Unrequited love

July 29, 2005 6:10 AM

God know's Tony's tried to make it work. What with Iraq and G8, he really has. But it really is time for him to realise that George just doesn't love him in quite the same way.
posted by rhymer (15 comments total)

Is that really the best you could do on this topic? A lousy newslink to a low rent UK tabloid? This is one of the most important enviroment stories of the year and you wait 36 hours and then come up with this? There isn't even a mention of the environment or climate change in either the front page post or the tags. A truly poor effort.
posted by biffa at 6:23 AM on July 29, 2005

Flag it and move on.
posted by Rothko at 6:27 AM on July 29, 2005

Well I suppose I could have linked to the last eight or nine times he's been shafted in the so called "special relationship" but then I'd just be re-iterating what most people here already. And this is perhaps the most interesting as it was done totally without Blair's knowing.

On your other point, a bit lazy, maybe. That said you shouldn't be too down on the tabs. Often they simply say what the broadsheets / bbc / etc. are saying, just more succinctly. But here's a bbc link. For what it's worth, it's pretty equivocal.
posted by rhymer at 6:31 AM on July 29, 2005

For the life of me i don't get why Blair continually plays the patsy like this. Little kids can recognize lying bullies a mile away--why can't Blair?

Does Blair want to be a player or a big man on the world stage? They have dirt on him? Blair's a natural follower and not a leader?
posted by amberglow at 6:43 AM on July 29, 2005

Agreed amberglow. He claims to 'have the ear of Bush'. But all this means he does Bush favour after favour putting polish on the latter's self-serving venality and gets nothing back for it. This has happened at least half a dozen times. From Iraq to the Middle East peace process to global warming Blair has received nothing but stinging rebuffs for his unstinting support.
posted by rhymer at 6:48 AM on July 29, 2005

That Bush, he's a smart dominatrix. He leads his bitches around, then publicly smacks them down to keep them in line. It worked for several years with the American press, its worked quite well with decorated veterans like McCain and Powell and its been great for keeping his UK bitch in line too.

That Bush is one tough pimp.

I've heard about American companies voluntarily signing a symbolic Kyoto and basically doing it anyway even though Bush wouldn't sign it. That would be kind of cool.
posted by fenriq at 6:52 AM on July 29, 2005

Doh, what's the masculine form of dominatrix? That's what I'd intended to use there. Oh well, it still works.
posted by fenriq at 6:52 AM on July 29, 2005

He leads his bitches around, then publicly smacks them down to keep them in line.

That's not a dominatrix...that's a pimp.
posted by kjs3 at 6:55 AM on July 29, 2005

There's some kind of fantasy that Tony Blair will be like Hugh Grant was in Love, Actually but it apparently is not gonna happen. Oh well. Once again, let down by romantic comedies.
posted by OmieWise at 6:55 AM on July 29, 2005

From the BBC link (which is unequivocally 20 times better than the fucking Mirror article):

"There will have to be binding global agreements, but on what scale and what basis is yet to be decided."

This vision is the polar opposite of what's included in the Asia-Pacific agreement, which is entirely voluntary, entirely technology-based, with no binding targets for reducing emissions, no sanctions, no mechanisms, and as yet no funding.

posted by Tlogmer at 6:56 AM on July 29, 2005

Is George Bush gonna have to choke a bitch?
posted by chunking express at 6:56 AM on July 29, 2005

Actually Tglomer, from the mirror:

GEORGE Bush yesterday delivered a slap in the face to Tony Blair over plans to stop global warming.

But the new plan has none of the tough targets to reduce emissions which Mr Blair wanted - and which were first put forward in the Kyoto treaty on climate change.

Doesn't that tell you all you need to know?

Don't forget that the tabloids do far more to inform public opinion that the qualities, blogs or so on. What's more, they're not always wrong.
posted by rhymer at 7:00 AM on July 29, 2005

i don't get why Blair continually plays the patsy like this

They're both born-again, they pray together, and they believe their God has put them in charge for a divine purpose.

It details numerous incidents where Bush's faith has been shown to be at the centre of his political thinking. Among Mansfield's revelations is his insistence that Bush and Tony Blair have prayed together at a private meeting at Camp David. Blair has previously denied this. Mansfield, however, says that, while there were no witnesses, aides were left in little doubt as to what had happened. He told The Observer: 'There is no question they have shared scripture and prayed together.'

Tony Blair knows it is one of the most delicate of subjects. When asked about it he squirms and tries to change to a more comfortable line of inquiry ... Blair, a committed Christian who keeps the Bible by his bed, knows he is taking a risk by revealing the importance he places on religion in informing his politics. He also knows that many of his key officials feel uncomfortable about the central role that God plays in his life. There were furrowed brows of consternation when Blair, asked who he would answer to for the deaths of British soldiers, replied: 'My Maker'.

posted by meehawl at 7:10 AM on July 29, 2005

I have a feeling that Bush has one of those Reality distortion fields that surround him. From a distance, one could easily predict that Bush would just use Blair for what he needed him for and then cast him aside when Blair made any tough requests of Bush. In person, though, Blair probably got taken for a ride by Bush's "charisma" and went along with Bush, thinking that, "this time, he'll help me out."

The only thing that stuns me is how people -- voters -- who generally have no contact with Bush in person see him as a charming and compelling person.
posted by deanc at 7:11 AM on July 29, 2005

Thank you for this: "Mirror.co.uk The Best Newspaper on the Web" Ha haaa. "What's more, they're not always wrong."

Actually it's a pretty shitty state of affairs. Ozstraya (err...the government) has been kicking and screaming about the Kyoto protocols since whenever they were first announced. I understand it has to do with our great reliance on primary industries -- but I'm not certain ----- in some measurement or other, we are a long way behind the 8-ball compared to most other nations and it was said that there was no way we could manage the Kyoto targets without completely wrecking industry/economy or similar. Yeah, yeah, I'm vague on this but I'm not surprised we have found an alternative 'initiative' to make it look like we are doing something positive.
posted by peacay at 7:16 AM on July 29, 2005