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| Down Under |
| Mark Steyn: The short man stands tall |
| 2004-10-18 |
Snippet. RTWT. Paean to a great leader But Howard, for a man routinely described as having no charisma, manages to hit just the right tone. The French got all the attention in the days after September 11 with that Le Monde headline — "Nous sommes tous Americains" — but even at the time I preferred Howard's take: "There's no point in a situation like this being an 80 per cent ally."A comment worthy of a Rantburger |
| Posted by:Mrs. Davis |
| #8 BTW, "Iraq was barely mentioned as a campaign issue," is most definitely not true. The media lost no opportunity to raise Iraq, including trying to pretend some non-news was breaking headline stuff. Early in the election campaign Labour brought Iraq all the time. About halfway through they suddenly shut up about Iraq. They are now saying becuase their polling told them it was a vote loser. |
| Posted by: phil_b 2004-10-18 7:32:10 PM |
| #7 fair enough. |
| Posted by: goolkjdk0tlkj; 2004-10-18 2:46:34 PM |
| #6 I doubt that Steyn would disagree with anything you said. But the piece was on Howard, and appeared in an Australian newspaper, and therefore it's totally appropriate to allow the readers a little pleasure in noting the ways that their man compares favorably to both Bush and Blair. We're a strong country. Bush is a fairly strong individual. Both he and we can tolerate some friendly gibes now and then. |
| Posted by: lex 2004-10-18 2:43:47 PM |
| #5 Lex, I disagree. It's cool to beat up on GW. I do it myself sometimes in order to loosen up my opponets and make them more apt to listen to me. That being said, it's easy to complain about leaders, because they are just human and no one is perfect. But Bush has done a good job. No terrorist attacks (yet.) low interest rates, recovering economy, etc. etc. yada, yada. Is he perfect? No. Do I disagree with him on some things? Yes. Is there anyone ...anywhere.. that I would agree with 100% of the time. No. I think for myself -thank you. Bottom line is, it's easy to bash plain-speaking Bush, in order to make oneself feel "nuanced" and distanced from the Trent Lott wing of the party. But the bottom line is, good leadership is evidenced by results - not by suave bullshit. Bush isn't good with the suave bullshit - but he's good with results. To stick with the theme of this article - his results have been targeted - yet lethal. I'm proud to say that I can see that he has been a good leader - despite the unpopularity of saying so. But I don't need a self-esteem boost in order to acknowledge that he's doing a very good job. |
| Posted by: goolkjdk0tlkj; 2004-10-18 2:04:36 PM |
| #4 I was a bit disturbed by his need to slam on GW. Sure, he's not the world's best orator Perhaps because if Bush's friends won't tell him what a disaster he (nearly) was during the first debate, he'll never straighten up and fly right in time to win the election. Steyn is doing Bush a favor. |
| Posted by: lex 2004-10-18 12:54:38 PM |
| #3 America LOVES Australia!!!! And I love Steyn. If I loved him more, I'd have to raise his children. Great article. But I was a bit disturbed by his need to slam on GW. Sure, he's not the world's best orator. But actions are greater than words. And a super-master of words should appreciate that. |
| Posted by: goolkjdk0tlkj; 2004-10-18 12:09:42 PM |
| #2 Once again, with feeling, God bless Australia! |
| Posted by: Ptah 2004-10-18 11:10:47 AM |
| #1 Well he got my vote. Didn't even have to think about it. There was no competition. Same for the rest of Australia. National security followed by good economic management, were the keys. |
| Posted by: tipper 2004-10-18 11:00:15 AM |