Anyone want to open a book?

Richard Bruton was a front runner in the Nominations, but is there a chance that Bertie might make it because of the split vote?

My vote is that Mary Harney will come in as the worst politician, as the others are protected by larger party followings.

Bertie Ahern is a great politician, Richard Bruton is a great policy-maker. The two are not exactly the same and I feel Bertie Ahern is a better politician than Richard Bruton in that his political decision to retire when he did was a masterpiece in political timing. His tenure is unpolluted by the Lisbon failure and he is not widely associated with the current recession in the public mind. He has side-stepped the dubious elements of his legacy while preserving the finest parts in the North and in the economy. He isn't the best leader for the country nor the best decision-maker, but as a politician, he is all but peerless.

There are clear leaders in both fields now: Bruton in the lead as Best and Harney as Worst. All is not over though. Bertie is behind Bruton's shoulder, and Ganley is hard on Harney's heels...

Ard-Taoiseach wrote:

Bertie Ahern is a great politician, Richard Bruton is a great policy-maker. The two are not exactly the same and I feel Bertie Ahern is a better politician than Richard Bruton in that his political decision to retire when he did was a masterpiece in political timing. His tenure is unpolluted by the Lisbon failure and he is not widely associated with the current recession in the public mind. He has side-stepped the dubious elements of his legacy while preserving the finest parts in the North and in the economy. He isn't the best leader for the country nor the best decision-maker, but as a politician, he is all but peerless.

I tend to agree with this. In many sense Bertie is truley a giant among pigmies. Did you ever wonder that when they all sat togther on the front bench together - the circus owner with his monkeys.

While he was peerless as an intriguer and politico and indeed had his moment(the social partnerships in the 87-94 period, the north, keeping FF together under CJH in the 80s) he was generally a bad thing for the country. No vision whatsoever.

H