Irish Examiner: It's all the fault of FF and Bertiegate if the Nos win

The Irish Examiner is a paper that is Fine Gael down to its very dots and commas. As mentioned elsewhere, I sometimes think the print would curdle on the pages of the IE if it were deployed in the service of a compliment about FF.

Consistent with this, today's editorial while pleading for a yes vote, takes time out to say that the No vote is really a protest about Bertiegate and that it's all Brian Cowen's fault for not telling the Bert to get out of the playpen a lot sooner than he did.

http://www.irishexaminer.com/irishexaminer/pages/story.aspx-qqqg=opinion-qqqm=opinion-qqqa=general-qqqid=64697-qqqx=1.asp

Well, I think it interfered with the campaign, distracting the public on both sides of the debate. Also distracting the media, who are probably the biggest educators in this kind of thing.

So I would say it foreshortened the time people had to get to grips with the complexities of the treaty, and to make a more informed decision.

I wouldn't go as far as saying a No vote is purely a Bertiegate protest. That's simplistic nonsense.

I think most FG people would not like to see Bertie as the EU President. There is a touch of irony about that considering they feel he negotiated such a brilliant deal for the Lisbon Treaty!

Zhou_Enlai wrote:

I think most FG people would not like to see Bertie as the EU President. There is a touch of irony about that considering they feel he negotiated such a brilliant deal for the Lisbon Treaty!

I agree - the more I read it I take my hat of to the people who negotiated it - its not perfect by any means - but in the grown up world of give and take and hardball negotiation they did extremely well.

Pity then that the prices of houses will have more sway over voters intentions and the treaty will be thrown in the bin.

In fairness to FG and others, FF did get John Bruton and Pronsias De Rossa in to help.

The lack of a visible Taoiseach for much of the campaign did not help. Brian Cowen was slow out of the traps. When he did speak (lunchtime radio Sunday) he was quite impressive.

Having the Taoiseach who negotiated the Treaty reference the Gilligan defence did not help those using the "Trust us we're your leaders" argument.

All in all, I think FF have failed to govern over the last 9 months and have been extraordinarily passive.

The Examiner also has an interesting draft letter that one of their columnists has written for Brian Cowen to write explaining a No vote.

Helium Three wrote:

The Examiner also has an interesting draft letter that one of their columnists has written for Brian Cowen to write explaining a No vote.

That's feckin brilliant. Enjoyed that.

EvotingMachine0197 wrote:

Helium Three wrote:

The Examiner also has an interesting draft letter that one of their columnists has written for Brian Cowen to write explaining a No vote.

That's feckin brilliant. Enjoyed that.

Seconded.

cactus flower wrote:

EvotingMachine0197 wrote:

Helium Three wrote:

The Examiner also has an interesting draft letter that one of their columnists has written for Brian Cowen to write explaining a No vote.

That's feckin brilliant. Enjoyed that.

Seconded.

Thirded.