Gerry Adams on The Dunphy Show

mr_angry

Did anyone else see Gerry Adams on The Dunphy Show tonight? I have to say, I was really impressed. Apparently (and I'm inferring this from comments Dunphy made on the show) he's the most popular party leader in the country at the moment? I would have found that hard to believe before tonight's show, but having seen it, I'm pretty convinced.

Anyone else agree?

mike65

Adams is always plauisble sounding if you're not paying attention,
I bet Dunphy removed his brain before the interview as well....

Mike.

Yes it's true, hence my prediction in a different that he could be taoiseach in a few years...

mr_angry

Originally posted by mike65
Adams is always plauisble sounding if you're not paying attention,
I bet Dunphy removed his brain before the interview as well....

Mike.

A very cynical view there Mike. Its nice to see a healthy dose of pessimism spread across the boards every now and then...

davej

I thought it was a fairly disappointing interview. There were no tough questions asked at all really. Instead we got a whistle stop tour of Adam's new book.

davej

Capt'n Midnight

When you say most popular - I take that is within the party.
Anyway Gerry has always been one for publicity & retoric - not exactly a difficult guest to get on to any show...

mike65

A very cynical view there Mike. Its nice to see a healthy dose of pessimism spread across the boards every now and then...

Not so much that as I've seen/heard him so many times smooze
his way through an interview in which the interviewer froze before
"the Great Man" and forgot to ask the tough questions which any other party leader would get. On the odd occasion he is tackled cleanly Gerry Adams tends not to like it.

Mike.

madogwilliams

In reply to gerry adams appearing on dunphy,isn'it fresh to
here someone in politics talk from the heart,rather than (like most
down this end of the country)talk from there backside and give themselves big paypackets and not feel guilty about doing it.
would this in mind ,be the reason why he is the most popular party leader in the country?!

mr_angry

I appreciate that the man is a politician (with a very chequered background), and no doubt he's "shmoozed" many an interview before. But at least he had the decency to talk about real issues in a human manner, and I got a sense of real sincerity about him - despite my previous reservations. I agree with maddogwilliams - it was entirely refreshing.

Who knows. Maybe he'll go out and run over some poor woman tomorrow night while boozed up, and then have the cheek neither to apologise to her, or to resign from office. It might give our *wonderful* TDs a chance to catch up in the polls.

[/sarcasm]

Villain

Originally posted by madogwilliams
In reply to gerry adams appearing on dunphy,isn'it fresh to
here someone in politics talk from the heart,rather than (like most
down this end of the country)talk from there backside and give themselves big paypackets and not feel guilty about doing it.
would this in mind ,be the reason why he is the most popular party leader in the country?!

Well said,

Call Gerry what you like he's a peoples person who knows how to talk the talk.

Enda Kenny could learn a lot from Gerry and I mean a lot.

Sand

Yeah Gerry Adams can talk the talk, and if talk doesnt suffice to get his way then hell call the boys back off cease fire until youre ready to talk again.

Great man all the same.

Pfffft.

daveirl

This post has been deleted.

Jake303

The best politican on the Island at the moment!
100% Provo but the best politican none the less.

motorbass

Yep - I thought he was genuinely sincere and would put more faith in him than in most Irish politicians.

After seeing last night's show I really can't understand why Dunphy is on TV - it just doesn't work.

Typedef

True enough Adams (may) not get asked hard questions.

Then again there was a time when it was illegal to broadcast Gerry Adams' voice on Irish television, but it was (somehow) legal to broadcast Ian Paisley's voice.

*boggle*

I think my favourite quote of "Dr" Paisley is.

"Catholics breed like rabbits".

Of course the fact that he was a figurehead for the setup of the UDA, made it 'ok' for Ian Paisley to appear on Irish television, but wrong for anybody even vaugely associated with the Fenian side.

I blame the Brit's orbital brain lasers & mind control devices ***.

The Beer Baron

I must admit- he's a master orator and politics, both Irish and British, have never had a debater of such calibre, wily, shrewd and the most accurate political compass there is. I can see why they tried to keep him from the media for so long- because he's a weapon.

A master of disguises, having reinvented himself so many times we don't even know who he is- and this ads to the thrill- he's the mystery man, the wildcard and no matter how shifty and beady-eyed the man looks we cannot shake off the assumption that he's just been misrepresented by the media (esp the British media) and that he really isn't a bad guy after all- just misunderstood

Have no bones about it- Adams is a weapon, a political weapon but a weapon all the same. All opposition crumbles when Adams takes centre stage- it's uncanny. Nobody, no interviewer nobody can encroach upon him. I remember seeing him on the Late Late Show a few years back. Gay Byrne, a man famed for his innate ability to lead his audience, carrot-on-a-string style with plaumausing and asinine banter- having already done a good job in brainwashing the audience into thinking he was about to unleash an unsupervised Republican baby-killer on them. But it all backfired, horribly, and on the other politicians in the panel.
By the end of it, the grannies who clutched their handbags tight on the mention of his name were now on the verge of blubbering into their hankies.

