Would you rather Blair be replaced by a Conservative?

I don't know if Tony Blair will lose his job or not over the botched intelligence and lack of weapons in Iraq. If he is booted and a new election is held, I don't know if that would result in the election of the Conservatives or a more leftist Labor faction. It seemed to me that the Conservatives were more hawkish on Iraq than Blair, but today Ian Duncan Smith, the party leader, just drilled Blair during the Prime Minister's Question session. He was asking many of the same questions we were all asking here.

Liberal Democrat leader.

because their party is in "disaray"...

It's time for blair to go...

bush,too,,,but I'm sure we're stuck with him until 2005..

You can hear the dripping from across the Atlantic right now.

I doubt very much that enough of the New Labourites will hang together with Tony to the point of hanging themselves as well. Much more likely a sufficient number will ultimately elect to let him hang separately.

hurt BUsh near as much as Blair...and I think Blair will wiggle out of anything this next time around. Can't Congress demand that the U.S. president himself show up in front of their august body and provide testimony?

WHY DON'T THEY DO IT? THe prominent democrats should demand a full report in person from stutterer in chief.

maybe Ian is like McCain or something but hell no. A more leftist labour faction or something else would be better or lol if Gerry Adams becomes PM heh thats not going to happen and I dont think he would like that.

Being a warmonger and telling lies about it is cause for removal from office regardless of party. Fibbing about blow jobs is not. Had Clinton done what Bush/Blair did to get us in a war, I would have wanted him impeached and tried for war crimes.

Blair will come closer than Bush ever will to feeling some official ramifications of stretching souped-up intel.

If Blair falls because of this, it will not have an impact on Bush. Why? Because the only way it will is to stir up enough unrest to get Congress to officially move on public inquiries into Iraqgate. The only way a Republican Congress is going to ever consider that is if their constituents raise all kinds of hell and demand some accountability.

The section of the populace who vote for Republican Senators and Representatives is roughly analgous to the section who voted for Bush in 2000. Since then, they have eaten up every half-truth and excuse the administration has provided on everything from the environment to corporate accountability to tax cuts to Iraq, this would have to reach a truly momentous crisis level in order to impact Bush.

Anything short of scandalous direct audio or video recordings of top officials admiting lying or forgery in plain language will not have this effect. The Republicans will only say "oh look at those socialist English. They are European after all." Then all the good God-fearing folk will say "hmmm...Europeans aren't Americans" and go on about their lives.

Borrowing a page from Reagan, the "CEO manager" style of Presidency also allows the President to claim plausible deniability for anything going on similar to Reagan getting off without a hitch in the Iran-Contra affair. Bush can simply say "Tenet provided me with faulty intelligence" or "Rumsfeld cooked the intel...how was I to know?"

If CEOs can be held accountable for the bad crap that goes on during their time on top, then Presidents using the same system can be held accountable for the shenanigans of their underlings.

... fuck 'em! Any political party that purports to offer the people of their nation a representative government has the duty to clean up their party before they try to clean up the nation.

I don't care what party Blair or Bush are from, ANYONE who lies to the people they represent by taking their country to war should be thrown out of office and put behind bars.

Blair must be brought down for the long term credibility of the Labour Party. This isn't just going to go away. If Labour lets Blair's antics slide, then Labour will be losing more and more voters for the rest of the time that Blair is in power.

If the Conservatives get back in they will ruin Britain

just as Thatcher was replaced by a Tory.

I doubt Blair will stand in the next election. I expect Gordon Brown to replace him. In either event, I would hope the Liberal Democrats win. "New Labour" has betrayed its roots.