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President Michael D Higgins’ €3,000 a night hotel stays

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    #392
    WinnyThePoo
    Closed Accounts Posts: 3,417 ✭✭✭WinnyThePoo


    Hitman3000 wrote: »
    I can't answer for other people. He did however make a point of saying he was only seeking one term during his election campaign some may have voted for him on this basis. Bottom line is MD is no different than any other politician we have here. Willing to lie to get what he wants.

    You mean changing his mind.


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    #393
    PlaneSpeeking
    Banned (with Prison Access) Posts: 5,106 ✭✭✭PlaneSpeeking


    WinnyThePoo wrote: »
    Your on a record as being a fan of trump on here Robert. I take your outrage as a pinch of salt.

    He is allowed to change his mind.

    That does explain a lot.


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    #394
    Hitman3000
    Closed Accounts Posts: 5,596 ✭✭✭Hitman3000


    WinnyThePoo wrote:
    We live in a democracy lads. There will be other candidates.

    Actually electing a president is not that democratic considering the process. It's in the gift of local and national politicians as to who goes before the people.


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    #395
    RobertKK
    Registered Users Posts: 33,730 ✭✭✭✭RobertKK


    WinnyThePoo wrote: »
    Your on a record as being a fan of trump on here Robert. I take your outrage as a pinch of salt.

    He is allowed to change his mind.

    I never said I was a fan of Trump.

    I said he was better than Hillary Clinton who voted for every war going and had talked about escalating the war in Syria as if we didn't have enough war already.
    She voted for the Iraq war, supported the disastrous Arab Spring and helped turn Libya into a terrorist ridden state - all her actions with power contributed to the migrant crisis in Europe and the rise of the far right in some countries and I would argue contributed to Brexit.

    Trump said the US has been involved in too many stupid wars. I agree with that. Hillary Clinton's record is one of a rabid war monger that is why I believe it was better that Trump won, so far so good as it looks like the war in Syria is heading towards closure, when idiot Hillary wanted regime change which could have lead to a confrontation with Russia due to her idiotic no fly zones in a Russian allied country.
    Trump is a crap president, but the alternative was even more brainless.


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    #396
    Hitman3000
    Closed Accounts Posts: 5,596 ✭✭✭Hitman3000


    WinnyThePoo wrote:
    You mean changing his mind.


    No actually. He made a statement during his election campaign and I expected him to keep his word. I thought Higgins had principles, clearly not. Now you can put it down to changing his mind if you wish. I will continue to believe he is a liar.


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    #397
    RobertKK
    Registered Users Posts: 33,730 ✭✭✭✭RobertKK


    PlaneSpeeking wrote: »
    That does explain a lot.

    If you believe I am a fan of Trump, then you are gullible, just because you were told that by someone with no evidence.


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    #398
    WinnyThePoo
    Closed Accounts Posts: 3,417 ✭✭✭WinnyThePoo


    RobertKK wrote: »
    I never said I was a fan of Trump.

    I said he was better than Hillary Clinton who voted for every war going and had talked about escalating the war in Syria as if we didn't have enough war already.
    She voted for the Iraq war, supported the disastrous Arab Spring and helped turn Libya into a terrorist ridden state - all her actions with power contributed to the migrant crisis in Europe and the rise of the far right in some countries and I would argue contributed to Brexit.

    Trump said the US has been involved in too many stupid wars. I agree with that. Hillary Clinton's record is one of a rabid war monger that is why I believe it was better that Trump won, so far so good as it looks like the war in Syria is heading towards closure, when idiot Hillary wanted regime change which could have lead to a confrontation with Russia due to her idiotic no fly zones in a Russian allied country.
    Trump is a crap president, but the alternative was even more brainless.

    There's so much false here, but what really takes the biscuit is putting individual blame on Clinton for Brexit. Absolute hilarious drivel.


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    #399
    RobertKK
    Registered Users Posts: 33,730 ✭✭✭✭RobertKK


    WinnyThePoo wrote: »
    There's so much false here, but what really takes the biscuit is putting individual blame on Clinton for Brexit. Absolute hilarious drivel.

