Bruton bites Harney on "The Week in Politics"

[mollox]

I’m not the only one surprised by the aggression of Richard Bruton’s performance on RTE's "The Week in Politics" last night. Sean O’Rourke was clearly taken aback by Bruton’s refusal to back off, despite O’Rourke’s repeated request for him to do so.

Clearly FG have decided that attack is the best form of attack and Bruton did it quite well last night - both in tone and body language, turning to face Mary Harney, almost leaning into her. I liked his persistence in refusing to allow her to rewrite history.

In the past he has sometimes become a bit shrill e.g. in shouting matches with Biffo, but he was much more controlled last night, rarely hitting the higher registers.

[Pauli]

Anyone who is trying to make Harney accountable for her agenda in the health service is doing a good job as far as I am concerned.

[Roy Walsh]

I’m not the only one surprised by the aggression of Richard Bruton’s performance on RTE's "The Week in Politics" last night. Sean O’Rourke was clearly taken aback by Bruton’s refusal to back off, despite O’Rourke’s repeated request for him to do so.

Clearly FG have decided that attack is the best form of attack and Bruton did it quite well last night - both in tone and body language, turning to face Mary Harney, almost leaning into her. I liked his persistence in refusing to allow her to rewrite history.

In the past he has sometimes become a bit shrill e.g. in shouting matches with Biffo, but he was much more controlled last night, rarely hitting the higher registers.

Bruton was fantastic, reminded me of the old Dennis Healey addage, 'like being attacked by a dead sheep'.
I am no fan of Mary Harney but she was the one asking the questions, Bruton had no answers to it, did anyone learn how he is going to save a penny for the revenue, all he gave was twaddle and no substance.

[Kate P]

I’m not the only one surprised by the aggression of Richard Bruton’s performance on RTE's "The Week in Politics" last night. Sean O’Rourke was clearly taken aback by Bruton’s refusal to back off, despite O’Rourke’s repeated request for him to do so.

Clearly FG have decided that attack is the best form of attack and Bruton did it quite well last night - both in tone and body language, turning to face Mary Harney, almost leaning into her. I liked his persistence in refusing to allow her to rewrite history.

In the past he has sometimes become a bit shrill e.g. in shouting matches with Biffo, but he was much more controlled last night, rarely hitting the higher registers.

Bruton was fantastic, reminded me of the old Dennis Healey addage, 'like being attacked by a dead sheep'.
I am no fan of Mary Harney but she was the one asking the questions, Bruton had no answers to it, did anyone learn how he is going to save a penny for the revenue, all he gave was twaddle and no substance.

Was starting to wonder if I'd seen the same programme as others. I thought Bruton was aggressive but ineffective (which is usually the FF radio interview style of late as perfected by Conor Lenihan).

Mary Harney was clearly frustrated by his refusal to allow her answer and I thought she handled the debate incredibly well. Bruton, on the other hand, was very weak and was unable to answer a single question without resorting to the pay rise issue - despite Sean O'Rourke saying on several occasions that they had a separate item on it.

She asked Bruton to say how he would save even 50million in Health and he was unable to answer. Not able to say a single thing in fact.

This to me is further evidence of very weak opposition put forward by FG, following on the heels of smoke and noise in the wake of cancer screening chaos.

I hate to say it, but maybe voters were right when they felt it was better to vote for the devil you know...

[greengoose]

[quote=Kate P]

I’m not the only one surprised by the aggression of Richard Bruton’s performance on RTE's "The Week in Politics" last night. Sean O’Rourke was clearly taken aback by Bruton’s refusal to back off, despite O’Rourke’s repeated request for him to do so.

Clearly FG have decided that attack is the best form of attack and Bruton did it quite well last night - both in tone and body language, turning to face Mary Harney, almost leaning into her. I liked his persistence in refusing to allow her to rewrite history.

In the past he has sometimes become a bit shrill e.g. in shouting matches with Biffo, but he was much more controlled last night, rarely hitting the higher registers.

Bruton was fantastic, reminded me of the old Dennis Healey addage, 'like being attacked by a dead sheep'.
I am no fan of Mary Harney but she was the one asking the questions, Bruton had no answers to it, did anyone learn how he is going to save a penny for the revenue, all he gave was twaddle and no substance.

Was starting to wonder if I'd seen the same programme as others. I thought Bruton was aggressive but ineffective (which is usually the FF radio interview style of late as perfected by Conor Lenihan).

Mary Harney was clearly frustrated by his refusal to allow her answer and I thought she handled the debate incredibly well. Bruton, on the other hand, was very weak and was unable to answer a single question without resorting to the pay rise issue - despite Sean O'Rourke saying on several occasions that they had a separate item on it.

She asked Bruton to say how he would save even 50million in Health and he was unable to answer. Not able to say a single thing in fact.

