Menzies House

Shorten - Australia's Maxwell Smart?

Included in a stack of released WikiLeaks cables was an account of Bill Shorten's meeting with US Consul-General Thurston. This report was made public in August 2011 in various publications including the Australian Financial Review.

It is to be wondered if Shorten's union mates know of that meeting and what was said? It looks like Bill's ambition for greatness is again being played out in his so far commitment to support Gillard. "Sorry Julia, they made me dump you." GC.Ed.@L.

Mr Shorten met with the US Consul-General in Melbourne Michael Thurston in June 2009.

Similarities in leadership

Top ranking US presenter Bill O'Reilly is not noted for going hard on President Obama, until now. It seems there is a familiar pattern with socialist leaders that surfaces soon after re-election.

Ego, arrogance and incompetence are the common traits - usually all three at once. Readers may recognise similarities between the Prime Minister of Australia and the US President in Bill's article.

GC.Ed.@L.

What Happened, Mr. President?

By Bill O'Reilly http://www.billoreilly.com/

Thursday, May 16, 2013 Not a great week for the Obama folks, as the scandal du jour tour has firmly taken hold. Every day it seems another federal agency is exposed as either intimidating, snooping, covering up, or going to Vegas on the taxpayer dime. Zimbabwe is even making fun of us. On January 21, 2009, in remarks welcoming his new presidential staff, Barack Obama said: "Let me say it as simply as I can: Transparency and the rule of law will be the touchstones of this presidency." So what happened, Mr. President? Why so much stonewalling?

Election 2012 Post-Mortem: When Predictions Go Wrong!

Menzies House U.S. Politics Editor Michi Iljazi comments on the 2012 election results.

Hello readers! It has been a few months since I have published a post and for those of you that are reading I want to thank you for your continued readership of my material and those from all the great contributors here at Menzies House.

My last post of 2012 was my pre-election analysis and final predictions for the Presidential contest, and several of the hotly contested Senate races. I struggled with whether or not to make a prediction because sometimes (many times) predictions are incorrect, and incorrect is an understatement of how the calls in my pre-election post turned out. That being said, there are a few brief points I would like to make regarding my last post.

MOLON LABE

James writes about an historical event of centuries ago. It is informative and indicates how President Obama is pushing his leftist agenda. He has created a festering sore among many Americans who refuse to acquiesce. To quote James, This thing is getting nasty. GC.Ed.

The bumbling Obama, and his clueless vice-president, Biden are stumbling around to take arms away from US citizens.

But judging by the reactions of thousands if not tens of thousands of women joining gun clubs, carrying sidearms, practicing shooting; and judging from dozens of organisations quite apart from the huge National Rifle Association who repeat “Molon Labe” and keep referring to Lexington on April 19th; and judging by the bumper stickers reading Molon Labe, it will take bigger men than these two to succeed.

Molon Labe? Lexington?

In 480 BC, a Persian Army reported by Herodotus as numbering two million men and marched to enslave Greece.

King Leonidas of Sparta marched with only three hundred men to Thermopylae to stop him.

A Persian envoy arrived. The envoy explained clearly to Leonidas the futility of attempting to resist the enormous Persian army, and demanded that the Spartans lay down their arms.

Leonidas laconically replied, “Molon Labe” – “come and take them.”

David Cameron has a Mitt Romney Problem

Dan Whitfield discusses the similarities between David Cameron and Mitt Romney - and how this spells bad news for Cameron:

After Mitt Romney, the Republican nominee for President was defeated last November, British political prognosticators predicted that the result was a good omen for David Cameron and a warning for his opposite number on the Labour benches, Ed Miliband.

They are wrong.

It’s easy to see why the experts made such a mistake.  After all, President Obama won reelection with unemployment hovering at 8% - something no occupant of the White House has ever done before (the closest was Ronald Reagan, who was reelected in 1984 with unemployment at 7.2%).  Obama won in spite of the gridlock paralyzing Washington (for which he is largely responsible), contempt for politicians at record levels, and smoldering resentment over his reform of the American healthcare system.

President Obama also won despite his opponent, former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney, effectively stealing the mantle of change.

