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The Sydney Morning Herald’s Cynthia Banham reviews Dick Cheney:

In comments that could have been made in the months after the September 11 terrorist attacks, but which fell flat with his Sydney audience, he said terrorists “had ambitions of empire”.

I was there, and it’s true; not a single member of the audience laughed. In fact, most of the Veep’s routine “fell flat”, if that’s how Cynthia measures things.

Posted by Tim B. on 02/23/2007 at 09:51 PM
  1. I guess she’s just used to people laughing when her favourite politicians make speeches.

    In other SMH news, a front-page story is notably biased, using phrases like “the asylum seekers would almost certainly be robbed”. Hooray for objective journalism.

    Posted by Evil Pundit on 2007 02 23 at 10:14 PM • permalink

  2. Maybe if the Vice President had someone to provide rimshots it would have helped?

    Posted by Vexorg on 2007 02 23 at 10:15 PM • permalink

  3. The VEEP obviously needs to work on his material.

    Posted by Penguin on 2007 02 23 at 10:33 PM • permalink

  4. It’s women’s minds you can’t read.

    Posted by rhhardin on 2007 02 23 at 10:37 PM • permalink

  5. There was an incident here in Milwaukee a few years back wherein the audible audience reaction to a speech by George W Bush was distinctly different from the reaction as described in the news reports.

    Posted by triticale on 2007 02 23 at 10:42 PM • permalink

  6. Thinking of terrorism as a joke is the perfect way to describe the SMH’s view on such things.

    Posted by Ian Deans on 2007 02 23 at 10:54 PM • permalink

  7. The picture of dear lady being beaten, looks as if she is being beaten, by (how does the press report say) men of undetermined ethnicity.

    Maybe some of the folks there, (like our folks here) will believe this person, instead of Dick Cheney.

    Nah. To much to ask of a closed mind.

    If you should read this, click

    Thinking Right: Soldiers On The Ground Hopeful For The Future Of Iraq

    via

    Crittenden

    Posted by El Cid on 2007 02 23 at 10:58 PM • permalink

  8. Sounds like deep down inside, Cynthia doesn’t care all that much about the things that fell flat on September 11th itself.

    Posted by Ed Driscoll on 2007 02 23 at 11:13 PM • permalink

  9. Perhaps if he had mentioned ‘mushroom clouds’ and ‘smoking guns’ he may have made more of an impression.  Or he could have stood on his head.

    Posted by waussie on 2007 02 23 at 11:50 PM • permalink

  10. Refugee advocacy groups had called on the Government to bring the asylum seekers to mainland Australia or provide access to lawyers for advice on their rights.

    And I’m supposed to care about the rights of “asylum seekers” to enter this country illegally and have full access to a system that I’ve been paying for and can’t access myself… why?

    Anyone? Bueller?

    Posted by Nilknarf Arbed on 2007 02 24 at 12:35 AM • permalink

  11. Projection: Cynthia constantly falls flat on her face - due to diminutive globes?

    #4
    8 out of 10 women agree?

    Posted by egg_ on 2007 02 24 at 12:50 AM • permalink

  12. She pretty much outlines Cheney’s remarks, and yet does not identify the parts which “fell flat”.  I’d be interested to know.  Was it the part about the jihadis wanting to establish a worldwide caliphate?  The part about withdrawing coalition troops from Iraq causing a catastrophic failure (i.e., bloody massacre)?  Perhaps the part about China beginning to build its military and economic clout in order to assert world dominance?  Can anyone help me out here?

    Posted by RebeccaH on 2007 02 24 at 12:52 AM • permalink

  13. Sorry - should have referenced to the link in #1.

    And as an ironic sidenote, last night on TodayTonight was a segment on the gangs of youths roaming the streets.

    They showed footage of a stoush taken by a cabbie as he drove by. The cabbie had an accent, and he was quite adamant that the gangs tended to be mainly of middle east descent and they formed their groups along tribal lines.

    The lebs, the iraqis, somalis, that sort of thing.

    I found it most interesting that TT did not comment at all about this aspect, and the only footage of the young mongrels was of anglos.

    I was shocked - shocked! - I tell you.

    Posted by Nilknarf Arbed on 2007 02 24 at 12:53 AM • permalink

  14. Slightly OT:
    ABC Ruddio National Update:
    Poll shows Rudd connecting with voters: Swan

    Posted by egg_ on 2007 02 24 at 01:08 AM • permalink

  15. One of the local news services went out of their way yesterday to emphasize the paltry golf-applause which greeted one of Cheney’s rhetorical points, to the extent of describing it in the report, then playing it as a soundbite all on its own.  Similarly, the photos of Cheney in today’s Age are all horror-movie closeups designed to make him look like Colonel Kurtz.  They must be very disappointed they weren’t allowed to hold a flashlight under his chin.