This to me is further evidence of very weak opposition put forward by FG, following on the heels of smoke and noise in the wake of cancer screening chaos.

I hate to say it, but maybe voters were right when they felt it was better to vote for the devil you know...[/quote:gc77koan]

When one sees the disaster that is the HSE and who put it there the best opposition possible is to let the minister and the HSE wallow in the mire. What a banana republic way of things.

What do you expect, a boxing match? Harney is a bloody panzer out of control. Trick in this country is not to get sick.

[L'Chaim]

Bruton's tactic of interrupting and trying to shout down didn't seem to work and this irritated him no end. It got to the stage where Sean O'Rourke had to really put a stop to Bruton's antics and tell him to relax and calm down. O'Rourke even went on to explain the rules of debate to Bruton i.e. One person talks and when they are finished the other person gets to make their points. I was absolutely mortified for Bruton. His performance was bordering on hysteria. Listening to him giving his homespun wisdom was a bit like watching Mr Magoo venting his anger to a fire hydrant. Embarrassing for everyone to watch because even though like Mr Magoo, he get's something off his chest, but you know what he said won't have any effect on things and won't make a bit of difference.

I was really embarrassed for him when he went off on one about how the government were wasting billions and how he would save all these billions if he was in charge. Quick as a flash Mary Harney was in and asked hgim what he would do to save these billions he was talking about. "well I'd start with the ministers' pay rises" was his response. What a pathetic response, because a) it wouldn't make a dent in billions and b) if that's all he's got then this government must be making a good job of things. But he continued waffling without being able to say where he would save these billions he claims the government are wasting. He even said he would cut back on services that mary harney had to point out to him were self financing and din't use one cent of tax payers money. She then said him "Ok Richard, show me where you could even save 50 million" and he couldn't respond.

What became clear to me last night was that Bruton doesn't actually know very much and he thinks with his sense of outrage rather than his brain. Mary Harney was well able for him. And the way she dismissed his pathetic attempts at point scoring was like watching a champion bowling player hitting strike after strike after strike. She demolished him.

[Kate P]

[quote=greengoose]

I’m not the only one surprised by the aggression of Richard Bruton’s performance on RTE's "The Week in Politics" last night. Sean O’Rourke was clearly taken aback by Bruton’s refusal to back off, despite O’Rourke’s repeated request for him to do so.

Clearly FG have decided that attack is the best form of attack and Bruton did it quite well last night - both in tone and body language, turning to face Mary Harney, almost leaning into her. I liked his persistence in refusing to allow her to rewrite history.

In the past he has sometimes become a bit shrill e.g. in shouting matches with Biffo, but he was much more controlled last night, rarely hitting the higher registers.

Bruton was fantastic, reminded me of the old Dennis Healey addage, 'like being attacked by a dead sheep'.
I am no fan of Mary Harney but she was the one asking the questions, Bruton had no answers to it, did anyone learn how he is going to save a penny for the revenue, all he gave was twaddle and no substance.

Was starting to wonder if I'd seen the same programme as others. I thought Bruton was aggressive but ineffective (which is usually the FF radio interview style of late as perfected by Conor Lenihan).

Mary Harney was clearly frustrated by his refusal to allow her answer and I thought she handled the debate incredibly well. Bruton, on the other hand, was very weak and was unable to answer a single question without resorting to the pay rise issue - despite Sean O'Rourke saying on several occasions that they had a separate item on it.

She asked Bruton to say how he would save even 50million in Health and he was unable to answer. Not able to say a single thing in fact.

This to me is further evidence of very weak opposition put forward by FG, following on the heels of smoke and noise in the wake of cancer screening chaos.

I hate to say it, but maybe voters were right when they felt it was better to vote for the devil you know...

When one sees the disaster that is the HSE and who put it there the best opposition possible is to let the minister and the HSE wallow in the mire. What a banana republic way of things.

What do you expect, a boxing match? Harney is a bloody panzer out of control. Trick in this country is not to get sick.[/quote:7kxbtryp]

IMHO Greengoose, that's a cop-out.
I am not a fan of Harney but she is far from a panzer out of control, though she may be in charge of fleet of out of control panzers.

Allowing HSE to wallow in the mire means standing back to watch the whole thing implode - and that's hardly proactive or effective, is it?

I do expect (is it asking too much?) that those who should be asking the tough questions on our behalf should have their homework done and be able to put forward a viable alternative or at least some solid suggestions. All we've been getting is hot air. The most junior of school debaters wouldn't approach a debate without having his facts and an alternative to propose.

I've seen Charlie Flanagan and Olwyn Enright speak at a Cancer meeting in Laois and they were a waste of time. the time for tea, sympathy and bluster is over.

If the opposition cannot make hay at a time like this, when are they going to do so?? The Opposition are providing zero leadership.

