Auzzie D.M. Greatest Threat to US Are 'The Cranks and Crazies" in the GOP

CANBERRA, Australia — Australia's deputy prime minister warned Friday that the greatest threat to the U.S. economy are the "cranks and crazies" in the Republican Party, a rare foray into American domestic politics that was blasted by the opposition.

Wayne Swan, who also serves as treasurer and is his centre-left Labor Party government's ranking finance minister, took aim at the Tea Party during a speech to a business forum, breaking a convention among Australia's major parties to steer clear of U.S. domestic political debates.

"Let's be blunt and acknowledge the biggest threat to the world's biggest economy are the cranks and crazies that have taken over a part of the Republican Party," Swan said.

He said "the extreme right Tea Party wing" of the Republican Party had held the national interest hostage during last year's debate over the U.S. borrowing limit despite President Barack Obama's "goodwill and strong efforts."

He said it was imperative that Congress reach an agreement to support growth and avoid a "fiscal cliff" of deep government spending cuts and higher taxes in January, which he said could push the U.S. economy back into recession.

The conservative opposition said Swan's speech betrayed his "hatred" of Republicans.

"The Labor Party is peddling hatred and they're got to stop," opposition treasury spokesman Joe Hockey told reporters. "They hate the Republican Party. I'd like Wayne Swan to say something positive about someone somewhere."

Prime Minister Julia Gillard, who travels to New York next week to address the United Nations General Assembly, defended her deputy's comments as "appropriate."

"What happens in the U.S. economy matters to the world economy and it matters to us," she told reporters. "Wayne Swan was making that very common sense point today.
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