George Lee on Frontline

RoundyMooney

Niamh Lyons, works with the Mail apparently. And I agree!

She's getting a few jabs in too.

2ygb4cmqetsjhx

Would definately give that star woman some babies.

gandalf

imangry29 wrote: »

:D:D

deadtiger, would be afraid that FF would make political hay with a FG leadership contest. Would a new leader have the support of al FG-ers, which Kenny has worked hard to achieve (bar Lee's ego and mutterings of probably Deasy and co)? Contest could reignite old divisions which Kenny has extinguished. Which could end in FF gain.

Ah but the question is GL was a parachute candidate dropped in over a Councillor who has served the Dublin South area for years and I am sure you'll agree with me that was Kennys decision and it appears he did not give GL the path or the way he would fit into the party. That smacks of bad leadership to me.

Cabra

Deasy, like his aul fella is all puff and no substance - I wouldnt be looking in that direction for new leadership!

imangry29

deadtiger wrote: »

Ah but the question is GL was a parachute candidate dropped in over a Councillor who has served the Dublin South area for years and I am sure you'll agree with me that was Kennys decision and it appears he did not give GL the path or the way he would fit into the party. That smacks of bad leadership to me.

Yes probably bad leadership, but name any other leader that would not have parachuted GL in, given the opportunity. Remember that glorious sytem we operate in? Is Kenny at fault or the system? Interesting GL at pains with Pat Kenny that it was not about a position or ministry. Now look at Georgy squirm and vehemently disagree, when Reilly points out that Lee was headed for front bench.

DogmaticLefty

Headline on tomorrow's Star:

"George Flee"

rofl.

imangry29

Cabra wrote: »

Deasy, like his aul fella is all puff and no substance - I wouldnt be looking in that direction for new leadership!

Oh definitely not! Just saying that it his probably him who is doing this "muttering" that Lee waffled about. And surprise surprise the papers go to town on the story. If only they had bad government policy to analyse...

gandalf

No the bad leadership is not making sure your new precious personality is managed properly which you will agree hasn't happened. If he can't lead his own party how can he be trusted to be the leader of the country.

roashter

Think he is scheduled for Telly Bingo next

imangry29

deadtiger wrote: »

No the bad leadership is not making sure your new precious personality is managed properly which you will agree hasn't happened. If he can't lead his own party how can he be trusted to be the leader of the country.

Can't lead his own party??? Listen to Reilly, look at his electoral record. Seat increase after seat increase. Local, Europe, national. Michael Noonan couldn't lead. Just because Enda doesn't facilitate a demanding economics broadcaster with a cushy pedestal (in 9 months) - does not mean he isn't leading his party. Enda has reunited the party and built it upwards. Again I say, Lee was in for 9 months. How much of this was Dail sitting time? How many days did Lee give in the Dail? Lee sickens me, he has failed his constituents if nothing else. Did he say in his manifesto "By the way, if FG don't do things my way, I'll quit in less than a year". No he didn't.

Lets not jump on the VB bandwagon with poll ratings (which by the way showed Cowen 2 times less popular than Kenny)

Also Dr. James Reilly shined with his last comment on VB. Great comparison of himself to Lee and showing up George for what he is....now there's someone we could use in an alternative government. Lee just doesn't have the guts for the long slog.

wobblyknees

Is that Dr. Reilly of FG in the middle? I'd say he's getting splinters in his arse from the soapbox he's sitting on, trying to say all the right things and pander to Enda and FG.

In my opinion, in his time with FG, George Lee saw politics for what it is, bull**** dished out by people like Reilly too eager to climb the politics ladder.

gandalf

imangry29 wrote: »

Can't lead his own party??? Listen to Reilly, look at his electoral record. Seat increase after seat increase. Local, Europe, national. Michael Noonan couldn't lead.

