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Public Gets Government It Deserves

category national | miscellaneous | other press author Sunday October 15, 2006 04:52author by Anchor Report this post to the editors

Poll shows voters love Bertie

An amazing poll in today's (Oct 15 2006) Sunday Tribune shows that the public are very supportive of the Bertie Ahern even though he received over 60,000 euro from businessmen in the 1990s -- while at the same time a majority believe the planning tribunal's reputation is damaged after the details of the taoiseach's loan and gift emerged!!


The Sunday Tribune-Milward Brown poll in today's edition of the paper is fascinating. It shows just how the public are willing to forgive Bertie Ahern for accepting money from businessmen and friends in the 1990s when he was a cabinet minister. At the same time, in the story written by journalist John Burke, the public believes that the reputation of the tribunal into planning corruption has been affected negatively by the media revelations of the taoiseach's financial dealings.

The implications of this poll is huge. There isn't any proof or evidence offered so far to give any indication that Bertie Ahern's details were leaked to the Irish Times by anyone connected to the tribunal. In fact, as John Burke writes, a government minister last week admitted, when brought before the tribunal's judges, that he couldn't back up his suggestion on radio that the source of the leak was "well known".

If a majority of voters (54 percent) strangely percieve that the tribunal's reputation is damaged by this affair, despite the absence of any supporting evidence, yet they are still willing to forgive and forget Bertie Ahern's acceptance of money from businessmen and want him to be their next leader --- then do the Irish public have any apparent apetite to reform governance in their own country??

author by Buckbowskipublication date Sun Oct 15, 2006 12:12author address author phone Report this post to the editors

We are the same nation of idiots that has continually voted Fianna Fail despite their incredible record of corrupt behaviour. Think of Eamonn De Velera and the Irish Press Scandal, CJ Haughey and his countless scandals, Ray Rambo Burke and now this smug eejit. The Irish people cannot remember the last them they saw an honest politician so how can you expect them to vote for one?

Anyway every bit of suffering our country is going through has been inflicted by the people. We elect these fools, we shop at all the big brand supermarkets and petrol stations just to save a few Euros thus giving them more power than the people and we keep tolerating the crap that is thrown at us by the spade load.

What is required now is discipline and commitment such as that been shown by the protestors against Shell and those opposed to the use of Shannon as a military base for the USA. Fair play to those concerned and lets show them our support. That is the real way to derail the Fianna Fail bandwagon.

author by Brass Tackspublication date Sun Oct 15, 2006 12:52author address author phone Report this post to the editors

Having (too closely) observed the genus FF for many years, I am able to describe the habitat.

Firstly Nouveau riche is not the word.

It's toe-rags.

A group of them attended a funeral recently, and they are unique.

The women were distinguished by the gold, which dripped lazily on their well-appointed
embonpoints.
They suffer from boredom.
The mistresses tend to wear white gold or a flirty lighter alternative to the
established women.

They have been advocates of the fake tan.
They rummage in the higer end boutiques when people are working.
They like to lunch.
They hunt in packs and go to the toilet together.

The drivers are ex-gardai and usually related to them
Many GAA stars stand for FF.
They attend Mass.
They buy in M+S and the organic markets.
They don't fuck around but their husbands do (all the time).

They are always at the local chamber of commerce dos.
They have political friends in FG (often cross-pollinating at the manicurists)
They are traditional in their female roles.
Those who brave the political storm tend to have a strong support system and put off
breeding until they have made their mark.
They don't like germaine Greer, Sinead O Connor .
The notion of feminine involves bottle/blonde/gold/brazilian.
They like to lig it.
They llike to frig it.
They price you.
They reject anything that is not part of their narrow world view.

They think that feminism is outre.

