Eavesdropping spells relief

The third and final straw that got me back into the blogging mood came earlier this week with George Bush and Tony Blair being caught on tape having a candid conversation about everything from sweater styles to Hamas and Hezzbolah. The lines that most media outlets have singled out are, from Bush to Blair:

"I feel like telling Kofi to get on the phone with Assad and make something happen."

"See, the irony is that what they need to do is get Syria to get Hezbollah to stop doing this shit, and it's over."

In contrast to the opinions of pundits and columnists I’ve come across in the past day or so, I reacted rather uniquely to the exchange; I’m actually relieved that this is what Bush and Blair talk about when they’re off the record. When I first heard that they had been caught on tape, I was worried that Bush said something about a reporter he didn’t like, or how his progress with My Pet Goat was coming along.

Was it rehearsed or scripted? I don’t know. What I do know is that I feel at least a bit more comfortable about the state of the war on terror knowing that the two guys with their fingers closest to the button actually talk about the issues (instead of fighting to the death with same sex marriage advocates) and, just as importantly, they appear to believe in what they’re saying.