Newsweek: Blair wanted to meet with Kerry - Scheduling problems

[RamboLiberal]

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/4710899/

After last month's flap about which foreign leaders support him, you'd think John Kerry would jump at the chance to get a few words of support from George W. Bush's closest ally. But when British Prime Minister Tony Blair tried to meet the Democratic presidential candidate this week, Kerry said he was just too busy.

Both sides insisted they wanted to meet the other and blamed scheduling difficulties. But the cool response from the Kerry campaign is an unusual twist in what should be an easy relationship. Both leaders are liberals at home and internationalists abroad. Both were lawyers in their early careers and both play the guitar in their downtime. Both have even shared an adviser in Bob Shrum, Kerry's media guru who helped Blair's team during its 2001 re-election.

So why the scheduling problems? "With the prime minister, every minute is accounted for and I'm sure that is absolutely the same when you are running for president of the United States," said one British official. But the problems seem easy to solve. Blair flies from his vacation in Bermuda to New York on Thursday—the same day Kerry leaves Manhattan, after a campaign stop with Hillary Clinton the day before.

Blair built a close personal and political bond with Bill Clinton, modeling his New Labour party on Clinton's New Democrats. The two men mused so much on the future of their parties that British officials openly fretted when George W. Bush moved into the White House. Three years later, the tables have turned. Now Blair is so closely tied to Bush and the war in Iraq that Kerry's aides tread warily. Some question how much help Blair could provide when their Democratic base loathes Bush and questions the war. There is also concern that a joint appearance will simply revive the controversy about Kerry's unnamed foreign supporters. Meanwhile, in London, Blair is reported to have told his ministers to avoid showing support for Kerry by not traveling to the Democratic National Convention in Boston this summer—a favorite boondoggle for Blair's party.

[readmylips]

1. Great! Kerry told the Poodle to 'Fok Off'

I love it...You Go Kerry. You don't need that bastard poodle. Let him lay in his own vomit.

[sallyseven]

2. Blair is looking to cover his ass

Kerry doesn't want this guy trying to make nice for his own political survival. bush would have a fit. Then the really, really, mean stuff would be spewing from the whitehouse. Our intelligent people would be saying look he is going behind bush's back and trying to get blair on his side. condi would lead the parade. That woman has no shame. Putting bush before the safety of of our service people and the citizens of the US.

[AP]

3. I'm sure they're working together to get Kerry elected and will do

whatever they think is needed, and if that includes making a bunch of bozos think they don't like each other, so be it.

However, I suspect it's more likely that the media is inventing a rift that doesn't exist. The last think the media needs is a united internationalist left wing, so, by all means, drive a wedge through these two guys!