George Bush “is a dill”
Is the whole “What’s the G20?” story getting any airplay in the US? Because it has amused me to no end over here. A month ago, Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd was hosting a dinner party at Kirribilli, when he received a phone call from George Bush. Apparently, at some point during the conversation Rudd mentioned the upcoming G20 Summit, to which Bush replied: “What’s the G20?” A prominent journalist happened to be at the dinner, and soon the story had been leaked to the newspapers. Rudd’s staff says it never happened. The Americans say it never happened. The Federal Opposition say it happened, but that Rudd made it up to impress his dinner guests by making the American President look like an idiot. And oddly enough, Rudd himself has refused to answer the direct question of whether he told his guests about it. These politicians have been spending hours of time in Parliament actually discussing how dumb the American President is, who leaked the news to the press, and whether this revelation will damage US-Australian relations. It’s all pretty hilarious. And this week we’ve all been on tenterhooks to see how Bush would greet Rudd at the big G20 Summit. (Verdict: “frosty”.) Meanwhile, I bet Rudd is feeling sad that his dinner parties next year won’t be enlivened by any calls from Sarah Palin.