# What's with Cowen?



## capall (8 Dec 2010)

Interviews of cowen today and yesterday best he's done since becoming Taoiseach
What is with this guy ? 

You have to hand it to cowen and lenihan they keep battling

I know I will be blown out of the water for saying anything positive about these guys but right or wrong since 2008 they have been battling against huge odds with the banking crises
Would they have acted differently if they knew the banks were insolvent in 2008 but very few people actually dreamt that back then. Either way we were going to end up with the IMF and where we are today. 
It's all very well to talk about burning bond holders and letting Anglo go but who knows where that road would have led.


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## thedaras (8 Dec 2010)

He said he is sorry for the position the country FINDS itself in,as if it all happened by magic,what you are failing to note is that he led us into the abyss..

He and FF stood back and let it all happen.

You say "you have to hand it to cowen and lenihan,they keep battling", I disagree.they have put themselves ,the party,the vested interests first,they may be battling but its for their own shirts..

The pure arrogance is disgusting..


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## capall (8 Dec 2010)

I agree Fianna fail got us into this mess , they were in power for the last 12 years but I am just looking at post 2008.
Also people aren't taking enough responsibility themselves for what happened not voters , trade union leaders , business leaders , opposition parties, media
Remember the Irish independent headline before the 1997 election PAYBACK

We can heap the sins of the Celtic tiger on cowen and Fianna fail and drive them from the country if it makes the rest of us feel less responsible


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## thedaras (8 Dec 2010)

This  has been done many many times on this site.

Surfice to say 2008 was ONLY two years ago..they have led us into the abyss ,they put themselves,the party ,the vested interests first and only then do they think about the country.
They say we find ourselves in this position as if we just stumbled upon it by accident,they are arrogant ,they are supposed to be intelligent yet failed to see anything wrong.I could go on ,but as I said earlier its been done to death on this site.

They were in control ,they had the information required if they had bothered to look for it.
Last word on this is  FINANCIAL REGULATION..


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## TarfHead (8 Dec 2010)

I agree with the OP

I thought that, on the News last night, Cowen looked and behaved differently. He was leaning forward, engaging with David McCullagh, not sullenly churning out the usual 'going forward' nonsense.

On the News at One today, he had a good back and forth with Sean O'Rourke.

I can only speculate at what, if anything, has changed for him. Maybe this is, for him, the beginning of the end of his political career and he's decided to go down fighting. Maybe he's looking to rally support from within FF to stave off any challenge for the the leadership from Lenihan.

Who knows. It's a pity that this behaviour should now be worth commenting on. If he had shown more of this, since becoming Taoiseach, he might not be held in such poor regard.


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## bullworth (8 Dec 2010)

You only ever get spin and no substance from Cowen, Lenihan and FF. RTE  is just another party hack giving soft interviews over the past decade and the last place to look for real news.
Nobody (apart from the delusional) believes a word they say. Wheres the arrests of top bankers and wheres the passwords for encrypted Anglo files ? Bailing out stockmarket gamblers and the golden circle at the expense of widows and orphans is a simple case of fraud and putting party before country.
It's easy for Cowen to pick on the weak when speaking about Child Benefit, Unemployment Assistance and Old age pension's being higher than our nearest neighbour, but it's funny how they never say this about their own pay, perk's and pension's.  Cowen is the most highly paid incompetent in the world. He used a drop in the live register as a sign of success to score political points without pointing out this is due to forced emigration. Where are the jobs ? I see nothing to create jobs from this budget.


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## thedaras (8 Dec 2010)

He also mentioned how "proud " of his achievements he is..talk about rubbing it in our noses!
If OP is complimenting how he came across,then OP is misguided, today's interview was a disaster for him, and has just enraged an already upset public.

[broken link removed]

Have a listen


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## Homer (8 Dec 2010)

capall said:


> We can heap the sins of the Celtic tiger on cowen and Fianna fail and drive them from the country if it makes the rest of us feel less responsible



Yes, that's it.  The only reason we're going to vote against Fianna fail is to make ourselves feel less guilty.

Get a grip!


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## dockingtrade (8 Dec 2010)

tore miriam apart tonight


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## thedaras (8 Dec 2010)

The FF spin machine are on the rampage and will be doing as much damage limitation /propaganda as is humanly possibly.

