Does Leo Varadkar have any empathy?

skimpydoo

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120622881#Comment_120622881

I hope he doesn't get one because as long as he keeps doing gaffs it will eventually will leads to his undoing. How long will FG tolerate this?

creedp

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120622881#Comment_120622881

You don't think he already has a very expensive PR team behind him?

Larbre34

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120623479#Comment_120623479

They don't have to tolerate it, Varadkar is retiring from politics at the Feb 2025 election. A new leader-elect will be chosen in advance and will fight the election as leader and prospective Taoiseach.

Its not that Varadkar doesn't have any empathy, but rather he is an autistic person with enormous intelligence and analytical skill but not much ability to read people or communicate with nuance and moderation.

That being the case, he has done well to twice achieve the highest political office in the land and most particularly at such a historic young age.

No doubt he will have a successful onward career in business or perhaps high officialdom in the EU.

Helen McEntee will take some beating.

wangchung

He is a very nasty ignorant man with no personable skills. He looks at everyone with disdain except himself. I am not a Michael Martin fan by any means but at least he has some manners and friendly attitude not like Varadkar.

maik3n

Putting aside the matter of whether it is/isn't an ableist slurr, I think the bigger issue is him denigrating SF supporters.

It very much smacks of Hilary Clinton and her ''deplorables'' gaff from a few years ago.

Leo may have legit grounds for saying it (as was the case with Clinton) but it's certainly something any politician should avoid actually saying out loud, let alone the Taoiseach of all people.

Mind you, Leo does seem to have something really stuck in his craw when it comes to Sinn Fein.

Fred Cryton

By taking offense at this and saying Leo has no empathy, aren't people really agreeing with him that SF voters aren't the brightest and easily led? The message seems to be they are vulnerable people in need of protection...

odyssey06

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120623036#Comment_120623036

I might be a slow learner at a particular thing - car maintenance, DIY, learning how to play the piano. In other respects I might have a raft of qualifications and a high IQ. I might have a raft of degrees and be a slow learner at the political game. We see many such useful idiots going to bat for particular dictators, for example.

This is a really desperate attempt at manufacturing outrage by people unable to refute the point Varadkar made.

Rothko

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120623640#Comment_120623640

That's quite the stretch.

political analyst

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120623691#Comment_120623691

Another former health minister was referred to as Dr James Reilly even though he wasn't practising when he was in office.

political analyst

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120623848#Comment_120623848

Agreed. Obviously, those people who are manufacturing this outrage haven't heard of the late Seamus Mallon - and we know his description of the Good Friday Agreement.

Count Dracula

I love Leo Varadkar, he rocks.

It is highly likely he has sociopathic tendencies, every successful politician in history has faced sacrifices which they must influence their decisions on. All those decisions eventually effect someone in a good or bad way. If you dwell on that reality you will eventually find a way to manufacture blame or acclaim on that decision.

mulbot

There's a few clips to be found if a very young Leo talking about his political aspirations-will tell you everything you need to know about him. Horribly egotistical and like all politicians, a narcissist

...Ghost...

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120623227#Comment_120623227

It's not a slur in the context used by Varadkar on this occasion. What he is saying though, is that people who don't agree with him with regard to SF are stupid. Of course, he could be correct, but such a blanket statement essentially aimed at SF voters who got more votes than any other party in the last GE is at best, highly insulting to the electorate. I didn't vote SF, but I wouldn't call their voters stupid if I was the leader of of the country.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120623848#Comment_120623848

Varadkar wasn't talking about people who are slow to take up the piano. He was talking about SF voters. I'm not outraged and the tweet hasn't changed my opinion of Varadkar. He is a smug, out of touch, slimy, self serving áss-hat. I dislike him when I first saw him on Vincent Browne saying he wouldn't allow "another red cent" be paid to the banks. Of course, it was a lie for votes in the GE which saw FG make huge gains and get into power. I voted FG, but knew Varadkar was a snake. I just didn't expect he would take over the top job from Kenny.

odyssey06

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120624298#Comment_120624298

He wasnt talking about slow learners in the sense the faux outraged imply either.

He didnt say they were stupid fullstop. He said they made a stupid political choice reflecting a lack of experience or understanding of consequences... and unfortunately I add may only realise that after the impact of the mistake becomes apparent.

Given your other comments about Varadkar it is obvious you are not parsing this is an unbiased manner.

The point of the piano remark was obvious to show you can be a slow learner at X but not stupid. You couldnt refute the example.

But sure that was obvious and your remark a blatant deflection.

Murph85

He certainly doesn't have empathy for the peasants on over 40k and half the salary he thieves over that amount....

DeadHand

Leo has proven himself a man of low integrity and empathy.

He is not especially so: he is part of a political system that has been enslaved to corporatism and, hence, enslaved to short term economic gain. It becomes necessary to shun values such as honesty and foresight.

The individual above the collective, profit over prudence, the corporation over the nation.

Ireland is no longer a country, its an economy. The Irish are no longer a nation, they are a market and a labour pool.

We are battered with messages demanding that we give up our national bonds and surrender any right to the space and resources of our homeland. To be ashamed of our presence on our own island. To be ashamed of ourselves. This to make us more amenable to domination and exploitation.

Leo isn't the problem, the system that produced him is.

Future generations of Irish people will pay in blood for the greed, self-interest, cowardice and naivety of the current governance.

Beasty

The OP is banned from a number of threads relating to the Government for a reason

They seem to therefore start threads dedicated to aspects of the Government they wish to discuss

Closed