Bush Abandonment Watch

Wherein we note defections by once-loyal allies

By Timothy Noah
Posted Thursday, Oct. 13, 2005, at 2:53 PM PT

<snip> In recognition of this exciting development, I hereby inaugurate a new feature spotlighting faithful Bush allies who indicate, publicly, that they just can't drink the Kool-Aid anymore.

1) Margaret Thatcher. To many on the American right, Britain's Iron Lady is a greater heroine than she is to her fellow Britons—a sort of Ronald Reagan in drag. Now that Reagan is gone, Thatcher is the most plausible living vessel for Gipper-worship. As her nickname indicates, the former prime minister represents decisiveness and steadfastness, especially when it comes to military deployment. (Just ask the Falkland Islanders!) She sets her course and she stays on it, and she expects others to stay on it, too. "Don't go wobbly on me, George," Thatcher told Bush père after Iraq invaded Kuwait, as Tina Brown reminds us in her Oct. 13 column.

It is therefore not a little surprising to learn, from Brown, the following:

The former chairman of the Arts Council of Great Britain, Lord Palumbo, who lunched with Mrs. T six months ago, told me recently what she said when he asked her if, given the intelligence at the time, she would have made the decision to invade Iraq. "I was a scientist before I was a politician, Peter," she told him carefully. "And as a scientist I know you need facts, evidence and proof—and then you check, recheck and check again. The fact was that there were no facts, there was no evidence, and there was no proof. As a politician the most serious decision you can take is to commit your armed services to war from which they may not return." <snip>

http://slate.msn.com/id/2127974/

He was on Real Time last week and he finally denounced Bush by saying he could no longer trust him. It was worth watching the rerun just to see that again : )

I saw Ann Coulter say that she was done with Bush when she was talking to Maher on real time.