Is Mary Coughlan too lightweight for Tainiste?

It wasn't me!

lostexpectation wrote: »

give it a rest 99'er who nominated you defender of the faith.

Yeah! Doesn't he know he's not allowed say anything positive in a bashing thread? I mean, what does he think this is, a discussion forum?!

lostexpectation

ninty9er wrote: »

Read my sig.:rolleyes:

Who nominated Darragh to be character assassinator in chief?

If someone makes a stupid comment attacking a public figure and I disagree, then I am entitled to right of reply.

If ever there was a walking advertisement for smaller class sizes, it is our government.

thats right he was making a stupid comment, not a serious one, do they allow a senses of humour in OFF?

John_C

ninty9er wrote: »

You may doubt it, but that doesn't make the assumption true. They don't top polls by being elitist and reclusive.

I worked with a fella from Offlay a few years ago and he told me about a time when he was a student and was walking home after a night out (he lived a few miles from the town).

Didn't a big black car pull up beside them and Biffo's head popped out;
"Do yee need a lift home lads?", and in they all climbed. "Remember this now, when the vote comes.", he said when they arrived at one of their houses. And Biffo back went in the direction of the town, presumably to collect another load.

El Stuntman

John_C wrote: »

I worked with a fella from Offlay a few years ago and he told me about a time when he was a student and was walking home after a night out (he lived a few miles from the town).

Didn't a big black car pull up beside them and Biffo's head popped out;
"Do yee need a lift home lads?", and in they all climbed. "Remember this now, when the vote comes.", he said when they arrived at one of their houses. And Biffo back went in the direction of the town, presumably to collect another load.

all politics is local

and Biffo sure spends a lot of time in the local

O'Morris

I lost all respect for Mary Coughlan after she accused that Leo Veradcar gent of being a racist when he came up with proposals to try to reduce the number of non-nationals on the dole by paying them to return home.

jmayo

ninty9er wrote: »

I can be fairly good at ignoring certain threads myself. Mainly where it's clear that nobody will respect what I have to say though. I post because I can take other people's **** without necessarily giving a **** what they think of my opinion.

The amount of people on this (and other) sites, that cannot agree with a policy solely because it is pursued by FF is monumental. If the opposition suggested some of the policies being bashed, they'd be hailed as heroes simply for not being FF.

I would guess people do not respct what you have to say, when you just troop out stating the party line and come out with some total hogwash like you did when discussing class sizes.

To paraphrase your comments on that thread:
"Class size has nothing to do with quality of education, motivated teachers are the problem, there is nothing wrong with class sizes upto 40, upto 50 would be pushing it though".

And then you back up these facts by stating you had discussed this with trainee teachers :rolleyes:

The one thing I will give you is, you are consistent in supporting your party no matter what they come out with, unlike a lot of the other cheerleaders who were on this forum about the time of last election but they have since disappeared.

And yes I have had a problem with ff right back to when CJH took the reins. Ever since that point the party has always put the party first and the state second.
There was a cosy cartel set up between high flyers in the party and certain business people, that decided how this country was to be planned and run. We have since had tribunals costing the taxpayer almost a billion to get to the bottom of all these dirty little deals.
The only time ff did anything for the country first was when the IMF was at the door and fg agreed not to rock the boat which was ultimately political suicide for the fg leader.

Badabing

Fianna Fail has a lot of talent on the backbenches which i think will be brought on to centre stage in the next 18 months, John Curran, Sean Ardagh, John Mgcuiness for example and also Sean Connick should be given a junior ministery soon. Tough times demand tough decisons and i strongly belive that Brian Cowen is the man to lead us back to a sound footing.

jmayo

Badabing wrote: »

Fianna Fail has a lot of talent on the backbenches which i think will be brought on to centre stage in the next 18 months, John Curran, Sean Ardagh, John Mgcuiness for example and also Sean Connick should be given a junior ministery soon. Tough times demand tough decisons and i strongly belive that Brian Cowen is the man to lead us back to a sound footing.

Well he hasn't done much leading so far :rolleyes:
Well apart from leading us through a few u-turns
You reckon he will start bringing some of this hidden talent to the forefront sometime in the next 18 months.
That's comforting to know

BUT WHAT ABOUT RIGHT NOW ????

El Stuntman

Badabing wrote: »

Tough times demand tough decisons and i strongly belive that Brian Cowen is the man to lead us back to a sound footing.

why do you believe this?

can you please give me a list of Cowen's achievements in government as a TD, Minister and Taoiseach that would enable me to understand your view?

turgon

Badabing wrote: »

Fianna Fail has a lot of talent on the backbenches which i think will be brought on to centre stage in the next 18 months, John Curran, Sean Ardagh, John Mgcuiness for example and also Sean Connick should be given a junior ministery soon

Because there clearly isnt enough Junior miniteries there already :rolleyes:

Badabing wrote: »

Tough times demand tough decisons and i strongly belive that Brian Cowen is the man to lead us back to a sound footing.

