Tony Blair: What is your opinion?

wanker? that would be a polite way of putting it

He is a Tory. He is responsible for more bloodshed than Thatcher and Major put together. He is a liar. He is a poodle. He should go asap.

BigBrother

To call any politician a wanker is in itself the act of a wanker. I used to meet a lot of MP's in my previous job and none of them were stupid. Mainly self centered and manipulative but never stupid.

Blair has undoutably made himself unpopular over Iraq and he has already stated that he will resign from office before the next election. He may or may not honour this promise.

Blairs major strength is that he is a brilliant politican during elections. He can manipulate interviewers and can successfully answer the most awkward of questions. He can run circles around the opposition, even the opposition admit that.

He has a good majority in the House of Commons and he could easily retain power if he fought the next election.

During the last election, pulic support for the Iraq invasion actually grew, mainly due to Blairs penchant of making bad things look good. He is a reformer and gets things done.

He is still a very competent politican and what worries the Labour party is that there is no one of any stature around to succeed him. Gordon Brown is such a dour sod that few people would want him as the leader.

My own view is that he will resign say 12 months before the next election and will do a Maggie Thatcher earning a fortune on the world lecturing circuits.

To answer your original question .. a very clever man.

Regards

Mick ... a Tory supporter who respects a formidable enemy.

Strangely enough Thatcher actually has a fairly decent rep. here , even amongst Democrats..Most people think John Major is a brand of Scotch....

Bigbrother

Margaret Thatcher has totally divided the nation. One half regard her as second only to Winston Churchill and the other half regard her as a ruthless uncaring bitch. One half of the nation did very well under her reign. These were mainly the middle and professional classes who prospered as the service industries grew.

The poorer half ended up poorer and she just did not care. Her attitude was that the go getters created the wealth and should receive the rewards, whilst and the less able were a pain in the ass, so sod them and let them rot.

She did however succeed in turning the UK economy around and I personally love her.

John Major was naturally in her shadow and never really hit it off with the public. Tony Blair totally trashed him.

Regards

Mick

quote:

To call any politician a wanker is in itself the act of a wanker

ekkk..., you Tories do have a little temper doncha?...Best Wishes ..BB

BB

The plural of Tory is Tories.

No politician is a fool. GWB is often regarded as dim. All I will say is that he is sitting in the White House and if that is dim then I wish I was dim.

Regards

Mick

quote:

No politician is a fool. GWB is often regarded as dim. All I will say is that he is sitting in the White House and if that is dim then I wish I was dim.

Regards

Mick

Of course, having 100 million or so in the bank and a former Pres as your dad doesn't hurt. With that going for him, a blind , deaf, mute would stand even odds of obtaining the White House...Regards ...BB

Mick,
I don’t know what the definition of “wanker” is, but I don’t necessarily think you have to be stupid to be one. I feel that Eriks post above summarizes the attributes of a “wanker” stupid or not.
As far as GW goes, the man is clearly in the White House due to his connections and privileged position (and a good degree of vote manipulation).

quote:

Margaret Thatcher has totally divided the nation

quote:

whilst and the less able were a pain in the ass, so sod them and let them rot.

quote:

and I personally love her

quote:

if that is dim then I wish I was dim

Sounds pretty dim to me.
regards John.

What John said.

quote:

Originally posted by erik scothron:
He is a Tory. He is responsible for more bloodshed than Thatcher and Major put together. He is a liar. He is a poodle. He should go asap.

Spot on as usual, Erik.

BB

I dare say there are other rich chaps in America.

Back here in the UK, we once had a MP for Rochdale in the north of England called Cyril Smith.

He projected an image of a nice easy going guy, a bit dim and a bit slow on the uptake. He weighed 26 stone (364 lbs as you would say) and lived with his unwed mother in a very small terraced house. He deliberatly tried to project the image of being a nice lad who could be trusted etc.

I knew him personally. The truth was that he was a very clever manipulating ruthless bastard.

He had majority shares in 9 spring making companies and made a small fortune from them and yet lived in a low value house. He also employed cheap immigrant labour who had to work in bad conditions.

