and white. It is, in my opinion, the only way to break the hold that the clerics have over the youth of their respective countries. It was the lack of education that left them in the 12 century and it was the same education that brought us to the 21st.
Of course the Clerics and despot leaders are never going to let that happen without a fight and thus we have the situation in Iraq.
I am military trained to do something when confronted with an emergency and I think under the circumstance the US and Bush did what they thought was best. Howard, I think was reasonable to offer support, as small as it was. We need to pay insurance and back who we believe are the better option. We need to contribute in a meaninful way to try and stop the terror. Sitting on the sidelines attacking every move without offering a suggested answer is never an option. Let’s leave that to the academics.
I am always curious as to what Bush’s detractors would have him do after 911. To not have done anything would have been the worse crime. To have done something is far better yet whatever he does he is condemned.
I note on your site that Bush get’s a caning for Katrina and well he should. It wasn’t handled very well at the federal level. But I also note that local authorities get little mention. Nagin and Banco were a waste of space yet the force 5 gale covering every utterance from Bush is deafening throughout the world and the truth is laced with outright lies by ommission and fact.
I guess our difference of opinion could well be based on defining when she errs. I’m of the opinion that the current US foreign policy thrust is correct and you don’t, but we have both arrived at this point in time via a very different route and our opinions are bound to be clash.
That’s life.
I agree with you loadedog that most critics ‘sometimes erring but on the whole, a well intentioned society.” But its not hard to distinguish between them and the one’s getting off on the ‘political’ implications such as Katrina. Evan when as an obvious after thought they add a few words towards the human tragedy.
Interesting commentary on the Latham largess, Kevin. We may finally agree on something.
Re the “Poodle” nonsense, why is it that so many people are so incapable of basic thought as to not realise that Howard and Bush, as elected conservative leaders of western nations have a great deal in common – it isn’t Howard blindly following Bush, they agree on many things and given their political beliefs and basic outlooks it is frankly stunning that anyone is surprised.