Opposition Leader Kevin Rudd came out throwing hay-makers at John Howard for his viciously insipid statements against Obama. Howard said that al-Qaeda wants Barack Obama to win the election. The Democratic Party should view this clip over and over again. Update: Full transcript here .

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The Australian:

Mr Rudd said Mr Howard should be censured over his comment yesterday that terrorist network al-Qaeda would be hoping for a Democratic candidate to win next year's US presidential election.---It also accuses Mr Howard of “gross insensitivity” for lecturing the United States on Iraq when the war has claimed the lives of more than 3,000 US servicemen and women. Mr Rudd demanded that Mr Howard withdraw his comments unreservedly.

(h/t to Scarce for the vid) (transcript below the fold)

How can the man who is Prime Minister of this country

come into this parliament and say that he is a person

of experience on the question of national security

when within the last 24 hours he has made the statement

that, when it comes to the operation of al-Qaeda

and its dealings in the world of international affairs

today, somehow al-Qaeda is a terrorist organisation

that would prefer to see a Democrat win the next presidential

election rather than any other representative of

another political party?

The Prime Minister today has inserted that in fact he

was only making a reference to Mr Obama, one of the

US Democratic Party presidential candidates. It is important

that we place this unequivocally on the record.

Yesterday the Prime Minister gave this answer to a

question in relation to the Obama plan:

Yes, I think he is wrong. I mean, he is a long way from being

President of United States. I think he is wrong. I think that

that would just encourage those who wanted completely to

destabilise and destroy Iraq and create chaos and victory for

the terrorists to hang on and to hope for an Obama victory. If

I were running al Qaeda in Iraq I would put a circle around

March 2008 and pray as many times as possible for a victory—

not only for Obama but also for the Democrats.

That is not an addition invented by the Australian Labor

Party. That is not an addition invented by anybody

else. That was spoken, or would we dare say misspo-

ken, yesterday by the Prime Minister of Australia on a

matter of great consequence—that is, the future of this

country’s relationship with the United States, particularly

on the question of the future direction of Iraq policy.

To accuse the Democratic Party of the United States

of being al-Qaeda’s party of choice, to accuse the Democratic

Party of being the terrorists’ party of choice,

to accuse the party of Roosevelt, Truman, Kennedy and

Johnson of being the terrorists’ party of choice is a

most serious charge. I cannot understand how any responsible

leader of this country can say to the nation

that it is his serious view that the Democratic Party of

the United States is the terrorists’ party of choice. But

these are your words, Prime Minister. I did not invent

them; they are yours. In this parliament today we gave

you every opportunity to say that you got it wrong.

The SPEAKER—Order! The leader will refer his

remarks through the chair.

Mr RUDD—We gave the Prime Minister every opportunity

to say that it was wrong. It may have been

that he got caught up in the flurry of the interview. It

may have been that he did not hear it clearly. It may

have been that he did not understand it clearly. I understand

that these things can happen, but the Prime Minister

was given not once, not twice but on three separate

occasions in this place today an opportunity to say,

‘I got that wrong; I didn’t mean that.’ For him to pass

up each of those opportunities says much about the

partisan way this Prime Minister now views the relationship

with our great American ally.

Let us be absolutely clear about what is at stake

here. This is not just an attack on a single US senator

but an attack upon an entire political party. Here is

where Australia’s national interest kicks in: the Democratic

Party currently controls the majority in the United

States House, controls the majority in the United States

Senate and, within a year or so, may control the White

House itself. In this parliament today, this country’s

Prime Minister has reaffirmed that he describes this

party as the terrorists’ party of choice. This is a serious

matter.

Prime Minister, can you imagine if I stood up in this

parliament as the alternative Prime Minister and said to

the people of Australia that the terrorists would be advantaged

if the Republicans were to return to the White

House at the next presidential election? Ponder for a

moment how that would be regarded. How would it be

seized on by those opposite? Can you imagine the reaction

from those opposite if I stood at this dispatch box

or appeared on national television and said that the

Republicans, if they won, would cause an eruption of

joy on the part of al-Qaeda and on the part of terrorists?

This is a grave mistake and I fear that it reflects a

deep view on the part of the Prime Minister about

those within the US political system with whom he

may not share a view.