I am not saying he didn't do a good job in rebuilding the FG from the gutter but its obvious to me now that he has gotten FG as far as he can and someone new is needed to get them the floating voters that will ensure a decisive result at the next election.

Just because Enda doesn't facilitate a demanding economics broadcaster with a cushy pedestal (in 9 months) - does not mean he isn't leading his party. Enda has reunited the party and built it upwards.

I never said facilitate I said manage. To be a good leader in any field you have to be able to manage people of all sorts of ability. Clearly he didn't do this with someone he felt was so valuable to the FG that he choose him over a party stalwart in Dublin South.

Lets not jump on the VB bandwagon with poll ratings (which by the way showed Cowen 2 times less popular than Kenny)

It also showed as VB said that Kenny is holding FG back. With a leader who engages with the electorate more we could be in a position where a party can govern without going into a coalition which is what this country needs.

Marshy

I thought it was quite telling that Varadkar didn't really defend Kenny and admitted to unease in FG. He said the party needed to stick together but didn't explicitly back Enda.

This story truly is a disaster for Enda. I had actually resigned myself to the distinct possibility he'd eventually lead the country but I'd be very surprised if it happens now tbh.

Euro_Kraut

Marshy wrote: »

This story truly is a disaster for Enda. I had actually resigned myself to the distinct possibility he'd eventually lead the country but I'd be very surprised if it happens now tbh.

Right now Enda is FF biggest electoral assets. If he was to be disposed before the election than the last major hurdle between and FG Govt would be removed.

sesna

When I first heard this news, I was thinking it was a complete disaster for FG and Kenny.

But as the day has gone on and Lee has made himself available to every media outlet, his lack of policies and lack of any real attempt to engage with anyone in FG with his problems became exposed. This was especially the case on Vincent Browne.

A bad day for FG but in my opinion its Lee who has let himself down badly here.

Mental Mickey

sesna wrote: »

When I first heard this news, I was thinking it was a complete disaster for FG and Kenny.

But as the day has gone on and Lee has made himself available to every media outlet, his lack of policies and lack of any real attempt to engage with anyone in FG with his problems became exposed. This was especially the case on Vincent Browne.

A bad day for FG but in my opinion its Lee who has let himself down badly here.

Bryan Dobson, Pat Kenny, and Vincent Browne all showed George Lee for what he really is - a fool.

Flamed Diving

DogmaticLefty wrote: »

He reminds me of the PhD we hired in work who left after 6 months cos he wasn't prepared to learn the ropes and do his chores.

Fair play to him. No point spending over 8 years earning such qualifications only to be given trivial roles. You wasted his talents and probably misled him in the interview.

Aidric

Anyone listening to Kenny on Newstalk atm? He comes out with the line 'from now on I'm going to be myself'. He states that often he was dealing with information overload and from now on he is going to be himself.

10000maniacs

George Lee has squandered his mandate, thus robbing people like Shay Brennan of a seat. Now I know he is FF, but I am sure he would have served Dublin South with a lot more passion and integrity than George Lee did if his father was anything to go by.

Red_Marauder

10000maniacs wrote: »

George Lee has squandered his mandate, thus robbing people like Shay Brennan of a seat. Now I know he is FF, but I am sure he would have served Dublin South with a lot more passion and integrity than George Lee did if his father was anything to go by.

Why should his father be anything to go by? Was Shay going to channel him?

Shay Brennan would have served Fianna Fáil. not Dublin South.

bijapos

10000maniacs wrote: »

George Lee has squandered his mandate, thus robbing people like Shay Brennan of a seat. Now I know he is FF, but I am sure he would have served Dublin South with a lot more passion and integrity than George Lee did if his father was anything to go by.

Firstly, Brennan would not have gotten that seat, it would have been Alex White or else an alternative FG candidate.

Second, the Brennans got their daughter elected to the council last summer and she is 'serving Dublin S with passion and integrity' :rolleyes: by voting for the rezoning of areas in Dublin South which she and her party said they would not rezone in the run up to the local elections. I am talking here about the rezoning of Nutgrove and Stilorgan shopping centres.

