On the Agenda programme this morning Phil Goff is trying to defend the bad decisions and shonky position of our defence forces: inability to fight in combat,purchasing decisions gone awry etc.
Incidentally Goff is very defensive, rude and shouting over the interviewer.
The big news though that a phone call from George Bush has pushed Labour to allow India to develop their nuclear capabilities, a clear flip flop on Labours previously strong nuclear stance:
"There were several high-level phone calls" to the capitals of the holdout countries, with even US President George W. Bush and secretary of state Condoleezza Rice on the phone, an unidentified diplomat told AFP in Vienna. The holdouts complained of "bullying" tactics by Washington. "The Chinese were furious. They walked out. And there’s no agreement without the Chinese," a diplomat told AFP. The Irish were furious, too, and had complained that the US had been bullying them.
“It was clear to us that as long as these countries were a group, they would remain a problem,” a senior Indian official said. “But we also knew none of them wanted to be the last man standing.” So between the United States and India, a determined political effort was made late Friday night to ensure each of the four came on board. The first to agree was China, said the official, and the last New Zealand, with Ireland and Austria also dropping their objections in between. Though the last three communicated their decision to Washington, the official said the Chinese side directly informed India that it intended to back the consensus.
Seems this little gem has been hidden by Goff and his friends in the Labour Party and is important to note before you vote on Novemeber 8 that a party that calls itself an opponent to Nuclear proliferation globally, flip flops when it comes down to a phone call by a President of the United states that they would label a war monger.
Where are Labour's principles now?
Let them eat Bush.
c Political Animal 2008
