Julia Gillard, to the US Congress:
I know many of you worked hard to achieve the Australia-US Free Trade agreement.
Thank you. Our FTA experience shows the benefits of free trade.
I haven’t watched the video of that part of her speech, but did she use a very sarcastic voice when she said “thank you”? Did she add at the end of that last sentence “…to you at our expense you profiteering bastards”?
I suspect not.
Which is a shame, because it would’ve been a hell of a lot more accurate.
Moved On 
kinda reminds me of the banks who call for govt to stay away from the banks – except when they need the electorate to take on their entire risk portfolio and bail them out – but then stay away again. Nicely one sided and profitable.
“Distinguished Members of the Senate and the House …
You have a true friend down under.”
THAT’S WHAT SHE SAID.
Stockholm syndrome.
Very good descriptor SB.
Narcotic, I think Julia was overawed by the situation. Look at her speech to Congress:
She’s a real gusher, our Julia.
Love the way Splatter is attempting to have us believe that Julia’s obsequiousness didn’t make his neo-conservative heart miss a beat. Reckon he might even have joined Johnny Boehner and shed a tear once or twice.
There is nothing that gladdens the heart of a neo-con more than the reassurance that all’s well in the bastion of capitalism and that their avarice isn’t hastening the demise of yet another empire.
Yes, given her speech and our FTA, an outsider to Australia and/or the US might be forgiven if they though Australia was one of the distant American island states, you know, like Hawaii…
Autonomy it is reasonable to acknowledge of the value of the US alliance to Australia but even I have limits. Looks like Gillard has pushed her way to the head of the conga line of suckholes. Maybe she wants her own deputy-sheriff’s badge.
Perhaps she just took that wrong turn at Albuquerque… bugs always had issues with that too.
C’mon guys-n-girls. Once upon a time being deferential was enough to get you a speaking gig in the House of Reps. Now obsequious is the minimum requirement.
We’ve had a master servant relationship with the last remaining empire for yonks. You can’t expect Jules to change that. And I’m darn sure phoney wouldn’t have either had he been asked to fawn.
The difference between Tony and Juliar is that he would have meant it.
The difference between Tony and Juliar is that he would have meant it.
Yeah sure he would my dear Splatter. Just as he has on climate change which was once ‘crap’ but now mankind does make a contribution. Or how he backed an ETS under Howard but now it will wreak havoc. Or how he swore he’d had no contact with George Pell immediately before the 07 election only to recant when sprung by Tony Jones. I’ve got plenty more where they came from my dear Splatter.
In a piece titled “Tony Abbott’s struggle with the truth” dated 18 May 2010 Bernard Keane ( ‘Crikey’) posed the question as to what Phoney would be like representing Australia in internationally.
Well I’d suggest while in the US we’d frequently see the unedifying sight of him dropping his pants and bending over. 😯
I’ve never, ever met an American who said no to a healthy serving of unabashed fellatio.
They’ll stand there forever and a day listening to you tell them how great they and their country are.
The Prime Minister knows this and, in her speech, she showed how to slurp like the best of them.
Cheers.
I’m happy to see a Prime Minister, Labor or Liberal, willing to gush with praise of all the great aspects of America when addressing the Congress; provided they also speak truthfully about Guantanamo Bay, ask hard questions about the stance toward citizens such as David Hicks and Julian Assange, say the FTA is not actually a bed of roses and we’d actually love them to stop their bullshit agriculture protectionism before we let them trample over our intellectual property law, etc.
To my mind, we are and should be friends and allies of the U.S.; we shouldn’t be aiming for the polite indifference or even the thinly veiled hostility you get from certain Western powers.
However, to be honest if I stopped ever disagreeing with my best friends about anything, I probably wouldn’t really enjoy hanging out with them anymore. Where’s the fun in a relationship like that? You want someone to approve of you unconditionally, buy a fucking puppy.
I’m…. I’m not actually sure what kind of country or other intranational entity would count as a puppy in the above analogy. Yeah. In conclusion Australia = lapdogs = boring and pointless, QED.