Well actually westawake, if McCreevy and Cowen had listened to the EU several years ago, we wouldn't be in the doodaa that we're in now. The EU time and time again warned them about their spending, about inflation, loss of competitivess etc. McCreevy and Cowen just ridiculed the EU in response - they didn't undersatnd us they claimed, they were jealous of our success, we were the envy of teh World, World all wondering how we did it, etc etc.....

Well one of those is at least true NOW, they sure are all wondering how we did it.

I remember all that well DW and it was akin those with petrol bombs in their hands warning us of an impending explosion, fiscal tightening while a little helpful was useless when we had interest rates, easy credit, and perfect capital mobility, courtesy of international deregulation, the eurasian savings glut, and a monetary policy suited to the needs of the then sluggish giant, Germany. Lee has admitted this in the past which was one of the reasons I admired him.

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Ha ha! 'Gombeen' is the new argument? Repeat it time and again and it validates your point?

He couldn't hack it. Sure, maybe it's all about the system being wrong and he is too good for it and he is so noble and we are not worthy of him. But the simple fact is he put the books away and tried the practical for a while, and he failed miserably. Those who can, do. Those who can't get nice cushy jobs telling those who can how to do it better. He has proved, spectacularly, that sometimes Poindexters should stay in the library and leave politics to the big boys with a bit of backbone. He could draw one of those faces on his hand and tell himself how great he is I guess!

What does George Lee think he's playing at? Doesn't he know that there's no point looking for an influence on policy until there's a General Election? Then the leadership will be looking for ideas that may help them win the election and they'll be open to influence. The main priority is to get rid of this incompetent, useless government first and then it's time for new ideas, which will really be necessary to get this country out of this mess.

First item on the agenda: leave the European Union.

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Does Finland use the List System, by any chance?

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The enemy of my enemy is the enemy of my enemy.

Once is happenstance, twice is coincidence, three times is enemy action.

There are lies, damn lies and debatable points. "I'm not shouting, I'm making an assertive point." M. Martin

+1 Any reasonable person having watched and listened to George Lee's media interviews yesterday would have to agree that he came across as petulant, egotistical and an overdeveloped sense of his own importance.
I thought James Reilly expressed it best, when he said on Vincent Browne, that he too entered politics with a single clear agenda, health policy, but he didn't sit back waiting for someone to realise his potential instead he took every opportunity to speak on health and eventually became FG's Health spokesperson while George wasted his time sulking waiting in vain for the mountain to come to Muhammad.

The thing that was pounded into the thick heads of McCreevy and Cowen years before the Euro started was the need for fiscal discipline. The temptations of low interest rates were always known. Tha's why the Germans would have preferred countries like Ireland, Italy, Greece etc stay out of the Euro because of their previous records of mad spending sprees.

But Ireland clambered to get in to the Club. The warnings were there from the EU but Ireland and others chose to ignore them. We failed to put the correct balancing mechanisms in place to compensate for a monetary policy that some countries, like Ireland, were just not politically mature enough to handle with care.

Fianna fail destroyed the economy too between 1977 and 1981. There was no Euro then. But they followed the same policies as in the 2000s, and got the same result.

Don't blame the Euro or the EU. Blame corrupt Fianna Fail and their lust for popularity power.

George George
George of the jungle
Watch out for that tree…
Watch out for that tree…

8 months, he lasted only 8 months, what a loser,

oh well, back to his €150K job at RTE

For an honest guy, why did he not tell his constituents that he did not actually leave RTE?

Why did he not tell his constituents that he was only going to give it a try for a few months to see how he liked it?

Honest George, not enough limelight in front of the old TV cameras I guess.

truth hurts!

Yes , i agree he couldnt hack chairing committe meetings , being the hostess at those circuses - i am suggesting that his unwillingness to participate in this charade is a GOODTHING (tm) - your opinion may differ of course.

I agree - the system IS wrong.
Dont expect to hear that from the insiders tho - they will just say GL couldnt hack it

ehhh , EVERYONE is too good for it - thats my point , that set up was fullRetard(tm).

depends what you mean by "noble" - unwilling to be a mime artist in a pantomime - year sure he was too noble for that.
some people are cut out for that type of tomfoolery - I usually refer to such scum as Gombeens (tm).

He tried and realised it is impossible to break the gombeenarchy - its too heavily interwoven in the fabric of our sceptic isle
from "opposition" to the thieves - they are all in on it.

our lot have done what exactly? minus 500 mill a week - nice work fellas.

doesnt get any cushier than sitting on your thumb , or lying to your people telling them everything is going to be ok.
huge salaries , unvouched expenses - eye watering pensions.
as i have said , the gombeen thing to do would be to stay on and collect the above.
GL =/= Gombeen

even you dont believe that - big boys? what does that mean ? big as in big bellys ? stuffing their bellys from the trough - big alright , big on robbing.
is that something to be proud of?

He could alright yeah.
Either that or tell it how it is - and its like this "be a gombeen or GTFO".
How many other TD's have resigned their seat on a point of principle?
as for letting down the voters - i dont agree - they will have a by election.
they can vote for any number of gombeen drones if they want.
no shortage in this kip

What Kenny should have done, within a month or two, is put Lee up as a public face for economic policies as part of a Fine Gael economics team. Lee has more favourable media presence than Bruton, people were used to listening to Lee o economics. From Bruton, they mostly hear attacks on Gov't policy, economic or otherwise, and that is too much 'party politics'.

Lee's speciality is economics, he should have been used in that fashion, not left in a corner. Since the by-election, Lee has been pretty invisible, and unheard of, and that wasn't a good thing for the Party's ability to use what got Lee elected, a known face in the media that people were used to listening to. That is easily lost and hard to gain/regain.

Enda failed to capitalise on that. And that adds to the idea that he wouldn't make it as Taoiseach, no willingness or sense to grab an opportunity like that.

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The enemy of my enemy is the enemy of my enemy.

Once is happenstance, twice is coincidence, three times is enemy action.

There are lies, damn lies and debatable points. "I'm not shouting, I'm making an assertive point." M. Martin