Quit before it gets nasty, Blair told

[NNN0LHI]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/politics/3059903.stm

Tony Blair's troubles are set to worsen - and he should quit as prime minister before things get "ever nastier", former cabinet minister Clare Short has said.

The ex-international development secretary - repeating a warning she made soon after leaving the government - said Mr Blair faced increased "muttering" among union leaders and was losing support among voters.

She said an "elegant handover" of the Labour leadership was in the party's interests.

Ms Short said the centralisation of power at Downing Street was behind a fall in the prime minister's popularity.

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[AP]

1. I'm glad Clinton didn't quit and I hope Blair doesn't either.

Let the voters decide.

[11cents]

6. Different system

A prime minister quitting (but leaving his party in power) is a whole lot different than a president quitting under threat of impeachment. It's more routine. In the future voters can (if they want) continue the party in power without continuing Blair in power. Moreover, the circumstances are entirely different. If Clinton had quit he would have been giving in to a coup and damaging the nation immeasurably; it would have been a hugely irresponsible act. If Blair quits (and I'm neutral on whether he should or not), he'd be giving in to dissatisfaction within his own party -- simply a plausible political calculation.

[JoFerret]

7. If Blair quits in time

it allows for the Labour party to recover under fresh leadership before the next election. Gordon Brown? The worst outcome would be a Tory victory because of this mess.

[saigon68]

23. LYING POODLE BOY

It still doesn't exlain why Blair went along with this stupid adventure. Was it for British Petroleum Ltd. or was it because he saw himself as some kind of modern day Winston Churchil

[Cocoa]

9. the Clinton impeachment was a partisan witchhunt

this is nothing at all like that. This is real.

[Eloriel]

10. Uh, the "voters" didn't elect him

The party did. He's a Prime Minister in a Parliamentary system.

Eloriel

[inthecorneroverhere]

12. different situation

Blair is essentially a neo-Liberal rather than a Labourite. The criticism from union leaders is because Blair has strayed from the ideals on which the Labour Party was founded.

It is a very different situation from the talk-radio screamers' villification of Clinton.

[AP]

27. Ideal upon which Labour party is founded: government ownership of means

of production. The Labour party was so tilted towards labour, that labourers wouldn't even vote for them in '83 for fear that Labour would destroy the private corporations which provided them with jobs. Granted, the inequities of British society and the absolute evilness of the Tories drove Labour to ask for so much. Nonetheless, it was a platfor which would guarantee labour 40 years wandering in the wilderness after a series of single terms interpersing Tory hegemony.

New Labour is the only way labour is going to get elected for more than one term, and it's the only way that Britain can make the incremental, democratizing shifts to the left which, one day, might alow a real, liberal progressive government to rule.

If Blair goes, the caretaker for the remainder of the term will lose the election. I guarantee you that. The Tories will undo the incremental improvements in British society, and all the middle class wealth Blair built up will be transfered to the wealthy, just the way Bush II did with the social wealth Clinton built up.

[IndianaGreen]

16. Vote of no confidence

Blair is as big a liar as Bush.

Adios Tony!

[Systematic Chaos]

2. "Get thee to a nunnery. Go!"

Stupid-ass poodle boy....

And to think I once had so much respect for him. I wonder how much he's being paid off?

[0007]

14. Perhaps Blair will be sitting next to John Major

as a Board of Director member with the Carlyle Group?

[caledesi]

31. Me too. I used to adore this man. Now..bye bye Tony.

[VaLabor]

3. hear, hear!

Yes, if he has the interests of his party and his country at heart (and not just his own Ego), he'll resign.

Robin Cook for PM!!!

[jos]

4. Go Now

As they said to Neville Chamberlain in 1940: In the name of God, go!

[ze_dscherman]

5. Steve Bell

http://www.guardian.co.uk/cartoons/0,7371,337484,00.html

[susu369]

22. What's underpants doing hanging out with that idiot?

the devil made me post that...