I think many strongly believe he isnt.

Badabing

Obiously the next year or 2 will be tough for the country and it needs cool heads and clear thinking from our leaders, the bank guarantee scheme was the right choice in the current climate, in 2002 the economy was slowing down and people knew that and voted back in FF to remedy that and i think the same happened last year 2007.

Obioulsy events have changed we have lost Bertie Ahearn and the global crisis has hit us bad and yes i agree the medical issue was messed up and should never have happened but in the overall scheme of things goverments are elected to do a job in the good times and the bad times and i firmly belive that in 18 months-2 years Brian Cowen will get a grip on things. Post elections in 2009 hopefully we will see a big shake up of the cabinet.

El Stuntman

Badabing wrote: »

i firmly belive that in 18 months-2 years Brian Cowen will get a grip on things. Post elections in 2009 hopefully we will see a big shake up of the cabinet.

badabing, I asked you a question on the first page of this thread but maybe you didn't see it. I'd like to know why you think that Cowen is the best man to lead the country through these troublesome times? What achievements and/or personal qualities has he got to make you think this?

I'm genuinely interested in your response as it seems to be article of faith with many Govt supporters that Cowen is the best man to lead us right now but no-one can ever tell me why!

I'll give you my own opinion if you'd like to rebut it: I don't think Cowen has ever achieved anything of note in public office. He avoided doing anything as Minister for Health and quite frankly looked as though he coldn't wait to be out of there. In retrospect, his period as Minister for Finance was truly disastrous for the countries long-term financial health as he continued to prime the housing bubble, overspend on pre-election budgets and fail to reform the public service. As Taoiseach he's looked out of his depth, appointing incompetents to important cabinet posts (I'm mainly thinking Lenihan and Coughlan here) and failing to adequately tackle the financial crisis. Not to mention losing Lisbon.

so why is he the best person to lead our country at this critical time? I'm truly baffled.

Badabing

He tore shreds out of Dick Bruton and Enda Kenny during the Election Campaign, I genuinely belive that he will come good, ok he didn't set finance alight while he was minister same in health, im coming at it from the view that Fine Gael would be a disaster in goverment, god help us if they ever got power. We would have a leader that was minister for the tour de France in Ireland and a cabinet who have no ministerial experience at all. I think if people had a choice between Brian Cowen and Enda Kenny Cowen would win hands down and that's the main factor in my view.

El Stuntman

Badabing wrote: »

He tore shreds out of Dick Bruton and Enda Kenny during the Election Campaign, I genuinely belive that he will come good, ok he didn't set finance alight while he was minister same in health, im coming at it from the view that Fine Gael would be a disaster in goverment, god help us if they ever got power. We would have a leader that was minister for the tour de France in Ireland and a cabinet who have no ministerial experience at all. I think if people had a choice between Brian Cowen and Enda Kenny Cowen would win hands down and that's the main factor in my view.

ah right

the old "ah shure he's better than the other crowd" argument :pac:

very insightful, I am immediately reassured that the country is in safe hands :rolleyes:.

badabing, do you not realise the paucity of the argument you are making? I asked you to tell me why Cowen is the best man to lead Ireland and you start waffling about the opposition being worse! This is the 'same old' politics at play and people are not falling for it any more. Look at what happened to the Republicans in America last week. They tried to attack Obama and avoid the issues - they got what they deserved and FF will too.

oscarBravo

Badabing wrote: »

im coming at it from the view that Fine Gael would be a disaster in goverment, god help us if they ever got power.

Don't worry, we'll never find out - 40% of the population will vote Fianna Fáil even after they've destroyed the economy to the point where we're all living in caves. I mean, no matter what kind of a complete clusterf*ck they make of running the country, the other crowd couldn't possibly be any better, could they?

Badabing

El Stuntman wrote: »

ah right

the old "ah shure he's better than the other crowd" argument :pac:

very insightful, I am immediately reassured that the country is in safe hands :rolleyes:.

badabing, do you not realise the paucity of the argument you are making? I asked you to tell me why Cowen is the best man to lead Ireland and you start waffling about the opposition being worse! This is the 'same old' politics at play and people are not falling for it any more. Look at what happened to the Republicans in America last week. They tried to attack Obama and avoid the issues - they got what they deserved and FF will too.

So why do we have a Fianna Fail led goverment? Personalites in a large way affects peoples vote in Ireland right or wrong.