    Posted by cuckoo on 2007 02 24 at 01:09 AM • permalink

  16. #13 yes i had the same reaction. was it SBS or ABC?
    I wonder why they even included it in the report. perhaps it was because the cabby was an Asian, whose testimony would be carry more weight amongst their audience than that of a “redneck aussie”.

    Posted by davo on 2007 02 24 at 01:10 AM • permalink

  17. The mindset of the leftists as expounded by the likes of Kirby, is that terror attacks against non muslims must be trivialised, otherwise they will engage quasi totalitarian laws from our governments and endanger human rights in our society.
    Rudd is calling for withdrawal, and has zero compassion for the thousands of Iraqis who will be slaughtered as a result as happened in Vietnam . But when the Americans remained in South Korea and Japan after those conflicts , they became highly successful democracies.

    Posted by davo on 2007 02 24 at 01:27 AM • permalink

  18. I’d be much more interested in Cynthia Banham’s fantasies if they included another woman and a paddling pool of custard. Otherwise she should just shut the fuck up.

    Posted by Hanyu on 2007 02 24 at 01:51 AM • permalink

  19. A spokesman [for Kevin Rudd] said they had a “one-hour positive and constructive conversation on topics of mutual interest”. Before the meeting he said among the topics would be the Asia-Pacific region, Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan, David Hicks and climate change.
    That averages 10 minutes per topic.

    Posted by Angela Bell on 2007 02 24 at 02:01 AM • permalink

  20. Davo it was on channel 7. TT have a good record when it comes to pieces that aren’t too friendly to muslims, but they occasionally do a puff-piece to show a bit of “balance”.

    I reckon that would be why they slid past that angle. MV have regular whines about them, so this way Today Tonight save themselves an avalanche of pouting emails.

    Posted by Nilknarf Arbed on 2007 02 24 at 02:11 AM • permalink

  21. We are seeing a concerted effort by the usual media suspects to go into bat for the ALP in its long war to regain office, regardless of the price in blood, treasure, or credibility. Whether it is Banham or the ABC news insisting that Cheney’s act fell flat, or Fran on RN breakfast asserting that the visit is not good for JH, the tenor is predictable.

    Posted by blogstrop on 2007 02 24 at 03:30 AM • permalink

  22. #19 I suspect Rudd’s meeting with Cheney started with five minutes of Rudd lecturing Cheney, ten seconds of Cheney telling Rudd to go fuck himself, then 24 minutes 50 seconds of embarrassed silence.

    No wonder Rudd wasn’t talking about it afterwards.

    Posted by Young and Free on 2007 02 24 at 04:50 AM • permalink

  23. Correction: that would have been 54 minutes 50 seconds of embarrassed silence.

    Posted by Young and Free on 2007 02 24 at 04:50 AM • permalink

  24. #19
    I’m sure that the lil’ rat would’ve had his tail between his legs (read: “diplomatic”), knowing full well that an economy the size of Pennsylvania wasn’t going to wag its finger at one of the most powerful men in the world.

    Posted by egg_ on 2007 02 24 at 05:08 AM • permalink

  25. Cheney could try this one on his next audience:

    An American Indian, a Muslim, and a Texan are sitting in a bar.  (OK, a flimsy premise, but bear with me).

    The Indian says, “Once we were many.  But now <sigh> we are few.”

    The Muslim says, “Once we were few.  But now we are many!”

    The Texan says, “Well, that’s cos we ain’t got serious about playing cowboys and Muslims, yet.”

    Posted by anthony_r on 2007 02 24 at 05:21 AM • permalink

  26. Rot, the whole meeting with Cheney, Rudd would have been pre-emptively apologising for anything nasty he might be compelled to say between now and the election, and reassuring Cheney that no matter what he says, he is “all the way, with the USA”.  That’s why he won’t talk about it.  Hypocrite.

    Posted by entropy on 2007 02 24 at 07:11 AM • permalink

  27. Cheney should have started with, “An unemployed suicide bomber walks into a gay bar and asks, ‘Anyone know where I can get a blow job?’” to get the liberal columnists on his side with a warm-up, gay joke that also touches upon the non-working poor.

    Posted by andycanuck on 2007 02 24 at 11:15 AM • permalink

  28. #17 Davo: ‘But when the Americans remained in South Korea and Japan after those conflicts, they became highly successful democracies’.

    Trouble is, they stayed in European NATO states for 50+ years, and in their gratitude they have become anti-American ‘highly successful democracies’.

    Funny how places like Poland and Latvia are more pro-American because of who occupied them.

    Posted by Barrie on 2007 02 24 at 05:43 PM • permalink

  29. Barrie Cassidy on the Insiders today expressed his opinion that people would prefer to see D. Hicks visit Australia rather than Cheney!

    Posted by blogstrop on 2007 02 24 at 11:48 PM • permalink

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