They don't cook.
They consume conspicously.
They tolerat infidelity.
they ALWAYS vote.
They stick together.

author by Jimpublication date Sun Oct 15, 2006 12:56author address author phone Report this post to the editors

As much as anything else, this poll is as reflection of how crap the opposition are. How could anyone believe that things would be better under Enda and Pat. The thought of Fine Gael and Labour being in government at a time when Labour is led by ex-Stickies makes my skin crawl. The Stickies are/were without doubt the most corrupt and cynical outfit in Irish political history.

author by seanmpublication date Mon Oct 16, 2006 14:11author address author phone Report this post to the editors

The public are not as stupid as you believe - sure there is a lot of self-interest by the middle class in supporting the establishment parties of Fianna Fail, Fine Gael, PDs and Labour - but there is another factor at work here. Many people also know that all these parties are corrupt and are in the pay of big business so they continue to "vote for the crook they know". The mainstream media perpetuate this myth. Anybody offering an alternative to this view are marginalised.

author by Terencepublication date Tue Oct 17, 2006 15:24author address author phone Report this post to the editors

A trend in undemocratic countries is that the role of the 'leader' is personalized and their image tends to be displayed quite a lot and much media attention focuses on this person. In this way, attention is drawn away from the real issues and the day to day aspects of government and society.

It usually happens hand in glove with a general dumbing down within that society which is of course what we have in Ireland. And so what happens is that a sort of personal relationship between each citizen and the "leader" is carefully nurtured so that the representation of the government is embodied in that person.

In the recent Bertie saga, the propagandists in the government have carefully developed this further and emphasised the obviously emotional time for Bertie during which he received the money. In this way people have been made to feel empathy with him because of the context in which it is framed and it is presented as the only issue -witness the media saturation on it to the detriment of everything else. So naturally people have the sympathy but also unconsciously think if this is the only issue so be it and everything is otherwise okay and as pointed out because the representation of the government and party is personalized, then they are unable to separate the out the individual, Bertie Ahern from the state apparatus itself the government and the party political power structure. And the feeling of everything is otherwise okay is because as said earlier the media has dumbed down long ago, and real issues and problems hardly ever see the light of day and when they do it is usually in the context of form of belittling or smear campaign.

Having said all that I would be interested to see the following about the poll:
1) How many people were polled?
2) The breakdown by age, gender, socio-economic class
3) The list of questions asked.

When reporting the results of a poll there can easily be conflicting responses and conclusions to be drawn. It would not be unusual for propagandists to selectively report one set and ignore the other.

Nevertheless the point above, I feel still stands as it is a common enough practice.

author by a plain manpublication date Tue Oct 17, 2006 16:50author address author phone Report this post to the editors

The general public is not stupid.

The lefty cranks who live in a planet many light-years upwind of ordinary people can never understand why us simple folk are too stupid to understand what is good for us.

I mean dahling, how could these smelly uneducated people.................?

Perhaps it is because your plain man and woman have failed to appreciate how successful socialist paradises such as the former USSR and the present Peoples Paradise of North Korea are Perhaps it is because they too ignorant to appreciate the exquisit ideological triumph so beloved of their betters in the third-world development industry - Julius Nyrere's Tanzania (AKA, the nation that he guided from one of the richest in southern Africa to one of the poorest on the entire planet by following the economic policies prescribed by that fellow from - I think - Limerick)).

Or perhaps it is because they are just pissed off at being preached at by €250K per annum Geraldine Kennedy.

author by Caobhinpublication date Tue Oct 17, 2006 17:05author address author phone Report this post to the editors

You're at it again with your condescending bog-logic - speaking on behalf of the "plain" people- must be lax time in the IBEC offices today. Sure there is a large conservative rural vote for the FF/FG/PD animals and residual sympathy for a cunning slimebag like Ahern but FF will suffer for this in the urban areas where the majority of "ordinary" "plain" people voted for "lefty cranks" last time. Check the facts you gobshite.

author by a plain manpublication date Tue Oct 17, 2006 20:23author address author phone Report this post to the editors

Apparantly, for the left-wing guardians of what is fit for us to read, calling people animals and gobshite is perfectly ok. However, remarking on the rather obvious fact that calling people such names is hardly contributing to rational discussion, is not.
Mighty strange!

Perhaps these are just the sort of double-standards which convince ordinary people that they must never never allow the rag-bag of trots who so despise the ordinary people of Ireland within an asses roar of power.

The cumulative less than 10% of the electorate who vote for the trots and other lefty nutters of the juvenile fringe are a good indication that the ordinary people well understand what is at stake.

author by Chanteusepublication date Tue Oct 17, 2006 23:33author address author phone Report this post to the editors

well said plain-man!

And let us face it, things have never, ever been as good for us in Ireland these days.

A rising tide and all that...

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