I think you'd regret it once you got to know the British conservative party. From what I hear, they're pretty hopeless.

These Euros don't seem to understand this "individual initiative" concept.

And their T-shirts would really suck.

I don't know about that - they've got some really strict and weird libel/slander laws over there, and it's easier than it is here to get in trouble inadvertantly over that sort of thing.

If you do sign on to this gravy train invest some of the money in food to take with you. I have never once found a decent meal in England, they have taste buds like their weather, dull and gray.

Ace:

The only thing that could save that party is:

Vinny Falcone.

Tony Blair is a political genius. He turned what used to be a social-ist party and turned it into a free-market based, strong foreign policy party. No longer in the UK is one side advocating free markets and the other side advocating social-ism (high taxes, government control of much of the economoy). It is now a given that both parties take it as common ground that free market ideas are what work. The UK has lower taxes, lower unemployment and less government control than France, Germany, Italy and Spain. They are much closer to the US.

Contrast Blair to Clinton. Clinton was really a gift for us. Can you imagine if a dedicated, honest liberal had been in the White House during the '90's, like, say, Carter? Once the GOP took over Congress in 1994, Clinton said, "OK guys, fuck Hillary-care, let's go with Welfare Reform, NAFTA, and the rest of that shit that I alwyas was into. Just like you guys that just kicked my ass. That was my idea all along, you just didn't know it." Carter, on the other hand, would have fought everything Newt and his buddies die, and given away the shop using whatever executive power he had. Clinton was an opportunist first and a liberal second. Carter was a maniacal/Marxist/liberal first and an opportunist second. He ran the White House with an iron fist. Clinton ran the white house with an iron cock.

This is what makes Blair so cool. He's got Bush's Integrity Kick and Clinton's political skills. That's lethal. And the only thing the Conservative Party has left is this lame social conservative shit (not that I'm against it, I love social conservatives, being one myself), but without the economic conservative side to the debate, the party is fucked.

You watch. Blair will get re-elected. Even if the UK majority doesn't support the war like we do, he's just that fucking good and will get enough support to hold on to power.

Perhaps if the conservatives came up with a no-EU at any cost stance, plus social conservative ideals, and say...jack up the free market shit another notch above Blair (and that's pretty tough, he's a strong free-market guy), they might do something. But they have been out of power so long the ony thing they can do is whine like our DNC buddies here in the US, but with less impact.

Vinny Falcone is the only thing that can save that party. Or, perhaps, Margaret Thatcher. But she was fighting real hardcore lefties. Blair is no lefty.

Aw, come on, Bullwinkle, what about their Indian food? I lived on it for five weeks in England and miss it sorely - the Wasatch range has its attractions but decent Indian isn't among them.

Sonetka:

How right you are. And I hear they have great cheese sandwiches and lots of other bland pub food.

Actually, London's pretty cool. I did a three week trip there a while back, but where's the fucking ice? What's up with that shit? I said iced-fucking tea, you snotty Brit cocksucker. Not tepid shit with one little pussy ice cube.

And where's my fucking 24-hour quick shop on every corner? And my ice-cold soda within 15 seconds of wherever I am? And what's up with those narrow fucking streets with big oval mirrors at the bottom of tight corners? And where the fuck did all these pussy little deathmobiles come from? Where's my superhighways and miles of concrete for EZ parking?

That's what I want in London. I like their art, but fuck the weather and fuck the no-ice laws (or rules).

And what's up with those accents? I can't talk to them for 5 minutes without thinking "Monty Python guy said what?" Every one in the entire fucking city talks like they're in a fucking Monty Python or Faulty Towers episode. What's up with that? And their black folks talk the same as their white folks? What's up with that shit?

I just think these Brits need to act more like Americans. Fuck, the entire fucking continent needs these things. I say, put all the public transit in a big pile, nuke it, then cover the continent with concrete and cars, then put up 7/11's and Pizza Huts on every corner, and introduce real manly agriculture...you know, pesticides, bioengineered plants and crops, and cows pumped up with antibiotics. And deep-six the accents while you are at it. Speaking fucking American English for me, even the French should do that. I mean, the Vikings can do it, why the fuck can't the northern Europeans do it?

