This Week: Tony Blair to Clinton, You're my "Political Soul Mate"
Top of the news on This Week was Tony Blair—who Christopher Hitchens has called the most courageous politician of his time. Blair released his memoir this week, A Journey, and Christianne Amanpour hosted him for his first North American interview for that occasion.
Though Blair spoke of his affinity for George W Bush—and even, at one point, for Dick Cheney—he called Bill Clinton his “political soul mate,” hopefully not looking to Clinton’s place in the afterlife. Clinton was the “smartest” political mind Blair ever met (At one point, Amanpour asked Blair: how did Clinton get through the worst parts of his presidency, including the Monica Lewinsky scandal? Blair quipped: “By the most extraordinary strength of character.”)
Blair had seemingly no regrets on his intrepid support of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, praising Bush as a courageous decision maker.
To Blair, the fight against radical Islam is far from over. “This is more like the phenomenon of revolutionary communism…stretching far further than you think.” If we were facing Communism, we wouldn’t ask when the war would end or when troops would withdraw—we would say that we would continue fighting until Communism fell.
Meanwhile, on the panel, in a curious effort to drive down their abysmal ratings even further, This Week hosted the insufferable Paul Krugman and the unbearable Thomas Friedman—if there are two more irritating people in American punditry, they have yet to be recognized by the networks.
Friedman kept harrumphing about “structural problems,” whatever that might mean to him, while Krugman sounded his high-pitched and now familiar Keynesian blue-note. George Will also sat on the panel, but his erudite references to the founders and political philosophers were invariably lost upon his peers, one of whom, being from the Washington Post, had, much like the host herself, nothing interesting to add as a conversationalist.
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Jun '10
Re: This Week: Tony Blair to Clinton, You're my "Political Soul Mate"
It still amazes me when liberal pundits posit that Obama's main problem is a communication problem. How ridiculous. I don't think any President has spent more time in front of a camera, moving his mouth. Obama's problem is, most of what he says is completely forgettable, and the rest is unpopular. He'd be better off spending all his time playing golf, instead of just half of his time.
Jul '10
Re: This Week: Tony Blair to Clinton, You're my "Political Soul Mate"
You actually sat and watched Friedman and Krugman, together, for an extended period of time?
I don't know if that's professionalism or masochism.
Emily, are you gonna be alright? Do you need someone to come over and sit with you for awhile?
Jul '10
Re: This Week: Tony Blair to Clinton, You're my "Political Soul Mate"
Apparently, Tony Blair didn't get the message the other night: the war is over.
Our President deemed it to be so and almost immediately, there was not a U-Haul or Budget truck to be had throughout the land of the Tigris and Euphrates, as pacified Jihadists busily packed away their IED's, RPG's and AK-47's and trundled back home to their loved ones.
All along the highways leading away from Baghdad and Fallujah, our 50,000 troops, now re-named "Peace Pals", stood and waved at their departing former foes, calling, "Farewell, Dear Friends. Travel Safely!".
Now on to the grunt work of nation-building, as the Peace Pals bend their brawny backs to the task of constructing schools, hospitals, gay-and-transgendered youth outreach centers and hoisting bronze statues of Barack Hussein Obama, Liberator of the Nation.
May '10
Re: This Week: Tony Blair to Clinton, You're my "Political Soul Mate"
Kenneth: You actually sat and watched Friedman and Krugman, together, for an extended period of time?
I don't know if that's professionalism or masochism. · Sep 5 at 8:27am
Nicely done.
Blair generally doesn't practice my kind of politics. We just aren't on the same side of too many conversations. Still, I'll always respect the guts it took for him to support the war effort. A man more worried about his "legacy" would never have pulled it off.
And, occasionally, I wished that our guy could pull off a speech like Blair could.