Another Bush Ally Bites the Dust

Written by: Michael Kuykendall on Nov 24, 2007 8:40 AM EST

Australian PM and zealous Bush ally John Howard has conceded to Labor leader Kevin Rudd- from the BBC;

Australian Prime Minister John Howard has admitted defeat in the country's general election, and looks set to lose his parliamentary seat.

Mr Howard said he had telephoned Labor leader Kevin Rudd "to congratulate him on an emphatic victory".

Mr Rudd said the country had "looked to the future" and he pledged to be a prime minister "for all Australians".

With 70% of votes counted, Labor were on course to win the 76 seats needed to form a government.

More than 20 constituencies from a total of 150 are still to produce a result, but Labor already has 72 seats compared with 48 for Mr Howard's Liberal-National coalition.

Counted among the reasons for his defeat were his staunch support for Bush policies;

During the campaign, Labor sought to capitalise on the Howard administration's refusal to sign the Kyoto protocol on climate change.

Mr Howard campaigned on his record of sound economic management.

The BBC's Nick Bryant, in Sydney, said Labor had swept back into power by harnessing an anti-government backlash.

Mr Howard had found himself on the wrong side of public opinion on the Kyoto protocol and the war in Iraq, our correspondent said. Many people also seemed to be simply tired of Mr Howard after 11 years of his rule.

One would hope now that Howard is gone, and as Bush find himself more isolated in the world than ever, his positions would start to soften. I doubt it, but one less corporate right wing government has to be a good thing.

UPDATE: Bloomberg reminds us that this is the first time in 78 years an Australian PM will lose his seat;

John Howard said he is likely to lose his seat, becoming the first Australian Prime Minister to be voted out of parliament since 1929 as his 11-year-old government was swept from power.

The 68-year-old Howard, the nation's second-longest serving leader, trailed the Labor Party's Maxine McKew in the Sydney seat of Bennelong by 569 votes with 77 percent of ballots in yesterday's election counted, according to the Australian Electoral Commission.

``It is very unlikely to be the case that I will be the member for Bennelong,'' Howard told supporters in Sydney as he conceded the election. ``I accept full responsibility for the coalition's defeat.''

Howard's 33-year political career ended amid a national swing delivering power to 50-year-old Kevin Rudd's Labor Party. His departure costs U.S. President George W. Bush one of his staunchest allies. Howard was one of the first coalition partners to send troops to Iraq in 2003, along with retired British Prime Minister Tony Blair and former Japanese leader Junichiro Koizumi.

 

Another tidbit- Labor leader Kevin Rudd ran on a platform to pull all troops from Iraq and sign the Kyoto protocol;

Conservative Prime Minister John Howard suffered a humiliating defeat Saturday at the hands of the left-leaning opposition, whose leader has promised to immediately sign the Kyoto Protocol on global warming and withdraw Australia's combat troops from Iraq.

Or, from the soon-to-be new Prime Minister;

KEVIN RUDD: These two things have to be brought together effectively. At present you have a political strategy in Iraq heading in one direction and a military strategy over here. The two have never been effectively meshed and the place is falling apart. We've been saying this, I've got to say, for more than a year. When it comes to Mr Howard's alternative, he can't simply sit back, as he's done now comfortably from his armchair at Kirribilli and say "We'll stay the course." That's a slogan, not a strategy. He committed us to this war, we opposed this war. We were right to oppose this war. He has a fundamental responsibility to tell the Australian people what are his benchmarks for success and from him, we get sloganeering, no strategy.

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