    What you posted is drivel, I at least posted content to back up what I posted, you posted the drivel as you have no facts.


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    #400
    WinnyThePoo
    Closed Accounts Posts: 3,417 ✭✭✭WinnyThePoo


    You'e backed up nothing. Your calling a man a liar when he clearly changed his mind to RUN again. Your last post was hyperbolic drivel.

    idiot this and idiot that. You where or still are a fan of Trump. You had no problem supporting a man who lies and lies and lies , and why would anyone take your faux outrage seriously?.

    Whats the real reason Robert?


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    #401
    B0jangles
    Closed Accounts Posts: 4,951 ✭✭✭B0jangles


    RobertKK wrote: »
    Aren't you the guy who is not able to post about Michael D Higgins in a Michael D Higgins thread?


    Oh I think Michael D. is just fine - a good man doing a good job.


    I just wanted to let people who are unfamiliar with your posting history know about your fondness for extremely nasty conspiracy theories and distaste for facts that do not align with your world view.


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    #402
    RobertKK
    Registered Users Posts: 33,730 ✭✭✭✭RobertKK


    WinnyThePoo wrote: »
    You'e backed up nothing. Your calling a man a liar when he clearly changed his mind to RUN again. Your last post was hyperbolic drivel.

    idiot this and idiot that. You where or still are a fan of Trump. You had no problem supporting a man who lies and lies and lies , and why would anyone take your faux outrage seriously?.

    Whats the real reason Robert?

    He is a liar, did he not say as part of his election manifesto that he would be a one term president?
    Was that not part of his election campaign?

    I am not a Trump fan no matter how much you want it, two awful candidates, one was a proven war monger by her voting record and helped start several wars, plus supported a coup against the democratic leader of Honduras which lead to thousands dead. But sure that made her better than Trump...I wanted the candidate who I believed would lead to less people being murdered/killed to be elected, it was not Hillary.


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    #403
    RobertKK
    Registered Users Posts: 33,730 ✭✭✭✭RobertKK


    B0jangles wrote: »
    Oh I think Michael D. is just fine - a good man doing a good job.


    I just wanted to let people who are unfamiliar with your posting history know about your fondness for extremely nasty conspiracy theories and distaste for facts that do not align with your world view.

    So you are happy with his close friendship with Daniel Ortega who operates death squads?

    You wanted to spin something to distract so the focus would be on me since your precious Michael D was not being painted in a good light.


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    #404
    Taytoland
    Banned (with Prison Access) Posts: 1,067 ✭✭✭Taytoland


    Higgins taking the Irish people for a ride and they elect him to do so which is rather amusing.


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    #405
    Hitman3000
    Closed Accounts Posts: 5,596 ✭✭✭Hitman3000


    Taytoland wrote:
    Higgins taking the Irish people for a ride and they elect him to do so which is rather amusing.


    Arlene and the boys have been taking you guys for a ride aswell. Still getting paid and doing FA. Glass houses and all that.


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    #406
    boardise
    Registered Users Posts: 3,406 ✭✭✭boardise


    Typically in Ireland contradictions abound and are tolerated . We see an office which is proclaimed to be non-political being almost totally dominated by political parties with constrained access by gate-keeping councillors.
    Then we see an incumbent who clearly promotes a political agenda. That's why it is a nonsense of an office .
    We have 2 chambers in the Oireachtas -we don't need a third political location where someone sits in palatial luxury and can use their throne as a soapbox for their own particular pet projects.


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    #407
    Grayson
    Registered Users Posts: 16,155 ✭✭✭✭Grayson


    Hitman3000 wrote: »
    Arlene and the boys have been taking you guys for a ride aswell. Still getting paid and doing FA. Glass houses and all that.

    If you look at how much she cost the NI Exchequer... How much is the cash for ash scheme costing again.

    Yet pony is fine with that.