Such similarities to the political situation in the UK will not have gone unnoticed by Tory High Command.  That's why, on the surface, President Obama's reelection is delightful news for Cameron.  Even now, perhaps, advice is being poured into the Prime Minister's ear, urging him to follow the path blazed by the President.  To win a reelection campaign of his own, all David Cameron need do is remind voters of the mess he inherited, emphasize the indicators which point to an economic recovery, and expose his opponents glaring shortcomings.  Follow the Obama recipe, and another 5 years in Downing Street beckon.

But a close look at exit polling should have Conservatives nervous.  It shows that Mitt Romney lost for exactly the same reasons that have damaged British Tories generally, and David Cameron in particular.

It’s time to place Richard Nixon amongst the greats

Theo Zographos has more than a passing interest in American politics. Were Richard Milhous Nixon still alive, he would be celebrating his 100th birthday tomorrow, and I dare say rather pleased with theo's kind words about him. GC.Ed.

Tomorrow marks the 100^th birthday of Richard Nixon, the 37^th president of the United States. One of the most influential figures of the 20^th century, Nixon now needs to be remembered as one of the better American presidents, because a man with his achievements can’t be withheld of his place in history any longer.

There are many people who would say that Nixon has already been rehabilitated in the eyes of Americans and the world. Nixon worked hard post presidency to gain back the respect of the American people, and his death was mourned by a nation. Bill Clinton called on him for advice. Even Hillary, herself a young up and coming lawyer working for the Judiciary Committee of the US House of Representatives during the Watergate hearings, openly met with Nixon whilst first lady. Nixon did have many friends in palaces and parliaments across the world too.

However in my time at university, in my working life and in my political experiences, the overwhelming anecdotal impressions I get from friends and colleagues is that “tricky dicky” was a crook and fraud, morally defunct and a disgrace to politics and government.

The Bush Tax Cuts worked: Exposing the Obama Lies

Sun-Yong offers his take on the contentious matter of US politics. The coming days may see moves and shifts from unlikely players as they bid to save the day. GC. Ed.

The central tenet of the current ‘Fiscal Cliff’ negotiations between President Barack Obama and Republican Speaker John Boehner has revolved around the extension of the Bush Tax Cuts. It has been contended by President Obama that the Bush Tax Cuts for the so called ‘rich’ should not be extended because they had no effect on stimulating the economy and are the primary reason for the US fiscal situation. Nancy Pelosi perfectly sums up this view through the following remarks:

"I don't see any reason why we should renew a tax cut that only gives a tax cut to the wealthiest people in America, increases the deficit, and doesn't create jobs. That doesn't make any sense.”- Nancy Pelosi, 2009 

Such comments play to a blue collar audience that recently lost jobs at the hands of employers who used taxpayer funded bailouts for their own salary bonuses. However appealing this message of Class Warfare is to some, it fails in reality. Contrary to Nancy Pelosi’s assertions, the Bush Tax Cuts stimulated the US economy and reduced deficit.

Bush Tax Cuts stimulated the economy

Geoff Elliott “reports” on American gun control.

Philip Lillingston suggests that the gun control debate sparked by the Newtown School shooting in the US might have been better placed on hold until after families had grieved. GC.Ed.

The current Washington correspondent for The Australian, Geoff Elliott, published a piece in the Weekend Australian for the 22-23 December, in which he gave us his report on the aftermath of the tragic Newtown school shooting. 

Newspapers generally make an effort to differentiate between a journalist’s or correspondent’s report and a columnist’s opinion piece. As he is not listed as any of the twenty-nine identified columnists on the website of The Australian, and as he has specifically been placed in one area of the world where news frequently happens, it might be reasonable to say that the role of Mr Elliott is to report the facts happening there rather than to compose what used to be called “think pieces” pontificating on current trends.

Bearing that in mind his article “Defending the right to bear arms” made for interesting reading. To begin with the heading came with a sub heading stating “The gun lobby will fight attacks on the second amendment.” Fair enough. No problem there: he is giving us an introduction as to an unchallengeable truism which will be some aspect of his article. However, together with that it also carried a super-heading declaring “How many innocent victims have to die?” From that we are apparently to take as a given that the right to bear arms goes hand in hand with innocent people dying. If Philip Adams had written that in one of his columns it would have hardly raised an eyebrow because, well, it was Philip Adams. But for a correspondent to imply as truth a highly topical assertion,  and right at the beginning of his report, does make one wonder if he ever gave thought to that Fox News adage “We report, you decide” repeated so often on a news service that he surely must watch in keeping abreast of local events.