The devil made him do it
: The Scotsman says that Tony Blair is getting heat from his own partymen to turn down the Congressional Gold Medal, the highest honor we can bestow (having given up that whole Lords and Sirs and Knights thing in a war with somebody once).
Tony Blair was last night under intense pressure from the Labour benches to turn down a prestigious Congressional Gold Medal from George Bush, the United States president, as the political fall-out from the Iraq conflict continued to bedevil the Prime Minister.
One back-bench Labour MP said accepting the honour would be like “taking an award from Satan” as speculation mounted at Westminster that Mr Blair would have to refuse the medal.
Well, first, let’s get this straight: It’s the Congressional Gold Medal. That means it is bestowed by Congress. Would the honorable gentleman like to answer the question: Are they all Satan, too?
But let’s also look at who has received this award (after George Washington and others who fought in that war against someone sometime).
Congress has given its Gold Award to Winston Churchill, Simon Wiesenthal, Walt Disney, the Wright brothers, Charles Lindburgh, Thomas Edison, Irving Berlin, Jonas Salk, Robert Frost, Bob Hope, Marian Anderson, Elie Wiesel, Anatoly and Avital Shcharansky, Nelson Mandela, and Mother Teresa.
Satan, indeed.
