Did Eoghan Harris's apperance on the Late ate cost this state €50bn?

dixiefly

Slightly tongue in cheek but serious also in a way.

I was thinking today that if Eoghan Harris had not appeared on the Late Late Show just before the last election what would things be like now. Fianna Fail probably would probably far prefer to have lost that election. FG and Labour are probably happy they lost because they would have been crucufued by FF once the crash happened and the culpability would have been fuzzy to the extent that many people would have balmed FG/ Labour.

The interesting one would have een their reaction to the bank crisis. There is a very strong possibility that FG / Labour would not have bailed out Anglo thus saving the state over €50bn. Other outcomes not all favourable probably would have happened but I reckon that things might not have been as disastrously bad as has eventually transpired.

Brussels Sprout

Are you implying that Eoghan Harris won the last election for FF based on a Late Late Show appearance?

Dannyboy83

Bottom line is, away from politics forums, most people haven't the foggiest iota about politics or economics.
They can't really differentiate between X-Factor and Politics.
I work with some really clever people and you would be stunned at the most basic things I have to explain to them about Irish politics or basic economic concepts.

Fianna Fail were always going to win the last election, because people believed that they had created some kind of economic miracle and they didn't want to lose that, they wanted to preserve it (i.e. so what is Bertie's fiddling in the grand scheme of things as long as the miracle keeps going?)

Now the average Joe understands he was conned by Fianna Fail.
They hate Fianna Fail, they were lied to, there was no miracle, only a fecking mirage, but with very real consequences for every man, woman and child on this island.
From there to now, most people's understanding of politics or economics hasn't improved - mostly people have just understood that Fianna Fail are utterly corrupt and self serving. (Ergo FF still got 1 in 5 votes in Donegal).
They know 'what' but they don't know 'why'.
That's part of the reason why we are so vulnerable to FF being elected again, they are masters at exploiting the electorate's ignorance/vulnerability.

Look at my join date, the only reason I have any clue now is because of this forum. I didn't have a notion before September 2008, other than a few snippets like a property bubble (soft landing!), too high cost and uncompetitive & that Dell were about to feck off.

How are people really supposed to know anyway unless you have a personal interest or make some kind of career from it?
I hear it's changed somewhat now, but we certainly never learned about politics when I was at school.

ArtSmart

Dannyboy83 wrote: »

Bottom line is, away from politics forums, most people haven't the foggiest iota about politics or economics.
They can't really differentiate between X-Factor and Politics.

l.

i reject that completely.

Lets take a look.

The x Factor has

Self appointed table of people who act as lord and master.

A group of hopeful candidates who are mostly muppets or ego driven
narcissists

A voting system which returns the same muppets/ narcissists again and again.

follows a tired and predictable formula.



Hmmmm.

em....

later12

Brussels Sprout wrote: »

Are you implying that Eoghan Harris won the last election for FF based on a Late Late Show appearance?

I'm confused about this also.

I think your estimation of Eoghan Harris's contribution is grossly overestimated. I doubt anyone really took it seriously.

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2055094905

Banjaxed82

He should stick to teaching. There was great craic to be had when he was fronting the class.

Rubik.

Well, he did become senator as a direct result of that Late Late Show appearance. He may have helped to sway a few floating voters, but he didn't win FF the 2007 election.

Although the audience reaction to his revelation that Bertie "won it on the horses", in the Late Late Show debate Mark II, was the moment everybody knew Ahern's time was up.

blue_steel

Harris is a joke. From Marxist to Republican to Unionist to Fianna Fail apologist. But as somebody posted above the general public were so ignorant as to what was happening in 2007 that his bluster on the Late Late probably did garner FF a few votes. Lets just add his name to the long list of people who should be lined up against a wall come the revolution.