El Stuntman

Badabing wrote: »

So why do we have a Fianna Fail led goverment? Personalites in a large way affects peoples vote in Ireland right or wrong.

absolutely, hence Bertie winning 3 in a row.

but we are not talking about an election here, that was a political lifetime ago. We're talking about steering the country through the worst downturn it's ever experienced. I don't think Cowen has what it takes to do this - he's basically a country solicitor who inherited his seat and has no track record of achievement apart from bashing Indakinny in a couple of debates. You say you do think he's capable but you can't give a solid reason why.

Worrying for all concerned.

old boy

was he not on tv before the election telling about how the prudent management of the economy by him would steer us through any hard time that may befall us.
as i said earlier live horse and you will see grass

jmayo

Badabing wrote: »

Obiously the next year or 2 will be tough for the country and it needs cool heads and clear thinking from our leaders, the bank guarantee scheme was the right choice in the current climate, in 2002 the economy was slowing down and people knew that and voted back in FF to remedy that and i think the same happened last year 2007.

Obioulsy events have changed we have lost Bertie Ahearn and the global crisis has hit us bad and yes i agree the medical issue was messed up and should never have happened but in the overall scheme of things goverments are elected to do a job in the good times and the bad times and i firmly belive that in 18 months-2 years Brian Cowen will get a grip on things. Post elections in 2009 hopefully we will see a big shake up of the cabinet.

Ah yes the damm global collapse. It is all the Americans fault that the credit crunch arrived, thus the banks aren't lending 100% mortgages and thus we aren't all spending 20 times the average wage to buy a shoebox apartment in the are*hole of nowhere whether to live or just to watch it appreciate so we can sell it to another dumb paddy :rolleyes:

Manufacturing jobs and indeed service industry (not talking retail or restuarants badabing ok) disappeared by the week, we watched foreign investment fall and at the same time Biffo helped create the biggest property bubble in Europe through tax breaks for developers & investors and he allowed the banks to go unchecked (finanical regulator makes Homer Simpson appear positively Einsteinish) which is now costing the taxpayers in a massive bail out.
Speaking of which the bailout was a costly open cheque, why not take equity in the banks ?
Oh and even though banks have not asked for money, it is already costing us money since our state borrowing rates have gone up.

Did you hear about the IDA report that was obtained by FG about how around 40 % of foreign direct investors (that is companies, you know manufacturing and service providers - i.e real jobs that adds to our epxorts and not builders, construction related entities) have stated they would not reinvest in Ireland.

Reasons are becuase our infrastructure is sh**, our service costs (you know the likes of things that are to a degree under government control like water, power, gas, rates etc) are too damm expensive and because wage demands went shy high becuase house prices and other living expenses went through the roof.

And when did all this happen?
Well it was when Biffo, who didn't set the department of finance alight, was there.
He might not have set it alight, but it seems he did it flog it to the party's building buddies.

Badabing wrote: »

He tore shreds out of Dick Bruton and Enda Kenny during the Election Campaign, I genuinely belive that he will come good, ok he didn't set finance alight while he was minister same in health, im coming at it from the view that Fine Gael would be a disaster in goverment, god help us if they ever got power. We would have a leader that was minister for the tour de France in Ireland and a cabinet who have no ministerial experience at all. I think if people had a choice between Brian Cowen and Enda Kenny Cowen would win hands down and that's the main factor in my view.

Now we have a fine mess and you reckon he will have got to grips with by 18 months or 24 months, just becuase he bullied Bruton and Kenny :rolleyes:
He may be able to bully them and others in the dail or on RTE, but that doesn't mean he has the balls to take on the public sector unions or his developer friends.

I just love the ****** FFers come out with, where they blame FG for the sins they might or might not committ :rolleyes:
Wheras we all know too damm well the sins that FF committed (how much have the tribunals cost us ?) and we continue to see them meander aimlessly hoping that some magic solution appears that saves their ars** (which is the only thing they really care about).

Thank you very much FF, you have saved us all from the dreadful mess that FG/Lab etc would have gotten us all into :rolleyes:

What I wouldn't like to do to you and other ffers with a wet kipper :mad::mad:
Note to mods: I do not condone violence and no ffers were injured during the mailing of this post

Badabing

So what would a Labour minister for finance do? as they would get that portfolio.

LostinBlanch

Not a member of any political party here, but the last labour minister for finance didn't do too badly. He turned a budget surplus, thei first one in donkeys years.

Still at least one good thing came out of the crisis at least we don't have to endure Cowen braying that "the fundamentals of the economy are sound."

Don't look too sound now do they?

jmayo

Badabing wrote: »

So what would a Labour minister for finance do? as they would get that portfolio.

