Any positives are on B. Cowen's CV?

d2ww

First of all, this is not a Brian Cowen bashing thread, there will be another one of those along in a minute. I was trying to think of anything BC has actually achieved in all his years in politics, and have to admit that I've drawn a blank.
So, in much the same vein as one could say, "At least Haughey helped set up the IFSC" or "At least Ahern pushed through the peace process"
Can anyone complete the sentence "At least Brian Cowen......."

jmayo

d2ww wrote: »

First of all, this is not a Brian Cowen bashing thread, there will be another one of those along in a minute. I was trying to think of anything BC has actually achieved in all his years in politics, and have to admit that I've drawn a blank.
So, in much the same vein as one could say, "At least Haughey helped set up the IFSC" or "At least Ahern pushed through the peace process"
Can anyone complete the sentence "At least Brian Cowen......."

Well most people now know what biffo means.
So he has contributed a little to education.

Scratchs head trying to think of something else

gandalf

He apparently does a mean impression of Philip Walton.

Poccington

Is his blood type O Pos?

Cause that's about as positive as it gets for that man.

jonsnow

at least he destroyed the fianna fail party!!!

Het-Field

If you are really straining to find something positive about Brian Cowen, you may refer to his performance during the 2007 General Election Campaign. He blustered and bombasted his way through that campaign. Subsequently, he acted the "tough negotiator" with the Green Party (who had never negotiated ANYTHING on a Governmental Level before) when it came to handing out Ministerial Portfolios. Apparently, he sat down before the Green's "negotiating team", and dealt with portfolios in alphabetical order. First he mentions Agriculture. As Gormley attempts to strike up discussion on the matter Brian Cowen simply says "you have no authority or record there" now on to Arrts, Sport and Tourism which "you also have no authority or record on" . Discussions followed a continued patterns until the issues of the Environment, Energy, and food reared their heads. Effectively, Cowen shouted down an inexperienced Party, who in reality were looking no further then the environmental portfolios.

He will be remembered as Ireland's worst Taoiseach. As Finance Minister he aided and abetted the destruction of our economy. As Health Minister he called it "Angola", and jumped to the safety of Foreign Affairs, where the bulk of the work had been done by 1998. Of course, ol BIFFO still managed to screw up the Nice I Referendum. He also managed to play a large role in the destruction of FF. This was epitomised by his attempts to desicrate the honourable Ministerial roles, by using them as launchpads for an election campaign. He has lost the trust and the respect of the people. As a Minister he has no record, his record as Finance Minister and Taoiseach is wholly negative.

d2ww

Just checked his wiki profile, surely there must be something from the various periods as minister for Labour, Energy, Transport, Health, Foreign Affairs and then Finance. Could he have honestly spent all those years(about 15) as the minister for X,Y and Z and have nothing to show for it? No new Acts/initiatives/policy reforms/projects could he could lay claim to? That's just sad.

d2ww

Het-field, personally I couldn't agree more with your sentiment. The reason I asked the question was the constant FF spin over the years that BC was a towering intellect and in total command of his brief behind closed doors but that we, the great unwashed, just hadn't seen that side of him yet.

mikemac

If you were a constituent you'd say Tullamore Hospital and the big investment in it.

If you weren't from the area you'd say that money could have been spent on your nearest hospital.
Limited funding, some are upgraded and some are downgraded.

liammur

Het-Field wrote: »

If you are really straining to find something positive about Brian Cowen, you may refer to his performance during the 2007 General Election Campaign. He blustered and bombasted his way through that campaign. Subsequently, he acted the "tough negotiator" with the Green Party (who had never negotiated ANYTHING on a Governmental Level before) when it came to handing out Ministerial Portfolios. Apparently, he sat down before the Green's "negotiating team", and dealt with portfolios in alphabetical order. First he mentions Agriculture. As Gormley attempts to strike up discussion on the matter Brian Cowen simply says "you have no authority or record there" now on to Arrts, Sport and Tourism which "you also have no authority or record on" . Discussions followed a continued patterns until the issues of the Environment, Energy, and food reared their heads. Effectively, Cowen shouted down an inexperienced Party, who in reality were looking no further then the environmental portfolios.

He will be remembered as Ireland's worst Taoiseach. As Finance Minister he aided and abetted the destruction of our economy. As Health Minister he called it "Angola", and jumped to the safety of Foreign Affairs, where the bulk of the work had been done by 1998. Of course, ol BIFFO still managed to screw up the Nice I Referendum. He also managed to play a large role in the destruction of FF. This was epitomised by his attempts to desicrate the honourable Ministerial roles, by using them as launchpads for an election campaign. He has lost the trust and the respect of the people. As a Minister he has no record, his record as Finance Minister and Taoiseach is wholly negative.

B Ahern will unquestionnably be remembered as our worst taoiseach.
The key difference is ahern took over a very healthy and growing economy and turned it into muck. Cowen got that muck and sprayed it everywhere. The average punter sees the sprayer, not the supplier of it. Economists and analysts know that the real damage was done between 2002-2006.

johnnyjb

liammur wrote: »

B Ahern will unquestionnably be remembered as our worst taoiseach.
The key difference is ahern took over a very healthy and growing economy and turned it into muck. Cowen got that muck and sprayed it everywhere. The average punter sees the sprayer, not the supplier of it. Economists and analysts know that the real damage was done between 2002-2006.

Where were these people since 2002.

Im not backing clowen though. Let they witch hunt continue

dixiefly

While I agree that Bertie was our worst Taoiseach on several levels I suspect that Cowen will be remembered by many to have been the worst Taoiseach because of the abject implosion of the government on his watch.

parasite

One occasionally hears some half-hearted spin that as Minister for Health he did well by people with disabilities IIRC, that's about it
and he has a formidable intellect and gives barnstorming orations when no one's looking

liammur

johnnyjb wrote: »

Where were these people since 2002.

Im not backing clowen though. Let they witch hunt continue

These were the doomsdayers that were told commit suicide, so needless to say, they kept their mouths shut.

TheGodBen

As Minister for Foreign Affairs, he played a big role in reviving the EU Constitution while Ireland held the Presidency of the European Council. As we all know, the EU Constitution went on to be a tremendous success. Oh, wait...

yoshytoshy

He's only half as bad as the rest of them in fianna fail ,he can put that in his C.V.

People are stupid if they think he's the worst of that lot.

juuge

At least he's not a member of opus dei - or is he??

CorkMan

He can lie right in the face of adversity.