Thirdly, there will be another bye-election in Dublin South, tell Brennan to put his money where his mouth is and run again, see what the people think of him then.

gandalf

Political Dynasties one of the things rotten about Politics in this country.

Poly

10000maniacs wrote: »

George Lee has squandered his mandate, thus robbing people like Shay Brennan of a seat. Now I know he is FF, but I am sure he would have served Dublin South with a lot more passion and integrity than George Lee did if his father was anything to go by.

Did/does Shay Brennan still work for Anglo?

jmayo

yoshytoshy wrote: »

What the hell was he let into fine gael for then ? to make apple tarts for the party ?

Maybe he can do programs with Rachel Allen then, although he probgably won't wit around for something to come out of the oven :rolleyes:

Greentopia wrote: »

I think George Lee is too honest and has too much integrity for Irish politics, nothing to do with him leaving because he didn't get his own way.
He simply wasn't prepared to play the cosy game of backslapping and shmoozing that's called for to get on in politics here.
He was too idealistic and honest for his own good.

Politics in every country in the world involves some shmoozing as often does business or anything else.
Why is this great honest soul ?
Maybe it's because he told us the truth about what a crock of sh*** the Irish economy was and how the banks were robbing some of us ?
Hell lots of people have done that, but they are not held up as some magnificaent saviour or maybe it is becuase he had his puss on TV every night coutesy to our license fees.
Shane Ross has done trojan work highlighting corruption and lack of business ethics and he is member of Seanad.
Yet he never paraded as this saviour.

It appears he never even talked to people.
Do you think you can join any organisation or company and as a newbie expect everyone to come to you ?
Yeah so idealistic that he has run back to the cosy confines of RTE.
And he blattered on about being institutionalised in the Dáil and he won't allow himself go that way ?
What the f*** does he think RTE is, a pampered public sector agency ?

Gretchy wrote: »

Sorry Mickey
Dont agree with you there.
Picture the scenario. Your local GAA/Rugby/Whatever club is been run into the ground by the committee. You have a few lads on the sideline that have been trying to get a grasp on things but just cant convince people to give them the chance. Along comes a guy whom the public and members have a vibe about, but because he is an outsider and not of the "local" stock he is ignored by the current set-up.
Did this happen here!!

Ehh if he wanted to join the committee that were runnign things then why not join ff ?
In case you don't know how parliament works, the government are the ones in power and the opposition are also on the sideline, they just have better seats than the rest of us. :rolleyes:

Gretchy wrote: »

Agree
But lets face it. The level of education that GL brought to this party outshone the majority he joined there. All our TDs are mere teachers, auctioneers, solicitors and god knows what else.Oh I see the senior civil servants who negotiated there cuts recently run this country. Protect what is yours people. Protect I say!!!

Level of education ?
BTW you dfo know two of the primary FG spokesmen are medical doctors while the finance spokesman is an economist who has worked in more than the state broadcaster.
FFS here we go again with the claptrap that he is some economic genius.
What has he done ?
Oh yeah he correctly pointed out that the economy was a house of cards, that taxes were primarily coming from an unsustainable source, that public spending should not be increased based on this, etc, etc and that the banks were dodgy.
Half of the people now lauding him were probably calling him a whiner not so long ago.

Now if that makes him a f***ing genius, what does it make McWilliams, Morgan Kelly, Alan Aherne, Brian Lucey, Shane Ross ?

Why oh why are some of us so in awe and hanging on the words of some of our journos ?
Are we that desperate for saviours or do they just have to be celebrities as well ?

FFS no wonder some people were actually taking property advise from yet journalist, another RTE so called celebrity brendan o'connnor.

At least I will give Lee this he told that truth unlike that o'connnor spanner.

10000maniacs

Poly wrote: »

Did/does Shay Brennan still work for Anglo?

