Irish papers go topsy-turvy

[Libero]

The last couple of days has seen some strange but amusing stuff appear in the op-ed spaces of our country's two main papers.

First of all, the Irish Times gave us "Chávez in context", an editorial that was fairly pro-General by European standards. It recycled the usual talking points that justify his closing down of an 'opposition' TV station, and told us to put a sock in our Madisonian criticisms of his populist radicalism since that sort of thing doesn't work there.

For those who assume the IT has drifted to the right, this must be one of the most pro-Chávez editorials to appear in any mainstream European paper, at least since the TV station controversy.

Then something even wierder popped up in the Independent, that organ of the vast O'Reilly monolithic conspiracy, the leviathan of the Irish media. In it appeared some of the best and most bitter criticism of the Sunday Independent that I have ever read. And it came from Ian O'Doherty, who is widely considered to be another hack who shoots at easy, Indo-approved targets.

Maybe he's a man with his own mind. And, it looks likely, a P45...

There are a lot of people out there who think that the Sunday Independent is an arrogant, solipsistic rag with delusions of journalistic adequacy. But they are wrong. As last Sunday's issue proved, the Sindo is actually the finest satirical publication available today, and is better than The Onion, Private Eye and Mongrel all rolled into one. After all, how else could one explain that dingbat Eoghan Harris reviewing himself on the Late Late and, bravely, fearlessly, courageously, giving himself a good review? Or what about another of their esteemed columnists claiming that their favourite bubble head du jour, Katy French, should be made a Senator because "Katy would make people interested in the Senate." This really is satire of a Chris Morris levels because they couldn't actually mean this retarded rubbish, could they? Nope, they couldn't. Well done Sindo, you're an inspiration to us all.

[JCSkinner]

Iano rises in my estimation again.

[meriwether]

O'Doherty shocks me.
I always assumed he was an ignorant boor, with delusions of adequacy. I stopped reading him when he wrote a few hundred words about the scandal of the local Chipper delivering a leaflet to his door, but not a takeaway.
I thought he attempted to shock for the sake of shocking (whats that Ian, a critical article about the Catholic Church? Stoppit, or there wont be a sacred cow left in the country).
But, whatever your opinion of the Sindo (Im not saying you have to agree with what he says) its quite a leap to write what he did.
I might go back to reading him. There's a free Indo about the office somewhere.