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Bertie Ahern walks out of German TV interview

13

Comments

  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 7,096 ✭✭✭conorhal


    Odhinn wrote: »
    Deutschland, deutschland.......
    If this was the way irish media operated, not only would he have fucked off for good, but so would the likes of lowry with him.

    I think Bertie gave the interview because he expected an easy ride from foreign media that's less aware of Irish politics (turns out they were aware), he only talks to people that will be his mouthpiece (like most politicians), but let's be honest, the media everywhere nods along to people in power.
    Bertie won't talk to Irish media today because they will challenge him because he isn't in power so they've nothing to loose by doing so, they rarely ask tough questions of Leo however ...because he is in power.
    The German mainstream media won't ask tough question of Merkel because she's in power, I'm sure they'll have a lot to say when she walks off the political stage though.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 37,344 ✭✭✭✭NIMAN


    He'd make a good Pres wouldn't he!


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 43,038 ✭✭✭✭SEPT 23 1989


    Did you see his rat gurrier eyes narrowing when the question was asked

    That's the true Bertie


  • Banned (with Prison Access) Posts: 1,201 ✭✭✭Doltanian


    FG should just run the entire interview as a Party Political Broadcast to remind the country of the arrogant thieving traitors that are the Fianna Fail party.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 12,206 ✭✭✭✭anewme


    They really upset the apple tart.


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  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 17,300 ✭✭✭✭razorblunt


    If he becomes president we should just hand it back to the English or the Scandinavians and tell them let us have it back in 800 years when we’ve learned our lesson.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2, Paid Member Posts: 9,299 ✭✭✭sdanseo


    Doltanian wrote: »
    FG should just run the entire interview as a Party Political Broadcast to remind the country of the arrogant thieving traitors that are the Fianna Fail party.

    One of the principal findings of the Mahon Tribunal (at a cost of €120m) was that, paraphrased, Irish Politics is rotten to the core.

    If you think voting FG instead of FF is any better in the long term you're deluded. Yes many switched to them short term because that Cowen govt was anabomination. But all FG have done in the last seven years is nod the head to any corporation with influence (just like FF did), promise large amounts of infrastructure without actually delivering anything of note (FF actually delivered a lot of what was promised and did it cheaper and faster), and any time anyone asks FG a difficult question they say "eh" 4 times and then blame the government which left office more than seven years ago for leaving the coffers empty. That excuse ran out of steam in 2014.

    tl;dr, they're both crap.
    The only worse option is Sinn Féin and unfortunately that pretty much exhausts all political parties / government combinations since Labour are basically finished.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 43,038 ✭✭✭✭SEPT 23 1989


    sdanseo wrote: »
    One of the principal findings of the Mahon Tribunal (at a cost of €120m) was that, paraphrased, Irish Politics is rotten to the core.

    If you think voting FG instead of FF is any better in the long term you're deluded. Yes many switched to them short term because that Cowen govt was anabomination. But all FG have done in the last seven years is nod the head to any corporation with influence (just like FF did), promise large amounts of infrastructure without actually delivering anything of note (FF actually delivered a lot of what was promised and did it cheaper and faster), and any time anyone asks FG a difficult question they say "eh" 4 times and then blame the government which left office more than seven years ago for leaving the coffers empty. That excuse ran out of steam in 2014.

    tl;dr, they're both crap.
    The only worse option is Sinn Féin and unfortunately that pretty much exhausts all political parties / government combinations since Labour are basically finished.

    The main political parties are so embedded in the structure of the state that any new party apposing them will be strangled at birth

    It's a completely hopeless situation just look after your own and keep corrupt state at arms length as often as possible


  • Posts: 9,106 ✭✭✭ [Deleted User]


    BERTIE FOR PRESIDENT!


    *runs*


  • Moderators, Science, Health & Environment Moderators, Society & Culture Moderators Posts: 6,311 Mod ✭✭✭✭mzungu


    BERTIE FOR PRESIDENT!


