Mr Rudd made no mention of smelling burning sulpher through the phone line,I guess his good pal Hugo Chavez beat him to that line already.
Why would this former grade three diplomat and UN lick spittle,stick out his neck so far in order to score some cheap laughs with his leftist supporters and his party's hate America glee club? possibly because because "team Kevin 07" feel comfortable now that they have been in power just a few weeks short of a year now, and feel emboldened by this, and want to get a few free kicks in to President Bush before he goes out of office.
Maybe it was another of those nights where he was so pissed he does not know what he did or said however, he does know that he did not do or say whatever it is he has been accused of doing or saying.
PM Rudd's Australian Labor Party and it's Socialist Left sub branches and supporters, have a long standing invitation to American hater and socialist sociopath,Hugo Chavez, to visit Australia (see below) perhaps Mr Rudd has been spending too much time around school teachers.
"Invite Chavez to Australia - sign on.
Dear President Chávez,
http://www.venezuelasolidarity.org/?q=node/58
We, the undersigned citizens of Australia, would like to extend a warm invitation for you to visit our country. We have watched developments in Venezuela with great interest. We have been impressed by the great effort that your government has taken to improve the living standards of the majority of Venezuelans.
We have also noted with keen attention the moves that your government has begun to make to create a society based on popular participation in all spheres of society—from the workplace up to the national government.
Although we are on the opposite side of the globe we feel that our shared ideals of social justice and democracy bring us close together. Every country has its own traditions and culture and has to find its own solutions, but what Venezuela has been able to achieve in so little time will be a source of inspiration and ideas for many in Australia.
In this light we believe that a visit to our country by yourself would not only help to improve the awareness of the Australian people of developments in Venezuela, but also be an unparalleled opportunity to strengthen the ties of friendship and solidarity between our two peoples.
All signatures will be posted to Nelson Davila, Venezuela’s charge d’affaires in Australia, Canberra.(Todas las firmas de invitación serán enviadas a Nelson Dávila, Encargado de Negocios de Venezuela en Australia, Canberra)
If you would like to confirm the signature of yourself or you organisation for identification and for promotion of President Chavez' visit please contact us: Jody Betzien 0425 887 078 or email
info@venezuelasolidarity.org
To view the full list of signatories CLICK HERE
Signatories include Andrew Ferguson NSW Secretary, CFMEU Construction and General Division, John Pilger - Independent Journalist, Warren Mundine - National President of the ALP in 2006, Sylvia Hale - Member of the Legislative Council NSW (Greens), Steve Dargavel - Acting State Secretary, Australian Manufacturing Workers Union, Victoria, Meredith Burgmann - President of the Legislative Council of NSW, Wayne Berry - MLA (ALP) Speaker of the ACT Legislative Assembly, Tim Gooden - Geelong Trades Hall Secretary
Read more Chavez not Bush
Video of the unfolding story
Andrew Bolt
Three strikes for Kevin747
Andrew Bolt Herald Sun
October 29, 2008 12:00am
KEVIN Rudd blabs. Kevin Rudd betrays. What's more, Kevin Rudd appears to make things up.
And on Saturday our Prime Minister managed to commit all three fouls at once against US President George W. Bush.
Trying to sell himself as a statesman, he blabbed to The Australian all the details of a private talk he'd had with the President of our most important ally.
Not only that, he betrayed Bush by retelling their conversation in ways to make the President seem a donkey, and Rudd the genius who trained him to behave. And Bush has noticed.
Still not satisfied, Rudd then apparently made things up - to take public credit for a decision Bush had already made.
I can't recall a greater breach of confidence, a more studied insult to an ally or a more craven attempt at big-noting from an Australian Prime Minister.
Is there a single foreign leader who can now be confident Australia's Prime Minister won't blab about their private talks and betray them, too?
Last Saturday The Australian ran an extraordinary story that was fed to them by Rudd or a close aide clearly acting with his approval. (Either that, or Rudd's staff are dangerously beyond his control, trading his secrets without his knowledge - something I doubt a single journalist or politician in Canberra would believe.)
Here are the key details from that article:
Kevin Rudd was entertaining guests in the loungeroom at Kirribilli House in Sydney when an aide told him George W. Bush was on the telephone.
It was 10.40pm on Friday, October 10
(Note that date, by the way. Rudd trips over it.)
What followed was an extraordinary exchange in which Rudd advised the most powerful man in the world that a plan to address the global financial crisis through the G7 group of leading industrialised nations was wrong . . .
It made no sense, he said, to take action on the crisis without engaging China. Rudd argued that the better vehicle for a co-ordinated response to calm the markets and toughen financial regulation was the broader G20 grouping (which includes China) . . .
