Blair backs reforging of Democratic ties

[kskiska]

Tony Blair has given his tacit support to efforts by senior Labour figures to reforge ties with the US Democrats in preparation for a possible John Kerry victory in November's presidential election.
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Blairite ministers have been encouraged by Downing Street to maintain regular contact with the Kerry camp during the weeks and months leading up to the poll. While the British government is maintaining public neutrality during the campaign, Mr Blair is anxious that this should not be interpreted by the Democratic party as coolness.

Douglas Alexander, a Cabinet Office minister and chairman of Labour's general election planning team, is in Boston for this week's Democratic National Convention, which marks the start of the presidential race and culminates in a night of political razzmatazz.

(snip)

A Kerry victory could be tricky for the prime minister because of his close alliance with President Bush over the Iraq war. In theory, it would leave Mr Blair as the only leading member of the coalition that invaded Iraq still in office. "There is now a renewed attempt to reach out," said a Labour insider. "To say we have to be neutral publicly, but that we are a sister party and not being pro-actively partial the other way."

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[bullimiami]

1. forget it.

blair has to go. i dont know if he is just such a corporate crony that he thinks of mass murder as an acceptable tool of business or if he is just way off his rocker with evangelical madness or if he is just a boy who cant say no (to whatever the current pResident says, no matter how mad).
if he was a tory i would have understood it easier. his party needs to cast him off and find someone with a straight spine and clean hands.

[Hobarticus]

2. Blair's trolling for a freakin' JOB...

He won't win dogcatcher back home, and he knows it.

[Norton]

4. Damaged goods...

Hey Tony, unlike Bush, John won't be willing to stick his arm up your butt so you can speak... sorry mate, you're on your own!

[truthspeaker]

3. hard to do when Blair is really a Tory

[el_gato]

5. CYA

too late tony

[AP]

6. Duh. Blair has tight connections with Dem party. He spoke in public for...

...Gore.

That last paragraph is total bullshit. The FT must know that if Kerry wins, Blair is probably totally off the hook.

Kerry and Blair will work to turn Iraq into a functioning, autonomous, Iraqi middle-class wealth generating nation, and it will look like a tremendous success.

The idea that Blair might not see a Kerry victory as the best thing that could happen to him is absurd.

[BillZBubb]

7. You nailed it!

Blair knows if Shrub is elected, his own bid will be in deep doo-doo. If Shrub is gone, Blair can start acting like man instead of a lapdog.

Hopefully, though, if not Labour, then the British public will give that sorry ass piece of shit the boot.

[Fovea]

8. Cheney off!

Go back to your real fans, the National Front.

[w4rma]

9. What a flipping chameleon. (nt)