Yes he did, but I don't think he robbed any money when he was there.
By the way I remember Brennan saying at the start of the campaign that he would probably lose because Lees campaign was a media hyped celebrity campaign and Lee would fade into political obscurity eventually.
How right he was.;)

Poly

10000maniacs wrote: »

Yes he did, but I don't think he robbed any money when he was there.
By the way I remember Brennan saying at the start of the campaign that he would probably lose because Lees campaign was a media hyped celebrity campaign and Lee would fade into political obscurity eventually.
How right he was.;)

I don't think he can blame Lee! It's the corrupt party he stood for that's the problem. Not to mention his toxic Anglo connection.

I think people took him about as seriously as Tubridy's brother and his picnics for southsiders policy.

DublinWriter

Is it just me, or does anyone else think that there's something more to this story that's not yet been disclosed?

It beggers belief that now he can return to his €150K pa job as an economic correspondent in RTE after his 'career break', take a €15K gratuity from the Dail for being a TD, and still remain credible as an impartial journalist.

Poly

DublinWriter wrote: »

Is it just me, or does anyone else think that there's something more to this story that's not yet been disclosed?

It beggers belief that now he can return to his €150K pa job as an economic correspondent in RTE after his 'career break', take a €15K gratuity from the Dail for being a TD, and still remain credible as an impartial journalist.

I reckon he saw the recent poll bounce of FF and figured FG have missed their chance.
He doesn't want to play with the big boys no more and ran back home to Mamma before his €150K salary expired.

stumpypeeps

If FG want to get into power, and given the circumstances plus performance of FF, they really should, then they must jettison Kenny now and move forward with Bruton. They will not get into power while Kenny is there. My basis? They didn't manage it last time. In two years time any improvement in the economy, which is inevitable, will be claimed as good governance from FF.

Get Veradkor, Hayes, Creighton, and the younger generation out front, with Bruton at the helm and they have a chance.

imangry29

deadtiger wrote: »

I am not saying he didn't do a good job in rebuilding the FG from the gutter but its obvious to me now that he has gotten FG as far as he can and someone new is needed to get them the floating voters that will ensure a decisive result at the next election.

Perhaps he has taken them as far as he can. Polls (even though I don't put too much faith in those, but they are all we can go by) would indicate that FG will comfortably sail in to government. Which is the goal right? I am all for the best leader FG can find, Enda or otherwise, but I just think a leadership battle could send the party backwards again with insufficient time to recover before election.

deadtiger wrote: »

I never said facilitate I said manage. To be a good leader in any field you have to be able to manage people of all sorts of ability. Clearly he didn't do this with someone he felt was so valuable to the FG that he choose him over a party stalwart in Dublin South.

Of course he was valuable to FG, any current party leader would have parachuted him to their party in any constituency (no exaggeration!). He was given Chair of the FG Economic group which he did not call to meet once. If Lee was so energetic about the economy, why did he not use this Chair to drive his agenda?

deadtiger wrote: »

It also showed as VB said that Kenny is holding FG back. With a leader who engages with the electorate more we could be in a position where a party can govern without going into a coalition which is what this country needs.

If Kenny is holding FG back, lets remember his similar ratings through 2004, 2007 and 2009 elections. Party leader ratings do not reflect the performance of the party. Despite Gilmore/Rabbitte enjoying 40-50%, have they delivered big seat gains? No. Will Gilmore on 40-50% ever deliver 66-83 Dail seats? Not likely. Civil war politics and multi-seat constituencies mean single party government will not be achieved in the medium term. There are far too many families across this country who will blanket vote FF or FG regardless of govt performance.

I am not trying to sell Enda as the best FG can do, I just want to point out that Enda and FG will prob do enough to get a strong FG-led government in at next election. The election of Lee was a false dawn. We may also overestimate the prospect of Bruton as leader. Doubt FG can manage such a harmonious transition.