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Tasted Like a Sausage Sandwich

category national | politics / elections | opinion/analysis author Sunday November 23, 2008 19:32author by Hilary Report this post to the editors

Political Quiz:

You were the Fianna Fáil Minister for Finance during the last few years. There is a massive economic crash landing happening because of your policies, which focused economic activity on selling houses to each other rather than building up things like education, culture, home grown industry etc. What do you do now?

1.Make the poor pay- strip funding from pensioners, students, schoolkids and the under-priviliged.

2.Blame the international situation.

3.Blame the people who voted against Lisbon.

4. Put your hands up, admit your mistakes, and invest in basic services which will make the recession a bit more bearable for everyone.

(hint- this is Fianna Fáil remember...)

Anyway, at least he's not Enda Kenny.
Draft Enda Kenny Election Poster
Draft Enda Kenny Election Poster

Recently, the incredible hash that the government are making of everything they touch has led some people to suggest that all the opposition have to do to take power is shut the fuck up.

Cowen and Gormley and Harney will lose the election because they they are attacking their own base- middle class parents who don't want to pay university fees, the old who like having free medical care, teachers and the parents of schoolkids who like the idea of a slowly improving educational set-up, and of course, those who want to see things like the cervical cancer virus rolled out and the health system improved for those who can and cannot pay.

But his weekend, Enda Kenny in a speech to his party gave every public sector in the country a good reason to hope he never becomes taoiseach, when he said the national pay agreement should not be honoured.

Way to go, Enda, annoy ordinary workers and piss off the unions.

Meanwhile here's a video on Brian Cowen which might raise a laugh...

author by Hilarypublication date Sun Nov 23, 2008 19:36author address author phone Report this post to the editors

it seems videos don't work when you have the site set up to display in Irish for reason... here is another go:

Caption: Video Id: ae_EyHFNuWU Type: Youtube Video
Embedded video Youtube Video


author by Michael - Human Leaguepublication date Sun Nov 23, 2008 20:28author address author phone Report this post to the editors

Well done Hilary.
I see what you are saying about King Kenny and his mish mash of old ''broilers'' who know in their heart of hearts that we really can see through the
Blueshirts and their zany ''policies'' of cut and slash the P.A.Y.E. old reliables who are so vulnerable to BURY.
Bad as things appear to look on the financial horizon i ,and millions of irish alike ,would prefer The Divel We Know ( F.F.) to make amends as to the
above mentioned. King Kenny cant even sort out the Shell 2 Sea scandal in the wesht , i rest my case.
What we must be grateful for is quite evident ,ie the elderly Irish people have scared Cowen &Co. in a way that shook the very foundation of The State
to the point of pure hysteria which is now ''on a roll'' in more ways than 1. Cowen & Co. are in dread of the People Of Ireland and it is showing in the faces
of Fianna Failers the length of Ireland .
They got us into this now i say let them pay for the mistakes and get us out of it , as you so rightly said of King Kenny and his smirky speech on pay
restraints etc and that showed the blueshirts hand and the ruthless bastards that their history has shown them to be.
No ,let Cowen accept his responsibilities and earn his pension like we all have to ,and this time keep F.F. In power and make them effen sweat.

As for Harney she will be Gone by January 09 citing ''Get me out of here i'm a celebrity'' , and gone she is. Order the Taxi now.

AS for King Kenny he sounds to me as if he wants to arrest me every time i hear his voice....Listen to him and be afraid ,Be very very afraid ....

author by Hilarypublication date Sun Nov 23, 2008 21:23author address author phone Report this post to the editors

Er, right so. Whatever you're havin yourself.

You could always vote for one of the other parties that isn't in the government? Or maybe an independent who swears he won't go into coalition with the big boys?

Anyway- the sentence in the above should read:

- -But his weekend, Enda Kenny in a speech to his party gave every public sector worker in the country a good reason to hope he never becomes taoiseach...

author by xpublication date Mon Nov 24, 2008 08:12author address author phone Report this post to the editors

The two pro business, centre right parties in Ireland (FF & FG) will take 70-80% of the vote between them at the next election. The public wants what the public gets. You wait, and watch, and dont be surprised. We've been here before, in much worse situations actually - but there wasnt any sea change, any huge shift in politics, any revolution. Street protests really dont add up to much in the end.

author by ScarBuckspublication date Mon Nov 24, 2008 10:49author address author phone Report this post to the editors

' x ' marks the spot. If 70-80 per cent of our fellow citizens blithely (?) vote for FF and FG candidates we're going to get another don't-rock-the-system form of government. Where will Labour be in all the woodpile after the votes are counted? Well it seems to me that FG's recent opposition to implementation of a public sector wage agreement is going to jar with Labour's support for the public sector - which means a coalition with the more right-leaning (leanings are relative and see-saw in Ireland) FG is out. Logically Labour might then have to "do a greenie" and go into government with FF on a cobbled Programme for Government. The last one agreed by Dick Spring in the 'eighties foundered on the Fr. Brendan Smith pedophile case extradition fiasco.

author by Segolenepublication date Mon Nov 24, 2008 11:34author address author phone Report this post to the editors

sea changes do happen though- seemingly unlikely events occur like the Lisbon referendum outcome last June (was it only last June?) which none of the centre right parties foresaw.

What would it take to wean our friends and relatives off of the FF FG tit?

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