[greengoose]

[quote=Kate P][quote=greengoose]

I’m not the only one surprised by the aggression of Richard Bruton’s performance on RTE's "The Week in Politics" last night. Sean O’Rourke was clearly taken aback by Bruton’s refusal to back off, despite O’Rourke’s repeated request for him to do so.

Clearly FG have decided that attack is the best form of attack and Bruton did it quite well last night - both in tone and body language, turning to face Mary Harney, almost leaning into her. I liked his persistence in refusing to allow her to rewrite history.

In the past he has sometimes become a bit shrill e.g. in shouting matches with Biffo, but he was much more controlled last night, rarely hitting the higher registers.

Bruton was fantastic, reminded me of the old Dennis Healey addage, 'like being attacked by a dead sheep'.
I am no fan of Mary Harney but she was the one asking the questions, Bruton had no answers to it, did anyone learn how he is going to save a penny for the revenue, all he gave was twaddle and no substance.

Was starting to wonder if I'd seen the same programme as others. I thought Bruton was aggressive but ineffective (which is usually the FF radio interview style of late as perfected by Conor Lenihan).

Mary Harney was clearly frustrated by his refusal to allow her answer and I thought she handled the debate incredibly well. Bruton, on the other hand, was very weak and was unable to answer a single question without resorting to the pay rise issue - despite Sean O'Rourke saying on several occasions that they had a separate item on it.

She asked Bruton to say how he would save even 50million in Health and he was unable to answer. Not able to say a single thing in fact.

This to me is further evidence of very weak opposition put forward by FG, following on the heels of smoke and noise in the wake of cancer screening chaos.

I hate to say it, but maybe voters were right when they felt it was better to vote for the devil you know...

When one sees the disaster that is the HSE and who put it there the best opposition possible is to let the minister and the HSE wallow in the mire. What a banana republic way of things.

What do you expect, a boxing match? Harney is a bloody panzer out of control. Trick in this country is not to get sick.[/quote:2quet5m3]

IMHO Greengoose, that's a cop-out.
I am not a fan of Harney but she is far from a panzer out of control, though she may be in charge of fleet of out of control panzers.

Allowing HSE to wallow in the mire means standing back to watch the whole thing implode - and that's hardly proactive or effective, is it?

I do expect (is it asking too much?) that those who should be asking the tough questions on our behalf should have their homework done and be able to put forward a viable alternative or at least some solid suggestions. All we've been getting is hot air. The most junior of school debaters wouldn't approach a debate without having his facts and an alternative to propose.

I've seen Charlie Flanagan and Olwyn Enright speak at a Cancer meeting in Laois and they were a waste of time. the time for tea, sympathy and bluster is over.

If the opposition cannot make hay at a time like this, when are they going to do so?? The Opposition are providing zero leadership.[/quote:2quet5m3]

You really don't get it! The health service, among other services in this country is a shambles and is getting worse with Ms Harney's wranglings. It is not uo to the opposition to make things right and if and when they come to power we will see their mettle.

The opposition are not there to make hay.

As to reply to the other poster who thinks that Brutons remark that he would start with ministers' salaries that is precisely that - a start. We can go on from there. In the meantime we have a cobbled together cancer strategy and a new kid on the block, all the way from BC. We will see in the next few years how effective that will be.

Finally, regardless of how tough the questions might be they are ineffective in f there are convoluted answers as is the current style of FF and Co.

[Kate P]

Greengoose wrote

You really don't get it! The health service, among other services in this country is a shambles and is getting worse with Ms Harney's wranglings. It is not uo to the opposition to make things right and if and when they come to power we will see their mettle.

The opposition are not there to make hay.

You're right, I don't get it.

I don't get why we should - and the opposition should, by your argument, stand by and watch while things collapse.

I don't see why the opposition shouldn't use opportunities such as this to show concretely and solidly how they would do it differently and better.

I don't get how FG et al will expect us to believe election promises next time round when they pull them out of a hat at a pre-election think in and do nothing constructive in the meantime. That is the hay they are supposed to make.

I don't get why I should have to put them in government to see their mettle.

I don't get why Mary Harney shouldn't be supported to do the job better, when, let's face it, we all know that she is the one who will continue to do the job to the end of this gvt.

I don't get why you, and James Reilly and others think that sniping and whining and wailing is going to make a blind bit of difference to the 'shambles' that is our health system, to use your words.

I don't get why a prominent opposition TD goes into battle against the most villified member of goverment without armour and without weapons, a minister who presides over an unweildy, clunking great monster of a health service that is not doing well by its clients and patients.

I don't get why I should be expected to think that's good enough, when clearly it's not.

So you're right. I don't get it.

[Tipp North]

Hi Kate P.
IMHO..... someones got to tell me what that means...