Stop depressing us with tales of funcitoning responsible democracries
Next you will start putting up pictures of beatiful scandily clad women in sorching sunshine

No the BS is that he wanted things his way, he didn't offer any proposals, as he admits. He sat there and because everyone didn't workship at his feet ala RTE he threw a strop, grabbed the ball and went home.
GL isn't a winner, short or long term.
He is a quitter and will always be known as such.

WE don't often agree but have to say well said.

Sod off up or down the N17.

I Agree with most of what you, but very few economists were calling it bad for as long as he was ,however, my main beef about the whole episode,why did he enter politics, I Have a fair idea how politics work and i am looking at it from the outside,He is an intelligent man, and he has been close to it for 20 years,The system cannot be changed because those that can change it do not want to change it, He lacked foresight in that regard,To those that say he did not give it time, thats nonsense, he was right to go he would be just misrepresenting those people who elected him,Kenny and those that brought him into the party handled him badly, they had a very high octane person to deal with all he wanted was to have an input into policy, and they left him in the slow lane,Several journalists have written that he was unhappy,Kenny was the manager, does he not read the papers,Kenny has one good thing going for him and that is, there is no one better to take over, O Reilly is the best hope for the future,Kenny did two excellant intrviews today and the party must get behind him,there is hope as he says, he wants to show more of himself,certainly, the Kenny that has been doing interviews recently is a disaster,

Whether he was the best economist ever to grace this planet or not - what he really was - He was the people's champion. He was paraded in as someone who was going to solve this country. I don't think the people every thought he would change anything over night, but they felt he was batting for them in the trenches. He was also a media Darling which FF would have found hard to touch until he was in government.

He was worth at least 3-4% for FG imo, and to lose him is a big loss for the party. If he needed to be treated with kid gloves, so be it.

Its disappointing that he is now gone & FG have done well in the PR battle since, but people, no matter how they see him, will see it as a loss for them and will react accordingly. On a positive for FG, it looks like it has galvonised the party. But I am now in the camp that Kenny will forever be associated with own goals, and anytime something negative appears for FG, he will be further hit. I wish him well, thank him for all he has done, but I see no way he can substain any credible position with the public.

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It will be interesting to see how RTE make 30 mins out of the year 2009 for "Reeling in the Years"

Sorry if this came up earlier, and I missed it.

George Hook was giving GLee a hard time yesterday on Newstalk; I just happened to be watching the re-run of the LLS (I wanted to hear Hookie's jibe at Tubbers for being a FFer), and he made an interesting comment in response to the question why didn't he agree to run in the Euros for Fine Gael:

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Economic Left/Right: -2.58
Social Libertarian/Authoritarian: -4.52

McGuinness was very good on RTE. She's a head and shoulders above every other senior FG figure.

Sure did bring some class to FG. Pity they did,nt know what it was for or how to use it.

The George Lee Class Bidet.

he was talking about input into the economic policy.
i agree , chairing committe IS input - its just not economic policy input.
thats what he was saying on the telly all day yesterday.
some of it might be on rte.ie iplayer.
have a look.

I dont think they did listen to him - thats what he said.
he corrected VB when VB said "you werent getting as much input as you hoped" - GL's reply was "Just to correct you , i wasnt getting ANY input"

same answer as above.

More like if the DUP asked bono to join with the lure of having an input into the geopolitical make up of the island.
then put bono out chairing meetings.

I think the problem was too much assumptions on both sides.
GL assumed that he would have an input - IMO he would have had to have been led to believe this.
EK + FG assumed he was like all the other benchwarmers , clock watchers and career politicians.

EK assumed GL would be happy doing brain dead shlt like chairing indefinitely
"why wouldnt he , all you have to do is chair - hes able to do it - he gets paid , he gets his pension , he gets his perks - what more would a man want"
problem is , the GL is not a career politician , he wants to be able to do something.
he is not content to play out time like the rest of those FG ( fine gombeens ).

I do have a laugh when people say he couldnt stand the heat!
Yeah ,its SOOO hot there , working tirelessly
GL could do that shlt in his sleep - like most people could.
its a time filler , where you prove yourself.
prove yourself to be a politician , and willing to do anything to climb that greasy pole - even if that means you do nothing for 9 months , 12 months , 4 years , 10 years.
head down boy - your time will come.
it highlights all that is wrong with irish politics.

he didnt walk away cos it was hard , he walked away cos it was too easy , not challenging and a waste of his time.

I'm not disagreeing with you. I'm trying to figure out why when it appears that negotiation towards achieving his goals was feasible just recently, he opted not to give it extra time to see if he could make a difference. Yes FG should have made that happen from the start. They didn't and they didn't get a second chance. I'd like to have seen what that second chance would have achieved. However if, as I postulated, his career break was coming to a close I can see why he wasn't prepared to give it a second chance. Overall though it is us the people who are the losers here because it's now politics as usual and I imagine it will be a long time before any other dynamic individual from outside the political cartel will take the same chance.

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"Gods are fragile things; they may be killed by a whiff of science or a dose of common sense." - Chapman Cohen.

I see what you are saying alright.
He did say that he wasnt interested in having a front bench.
This is probably beyond the realm of comprehension of all career politicians and those people who have been instituationalised.
He wanted to contribute - NOT get his as.s on a comfy chair , nor have a merc at his beck and call.
It must be completely beyond belief from the fine gombeens in there.
I think thats what EK would have thought " let that upstart rot in the chair and if push comes to shove i will give him the ultimate prize - a front bench - no one can resist the power of the front bench"
EK would have thought like that because he deals with gombeens day in day out and has done for 35 YEARS!!! yes 35 YEARS.
most gombeens would sit backwards on a chair in a clown suit for 10 years if it meant getting a front bench.
GL aint a gombeen tho.
that was EKs mistake.


I know what you are a saying about the second chance - and it would have been interesting but did george really want to work in a place that you only get what you want by threats?
people can say "thats irish politics" - and maybe they are right - and THATS where the real problem is.

Can you please tell me what kenny should have done?

Spare athe polemics about gombeens, I'm not interested in that.