Just curious, for residents of the USA & UK; what if we swapped Bush & Blair, would it matter?
439210
Frankly, I think anybody would be better than Bush.  He seems insensitive to the needs of the people (or should I say poor people) and he's messing up a perfectly functioning Social Security system, he's determined to keep up the war in the Mid East when nobody clearly knows why we are there.  \n\nI think that you or I or anybody would make a beter president than Bush.
555687
the same as with all countries - its the backroom men who make the decisions.   They are all puppets - Tony Blair is a puppet to his backrrom men as well as to George W Bush!
1000069
I loved Clinton. Our country was in much better shape when he was President. I mean think about it, if the worst thing Bush had done was lie about getting a #@%$&^#, don't you think America might be a bit better off than we are?
468476
Blair's foreign policy is to follow US foreign policy. They did that in the first Gulf War when Majors, A conservative was in power why deviate now?   Also, you just gotta give the guy credit he has to defend his policies not just against the media, but an arguing session against the other party.
402253
I agree, I'm from the US, but I can see the problems starting across the pond.  We were a nation based on LEGAL immigration.  UK has always been a semi-homogeneous society.  It doesn't have to be lilly-white, but I can see that the openness of Euro countries is taking a toll on national identity
122435
Bush.  His country has more bombs.  He's also done vastly more damage to international relations than Blair has, and has repeated demonstrated a complete lack of respect for our constitutional rights.
368085
UK is a state of America. If you don't beleive me, ask Bush's English servant Blair.
560943
Why wouldn't he? Prime Minister Blair is a guest of our country, as well as a guest of our President and First Lady.  Was Prime Minister Blair a "poodle" when he was a guest of President Clinton, and when he was taken to dinner or guest at a State Dinner?  I won't even dignify most of the trashy posts to this question, except to say that what I have read so far is a poor reflection on who ever wrote it.  Good thing this is all anonymous.
623896
The british have lost their identity.They follow Americans.in fact USA decides all policies and no poltician is required for Britain now.
350374
Absolutly not!! We wouldn't take the states if bush wrapped it up and  gave it to us with a bow. The states would screw up our economic triumphs and social gains. The us would only be a step in the wrong direction.
570222
I don't think England would be wise to give up the monetary system they currently have. Joining the Euro system would be the same as using the American dollar. You would be assimilated, with no identity then. I am an American, and I don't like the fascism going on with the Republicans, and the current Bush Administration. Americans wont go along with it for to long without a revolt, and I see that happening really soon.
943719
I agree wholeheartedly. Whether or not Bush is doing a good job, and he isn't, he should be the least of Britain's concern. Last I heard, Tony Blair wasn't any better, so they need not complain about our government. Plus, we're actually being affected. They have no idea personally what it feels like to have a man like Bush in power.
1030956
Ditch this special relationship claptrap, theres no nead for us ordinaries to be influenced by the political machinations of self-serving power-hungry nincompoops (sorry I just love using that word...).  I'm British and I have nothing but love for my septic bretheren.  They gave us Jazz, Elvis, Hendrix, WWII etc.  \n\nSeriously though, the real Americans I know are wonderful people, if a bit keen on everything and I really hope that someday they'll realise what a dreadful mistake they made in declaring independence from us. \n\nI love America too, but before I trade in Blighty for the New World, they've got to get rid of the death penalty, TV evalgelism, rubbish cars (and drive on the left), "We're No.1!", McDonalds and most importantly that pillock in the White House.
624260
I would say George W Bush, but I know some Americans are going to have a go at me if I do. Apparently it's fine for Americans to have it in for their own president, but not for an English person to. I also don't like the smarmy British Prime Minister Tony Blair.
399383
The US and UK have enjoyed a "special relationship" since the beginning. I don't think the "colony" thing is permanent; Tony Blair wanted to be Bush's lapdog, but I think he (and the British public) has learned his lesson.
782313
More to the point, what did Blair get out of kowtowing to Bush? Promises of great wealth after he leaves office? I ask this question for what it is worth and not for any partisan reason. (In fact, both Bush and Blair will leave behind huge unfunded obligations that will inevitably lead to large tax increases. Or depreciation of the currency, which comes to the same thing, but falls perhaps on different classes of people.)\n\n"What has Blair gained from his alliance with Bush?\n\n"Blog: Blair is America's 'poodle'\n\n"In quotes: Kendall Myers on US-UK relations\n\n"A top State Department official has delivered a devastating verdict on the state of relations between Washington and London, arguing that Tony Blair has received "nothing, no payback" for supporting President George W. Bush in Iraq.\n\n"'We typically ignore them and take no notice,' Kendall Myers, a senior analyst at the State Department's Bureau of Analysis and Research, said of his British colleagues.\n\n"..."
303651
Well, neither of them may be great but I still consider Thatcher worse than Blair, despite everything. Remember that she also took the UK to war (okay, Argentina may have instigated it but she certainly didn't resort to diplomacy).\n\nThe Blair 'revolution' was meant to be a very exciting thing - the end of years of some of the UK's most dismal politics, a return to social democracy (or democratic socialism, or whatever). A government that, while electable, still cared about the average person and not just big business.\n\nOkay, Blair's government is not that. It's nowhere near that. It's a firmly centrist government now that actually in some ways is dismantling the social programmes that his party's reputation rests on. So you could say Blair was more of a disappointment than Thatcher, as with Thatcher you knew what to expect. But I shudder to think how far the UK would have gone down the road to strict American-style 'free market' / 'trickle-down' economics if Thatcherites had stayed in power.\n\nPut it this way: last time round, Brits went into the election griping and whining about Blair and his government, and then... did what? Re-elected them. With a majority. Reduced, everybody points out, but still a majority. Why? Nobody else to vote for.