Who is he? He's like some sort of Emmanual Goldstien of Irish politics.
His policies, they seem reasonable.
Indeed I find myself agreeing with him more and more. I find myself relating to Sinn Féin more than any other party. And I find myself considering...

Adams is always plauisble sounding if you're not paying attention,

Yes, YES!
He even has me going sometimes.
I'm an intelligent and astute individual who takes nothing at face value.
But he seems ok dunnie?
The smily happy Republican who only wants pace...no NO!

...Dangerous. A dangerous man...
...but what the hay- it's better than Bertie right...
...right...?

I respect Gerry.
I respect him in two ways.
Politically- I respect him in the same way I respect Winston Churchill.
But I also respect him in the same way I respect a dozing grizzly bear.

I can see it happening too.
Ireland will have enough.
We'll have enough of living in the Bertiebowl, we'll have enough of the ineffectual "opposition" and we'll turn, en masse, to Jeh-ray
**** knows what'll become of it.

He might actually turn this country around- I mean I would welcome an intelligent and articulate leader for our country instead of wincing every time an Taoiseach opens his big thick gob****e of a mouth thinking of all the other countries who must be laughing their asses off.

Gerry of course, would have them eating out of his hand. The Bush's, the Blair's, golfing with Kofi and champagne receptions with Jaques. Oh no problem to him.

I can think of this only for so long though. Then I start to think of why Sinn Féin would get the majority vote in the 1st place. This country would have to get a lot worse (ie carry on the way it's going) before that- and we wonder- is this worse like post 1929 Italy worse or wtf?

Sinn Féin, are, primarily a NI party. With values and ideals not always relevant to us down here. Then again they are also a Nationalist party. And I must say I supported their opposition to Nice- which was entirely from a Nationalistic POV.


I think he's the man.
But **** knows what kinda legislature he'll bring in
I'm still confused.
I think he's dangerous.
But the best damn politician we've ever had.
He's- arrgh- AH FUKKIT! I'll vote for him next election- better than bertie.

G'wahn Jeh-ray!

Typedef

When he retires... lets make him President.

star gazer

He really was able to put the human side of the violence and struggle in the north, maybe history will judge him as a man who made a big contribution to moving Northern Ireland and Ireland as a whole ' politics forward. But i can't see Sinn Féin's policies keeping the irish economy from doing anything except going down the toilet. that is if they do have economic policies apart from spending policies, they never seem to espouse more income tax and the like.

gandalf

Gerry Adams is one of the most accomplished and media friendly and savvy politicians in Ireland.

He is also the most slippery and one that never answers a question directly (or even at all).

Personally I would emigrate from Ireland if the Shinners ever got into power. They are too focussed on Northern Ireland especially when we down South have moved on from that issue and are embracing Europe. And until the IRA disband they still have a shadow organisation waiting in the wings to "throw the rattle out of the pram" if they don't get their way.

Gandalf.

Cork

Originally posted by daveirl
I don't even get angry about it anymore, Adams and Co., never get asked hard questions, and yet the media are out to get all the FF TD's.

Don't get me wrong all the FF TDs (and Lowry) should be brought to justice but to me the offences the IRA/SF are still committing to this day are far worse and yet their isn't a hint of the media asking for these people to be held accountable. Now there's bias!

I agree. Gerry needs to come clean. He should have been asked about the bodys of the disappeared and punishment beatings.

Gerry while impressive on TV now - failed to condemn some acts of sheer carnage in this country in the past.

The Beer Baron

He is also the most slippery and one that never answers a question directly (or even at all).

Well- that's what being a politician is all about I thought.
Hell @ least he does it with style- not like the age old Fianna Fáil, "I'm glad you asked me that question, and I feel it is an issue that needs to be addressed..."twaddle twaddle twaddle.

Cork

I think SF spokepeople usually offer quiet similar responses. I think that SF/IRA needs to dis-arm. There is certainly no room for private armies in this country.

He also needed to be asked on locating bodys of the disappeared. I think the media need to focus in on SF and start asking more than soft focus questions.

colster

Have to admit that Adams was quite impressive last night.
However I wouldn't say he's the best politician on the island.
How can you say that? He's an one issue wonder.
He's never held a ministerial post. His party is profoundly anti-establishment. The popularity they have at the moment is down to this stance and not to do with any coherent policy that they have.
I have yet to hear a SF TD come out with anything other than comdemnation of the government. I haven't heard them once come out with a policy of their own.

daveirl

This post has been deleted.

