Australia - Howard Boasts Of Bad Relations w. US Democrats 1 Day Before Vote

[hatrack]

:evilgrin:

On the day before Americans went to the polls to vote in their mid-term Congressional election, John Howard did an extraordinary thing. In effect, he boasted about his poor relations with the Democratic Party in the US.

The PM was asked whether he would be willing to meet former US vice-president and leading Democrat, Al Gore, to discuss climate change, the issue on which Gore has become an international campaigner. “I think we ought to be realistic about this,” Howard said. “I don’t know that I’m at the top of his popularity list. I am, after all, a rather close friend of somebody he’s not very keen on.” There followed a smug smile.

EDIT

The Democrats’ stunning success in the mid-term election, breaking the Republican stranglehold on the Congress, shows how short-sighted Howard and his ministerial colleagues have been. They put all their eggs in the Republican basket.

As a former official in the Clinton Administration told The Sydney Morning Herald recently: “Your government made a one-way bet during its 10 years in office and neglected the Democrats. “Parties change and governments change and the Australian Government has forgotten that. “It has not maintained its ties with the Democrats and it is seen as a front-row cheer-leader for the Bush Administration.”

EDIT

http://news.ninemsn.com.au/article.aspx?id=160521