    *runs*

    200.gif

    :p


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  • Posts: 9,106 ✭✭✭ [Deleted User]


    mzungu wrote: »
    200.gif

    :p

    Ouch- that hurt:p


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 23 tonbinn


    a little f88king knacker but nothing would surprise me in this place


  • Posts: 9,106 ✭✭✭ [Deleted User]


    tonbinn wrote: »
    a little f88king knacker but nothing would surprise me in this place

    What's wong tonby. Tell Plenty:)


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 10,115 ✭✭✭✭Junkyard Tom




  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 12,484 ✭✭✭✭For Forks Sake


    Grayson wrote: »
    True. one a side note it's weird that Mo Molam is always left out when people remember the GFA.

    Bertie took/managed to get credit for a lot of the work that resulted in the GFA that had been carried out by Reynolds and Major.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 9,712 ✭✭✭YFlyer


    Amazed that RTÉ had the interview on its 9 O'clock News.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2, Paid Member Posts: 7,885 ✭✭✭Allinall


    tonbinn wrote: »
    a little f88king knacker but nothing would surprise me in this place

    Looks like you need to get out of there, fairly sharpish.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 120 ✭✭Uboat


    rafatoni wrote: »
    I wonder does he still not have a bank account?

    +100500! :D:D:D


  • Banned (with Prison Access) Posts: 1,201 ✭✭✭Doltanian


    Bertie took/managed to get credit for a lot of the work that resulted in the GFA that had been carried out by Reynolds and Major.

    I personally think David Trimble was the biggest influence on the whole thing, he brough the bigoted Unionists in from the cold and he paid the political price, losing out and also his party was annihilated.


  • Administrators, Entertainment Moderators, Social & Fun Moderators, Society & Culture Moderators, Paid Member Posts: 18,841 Admin ✭✭✭✭✭hullaballoo


    Dont underestmate the stupidity of the electorate. Look at the complete gob****es and crooks they elect time and time again. This is the electorate who voted to save the Seanad, who have allowed Sinn Fein to gradually manipulate their way into a strong position in our parliament, who have given FF the balance of power in the Dail and who have Michael Martin at 55% popularity in the latest polls.

    Nothing would surprise me.

    Not going to argue with the majority of your post but the Seanad plays an important role in our democracy. Sure, it's not the best upper house in the world, but it's there as a safeguard against a rogue Dáil.

    As you point out, a looney party in SF has a significant part of the electorate voting for them. If they were to take a majority in the Dáil, four years could do an awful lot of damage without the checks and balances afforded by a Senate.

    Have a look at the doctrine of the separation of powers. It's of fundamental importance to a functioning democracy that no one person or party or limb of the state has unanswerable control over the law. It's one thing that's universal in democracy and it's the reason that Trump hasn't complete fcuked the US despite his best efforts.

    When FG were elected with Labour in 2011, there was a raft of legislation brought in that were power grabs. Shatter was responsible for most of it, imo. Trying to sneak in various fundamental constitutional changes without any real information being given. It was worse then than it is now in terms of governmental disinformation.

    People have short memories but there were a few legislative changes and even referendums that we voted on that are all evidence of the power grab.

    - The Oireachtas Courts - this was a referendum that was ostensibly to empower the Oireachtas to act as a court, compel evidence, make findings etc. and was thankfully defeated at the polls.
    - The Judges pay - central to the separation of powers is the concept that one limb of the State cannot interfere with another - the judiciary were protected by a provision that stated their pay could not be reduced while in office. This is now gone (as a result of a referendum) and judges' pay can be reduced at the whim of the Dáil. I don't think the Seanad can protect judges as this is a money issue, which can bypass the Seanad.
    - The LSRA Bill. While I think the general public perception is that lawyers need better regulation, the regulation initially proposed by the bill as drafted by Shatter was an absolute power grab that would have totally compromised our status as a democracy. It was toned down before enactment and now could be regarded as a reasonable piece of legislation that could be useful and beneficial to society. But initially, almost absolute power was to be vested in the minister for justice, who happened to be Alan Shatter at the time.

