US Intervene in Australian politics

So we have a chance to show our national identity.

A letter writer to Crikey:

"Has any one else noticed or is it just me? The Bush Administration is now formally campaigning in Australian politics. On their own, the comments by the President at the joint press conference last week condemning Labor policy on Iraq could have been seen as an unwitting intervention. But the cumulative effect of comments by Secretary of State Powell and the menacing, bullying messages from Presidential thug and neo-con Richard Armitage leave no doubt that the Bush Administration is now officially campaigning against Australia’s Labor Opposition, and is specifically playing the man against the Opposition Leader, Mark Latham.

The precision and refinement of their attacks leaves no doubt that this pre-emptive strike has been laser-guided by the Prime Minister."

Margo Kingston in the SMH:
"Howard knows he’s got his 2004 Tampa: director George Bush and Latham knows it too.

In 2001 the fear politics was headlined “WE will decide who comes to this country and the circumstances in which they come”.

In 2004, it is “We will do everything the Republican Americans tell us to because we hope that if we do they’ll look after us in the course of their endless empire wars.”

This time, it’s Latham who might defiantly assert: “WE will decide when we go to war and the circumstances in which we go and leave.”

To save their careers, Howard and Bush have made a Faustian pact to change Australia into the 51st state – without voting rights – after making Australians too frightened to freely exercise their democratic vote."