Now that'd be a cool fucking place to visit.

Blair's been a stand-up guy in the GWoT, but on domestic policy and EU policy he's pretty much Clinton with rabies. He's much better than Old Labour at concealing his agenda, and he's more vocal than Bush about his deeply held religious beliefs. But he's severely warped their constitution (which might have been more difficult if they'd written it down), he's raised taxes repeatedly and reformed pretty much nothing, and he seems to be hell bent on integrating the UK more deeply into the EU. Blair's biggest asset is the Liberal Democrats, who make him look sane and reasonable by contrast. Triangulation, you see.

And, Sonetka and Bullwinkle: you're both right. British food can be terrific, as long as you don't get anything that's actually British. Before he visited Britain for the first time, a friend of mine asked some expat Brits what *British* food they missed the most. The winner was bangers and mash, and when he arrived in London he went into a pub and ordered a plate of the stuff. After his first bite he thought, "Well, maybe here they just don't make it right." Turned out bangers and mash tasted the same everywhere he went.

Oh, I wasn't endorsing British food per se. Far from it. Irish food either, for that matter. I once, against my better judgement, was dragged by a cousin to an Irish pub advertising "traditional Irish food" and ended up with a dreadfully mushy meal followed by a severe case of Brian Boru's Revenge, or whatever they call it. And I've never gotten the bangers and mash thing, either, or the stewed tomatoes for breakfast. But their immigrants can cook, thank God.

Agreed, Sonetka. You can't go too far wrong with Indian food in London. OTOH, the one time I got pizza there it was strictly Chef Boy-ar-dee. Probably made by Saxon hands, though. What is it with those people and seasoning?

Sonetka and KCTrio: I lived in London for four months in 1996, working for the Tory Party while John Major's government was falling apart around him. They have an uphill battle before them, but it's NOT hopeless: their polling is finally close to Labour again. Vinny Falcone? No, but close: they hired the guy who managed John Howard to a fourth term in Australia.

Ace, the Brits are behind the US but not THAT far behind. Though they're both apparently on hiatus again, I'd start with Peter Cuthbertson and Iain Murray (even though he's a Brit expat in DC) , both of whom have been blogging for years.

This is a sign that it's too late for the Tories. Man, do they have it ass-backwards. Give them Maggie Gallagher's number

utron and Dave J:

I must profess that I put most of those observations from an article I read that was linked over at Powerline a few months back. I can't find the dang thing, and it's really bugging me, because the article was really richly detailed in its assessment of Tony Blair's skills as a politician and his removing of the far left elements of the labour party. I don't know if it was from the Claremont Institute or in Commentary Magazine, or perhaps even the National Interest. I am really relying on the recollections of that article and can't find the details. But the article did make a very persuasive case.

So, to the both of you, I'm sorry for the loose shit, and I'll defer to your better judgment of the man.

I'll retract what I wrote until I can find more information to support my claims. I've got a weak hand here.

And for the rest of you guys, just in case I wasn't clear, my ramblings about London and Europe were a rather lame attempt to be funny. I guess it fizzled. I really do like the place, a lot, actually.

I mean, the galleries alone are worth the trip. I could spend a month at the museums. Thank God they pillaged most of their Empire and kept the goods. [Sorry, loose shit again.]

I'm on thin ice here. I myself need a Vinny Falcone ass reaming.

I hope you're right, Dave J, but I'm betting that Blair wins a third term--not by much, but I think he'll get it.

Be interesting to see how things develop if I'm wrong, though. The Conservatives should be ideological buddies with Bush, but Michael Howard has made himself persona non grata at the Bush White House.

KCTrio, Blair's an enormously skilled politician--a better public speaker than Bush or anyone else on this side of the Atlantic, for one thing--and he's moved Labour away from being a tool of the Trades Union Congress, but I think he and Slick Willie are pretty much soulmates. It would be interesting to see the article you mentioned, though.

utron:

Do you have any links to some Blair bashing that I could sink my teeth into? Everything I find in google comes from communist sites that hate the man. Not much good to hear Marxist complaints. I'd like to see a good conservative viewpoint of the man, both as politician and his actions as prime minister.

