As fate would have it, a Brit dropped by my blog to set the record straight. I'll post his comment here. My original comment in italics.
If you want to take a peek at the gentleman's blog, it's here. Apparently he's a research physicist at a University in the U.K.
I like him (Blair) as rather liberal,
If you look at his track record you will see that his policies actually tend towards the right rather than liberal. Labour abandoned their socialist roots and most claims to liberalism when they became 'New Labour'. Instead they shifted much more to the centre (nothing wrong with that) and then a little more to the right...
On many issues (not all be any means) there is nothing to tell the difference between the Conservative party (proper name for Tories) and the Labour party. But in my opinion there is very little about the New Labour party that is liberal, in the traditional sense of the word. Try living over here under Tony's government and you will see that it ain't a bed of roses.
As for being led along by Bush. Well that is a matter of personal opinion as after numerous inquiries we cannot get at the truth of what happened. History will tell us I hope.
Then they have a third party that does nothing but suck votes from labour.
Not strictly true. Traditionally Labour was socialist and the Liberal Democrats were the 'liberals'. In fact they are pretty popular. A familiar phrase over here is that 'I would have voted for the Lib Dems, if I thought they could have won power'. Which if you stop and think about it is one of the most moronic things that can be said about exercising your democratic right to vote.
tony Blair has been playing a dirty campaign of attacking the Lib Dems, not on policy, because if he did he would lose even more of his traditional support who actually like the Lib Dems manifesto. Rather he has been claiming that by voting for the Lib Dems you will allow the Conservatives in through the back door. Personally, I think this is an underhanded method designed to use fear to control his supporters. Sound familiar?
** update **
When I referred to Blair as "rather liberal" we need to keep in mind the frame of reference for an American such as myself. Anyone to the left of Adolf Hitler is "rather liberal" at this point.
The United States is having a political seizure right now..
4 comments:
Did you tell him to go away or you will taunt him a second time?
Mixter
You know much that is hiden o' Mixter.
Hmmm, was the title derogatory? Well it was python so who cares. :-)
I do understand your viewpoint, I recently got back from spending two years in the US. In fact I don't necessarily disagree with you on many of your points, but I just wanted to highlight what I saw (not just from you) as misconceptions in the US over what Blair really represents - which is not a liberal viewpoint. I myself voted Lib Dem.
oh, and some call me...Tim.
By the way, thank you for linking to my blog, though your readers should be aware that it isn't really political.
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