Blair Defends Transformation of Labour

[Khephra]

COVENTRY, England -- Prime Minister Tony Blair on Saturday defended his transformation of the Labour Party and said the movement can win a third straight term in office for the first time in its history.

"Generations of members of this party have only ever dreamt of this opportunity and this possibility of winning a third term," he told Labour's National Policy Forum at Warwick University in this city in central England.

"We have that possibility within our grasp. We have come through an immensely difficult time."

snip........

"In fact values unless allied to the real world are lifeless," he said. "They only come alive precisely when set firm in modern reality. So when we change policy to meet people's expectations in the modern world, those traditional values are not operating separately from that modern setting, they are in fact shaping it."

http://www.newsday.com/news/nationworld/world/wire/sns-ap-britain-blair,0,6701280.story?coll=sns-ap-world-headlines

[IndianaGreen]

1. Here is how Sky News reported it: Blair Urges Party Unity

Coming from a Murdoch media outlet, it is a good description of the dire straits in which Blair put himself. Blair can no longer use the fear of a Tory victory to keep his people in line. The resurgent Liberal Democrats are fast becoming the second largest party in the UK.

If I was living in the UK, I would have left Blair and his New Labour behind and joined the antiwar Liberal Democrats of Charles Kennedy (who attended Indiana University by the way).

BLAIR URGES PARTY UNITY

Tony Blair has urged left-wingers not to return to the in-fighting that kept Labour out of power for 18 years.

The Prime Minister warned a return to the confrontations of the past risked throwing away Labour's dream of an historic third term in power.

<snip>

Meanwhile, the majority of voters believe Mr Blair is dishonest, according to a new poll.

The ICM survey for the Daily Mail found that 59% of those polled said they did not believe the Prime Minister told the truth about Iraq's weapons of mass destruction.

http://www.sky.com/skynews/article/0,,30000-13166468,00.html

[Jack Rabbit]

2. Murdoch supported Labour in the last election

I don't know about you, but that raised my eyebrows.

[IndianaGreen]

3. Murdoch supports Blair's privatization effords

which are a sugar coated version of Thatcherism.

The Bush twins are quoted today as saying that Blair is wonderful. That raised my eyebrows!

[Jack Rabbit]

4. You don't sugar coat Thatcherism

In most cases, privatization is just wrong. The idea of the BBC being turned into FoxNews is something that ought to concern freedom-loving people all over the world.

The Bush twins? Nothing those two drunken spoiled brats do or say raises my eyebrows. They just make me wince.

[Monkey see Monkey Do]

5. He's 'supported' him since 97. nt