Questions & Answers ~ Election Special

Dirk Gently

A very good Q&A on now.

I've been waiting to see Cowan v rabbitte for a while now as I thought this would be the only debate worth watching in this general election. So far it's a very lively show and rabbitte is coming across very well, driving home his points. Of course it's water off a ducks back for Cowan who is his usual charming self. A decent representation from the greens while Mary lou and lovely Liz are taking a back seat and letting Cowan and rabbite go at it. Liz keeps smiling every time Mary says anything, almost in a "ah jasus, look at the poor noob" kind of way but so far it's all about Cowan v rabbitte.

Rabbitte under pressure at the moment trying to answer "that question".

The lovely Miriam isn't in the chair but I suppose Liz and Mary will do for eye candy in her absence.

Badabing

Brian Cowen is head and shoulders above any of the politicans in Ireland.

DeepBlue

Cowen is also losing the head tonight .
Agree with the OP - it's a cracking program tonight.

ArthurDent

Great programme, probably best of election so far. Rabbitte and Cowan great double act!!!

simu

Aye, good stuff. Makes up for the snorefest that was Bertie v Enda.

blast05

First time i have ever seen Cowen badly rattled. Rabbitte clearly exposed the lie in FF adds in todays papers and overall came out on top. You could almost see the gritted teeth of Cowen when asked how long Berite should remain as Taoiseach if FF get back in ..... his mind scanning back to the Ard Dheis (spel?) among other things no doubt

Hugh_C

Badabing wrote:

Brian Cowen is head and shoulders above any of the politicans in Ireland.

You suggesting the poor lad has dandruff?



I thought it was intriguing that Pat Rabbitte wouldn't directly answer the question on coalition with the FFers. I think he was hinting that Labout might force his hand and do it but without him as leader. Thursday / Friday is going to be very interesting.

As regards the performances of the others tonight, thy were all left in the shade of Rabbitte / Cowan.

Neil3030

Almost didn't recognise Liz O'Donnell there, what with all the airbrushing on her poster.

Badabing

Mary lou was dissapointing tonite all she does is waffle same with covney he was brutal, why didn't fine gael have bruton on the show?

delta_bravo

Neil3030 wrote:

Almost didn't recognise Liz O'Donnell there, what with all the airbrushing on her poster.

Same thing happened to me when i saw Olivia Mitchell on Tv last week. Her poster picture must be at least 15 years old

Dirk Gently

hughchal wrote:

I thought it was intriguing that Pat Rabbitte wouldn't directly answer the question on coalition with the FFers. .

It was always going to be a free for all after the election as to who makes deals with who should either of the partnerships not get a direct majority. I just hope labour insist Bertie steps down so I can collect on my very generous 25-1 shot of Cowan being the next taoiseach.

Overall I think rabbitte came out of it very well, just edging the win over Cowan. Certificates of attendance are in the post for all the other guests.

McSandwich

Badabing wrote:

Mary lou was dissapointing tonite all she does is waffle same with covney he was brutal, why didn't fine gael have bruton on the show?

They didn't need him on with Rabbitte in such good form! Liz was useless to, far too busy practicing her smug smile to say anything worthwhile..

cast_iron

I thought Cowen did quite well actually. Yes, Rabitte did catch him out on the advert (apparently - I didn't see it).

Biffo got some good blows against FG (Kenny especially) and was driving home the real election winner for FF - that FG/Labour can't be trusted to handle the economy. He made Rabbitte's figures seem a complete mess, and from what I've seen, he hit the nail on the head with that one.

DeepBlue

Cowen seemed to leave the door open to support from Sinn Fein for the election of Taoiseach without explicitly doing a deal with SF.
Coveney summarised his position immediately afterwards and Cowen didn't contradict him.

Maybe an informal FF/SF pact could be on the cards if the numbers fall that way?

Andrew 83

Yeah best Q&A in months. Thought Rabbitte was fantastic and Cowen rattled. Pity that show wasn't the one getting all the viewers last Thursday rather than the borefest that developed.