Jake303

Thankfully now that Ryanair has so many planes in the sky, you should have no problem getting a flight out of the country.

sorrento

Originally posted by Cork
...Gerry while impressive on TV now - failed to condemn some acts of sheer carnage in this country in the past.

Hey lets all live in the past... that way we can never move forward!!

We can keep the same arguments going for years then. How clever.


In the present your beloved Fianna Fail and their drunken wacky racer antics are causing more carnage than the IRA is. Ironic eh?

ReefBreak

I thought Eamon would be the man to take on Gerry and prod him, needle him, refuse to accept diverted responses and weasel-worded double-speak over why he supported the murder of 1500 people, including over 800 innocent civilians. But no, it became just one long IRA/Republican love-in. All smiles and jokes and light banter. Eamon could have asked him about his role in the murder of Jean McConville, Eamon could have asked him why he didn't condemn the Enniskillen Bomb, Eamon could have asked him why he was recently pictured smiling with the murderers of Garda Jerry McCabe. He didn't, he didn't and he didn't.

Anyway, never mind, it doesn't matter a damn that he let me down. But, there are a lot of families on this island that he did let down, and for them, it does matter.

mr_angry

Originally posted by Cork
I think SF spokepeople usually offer quiet similar responses. I think that SF/IRA needs to dis-arm. There is certainly no room for private armies in this country.

Gerry actually stated that the IRA should eventually dis-arm and disband altogether.

Also, there's no evidence to suggest that Gerry knows anything about the bodies of the disappeared, or the Enniskillen bombing. Any statements about such events have always come from the IRA themselves.

Don't get me wrong - I'm not naive enough to think that Gerry knows nothing about these things. But I presume any question about them would have been met with that answer, negating the point of asking it in the first place.

I'm not trying to justify the lack of tough questions, but I think it is explainable. In any case, he made himself look a damn better politician, and human being than Peter 'Mandy' Mandleson - the man is an utter b*stard.

Villain

Originally posted by ReefBreak
why he supported the murder of 1500 people, including over 800 innocent civilians.

Anyway, never mind, it doesn't matter a damn that he let me down. But, there are a lot of families on this island that he did let down, and for them, it does matter.

Can we ever move on, I know people have been hurt in the past but we have to move on. Politics is the only way forward we need to get these elections going and get a government back up and running in the North.

Gerry Adams is no saint far from it, but he is our only hope of the republican movement moving forward in a non-violent manner.

The IRA has decommisioned more weapons that UVF or any other Unionist terriosts group, it really bugs the way people harp on about the decommisioning of the IRA weapons and nothing is ever said about the Unionist Groups who have had the SUPPORT OF THE BRITISH ARMY in the past.

Theres 2 sides each story.

And I think Eammon is wise and old enough to know that he couldn't get the better of Gerry Adams on Live TV.

hallelujajordan

Originally posted by irish1

And I think Eammon is wise and old enough to know that he couldn't get the better of Gerry Adams on Live TV.

I really, really hoped that Eamonn would be tough on Adams . . . would've made for an enthralling debate. . . but it looks like he bottled it and with that interview, I'm afraid the Dunphy show will go down the swanny !

I agree with other posters who say that we have to move on, put the past behind us etc, but there are some very real questions relating to what is going on RIGHT NOW that need to be answered . . . .

. . .Does Gerry Adams think it is acceptable for elected SF TD's to have a group photo taken with the murderers of Garda McCabe ?

. . .Does Gerry Adams have any comments on the Colombia Three . . . why were they there, what were they doing ?

. . .Does Gerry Adams have any comments on the IRA's inability to identify the location where Columba McVeigh was buried ?

. . .Will Gerry Adams condemn the daily punishment beatings that are going on in NI . .

Eamo's inability to ask the tough questions relegated him, in my mind to a second rate interviewer.. . .

One other point, with regard to Adams being the most popular party leader in Ireland . . . I think it is important to point out that Adams does not hold public office in Ireland . . . . other leaders are judged by their policies, their party's performance in the Dail, or in the case of the government parties, how the economic climate is doing . . . Adams doesn't have to worry about any of this . . . He simply has to schmooze through a few cosy interviewers in order to impress people, the likes of which have posted on this thread . . . .


Finally,

In the present your beloved Fianna Fail and their drunken wacky racer antics are causing more carnage than the IRA is. Ironic eh?

Get real . . .

Have you any idea whats going on, on the streets of Belfast . . . do you really think that a TD driving over the limit and knocking someone down is comparable ? ? ?

IgnatiusJRiley

Originally posted by mike65
On the odd occasion he is tackled cleanly Gerry Adams tends not to like it.

Mike.

I agree. He tends to bully his way out of difficult questions rather than actually answering them.
He's a smooth customer and know's what he's doing.