Eh? What? Was that the sound of goalposts being rapidly shifted?
Anyways. History will - eventually - judge Ahern as the sociopathic liar, corrupt gombeen, national traitor and general all-round scumbag that he is, we don’t need to worry about that really. Generations hence Irish children will probably have a game or rhyme that involves an unspeakable end for The Bertie. He’ll be right up there with MacMurrough and Cromwell in the bogeyman list.
But. In the 1950s and 1980s, FF caused the mess but slithered out of office to holler and yahoo from Opposition.
If there is an election this year, the same thing will happen again. The independence experiment will never work as long as FF exist, they really are just a manifestation of “meet the new boss, same as the old boss” - same old disregard for the peasantry, same old landlordism and croneyism and corruption and running the place for the benefit of a small minority. They’ve just swapped regular bouts of emigration for regular bouts of mass slaughter as the preferred tool for keeping the uppity peasants in place. FF are Muthas Childer. It’s nothing unexpected really, Frantz Fanon for example wrote extensively about this phenomenon in the context of decolonisation in Africa.
The question, the real question is - do the electorate have the cojones to throw off their subservient psychological shackles and eradicate this cancer, thus completing the next step in the (nowhere near finished) process from Serfs to Citizens?
That said, I couldn’t give two fucks about Bertie now. Eventually, the majority will understand and acknowledge the damage he has done to our nation. I am far more concerned by the damage being wrought by the deflationary policies we are now pursuing. the government thinks balancing the books is objective number one. The truth is if we keep losing jobs at this rate there will be no books to balance- government revenues will collapse.
+1. Don’t think this aspect is getting enough airplay.Only an undiagnosed psycho could pull off some of the stunts Ahern pulled over the last few years and still be out knocking around with a happy head on him. The same holds for Seanie boy. And from what I saw of a Rolex wearing Peter Bacon on Prime Time last night I fear we could be talking a chip of the same block-up to his oxters in arrogance. As for Ahern-the ultimate pathetic reality is that we’re living in a country that voted for him.
The scary thing is I think he genuinely believes his own delusional bullshit, that he was forced out by the little people and that if he was still there everything would be hunky fuckin dory.
That said, he’s still a frightful cunt. (Sorry Ma).
I know that this is a Bertie topic but on that point allow me to realy an anecdote.
Some years ago Mr Bacons daughter was to be married. He was not entirelly happy with her choice of groom ( wrong side of town if you get my meaning). Anywho, at the happy affair during the speeches teh Best Man introduced Mr bacon for his few words. He did not look a happy man.
Later outside he was berating the Caterer for allowing this to happen. The MC apparantelly was supposed to introduce Dr Bacon and he was fn liviv. Demanding reductions on the Bill, you`ll never work again, that sort thing. Caterer was close to tears.
Prize Prick.
Bertie was there aswell. I was there as someones date.
Case closed then. Great story but what an uber-Tosser. The fact that Ahern was there tells you all you need to know about where we’re going with Nama. To my eyes he looked as if he was half locked or on meds or something. Maybe intoxicated with his own self importance. Deeply worrying.
Lads, I know its off topic but fuck Ahern. Hes yesterdays man. The truth is that the plan to escape his legacy is dooming thousands to the dole and exile. No country has ever deflated out of recession and that is what we are trying to do.
This part I agree with. He wanted to set the record as the longest-serving Taoiseach.
Oh I wouldn’t say that. He knew there’d be problems with his policies but he didn’t expcet them to be so huge or to happen for a while yet. He didn’t anticipate the sheer size of the sh!tstorm that was coming (and to be fair I’d say even most Pinsters have been surprised by what a huge sh!tstorm it has turned out to be). But I think it is you who isn’t being fair to Bertie when you discount how devious and callous he was.
I predict that 10-20 years from now I’ll be watching retrospectives on the TV where talking-heads from the party faithful will be wheeled in to talk about what a great lad Bertie was. The knowledge keeps me from sleeping at night in dread anticipation of that awful day.
He will never be President.
I don’t think he would even get the Fianna Fail nomination.
They’re stupid, but they’re not that stupid.
“Hey lads, you know how we got turfed out of government and everyone blamed
us for the bust, but we kind of blustered through it and kept talking about Lehman Brothers?
I was thinking it might be a grand idea to let Bertie run for President so that the
whole national debate on who caused the bust could be raked over again…”
Also, isn’t it in the constitution that the President has to be a woman?
I don’t think he’d be up for the sex change…Bertha Ahern.
Yep, because of the trail blazed by Mary Robinson, when for once in this pox ridden country, the forces of conservative darkness were vanquished. Normal service resumed with Mary “the bleeding heart of neoliberal Ireland” McAleese. She might as well as have a cock- with a big FF tatoo on it. Just for the record.
I respectfully disagree, the only thing we can do right now is focus on balancing the books. Let the government forget about “stimulating the economy” and focus on the business of government - part of which involves at least some measure of fiscal prudence. Reckless spending in an attempt to “get things moving” (or whatever euphemism we’re using these days) is a sure route to bankruptcy.
I’d question if there’s even one successful example of a government using deficit spending to halt debt deflation that hasn’t resulted in an even bigger mess down the road.
But the attempt to address the deficit is predicated on having certain revenue levels. Projected government revenue is being consistently revised downwards because of the rate of job losses in the economy.
They are chasing their own tails and will never balance the books at this rate. That is to say nothing of the effects that having 500,000 plus citizens will have.
Now let’s see… Am I right in thinking therefore, that he has spent the equivalent of 14 days in the chamber (15%) which works out at €7143 a day??. He did say that he would find local politics boring as he had been at the top for so long… By his own rationale does he now find being a back bencher so boring that he cannot even be arsed to turn up??.. Time for a root and branch clear out for those with their “greasy fingers in the till”…
Was the MC supposed to introduce him with a pre-prepared spiel, addressing him by his proper title, mentioning his friendship with Bertie and fawning over his economics?
