I was going to write a way more politically incorrect title but decided against it. The mentally challenged ought not be insulted by a comparison with the unfortunately elected idiot, aka Prime Minister of Australia, John Howard.

Anyway, there's no need to add to the Barack-lash. This one makes it's own sauce.

On Sunday, Mr Howard told Channel 9: "If I were running al-Qaida in Iraq, I would put a circle around March 2008 and be praying as many times as possible for a victory, not only for Obama but also for the Democrats."

Senator Obama replied by challenging Mr Howard to boost Australian troop numbers by 20,000 in Iraq from the 1400 there now if he supported the war so strongly.

"Otherwise, it's just a bunch of empty rhetoric," he said. "I think it's flattering that one of George Bush's allies on the other side of the world started attacking me the day after I announced."

BTW, Howard is supposed to be great friends with Bush. By his remarks, it kind of shows how these would get along.

Yet, the more pressing issue ought to be : What does it say of the people of the United States and Australia to have as leaders a George Bush and a John Howard?