Bush's Poodle Off the Leash

Tony Blair has finally given up his cushy job as prime minister. He was coasting along just fine and was a rather popular leader until he decided to hitch his star to George W. Bush and his Iraq debacle. The reason Blair got tagged as "Bush's Poodle" is that he walked in lock-step with Bush and never once questioned or challenged him.

He leaves office with an approval rating almost as low as Bush, and although he professes to have no regrets, I'm guessing that when he's alone, he's cursing Bush under his breath.

When Bush was asked about the "poodle" moniker, he called it a "silly ridicule" and said...

"He's bigger than that. (a cocker spaniel, perhaps?) Somehow our relationship has been seen as Bush saying to Blair, 'Jump' and Blair saying, 'How high?' But that's just not the way it works. It's a relationship where we say, 'We're both going to jump together'."

They jumped, allright. Right into the abyss.