There was Tony Blair, responding to George Bush’s down-home greeting, “Yo, Blair!” and engaging in what appeared to be a transparently deferential conversation about doings in the Middle East.
As all the world knows by now, the mike, unbeknownst to them, was still on. The London papers had a field day mocking what they were a bit overly eager to portray as Mr. Blair’s second-banana role.
But they were flying in the face of clever Tony’s much more independent bent.
He stated and stood for, as opposed to George, the idea that a peacekeeping force should be sent to the Israeli-Lebanese border immediately, and he stood firmly by his belief with Kofi Annan.
Imagine if the revealing conversation with Bush had gone out and he hadn’t managed to slip in a Bush-defying position. The papers would have had even more jollity at the great guy’s expense.
We salute his timely dash to a face-saving stance.
Tom Attea, humorist and creator of NewsLaugh.com, has had six shows produced Off-Broadway. Critics have called his writing "delightfully funny," "witty," with "great humor and ebullience" and "good, genuine laughs." |
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