I don't know, but can it be any worse than what Linehan has managed to achieve or more precisely not achieve.

Richard Bruton would be the ideal choice for Finance, the guy actually knows what he is talking about and is not blowing smoke and asking us to be patriotic.
Why do you think that Labour would get that portfolio in a coalition government, did the PDs or Greens get it from FF.
No, the PDs were conned into taking the one job that none of the FFers wanted, i.e. the department aptly named by your great leader biffo as Angola.
His biggest achievement was getting out of there so fast.

dresden8

oscarBravo wrote: »

Don't worry, we'll never find out - 40% of the population will vote Fianna Fáil even after they've destroyed the economy to the point where we're all living in caves. I mean, no matter what kind of a complete clusterf*ck they make of running the country, the other crowd couldn't possibly be any better, could they?

Well holy God, Cowan has at least achieved one thing, me and Oscar finally agree on something. And they say Bertie was a great concensus builder.

jmayo

dresden8 wrote: »

Well holy God, Cowan has at least achieved one thing, me and Oscar finally agree on something. And they say Bertie was a great concensus builder.

Indeed tis very worrying, as they say "strange times make strange bedfellows"

Badabing

If Fine Gael want to be in goverment they will need Labour support, and to sweeten them up give them finance. same as 94 -97. Greens only have 6 seats, pd's 8 in 2002 and couldn't possibly justify getting finance, Labour will need to have at least 23-24 seats to get into goverment with the blueshirts. Joan Burton as minister of finance scary.

dresden8

Badabing wrote: »

If Fine Gael want to be in goverment they will need Labour support, and to sweeten them up give them finance. same as 94 -97. Greens only have 6 seats, pd's 8 in 2002 and couldn't possibly justify getting finance, Labour will need to have at least 23-24 seats to get into goverment with the blueshirts. Joan Burton as minister of finance scary.

Cowan and Lenihan consecutively is much scarier. We're fecked now as it is in case you hadn't noticed.

Darragh29

Here's the bit I don't get... How come in a country where people have completely ran out of patience with FF, and with the opposition as bad as the current incumbents, why are we not seeing a new political entity emerging???

I can't understand how FF as a political force cannot be dismantled. It was only a year ago that Brian Cowen stated that FF was suffering from a lack of new members and in some areas had local branches that were basically inactive/non existant. This party is not going anywhere, it is amazing that there is no party of people coming together to break this political deadlock.

There is basically a huge political vacuum out there waiting to be filled.

I've always voted, but if something doesn't come along by the next election that I can honestly vote for in the belief that they will make a difference, I'm not going to bother voting...

ninty9er

Darragh29 wrote: »

Here's the bit I don't get... How come in a country where people have completely ran out of patience with FF, and with the opposition as bad as the current incumbents, why are we not seeing a new political entity emerging???

Because people say this

Darragh29 wrote: »

I've always voted, but if something doesn't come along by the next election that I can honestly vote for in the belief that they will make a difference, I'm not going to bother voting...

instead of

"I'm going to bad together with some friends and set up a new political party"

ninty9er

jmayo wrote: »

I would guess people do not respct what you have to say, when you just troop out stating the party line and come out with some total hogwash like you did when discussing class sizes.

To paraphrase your comments on that thread:
"Class size has nothing to do with quality of education, motivated teachers are the problem, there is nothing wrong with class sizes upto 40, upto 50 would be pushing it though".

And then you back up these facts by stating you had discussed this with trainee teachers :rolleyes:

The one thing I will give you is, you are consistent in supporting your party no matter what they come out with, unlike a lot of the other cheerleaders who were on this forum about the time of last election but they have since disappeared.

And yes I have had a problem with ff right back to when CJH took the reins. Ever since that point the party has always put the party first and the state second.
There was a cosy cartel set up between high flyers in the party and certain business people, that decided how this country was to be planned and run. We have since had tribunals costing the taxpayer almost a billion to get to the bottom of all these dirty little deals.
The only time ff did anything for the country first was when the IMF was at the door and fg agreed not to rock the boat which was ultimately political suicide for the fg leader.

I support my party, I will back it up, because the party is more than a stated opinion of government. It's not a crime. It's like supporting a family member who has committed a crime. What they have done is wrong and that's not the issue, you still support them.

Government's line is still that it wishes to reduce class sizes but can't in the current climate. Mine has been 30/35 isn't a big class and never has been. I have always held that opinion.

Darragh29

ninty9er wrote: »

Because people say this


instead of

"I'm going to bad together with some friends and set up a new political party"

I wouldn't make a good politician, I curse too much, I couldn't give a speech without calling someone a c*nt...