Again, thanks for the sobering statements. In the interim, I'll keep searching for the same stuff.

I guess he who shall not be named (begins with a C) got a hold of my brain. I need to straighten up and fly right.

Also, Dave J, what are your thoughts on Blair? Is he a sly little devil who, to the core, an opportunist; or does he lead by strong ideals that are fairly conservative?

utron:

Now I'm really determined to find the bastard. It was one of those 30 pagers. That's why I think it came from the Claremont Institute or Commentary Magazine. It took some thinking to follow the thing; really a scholarly piece. Not just some 3 page essay in the Wall Street Journal (though those are great).

Sad thing is, I usually keep the hard copy in a binder when I really like an essay like that, but this one got dumped, and I didn't retain an electronic copy.

Again, I'm awaiting Vinny Falcone. I deserve it.

KCTrio, I get most of my Blair-bashing from the Weekly Spectator. Their homepage is here: http://www.spectator.co.uk/ . It's hardly an unbiased source, and I think they're mistaken about the Conservatives' chances, but well worth a read.

Awesome, utron. That's going to save me a lot of time getting the perspective I'm looking for. I want biased assessments of the man. That's a great way to learn what his conservative critics are saying.

I will say this much: Just reading his speeches is intense. If he means half the shit that comes out of his mouth, he's a hell of a lot more skilled that Clinton. I've seen video of him in the dunk tank in parliament, and he's no glassjaw. That stuff comes straight from the hip. Clinton was never that intense. He certainly was good at recall, but he was smooth where Blair speaks with passion. That's why I tend to think that he's got more of an inner core than Clinton.

I'll still stand by my statement that we were lucky as shit to have Clinton as President rather than a Kerry or a Carter during the 1990s. He was so interested in retaining popularity that he'd shift with the political winds. He made some big mistakes, to be sure, but I'll take a malleable Dem in the White House any day when the GOP is running both houses of Congress.

The Spectator rocks.

Been a subscriber for three years now.

While I admire Blair for standing by us in the war, I would not want to live under his government, that's for sure.

Need a reference? I'll make my lies believable, Ace. No "blogfather" stuff. Simply say that you make it frickin' happen on the Internet.

Or some such.

And I won't mentiont the potty mouth. Not even a li'l bit.

Okay, fine. I'll tell them you only cuss in British. That'll solve that.

Let me know.

Count on the British to institute officially-sanctioned Blogs to "spoon-feed" original thought to the public ...

That segment in Pink Floyd's The Wall with the mum making the kid eat his mashed potatoes and that little production line turning out children was no accident ..

oh, and as for the food, well, it can be very excellent ... just make certain to imbibe 5-12 pints of bitter beforehand ..

Actually, that might be an excellent way to make this wonderful new conservative blog more palatable too .. I guess that remains to be seen.

I was just over there visiting the homeland. It's interesting at the moment.

Regarding the food, at least bear in mind that the UK has a national cuisine identity, unlike the US who just adopted the cuisine of anyone that turned up.

Traditional English grub is rather nice, it's just that the tards that cook in many places in England think zapping a frozen dinner in a microwave and cooking a few fresh french fries is being a chef. Pub meals can either be notiously poor or quite wonderful and cheap depending on which pub you go to. Usually, you have to seek out the good pubs with good food.

Regarding the tories, I did see a rather good ad campaign by them. It contained a handwirtten note such as 'Limiting immigration isn't racist' and underneath it had 'are you thinking what we're thinking?'. Quite a clever way to connect the tories with the everyday man on the street, plus includes the blasphemy that curbing immigration isn't racist which is a two for one.

What was interesting was that I saw two news articles on the BBC, one was some woman protesting at the tory leader because her son was accidentally killed by an air rifle and he said he probably wouldn't support a ban and the other news article was the Left saying the Tories would cut $35B in spending (like thats a bad thing!). Nice and balanced there by the BBC.

