the chimp and the poodle will appear before congress on thursday!

[julka]

hilarity ensues?

[w13rd0]

1. What?

Are you joking? A joint session?

Maybe they are going to "present more evidence"...post-action justification? desperate spin mode? why would Blair come here to give Bush what he needs to save his skin?

[julka]

3. this has been in the offing for quite some time, and the best part is.....

there was going to be a huge ceremony in which tony was due to receive a MEDAL from *. medal of freedom, I think.

but * chickened out, STS, as it would have caused too much of an outcry.

CSPAN announced this morning they'd be carrying the whole thing live, at 4PM Eastern.

already set my VCR for that one.

Have become religious.....praying that there will be some sort of Q&A session, preferably w/congress.

how sweet would that be?

I love those parliament sessions on Sunday night.

[CatWoman]

9. * didn't chicken out -- Blair did

there was a thread in LBN about it a couple days ago.

[Gman]

2. THIS is damage control for the SOTU.

A joint session?? Then they set this up when they got back from Africa for damage control reasons.

p.s. Gotta link?

[DrBB]

4. Damage control? Not hardly. Poodle was supposed to get

...the Congressional Medal of Honor. That's what this was originally about. The Congers, in their wisdom, voted it to him. But he had to DECLINE it because of the shitstorm at home about WMD. This whole subtext here is the WMD/Niger scandal--can't help but be. But they're going to just brazen it out, which is what they do. Great. More fodder for the scandal machine.

[julka]

5. from Guardian

Consider the adulation with which he can be expected to be treated in the United States. He has been invited to address a special joint session of the American Congress, an accolade conferred on only three other British Prime Ministers - Winston Churchill, Clement Attlee and Margaret Thatcher. And of them, only Churchill, and then only posthumously, was awarded the Congressional Gold Medal, the most prestigious civilian honour that America can bestow.

then, later......

A Labour MP has been quoted saying that Blair getting a medal from Bush is 'like being anointed by Satan' - a ludicrous statement, but telling all the same about the feelings of animosity the Prime Minister provokes among some on his backbenches.

For the Blair-haters, whatever he does will be another reason to scorn him. More mainstream opinion, in the Labour Party and beyond, will treat the Washington trip as an important test of whether Mr Blair's claims to influence over the Americans are anything more than deluded vainglory.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/Columnists/Column/0,5673,997432,00.html

[Hubert Flottz]

6. Best Quote Yet!

A Labour MP has been quoted saying that Blair getting a medal from Bush is "like being anointed by Satan"

LMAO!

[Zech Marquis]

7. "like being annoited by Satan" !

oh man, that was priceless! :evilgrin: this is good stuff indeed! ROTFLMAO

[legin]

8. OK so it's not quite a medal awarding ceremony

but it is close enough.

If you could arrange for bush* to really ladle on the praise, "what a tremendous friend of the u.s. Tony Blair is," etc, etc.

Standing ovations every ten seconds from the members of the Congress and Senate.

You know, really pull out all the syrupy stops.

And make sure there is world wide coverage.

Should go down like a lead ballon over here. :evilgrin:

[legin]

10. Really lay it on thick

about what a tremendous honour it is for blair* to be allowed to speak before a meeting of the joint Congress and Senate and how it is a reward for blair's staunch support of bush*'s campaign to 'give freedom' to the Iraqi people.

I don't know who started this fiasco, but if anyone deserves to be awarded a medal it's him/her.
:evilgrin: