Home > How They See Us > Archives > 2008 > May > 14 > Entry
Cherie dishes it in a Blairing tell-all book.
Talk about juicy. Excerpts of Cherie Blair’s autobiography Speaking for Myself, set to be released Thursday, have been published in the London Times this week. And they make great reading.
The wife of former British Prime Minister Tony Blair has much to say about Bill Clinton’s relationship with Monica Lewinsky. For example, her first reaction was: “Oh Bill, how could you?” adding that she wondered how he could be so “bloody stupid.” Blair credits Chelsea Clinton with keeping the couple together afterwards.
She also writes that Tony Blair was crestfallen to learn that George W. Bush prevailed over Al Gore in the 2000 election.
Blair said she discussed the scandal with Hillary Clinton. “In her view, the way the right wing relentlessly pursued it was all part of a wider attempt by their enemies to discredit Bill. The most important aspect, she said, was not to let it undermine the presidency. So on a political, strategic level that was the line they took, that this had been politically motivated and stirred up by those who wanted to undermine the Democratic presidency. On a personal level, however, there is no doubt that she was furious and hurt, and rightly.”
Blair also talked about how Tony Blair’s heart sank when he learned that George Bush’s victory over Gore in 2000 had been ratified and that he was to become president. The Blairs, she said, couldn’t imagine they’d be able to get along with George and Laura Bush.
Blair tells how she and her husband watched Bush on TV and were concerned at his poor grasp of foreign affairs.
However it was quite a different story when they all met for the first time. She and her husband learned to appreciate “a very funny, charming man with a quirky sense of humor.” In short, they were both impressed.
Blair described Bush’s tendency to “talk Texan” — a trait that he himself has blamed for his bad press — but she goes farther, comparing him with Bill Clinton, who is also from the South. She said: “Clinton may talk Southern, [but] he doesn’t think Southern, whereas Bush thinks Texan.”
Comments