Also, the Tories came down heavy on Gypsies / Travellers and the BBC did their best to portray them in a bad light. Unfortunately however they came off as saying that the tories were off pandering for votes by suggesting they would implement laws which the majority of people agree with (errm, isn't that the point of democracy?).

Overall, Tony has a tough time, it wouldn't surprise me if he stepped down so the voters can have an option for voting labour without supporting the war as most of their voters are anti-war, but also anti-tory. Where do they vote from there? Many people are trying to put a spin on it by suggesting that Blair was fooled by washington, and that it's not his fault, and that he is still worthy of their vote.

It will invite people to bypass the media ...

AAAAAHHHHHHH! What could be worse?

"...the article was really richly detailed in its assessment of Tony Blair's skills as a politician and his removing of the far left elements of the labour party."

He didn't entirely remove them: he cowed them into submission for the sake of electability, which required real skill but also the fact of their having been out of power for more than 15 years. Whenever he leaves--and he's promised not to seek a fourth term--the fight over the Labour leadership will bring them out again, and no matter who emerges, they won't be able to restrain them like he has (even if they actually wanted to, which is itself doubtful).

"I hope you're right, Dave J, but I'm betting that Blair wins a third term--not by much, but I think he'll get it."

If I was placing bets, that's what I'd bet on, too, but the Tories are not in the hopeless position they were until fairly recently. You could see a hung Parliament, too: no one in the majority and the need for a coalition government, in which case the Lib Dems (horrifyingly) might become kingmakers; Charles Kennedy has already said they'd never enter a coalition with the Tories while he's their leader. Add to that another possibility, namely that the Tories get a plurality or even majority of the seats in England with Labour having to rely on Scottish and Welsh MPs to stay in power who can vote on English issues that their English colleagues can't in paralel vote on for the devolved Celtic fringe (the "West Lothian Question" first raised by Tom Dalyell decades ago), which is a recipe for a serious constitutional crisis.

"...what are your thoughts on Blair? Is he a sly little devil who, to the core, an opportunist; or does he lead by strong ideals that are fairly conservative?"

Both. The man does truly believe nearly everything he says, and yet is capable of believing multiple contradictory and mutually exclusive things simultaneuously. His support for both the GWOT and the EU is only the most obvious of those. In many senses, Blair is actually an old-line paternalistic "One Nation" Tory, similar to people like Michael Heseltine or Douglas Hurd who were the Tory "Wets" as opposed to the Thatcherite "Dries" in the 80's. And I'll grant he's a paragon of conservatism and common sense compared to his wife, but that's a hell of a backhanded compliment.

"The Spectator rocks."

It's still a great magazine, but not what it used to be. Boris Johnson simply isn't up to running it AND being an MP at the same time. Want some more biased stuff on Blair, Labour, etc., Ace? Try the opinion section of the Daily Telegraph, AKA the "Daily Tory-graph."

"...the UK has a national cuisine identity, unlike the US who just adopted the cuisine of anyone that turned up. "

One letter: I'd say ADAPTED, not adopted. There's no "American cuisine" per se because there are multiple American cuisines, both ethnic and regional. Have you ever been to New Orleans, BTW?

"Nice and balanced there by the BBC."

"It will invite people to bypass the media ..."

And in light of those comments, I'd also recommend this blog, dedicated exclusively to taking the scales of people's eyes about the (foolishly) beloved BBC.

"The Spectator rocks."

"It's still a great magazine, but not what it used to be. Boris Johnson simply isn't up to running it AND being an MP at the same time."

AND shagging Petsie while married with 4 kids.

Seriously though Dave, thanks for the analysis.

"there are multiple American cuisines, both ethnic and regional"

Aaah, point taken, who else would have fish heads in a desert ;-)

/waterboy

For a truly horrifying glance at the nanny state the UK is in, take a look over at http://nannyknowsbest.blogspot.com/

"desert" should read dessert. Doh!