:-)

[dolstein]

8. Clare Short is an idiot

If it weren't for Tony Blair, the Conservative Party would soon be approaching its 30th consecutive year in control of Parliament. Clare Short doesn't have the slightest clue about buliding a governing majority, so naturally she now demands that Blair hand over control to the very people who made Margaret Thatcher what she is.

Sod off Clare.

[ze_dscherman]

11. Could the Tories have led Britain into war any better?

Doubt so. Blair has given Bush more credibility, since he is not a "conservative". He could have stopped that insane war, he did not.

What Blair has done for Labour does not outweight the damage he has done to the world.

[duvinnie]

13. Clare Short is also

quite prophetic. As the public over there is starting to become convinced of the facts that Tony lied thru his bloody teeth, if he hangs on as PM it will only turn the public against Labor.

Think about it - if Nixon had hung on here, somehow, in the face of the facts (and granted we are a different system of govt than the brits), it would have damaged the repugnants even more, not that anyone would cry them a river over it.

Blair's behavior deserves calls for resignation, and Clare Short is exactly the kind of person to be making that call having herself set an example for her party.

[grytpype]

17. There's only one person in the entire UK who's fit to be PM?

There's only one person in the entire UK who's fit to be PM? And that's Blair? Pathetic if true. But I doubt it's true. Just get someone else in there. A caretaker PM would do better than Blair now, since no one trusts him anymore.

[Jack Rabbit]

29. Let's put this gently, sir

Blair bought Bush's lies.

Blair needs to pay the price for buying Bush's lies.

Clare Short may be an idiot, but Tony Blair is a liar and a war criminal. Just like Bush.

[I AM SPARTACUS]

15. sounds like good advice for both Poodle and AmBush...

[TomNickell]

18. With a bit of sadness, I hope he goes...

n/t

[arikara]

19. I just don't understand

Why he chose to side so closely with the chimp. I mean, he seems like an intelligent person who used to have some dignity and common decency.

Anyone have any insight on this?

[ramapo]

20. Needs a job after leaving govt

Maybe he wants to be a Caryle partner. Yes a bit cynical and I don't really believe it but wouldn't be surprised if there's a grain of truth to it.

[saigon68]

28. He certainly would have trouble

Holding a real Job.

[Lucille]

21. Greg Pallast has a couple of theories about Blair

Last year BBC/Guardian journalist & author Greg Pallast offered a couple of explanations in an interview with Buzzflash. You can read it here: http://www.buzzflash.com/interviews/03/02/11_Palast.html

To summarize Pallast's two main points:

1. Local politics: Blair wanted to weaken the left wing of his own party and hoped to use what he thought would be a popular war in order to make his opponents within Labor appear weaker on defense, less patriotic, and mindlessly anti-American.

2. After Bush was elected, Blair, who had supported Gore, was warned that his failure to cooperate would result in loss of military subsidies and a weakened pound vs the dollar--in other words, the UK would face economic ruin while on Tony's watch.

Pallast might be right, but it still doesn't add up for me. Why couldn't Blair have revealed the blackmail if in fact it had occured? And the plan of making anti-war sentiment synonomous with treason--how could this work where the great majority of Britains were opposed to war (though it worked well in the US, thanks to a corrupt media and timorous opposition party).

You know, Pete Townsend and others were arrested for child porn because the US Justice Department supplied British authorities with a list of people in the UK who had visited porn sites. I always wondered if the Bushies don't have something damaging against Blair or members of his party.

[young_at_heart]

24. Is Blair embarrassed about British Intelligence

being used in the SOTU address? How often has another country's intelligence been referred to by a president....seems strange!

[Cheswick2.0]

30. they offered him something, money a job?

no doubt about it.

[GreenArrow]

25. Shame on me, but I hope it gets REAL nasty

for that lying, sanctimonious little prig. Whether he quits or not.

[goforit]

26. My o My!!!!........A perfect storm!!!

All the British Intelligence Officers and
All the Cia Officers and
All the FBI and
All the State Dept's intelligence and
All the Army's Intelligence and.........
Hans Blix.

How can they tolerate this fiasco??????

I certainly hope they are getting it together.
The shit is hitting the fan!