EDIT: Just in relation to Mary Lou. I thought part of her difficulty was that on a couple of questions she came into the debate after Rabbitte had spoken and seemed to broadly agree with him so didn't really have much to offer in the debate and ended up not getting much time on-camera.

Sum1

clown bag wrote:

Overall I think rabbitte came out of it very well, just edging the win over Cowan. Certificates of attendance are in the post for all the other guests.

The was other guests, I thought they were audience members who got prime seats. Thought Rabbitte was impressive.

nesf

McSandwich wrote:

They didn't need him on with Rabbitte in such good form! Liz was useless to, far too busy practicing her smug smile to say anything worthwhile..

I thought Liz was amusing. It was like Cowen was the king of the playground and she was hiding behind while him hurling insults at the new boys.

Decent show but the Greens guy (I forget his name) and Mary Lou McDonald didn't merit their invites tbh.

Dirk Gently

I actually thought the green chappy was the best of the rest after cowan/rabbitte. Didn't get to say much but what he did say he said clear and strong. I'd say Mary lou is probably hanging around Liz's dressing room waiting to jump her when she comes out after Liz spent the whole show smiling at her. I thought the wooden spoon would go to either covney or Liz rather than the Green chap.

DeepBlue

It's already up on the RTE website - that was quick :eek:.
http://dynamic.rte.ie/av/230-2250373.smil

Rabbitte was on fire tonight and Cowen got burned.

To paraphrase PJ Mara - Rabbitte forensically dismantled Cowen's claims on the alternative coalition and Cowen looked like he was flapping with soundbites and spin.
Riveting stuff but too late in the campaign to make much impact IMO and only the anoraks really watch Q&A as Richard Bruton said on last week's show .
Liz rolling her eyes while Mary Lou was rattling on with her spiel was funny but Liz also got roasted tonight.

Eamon Ryan did well too and is a good media performer for the Greens.

KerranJast

DeepBlue wrote:

Liz also got roasted tonight.

:eek: This is a family board.

DeepBlue

KerranJast wrote:

:eek: This is a family board.

It was a Freudian sl.......no wait........er..........em...........

/shuffles off knowing there's no way to explain this

Voipjunkie

DeepBlue wrote:

Cowen seemed to leave the door open to support from Sinn Fein for the election of Taoiseach without explicitly doing a deal with SF.
Coveney summarised his position immediately afterwards and Cowen didn't contradict him.

Maybe an informal FF/SF pact could be on the cards if the numbers fall that way?

What would be in that for SF they get to take the **** for bad FF decisions but don't have any say in anything.

FF would I presume be delighted to take on a junior partner without having to give anything back but I presume the shinners have more sense

nesf

DeepBlue wrote:

Rabbitte was on fire tonight and Cowen got burned.

To paraphrase PJ Mara - Rabbitte forensically dismantled Cowen's claims on the alternative coalition and Cowen looked like he was flapping with soundbites and spin.

I disagree, Rabbitte came across as being a bit petulant to me at times. He scored well on the ad (what Cowen said was technically true if you want to interpret it a certain way but I doubt it would hold water for most people). His reactions to the poll and the FF/Lab question were a bit all over the place though. I don't think he was "on fire". He is well capable of handling Cowen and O'Donnell though and that was the difference between him and the rest in my opinion.

His reaction to the poll was a bit "the people obviously are mistakes"/"let them eat cake" for my tastes. Coveney handled the question better I think.

Dave!

I thought Rabbitte did really well last night. It was funny to see him LOL when Liz suggested the PD's might get 10 seats Liz was crap, but pretty hot last night. She seemed afraid of the lads or somethin! :eek: But she had the odd word with Mary Lou (who was also unimpressive). Cowen did quite good alright, made for great viewing to see him vs Pat. The Green fella was good, the FG fella not so much. I'd say Bruton wasn't on cos he's never off that bloody show! He must have his own dressing room in the studio at this stage.

Victor Meldrew

clown bag wrote:

The lovely Miriam isn't in the chair but I suppose Liz and Mary will do for eye candy in her absence.