My point is that to hold a politicians job down, you have to be dedicated, bloody clever as well as completely self centered.

That applies irrespective of political persuasion.

I was told by several MP that Bill Clinton came across in private as a man who was constantly weighing you up, the consumate politician.

Regards

Mick

LOL Mark, not quite.......

.....I forgot something....

.....he's a warmonger

Erik

Try remembering something else, he was a warmonger before the last election and got re elected. The public endorsed him.

Regards

Mick

Mick
I have forwarded your gracious comments to Cyril Smith's website. I do hope you can substantiate them.

quote:

My point is that to hold a politicians job down, you have to be dedicated, bloody clever as well as completely self centered.

Is this what we look for in a leader nowadays?? not wisdom, compassion and vision ??..Christ...no wonder the worlds in such a f#@#ng mess....So far I've only started two threads in these forums and have already been called a "wanker" and a "septic tank", I must be doing something right !!!

quote:

Originally posted by Mick Parry:
Erik

Try remembering something else, he was a warmonger before the last election and got re elected. The public endorsed him.

Regards

Mick

Very true Mick. We get the leader we deserve because we vote for them. However, the elecorate were lied to and I think most people are aware of this now. I doubt the electorate, if they had the chance, would make the same mistake again. He is undoubtedly very bright but his judgement concerning Bush sucks. The sooner he goes the better. Personally I feel that anyone seeking power should automatically be excluded. Insofar as that may be impractical I would suggest all those seeking power should be subjected to exhaustive psychological profiling and the results made public. Hmm actually that would put 50% off from applying and the other 50% would be turned down as psychologically unfit. I wonder if there really is a solution??

Regards,

Erik

quote:

The public endorsed him.

The public are not infallible, public endorsement is not always a good thing. Juan Perón outpolled oponents by a long way. Adolf Hitler initially achieved power by electoral and constitutional means, and watch his speeches, he looked quite popular at the time.
John.

Erik

Whether you like Blair or not is really academic.

The truth of the matter is that he is at his best during elections. Mid term he comes across as a spin doctor product, slimey and untrustworthy. At the Elections he has the ability to stand head and shoulders above everyone else and really does present himself in a good, if not outstanding way.

It is that skill that could still see him re elected, if he does not resign beforehand.

Regards

Mick

Mick,

You may well be right. I hope we are not given the opportunity to find out.

Regards,

Erik

Erik

I think we would agree that Blair is vain and would like to have gone well in the history books. The Iraq issue has killed that off and his reputation will suffer as a result.

I suspect he will want to Break Margaret Thachers record of serving 11 years which takes him up to May 2008. By then he may not give his successor enough time to settle in and the temptation to remain and win a 4th election (another record) may prove irresistable.

Time will tell.

Regards

Mick

I believe the issue is far greater than any one UK prime minister's sycopahncy to the encumbent US president (i.e. Blair's judgement of Bush, or Maggie's judgement of Reagan etc etc.)

The UK has a special relationship with the US. Each successive UK/US leadership merely picks up the baton and runs with it...

Phil

quote:

Originally posted by Phil Cork:
I believe the issue is far greater than any one UK prime minister's sycopahncy to the encumbent US president (i.e. Blair's judgement of Bush, or Maggie's judgement of Reagan etc etc.)

The UK has a special relationship with the US. Each successive UK/US leadership merely picks up the baton and runs with it...

Phil

True. But why? I have often thought about this but I've never come up with anything other than it allows us to punch above our weight but can this be the only reason? Its a mystery to me. Any ideas anyone?

Mick,

Is he allowed a fourth term? Is there ever a limit as in the US? Truth be told I know very little about polictics.

Erik

quote:

The UK has a special relationship with the US. Each successive UK/US leadership merely picks up the baton and runs with it...

Phil


True. But why? I have often thought about this but I've never come up with anything other than it allows us to punch above our weight but can this be the only reason? Its a mystery to me. Any ideas anyone?

Question: What 'foreign' country is the most heavily invested in the US ? Japan ??? NO.. It's the United Kingdom, ..that's your answer. It's all about M O N E Y..Regards ..BB