    These are examples, just a few, of attacks against democracy by the powers that be over recent years. It's important to point this out because people seem to be blind to the effects of the various seachanges happening around them. Sure the lawyers will object to anything that upsets their gravy train etc. but the reality is that some of us are not looking to preserve a gravy train but to protect fundamental rights and democratic freedoms so that we don't have a situation where a few hold all of the power.

    The Seanad, despite its obvious flaws, has a role in protecting the People.


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  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 8,639 ✭✭✭feargale


    conorhal wrote: »
    The media everywhere nods along to people in power.
    Bertie won't talk to Irish media today because they will challenge him because he isn't in power so they've nothing to loose by doing so, they rarely ask tough questions of Leo however ...because he is in power.
    The German mainstream media won't ask tough question of Merkel because she's in power, I'm sure they'll have a lot to say when she walks off the political stage though.

    What you say is true, but it's even worse than that. Much of the media will asslick those in power even while there is huge suspicion of wrongdoing, and will then claim credit for exposing the corruption after the wrongdoer is brought down. Look up the media coverage of our most corrupt politicians during our darkest era, and see the public lauding of shysters, the oohing and aahing over lavish bets on rounds of golf etc.. And watch those same hangers-on turn on the horse after it has lost the race, after the damage has been done. Of course, as one or two posts, clips etc in this thread show, some don't even pretend to stand for decency. Greed is not confined to corrupt politicians. Some sections of other estates like their cut too.

    Sometime back I heard on radio one honest journalist talking about the failure to vigorously pursue banking criminality in this country. He said that special banking terms are available to anybody who might be capable of hurting the banks, politicians, journalists, senior garda officers etc.. Does anybody doubt it? And yet nobody here or elsewhere runs with this story.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 5,133 ✭✭✭Patty O Furniture


    Frankly id be embarrassed to be even associated with that man. But his family did really well out of it- Cecilia Ahern a successful novelist and the other one has a great life too- all off the back of ordinary people in Ireland who had to suffer because of that gobsh!te and his decisions when in power. As corrupt as you get and an absolute brazen neck to boot.

    He should have got some tweezers in his pocket to show his crocodile tears once more....

    332012-fianna-fail-ard-fheis-7-390x285.jpg

    No doubt there are probably stories/books written about him, i'd say there fantasy stories, like Cecelia's,
    who helped by another Taoiseach Charlie '& his 50punt Charvet shirts' that he brought in a tax break for struggling artists:o

    While we were dictated to "living well beyond our means" he was giving 2 fingers to the rest of the country!

    gubu-on-tv3charlie-haughey-310x415.jpg


    Thick as Thieves, i mean Cute Hoor Thieveswink.png

    BertieNOTW-390x285.png

    Take with one hand & rob with the other hand he's dealt with!

    original?width=624&version=3118808


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 2,448 ✭✭✭mattser


    To be fair he was interviewed for his part in the GF process which he played a massively important part in, like it or not.

    That has had a hugely positive effect for many. Like it or not, he deserves a bit of credit for that.

    And, no, the slithery guy creeps me out, I amn't defending him. I just amn't afraid to acknowledge his role 20 years ago. It may not have impacted your life but it has many many others

    Sh1t or get off the pot. Of course you're defending him.


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 4,744 ✭✭✭diomed


    Dem Germans is terrible.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 1,296 ✭✭✭Deusexmachina


    This interview should embarrass Irish media, in particular RTE, who constantly present Bertie as a legitimate political voice...him and men like him, Haughey and Lawlor etc destroyed our capital city...

    Every person who lives in Dublin should be given a copy of Tom Gilmartins book, something to ponder when you are stuck in traffic all the time...