Each to their own, Liz, OK, but Mary.......:eek:

DaveMcG

DaveMcG wrote:

I thought Rabbitte did really well last night. It was funny to see him LOL when Liz suggested the PD's might get 10 seats Liz was crap, but pretty hot last night. She seemed afraid of the lads or somethin! :eek: But she had the odd word with Mary Lou (who was also unimpressive). Cowen did quite good alright, made for great viewing to see him vs Pat. The Green fella was good, the FG fella not so much. I'd say Bruton wasn't on cos he's never off that bloody show! He must have his own dressing room in the studio at this stage.

That pretty much sums up my view of it also.

ednwireland

just watched it rabbite seemed good brian has struck me always as arrogant and short tempered cant see him a next leader of ff but then people said that about bertie

redspider

That was a good debate, but I dont think anyone came out of it with a perfect score.

Cowen was fighting his corner well, but there is something about his attitude that I dont like. He treats the public in a condescending way and basically is saying that because he/FF are in charge of the purse strings and for 10 years that no-one else has any credibility to do so. If that was the case there would never ever be a change in government. He is pig-headed.

Rabitte didnt come across that well I thought. He was red-faced, undfer pressure, and some of his points were petulent, he got shouted down by Cowen a lot, and sometimes in debates its s/he who shouts loudest and longest is seen as the winner, alas.

Liz trotted out the party line with regards to co-location etc, and she harped on at the FG/Lab/SF as being idealogically left, which I presume by corollary means that PD are right-wing facist.

Coveney ws out of his depth and this was evident with some of his hmms and ha's. Bruton would have been a much better foil.

Ryan did okay and got his green issues across. His point on the economy is salient, whilst the FF/PD mantra is "its the economy, stupid", with such a position they are in fact treating the electorate as if they are stupid. "the county is awash" with money, we hear time and time again.

Mary-Lou did put across the SF points quite well. They are not aiming for government this time, and are just trying to increase their mandate. All they have to do is point out the problems in the current system and society, and there are clearly many, and play to their audience and they will get more seats.

I found Liz O'Donell's response to SF fairly poor tbh, just with facial grudges, etc.

Overall, a good debate, no winners in my opinion, and more debates like this were needed, with some heavy/ministerial positions.


Another interesting set of debates are the Cooper & Hobbs ones. I've only caught a couple. These are better in a way because there is a 2-to-1 aspect and its all about Matt and Eddie trying to nail the politician on specifics.

The problem with Q&A is that John Bowman, as good as he is, isnt able to get the politicians to really answer the questions, so you end up with one side saying one thing, another saying another, a typical political 'discussion' with obfuscation, avoidance, etc, which turns off many viewers. I wonder how many of the 1m or so people that tuned into the FF/FG leaders debate watched Q&A? Much less I would hazard a guess.

Just a few days to the election now ..... I think the turnout for this one will be quite high, maybe as high as 70-75%.

Redspider

The White Rose

Liz trotted out the party line with regards to co-location etc, and she harped on at the FG/Lab/SF as being idealogically left, which I presume by corollary means that PD are right-wing facist.

Which means FG/Lab/SF are Trotskyist/Leninist/Pol Pot types. Labour and SF are definitely left of centre

btw I thought that Green guy Ryan was really good which makes up my mind about govt partners. I was going to put Labour 2nd but Rabbite was woeful- bitter and mean-spirited (he prob sees the tanaiste job going up in smoke)

redspider

redspider wrote:

I found Liz O'Donell's response to SF fairly poor tbh, just with facial grudges, etc.

That may be so but I'd imagine there were a lot of people watching that were making similar facial grudges whilst listening to Mary Lou.
I know I did when Mary lou expressed disdain about the others going on about figures all the time.

Imagine that-having to talk about figures when you are proposing something-perish the thought.

I thought Ryan of the Greens was pretty good last night actually,they should have trotted him out more often.

Mind you Biffo's comment to him " look if the carbon foot print was a 24hr clock...Ireland would be about 7 seconds of it" was a pretty good retort in the finding a sense of perspective kind of way.

funktastic

I think John Bowman is able to get them to answer the questions. He pushed Rabbitte into a corner about a coalition with FF after the election when he was trying to brush it aside. I feel he would have been much better than Miriam O'Callaghan for the leaders debate last week.