Two weeks later, Rudd's view has prevailed . . . Perhaps more so than any of his predecessors, Rudd is bringing a new understanding to world politics . . .
(Good heavens. Did Rudd write that bit of halo-polishing himself? Or was that just reporter Matthew Franklin's way of saying "thank you"?)
Rudd was then stunned to hear Bush say: "What's the G20?" . . .
He told Bush he had heard through back channels that the Chinese believed the economic collapse underscored the inherent failures of capitalism and the benefits of a planned economy.
Rudd's view on China was probably better informed than he let on to the US President. Just four days earlier, the fluent Mandarin speaker had discussed the global turmoil on the telephone with Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao . . .
Sources said Bush spent the first third of the conversation attempting to keep Rudd at bay . . . But over time, Rudd appeared to convince Bush he had a reasonable point.
"He was like a bull terrier," said one source. "He was polite but firm. He was not deferential at all. I could not have imagined John Howard talking to Bush like that."
And right there is the reason Rudd - or his agent - blabbed. To make Rudd seem a player. A tough guy. The man who forced Bush to invite the G20, including Australia and China, into talks about the financial crisis.
What a genius.
Oops. I shouldn't overlook this line, added to distance Rudd from the leak:
Rudd, who refused to comment on his dealings with Bush for the preparation of this article . . .
Yeah, right. Must have been Bush, then, who quietly rang the reporter in Australia to explain in such detail what a goose he'd been.
But let's now check this story that Rudd - or his agent - sold The Australian so successfully. You'll find that it's made up not just of braggadocio, but big dollops of fantasy.
Most obviously, of course, Rudd or his agent passed on to a friendly journalist details of his private conversation with a world leader - or two, actually, because he also let slip what China's Premier told him. He prides himself very much on those calls, you see.
Surely Rudd's arrogance has now overtaken all judgment on this point alone. Which leader will now dare be frank with an Australian Prime Minister so indiscreet?
Note also that Rudd did all this simply to mock Bush and praise himself as a world statesman, just at a time when The Australian was starting to ask a couple of tough questions.
As in: how did Rudd's attempt to stop a run on the banks lead to a run on other financial institutions instead?
As in: why is he about to fly off yet again to solve the financial problems of the rest of the world, when he can't even fix the one he caused back here?
Note further that Rudd in this leak sniggeringly tells a local journalist what he kept secret from the President of the US - that the "back channels" he relied on for his Chinese gossip was actually China's Premier.
All this is extraordinary enough - and another insight in how much Rudd, who exudes arrogance, actually craves status. (Has this chronic name-dropper mentioned lately how often he rings Britain's Prime Minister? American leaders? Cate Blanchett?)
It also reminds us of his tale-telling from the Beijing Olympics's opening ceremony, when he excitedly told journalists he'd seen Bush and Russian leader Vladimir Putin argue about the fighting in Georgia.
But perhaps more brazen still is Rudd's attempt in this latest retelling to belittle Bush and steal his credit.
Go back to the date of this conversation, when Rudd claims to have been "stunned" by Bush's ignorance about the G20, and had to "convince" the fool to use it.
For a start, a search of White House transcripts reveals Bush knew what the G20 was long before Rudd allegedly had to lecture him.
In June 2006, for instance, he gave a press conference in which he explained he had "problems with the G20 position" on global trade.
In July 2006, he said he'd have a "good forum" to discuss trade problems "when the members of the G20 come" to Russia.
And Bush certainly didn't need a "polite but firm" Rudd in their conversation on October 10 this year to tell him to get the G20 involved in talks on this financial crisis.
You see, Bush and his Treasury Secretary had two days earlier already agreed to do just that, and the G20 was already gathering to convene in Washington that very weekend.
As AFP reported the day before Bush called Rudd: "The central bank chiefs and finance ministers of 19 nations, including the United States, Europe's biggest economies, China, India and Russia, are to hold a crisis meeting in Washington on Saturday. . .
"The impromptu gathering of theso-called G20 group to examine the worldwide financial turmoil was called by the Brazilian Government, which currently chairs the body . . . News of the meeting followed telephone calls between US President George W. Bush and German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Brazil's President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva earlier Wednesday."
So if Bush had already agreed to a G20 meeting on Wednesday, how does this square with Rudd's bragging account of their call on Friday - of having to spend "the first third of the conversation" like "a bull terrier", demanding Bush do what in fact he'd already done days before?
In fact, Channel 9's Laurie Oakes last night reported that White House staff deny Bush ever asked Rudd: "What's the G20?" They're on to Rudd.
So we know Rudd is indiscreet. We know he's a braggart. Now we must ask: how much does he make things up?
Join Andrew on blogs.news.com.au/heraldsun/andrewbolt
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