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    #408
    freshpopcorn
    Registered Users Posts: 30,309 ✭✭✭✭freshpopcorn


    Mod note: Try and keep this on topic and stop digging up debates from other threads.


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    #409
    awec
    Administrators Posts: 53,459 Admin ✭✭✭✭✭awec


    I guess the annoyance about him running again is because people know he'll blow whatever challenger he has out of the water due to his overwhelming popularity?

    Nobody would be whinging about it if they thought there was someone who could beat him.

    Anyway, anyone who voted for him the first time who is upset that he is running again can always vote for someone else.


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    #410
    batgoat
    Closed Accounts Posts: 3,423 ✭✭✭batgoat


    RobertKK wrote: »
    He is a liar, did he not say as part of his election manifesto that he would be a one term president?
    Was that not part of his election campaign?

    You haven't established that he was lying. At the time, he didn't think he was likely to run for a second term because of his age. Now he's at a point where he's concluded that he's fit to do another term and still has more that he can offer to the presidency. That's changing your mind, not lying. If the electorate are unhappy with a second term, they can vote for another candidate. Plenty of us think he's done a great job in the role btw. He's not an embarrassment, he doesn't use the office to promote racism or hate speech. Has highlighted homelessness, poverty and he comes across very well in the role.


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    #411
    Turnipman
    Closed Accounts Posts: 789 ✭✭✭Turnipman


    batgoat wrote: »
    You haven't established that he was lying. At the time, he didn't think he was likely to run for a second term because of his age. Now he's at a point where he's concluded that he's fit to do another term and still has more that he can offer to the presidency. That's changing your mind, not lying. If the electorate are unhappy with a second term, they can vote for another candidate. Plenty of us think he's done a great job in the role btw. He's not an embarrassment, he doesn't use the office to promote racism or hate speech. Has highlighted homelessness, poverty and he comes across very well in the role.

    It must be added that his unstinting efforts to increase homelessness have borne rich fruit; and his attempts to reduce poverty by going on as many taxpayer-funded expensive overseas junkets as he can manage has served mainly to highlight the shameless hypocrisy of the self-serving "socialist" gnome.


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    #412
    batgoat
    Closed Accounts Posts: 3,423 ✭✭✭batgoat


    Turnipman wrote: »
    It must be added that his unstinting efforts to increase homelessness have borne rich fruit; and his attempts to reduce poverty by going on as many taxpayer-funded expensive overseas junkets as he can manage has served mainly to highlight the shameless hypocrisy of the self-serving "socialist" gnome.

    That's a pretty ridiculous argument tbh. Presidents will and should do overseas trips. Such trips are in part to increase overseas investment. It would be far more of a waste of our presidency if we didn't use it to foster relationships with other states.


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    #413
    Hitman3000
    Closed Accounts Posts: 5,596 ✭✭✭Hitman3000


    batgoat wrote:
    That's a pretty ridiculous argument tbh. Presidents will and should do overseas trips. Such trips are in part to increase overseas investment. It would be far more of a waste of our presidency if we didn't use it to foster relationships with other states.


    How does a speech by our President against globalism and capitalism encourage investment into our economy?


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    #414
    boardise
    Registered Users Posts: 3,406 ✭✭✭boardise


    While having many reservations ,I'm not saying MDH is the devil incarnate -but there was surely at least an element of dishonesty when he stated he would be a one-term President. He could have made a more qualified statement but chose not to...the point being that it is extremely difficult to beat a sitting President.
    Even if one concedes that he did a reasonably good job overall -why does that in itself make it likely that it would be more of the same when he is now going to be entering his 80s ? And why should the country want more of the same anyway -why shouldn't someone else be as likely to do as well with a different style ?