The Frontline last Monday was the greatest example of this.

I hope they are annihilated.


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## Delboy (8 Dec 2010)

FF gone into election mode and thats when they're at their best. The budget was an election budget I'd go as far as to say...they did'nt tax as hard as they could have done.

So Cowen has gone into electoral overdrive...when did you ever see a Taoiseach give this many interviews the day after a budget, which is the Finance ministers day usually. Election in the air and also trying to save his leadership of FF and his place in the history books

surely, oh surely, people won't be stupid enough to get washed away with all this ....again!!!!


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## thedaras (8 Dec 2010)

Agree.
 I do think FF have just "kicked the bucket" down the road.

Its so blindingly obvious there are many things that need to be tackled and will be tackled but  FF will not do this,they have kicked the bucket down the road and now FG and the IMF will be the ones who have to clean up the damage caused by FF.


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## Homer (8 Dec 2010)

I think it was PT Barnum who said nobody ever went broke overestimating the stupidity of the general public.  

So I guess there's nothing certain about the election result, but we'll be the laughing stock of the world if we re-elect those b*st*rds.


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## z107 (8 Dec 2010)

> So I guess there's nothing certain about the election result, but we'll be the laughing stock of the world if we re-elect those b*st*rds.


I think we should re-elect them.

'Why?', you may ask.
Well if they are re-elected, they'll have to clear their own mess up. They'll actually have to do a _real_ budget. Only then will FF be completely destroyed.
When they're gone from power, they should be forced out of the country and all their personal assets given to Anglo. Their citizenship should be revoked.


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## thedaras (8 Dec 2010)

Very good point.. 
For now it would appear they will get away with all the wrong doings...and they walk away with a massive payout/pension..There are no repercussions for them as far as I can see.


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## bullworth (9 Dec 2010)

umop3p!sdn said:


> Well if they are re-elected, they'll have to clear their own mess up. They'll actually have to do a _real_ budget.



Bad idea because they can make things even permanently more worse. They will never make the tough decisions even if the country is littered with dead bodies; even if the Dail was turned into a bondholder owned hotel/casino with a small room rented for Dail sessions; even if the pension fund and Coillte, Bord Gais, ESB , Water Bord etc etc are sold off to the bondholders. They are truly unbelieveably party before country. If they stay in power any longer we will all be paying rent on the oxygen we breathe. We need to educate the people as a means of eradicating this cancer from our society.


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## Deiseblue (9 Dec 2010)

thedaras said:


> Agree.
> I do think FF have just "kicked the bucket" down the road.
> 
> Its so blindingly obvious there are many things that need to be tackled and will be tackled but  FF will not do this,they have kicked the bucket down the road and now FG and the IMF will be the ones who have to clean up the damage caused by FF.


 
Don't forget Labour !

Everything indicates that they will play a major part in the formation of the next Government.


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## Yorrick (9 Dec 2010)

" Everything indicates that they will play a major part in the formation of the next Government. "

Step forward Willie Penrose. Your time has come !!


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## Shawady (9 Dec 2010)

This is all about damage limitation and their legacy in government. Expect plenty of "We took the tough decisions" and "The opposition wanted us to spend more" blah blah blah.
I hope people see through it but I expect some FFers will be persuaded back in the fold.


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## Tintagel (9 Dec 2010)

thedaras said:


> He said he is sorry for the position the country FINDS itself in,
> 
> The pure arrogance is disgusting..


 
Yes, this came across loud and clear. No personal apology for what he did to this country and might I add, what they are still doing to this country.


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## MrMan (9 Dec 2010)

So we get an apology for what they have done, they are banished from the country and FG/Labour take the reigns. Now what happens... Do we move on, do we sit back pleased with ourselves that we have put Enda in the driving seat? Even the safe Eamon has been spluttering a bit lately, but at least he is visable I guess. 
We can blame and castigate all we like, but once we have satisfied our blame game what next??


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## bullworth (9 Dec 2010)

We can always try something called ''doing the right thing.''
While we work our way out of the debts FF has burdened us with over the next 100 years,we can cheer ourselves up along the way by making sure all those responsible are jailed, bankrupted and shamed. We can even change the constitution to make it easier to jail , bankrupt and shame them all.  For too long treasonous scum have hid behind the constitution.


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