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Lifestyle => Train of Thought => Topic started by: King Tech Quadafi on March 27, 2005, 08:40:49 PM

Title: Blair's lost political mojo
Post by: King Tech Quadafi on March 27, 2005, 08:40:49 PM
By Eric Margolis -- Contributing Foreign Editor

Prime Minister Tony Blair has been one of our era's most successful politicians, but as he seeks a third term, many Britons wonder if it's time to change occupants at 10 Downing Street.

Blair will likely call an election in early May. British campaigns are mercifully short. By contrast, every four years, American voters suffer six to seven excruciating months of hypocrisy, mudslinging and windbaggery.

Blair is amazingly eloquent, silky smooth, always on top of his material, oozing compassion and missionary zeal from every pore. He has the knack of always sounding and looking like he really believes what he is saying.
   
Popularity has crashed

But Blair's special magic, with its particular appeal to female voters, is no longer working. As East Africans would say, he has lost his ju-ju. Blair's once overwhelming popularity has crashed, and with it the fortunes of his Labour Party. For the first time in recent memory, Britain's politicians and voters are pondering life after Blair.

Iraq is the principal cause of Blair's fall from grace. Blair's justifications for invading Iraq were exposed as a pack of barefaced lies. His ludicrous claim that Iraq could attack Britain within 45 minutes with weapons of mass destruction made Blair look either a fool, which he is not, or an arch-schemer in an aggressive war to grab oil.

Interestingly, American voters proved far more forgiving than Britons of their government's lies and distortions. A majority of Americans didn't seem to care they were deceived into a war by a president who claimed Iraqi "drones of death" massed in the North Atlantic were about to spray germs across the sleeping United States. They just wanted revenge for the emasculating, humiliating 9/11 attacks. Iraq, however innocent, was a perfect whipping boy.

Two years later, Britons remain disgusted by Blair's unctuous untruths.

Unlike George W. Bush, Blair's reputation has been seriously damaged. He could still win re-election in May, but only because Britain's squabbling opposition Tories under Michael Howard have put on a pitifully inept performance that is almost as pathetic as their counterparts in Canada. Howard continues the post-Thatcher tradition of weak, stunted Tory leaders.

Failed to capitalize

Howard failed miserably to capitalize on Blair's rush to war, and failed to capture the spirit or votes of the 75% of Britons strongly opposed to the conflict. Instead, like John Kerry in the U.S., Howard jumped on the pro-war bandwagon.

Now, however, the feckless Howard is beginning to contemplate what seemed impossible -- becoming prime minister. Opinion polls show only a two-point gap between the parties. Had the Tories a stronger leader, Blair would be out of a job.

Britain badly needs new leadership. Its health system is rotten, trains constantly crash, large parts of the north are a dreary slum.

Blair has been so busy playing George W. Bush's Jeeves that he has neglected Britain's crumbling infrastructure. His Labour party rival, Gordon Brown, is just waiting to backstab Blair.

That Britain prospers, and its currency remains so strong, is due to Margaret Thatcher's reforms, not Blair's Labourites. Britain, in spite of outrageous prices, remains a haven in Europe of free enterprise and entrepreneurship.

But May elections are playing second fiddle right now to the coming royal nuptials of Prince Charles and Camilla Bowles. Alas, the wedding will be haunted by the ghost of Princess Diana.

Too many giddy British matrons remain infatuated by the media-hyped ghost of Lady Di. If ever there was a figure unworthy of being queen, it was she. Palace sources tell me she was a childish nitwit, bulimic, hysteric, obsessed by gothic romance, movie magazines, hairdressers and tawdry affairs with cads. Yet she has become, and remains, a semi-religious cult figure.

I hope the shy, sometimes goofy, but well-meaning King Charles and Queen Camilla (or princess, as the couple insists she will be called) exact lusty revenge on all the simpering snobs who insulted and belittled them for years. Off with their heads!

http://www.canoe.ca/NewsStand/Columnists/Toronto/Eric_Margolis/2005/03/27/973542.html

Title: Re: Blair's lost political mojo
Post by: Don Seer on March 28, 2005, 01:08:27 AM
funny.. but kinda true..


they will get back in because the opposition are so weak.. i *despise* the tory party they are outdated, snobbish knee jerk reactionists and have no real set of policies.. i'd rather the lib dems got in.. shame there is little chance of that
Title: Re: Blair's lost political mojo
Post by: Don Rizzle on March 28, 2005, 05:16:11 AM
blair will win with a slim majority. howard is an opportunist and everyone one can see that, especially after his involvement in the row over our anti terror laws thats when he really showed his true colours, although i am in favour of tory ideas on immigration and the NHS and cutting beaurocracy plus i'm becoming alot more against european superstate... lib dems and too far to the left for me. ukip are a waste of time.
Title: Re: Blair's lost political mojo
Post by: King Tech Quadafi on March 28, 2005, 09:22:33 PM
Ey Brits, answer me some questions I have


What separates the modern Tories from Thatchers crew.

As we see in the states, the modern Republican movement can be traced back to the Reagan administration. Is it the same in Britain, and is the Thatcherist Tory Party a liability or asset for voting purposes?

Furthermore, the current Labour party, I see it moving away from its traditional liberal base somewhat, with Blair runnin the show and all. Am i accurate in my assessment?
Title: Re: Blair's lost political mojo
Post by: Don Seer on March 28, 2005, 11:14:49 PM

what seperates? just time.. they're outdated now.. they havent caught up... they've had a succession of poorly chosen front men.. they've fallen off hard.

i'm not sure how to answer your question. traditionally the conservatives are the party of the wealthy, the well off.. the blue blooded.  i'm not too up on republicans. apart from one thing.. i cant see the tories ever wanting to get rid of the royal family. labour refer to the tories 'bad old days' of the 80s 'boom + bust' regularly. like both i and don rizzle have said.. the conservatives have a major image problem.. not just starting with michael howard. they're old, they're boring, they're snobbish. and right now you can add to the that the way they jump on everything against the goverenment to try and get a soundbite. i cant see them winning.

lastly.. yes the labour party has moved away from its traditional bases.. they did this rebranding under the name New Labour to remove the stigmata's of the past. (strikes etc..) it still has some of those ideals.. but really less so. this is how tony won the election. word is gordon brown if/when he takes the leadership.. may take labour back to its roots some more in a bit of a radical fashion.. who knows....



Title: Re: Blair's lost political mojo
Post by: Jay ay Beee on March 29, 2005, 10:59:59 AM
Lowest unemployment for ages, stong economy, crime decreasing.

Blair to win easily.
Title: Re: Blair's lost political mojo
Post by: Don Rizzle on March 29, 2005, 12:23:34 PM
thing is labour have been lucky with economy and the job market and i wouldn't exactly say crime is decreasing, only the ordinary citizen is being targeted more and more.
Title: Re: Blair's lost political mojo
Post by: Don Seer on March 29, 2005, 01:51:00 PM

actually yes.. violent crime is up a whole lot...

and house prices are fuckin stupid....


thats my main 2 worries as a citizien
Title: Re: Blair's lost political mojo
Post by: ShadyGuru on March 30, 2005, 12:04:23 PM
there is a good chance that fat bastard has it