Blair's wife recalls disappointment at Bush's win

The wife of former British Prime Minister
Tony Blair said she and her husband watched in
distress as George Bush won the U.S. presidential
election in 2000, according to extracts of her
autobiography published Wednesday.

"I think it's fair to say that our hearts sank when
the result was finally ratified," Cherie Blair wrote
in "Speaking For Myself," which is being serialized in
The Times of London newspaper.

The Blairs were close friends of Bill and Hillary
Clinton, who left the White House when Bush took
office after defeating Al Gore in the election. But
the British power couple later developed a warm
relationship with the new president and his wife,
Laura.

"George is actually a very funny, charming man with a
quirky sense of humor," the newspaper quoted Blair as
writing in her autobiography. "The reason he gets a
bad press, he says, is 'because I talk Texan.'"