As for speechwriting, I’m content to add my voice to the team here. As Drewsmom says, there’s no shortage of clear thinking and crisp writing on these pages!!

I second what you said so elequently, every word that you said I wanted to raise my glass and to cheer what you wrote.

So GWR have you ever decided to get into speech writing because you have the flair for it.

Political courage isn’t a common trait. PM Blair has enough of it for a dozen men. I think he’s shown more of it than even President Bush. After 9/11, it wasn’t hard for Bush to rally a huge majority of Americans to back the WOT. Mr. Blair joined the battle without faltering, despite the fact that Britain hadn’t yet been attacked and despite far less public support. He didn’t take a poll to see if it would help, and he didn’t consider political fallout first. He took that stand because he knew it was the right thing to do. That’s not a politican, that’s a statesman.

So today he’s under heavy attack, from within his own party and from the press, and he’s stepping down to jeers and insults. Years from now, when islamofascism is finally crushed, history will be much kinder to both him and to Bush, and little regard for people like Chirac and Annan.

Well done, Mr. Prime Minister, and, from most of America, thanks.