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    #415
    RobertKK
    Registered Users Posts: 33,730 ✭✭✭✭RobertKK


    batgoat wrote: »
    You haven't established that he was lying. At the time, he didn't think he was likely to run for a second term because of his age. Now he's at a point where he's concluded that he's fit to do another term and still has more that he can offer to the presidency. That's changing your mind, not lying. If the electorate are unhappy with a second term, they can vote for another candidate. Plenty of us think he's done a great job in the role btw. He's not an embarrassment, he doesn't use the office to promote racism or hate speech. Has highlighted homelessness, poverty and he comes across very well in the role.

    Was the election campaign promise that he would only serve one term - honest> Is he a man of his word?
    Is his word his bond?
    Why should we believe anything he says in the upcoming campaign? When his words are just words and hold no bond?

    He can speak of poverty while living like a monarch. There is a great contradiction. Not much being a man of just words - words he doesn't stand by, while spending taxpayers money for trivial things like using the government jet to fly to Kerry for a concert, or back and forth to France for soccer games in 2016. He can speak about it, but he make sure he doesn't have experience any of it as he lives the good life.


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    #416
    batgoat
    Closed Accounts Posts: 3,423 ✭✭✭batgoat


    Hitman3000 wrote: »
    How does a speech by our President against globalism and capitalism encourage investment into our economy?

    They're not really speeches against either. Poverty speeches etc have been made here. Also the fact that he's in demand as a keynote speaker in the likes of Geneva indicates that he's well received internationally for speeches.

    Another one is that going abroad Eg to UN is beneficial to our UN security Council application. You guys seem to have very unique ideas on what his speeches consist of. So methinks you're overly outraged.

    https://www.rte.ie/news/2018/0424/956723-michael_d_higgins_ny/


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    #417
    Hitman3000
    Closed Accounts Posts: 5,596 ✭✭✭Hitman3000


    batgoat wrote:
    They're not really speeches against either. Poverty speeches etc have been made here. Also the fact that he's in demand as a keynote speaker in the likes of Geneva indicates that he's well received internationally for speeches.


    The speech is on the Irish Times article. So I don't know where this 'not really' is coming from. Plus Ireland is serving a three year term on the governing council of the ILO so it was quite obvious that Higgins would be a speaker.


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    #418
    Hitman3000
    Closed Accounts Posts: 5,596 ✭✭✭Hitman3000


    batgoat wrote:
    Another one is that going abroad Eg to UN is beneficial to our UN security Council application. You guys seem to have very unique ideas on what his speeches consist of. So methinks you're overly outraged.


    Methinks you wish to deflect......


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    #419
    ziggyman17
    Registered Users Posts: 1,405 ✭✭✭ziggyman17


    vicwatson wrote: »
    Easy to spend other people's money

    There is a lot of that in this country..


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    #420
    boardise
    Registered Users Posts: 3,406 ✭✭✭boardise


    I would also be willing to bet that many of those who airily proclaim that they're ok with Higgsy flying around the globe making speeches are among the first to start bellyaching when Ministers go abroad around St. Patrick's day with a clear purpose to network to Ireland's advantage.


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    #421
    batgoat
    Closed Accounts Posts: 3,423 ✭✭✭batgoat


    Hitman3000 wrote: »
    Methinks you wish to deflect......

    Nope, I think you're overblowing it. Eg the speech you're outraged about is before the International Labour Organisation, it's in line with the audience and isn't saying anything particularly outrageous. Some of the shocking remarks below. Plus a condemnation of engaging in Neo Liberal policies which don't tend to be in line with EU policy as is.

    “We cannot go on and introduce strategies that are judged in terms of metrics and not social impact,” he said, expressing hope that the EU reform debate – driven by Paris and Berlin – would reflect this.

    “It is possible within the treaties to achieve fiscal prudence and financial caution but, at the same time, deliver on investment strategies.”
    boardise wrote: »
    I would also be willing to bet that many of those who airily proclaim that they're ok with Higgsy flying around the globe making speeches are among the first to start bellyaching when Ministers go abroad around St. Patrick's day with a clear purpose to network to Ireland's advantage.

    Generally fine with that tbh although visiting White House itself, I view as problematic atm. Ultimately though, it is very much so a trade mission that generates investment when done well.


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