    Absolutely. We have no voice. Nobody in the media who will hold these ****ers to account.
    All we get is 'pretendy tough' questions from the same old soft shoe shufflers on Morning Ireland and RTE current affairs.
    Our media needs to cop on. RTE are afraid of their ****e to tackle Ministers in case they cut the umbilical cord (licence fee).
    Give someone like Jeremy Paxman a few months here and he would cut them down in swathes.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 1,296 ✭✭✭Deusexmachina


    Not going to argue with the majority of your post but the Seanad plays an important role in our democracy. Sure, it's not the best upper house in the world, but it's there as a safeguard against a rogue Dáil.

    As you point out, a looney party in SF has a significant part of the electorate voting for them. If they were to take a majority in the Dáil, four years could do an awful lot of damage without the checks and balances afforded by a Senate.

    Have a look at the doctrine of the separation of powers. It's of fundamental importance to a functioning democracy that no one person or party or limb of the state has unanswerable control over the law. It's one thing that's universal in democracy and it's the reason that Trump hasn't complete fcuked the US despite his best efforts.

    When FG were elected with Labour in 2011, there was a raft of legislation brought in that were power grabs. Shatter was responsible for most of it, imo. Trying to sneak in various fundamental constitutional changes without any real information being given. It was worse then than it is now in terms of governmental disinformation.

    People have short memories but there were a few legislative changes and even referendums that we voted on that are all evidence of the power grab.

    - The Oireachtas Courts - this was a referendum that was ostensibly to empower the Oireachtas to act as a court, compel evidence, make findings etc. and was thankfully defeated at the polls.
    - The Judges pay - central to the separation of powers is the concept that one limb of the State cannot interfere with another - the judiciary were protected by a provision that stated their pay could not be reduced while in office. This is now gone (as a result of a referendum) and judges' pay can be reduced at the whim of the Dáil. I don't think the Seanad can protect judges as this is a money issue, which can bypass the Seanad.
    - The LSRA Bill. While I think the general public perception is that lawyers need better regulation, the regulation initially proposed by the bill as drafted by Shatter was an absolute power grab that would have totally compromised our status as a democracy. It was toned down before enactment and now could be regarded as a reasonable piece of legislation that could be useful and beneficial to society. But initially, almost absolute power was to be vested in the minister for justice, who happened to be Alan Shatter at the time.

    These are examples, just a few, of attacks against democracy by the powers that be over recent years. It's important to point this out because people seem to be blind to the effects of the various seachanges happening around them. Sure the lawyers will object to anything that upsets their gravy train etc. but the reality is that some of us are not looking to preserve a gravy train but to protect fundamental rights and democratic freedoms so that we don't have a situation where a few hold all of the power.

    The Seanad, despite its obvious flaws, has a role in protecting the People.

    I dont feel very protected, do you?


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 790 ✭✭✭baylah17


    Berties Autobiographt "P.S. I Screwed Yis":D:D


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 13,428 ✭✭✭✭gimli2112


    I saw a quote from him recently where he said his only regret was not calling in on his mother the night she died. I'm sure they make this stuff up, surely no-one can be this delusional.


  • Posts: 0 [Deleted User]


    Bertie took/managed to get credit for a lot of the work that resulted in the GFA that had been carried out by Reynolds and Major.

    Let's not forget CJ started dialog in the first place. He actually got the ball rolling

    It's easy for people outside of northern politics to poo poo Bertie's part in the peace process. However the politicians, north, south, England & USA involved in the process all say that he was a vital part of the process.

    Don't forget he had to pick up the pieces of the mess left by John bruton


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  • Posts: 0 [Deleted User]


    gimli2112 wrote: »
    I saw a quote from him recently where he said his only regret was not calling in on his mother the night she died. I'm sure they make this stuff up, surely no-one can be this delusional.


    That would be a pretty normal regret to be fair


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