Irish politics in the gutter
Posted on Wednesday, September 22, 2010 at 09:24 AM
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Over the past week we have witnessed the character assassination of an honorable man. It shouldn't happen to anyone in our country, of course. But it particularly shouldn't happen to this man, who happens to be Taoiseach, (Prime Minister) Brian Cowen, who said the assault on his character marked a new low in Irish politics. He could also have said that it marked a new low in Irish life, in our belief in fairness and justice.
It will probably mean the end of his career. It is a frightening lesson in how an honorable man's reputation can be dragged into the gutter by the Internet, the media and a section of the public in today's anger-filled Ireland.
I don't have to ask if you know what I'm talking about. One count last week estimated that the story had been carried by over 500 papers in over 20 countries.
The headline was almost always the same: Irish Prime Minister Denies Being Drunk. What a laugh for the global media, as the Irish live up to their stereotype again.
The Irish economy is imploding and the Irish prime minister does a radio interview still drunk from a party the night before! It was such a great "Drunken Paddies" story that even the serious international papers all carried it.
The problem is that it wasn't true.
Unlike many people who have been commenting on the story, I heard Cowen's interview live last Tuesday morning. It was not one of his best performances and his voice sounded rough.
But he was coherent and he answered all the questions about the economic crisis and the upcoming budget during the 13-minute live radio interview without a problem. He would probably have been better if he had had more than four hours sleep.
The night before he had been at the celebration that always takes place during the Fianna Fail party's annual think-in. This year the three day event, attended by all the party's members of the Dail (Parliament) and by visiting speakers, was in a Galway hotel.
A lot of serious discussion about the enormous problems facing the country took place. It was heavy going for the participants. So it was natural that those involved wanted to relax at the post-dinner party on one of the nights.
Cowen, a sociable man, joined in the fun, telling stories and jokes and doing impressions. He finished his contribution to the party by singing the six verses of the traditional ballad “The Lakes of Pontchartrain.” He was the star of the night.
One of a number of political journalists who was at the party wrote afterwards that Cowen had enjoyed "a few slow pints" during the evening. None of the journalists there thought he looked either drunk or half-drunk.
Indeed, if he had been even half-drunk he could not have entertained the crowd so well with his impressions and jokes -- or remembered all the words in the six verses of “The Lakes of Pontchartrain.”
Having bonded with the party faithful, he went to bed at 3:30 a.m. Less than five hours later he was up to give the radio interview that has got him into so much trouble.
It was not a wise thing to do. But it is a measure of the man that he felt he could handle it, despite the lack of sleep.
My impression listening to it live over breakfast that morning was that he did all right, even though his voice was more gravelly than usual.
Within minutes, however, some of the Internet chat sites were poking fun at him, suggesting that he sounded bleary and that he must have had a few pints the night before. Such instant comment is not unusual these days. Thanks to the Internet, every half wit has an outlet and politicians of all parties are ridiculed all the time.
Nobody would have paid any attention to this except that the young Fine Gael politician Simon Coveney then sent out his infamous tweet saying that Cowen "sounded half way between drunk and hung over."
Notice that Coveney did not tweet that Cowen was drunk. What he said was that Cowen "sounded" like he was half drunk.
But it did not matter. He had used the D word, and the smear was then picked up by all the media at the Fianna Fail event in Galway.
Later that morning one reporter asked Cowen for his reaction to the tweet, and Cowen's denial then made it news. It's the oldest trick in the book because it gives you the headline “Taoiseach Denies He Was Drunk,” and the damage is done.
Even then, the story might have stopped there. But our national broadcasting service RTE, which is supposed to be run to the highest standards, behaved disgracefully by keeping it going.
They should have investigated whether Cowen had been drunk the night before -- all they had to do was ask some of the journalists who had been at the party -- before giving further publicity to Coveney's slimy tweet. Instead they ran with the "Denies He Was Drunk" story like the worst kind of tabloid paper.
What followed over the following few days was a media feeding frenzy as reporters smelt blood. This media storm did not disgrace Cowen, who dealt with it with his customary patience, calm and dignity -- and eventually apologized for seeming to be a bit below par.
Instead it disgraced the political rats who got it going, the media who turned it into a hurricane of hate, and a large section of the Irish public who want vengeance for the economic collapse and lapped it up.
The result of all this was that we embarrassed ourselves before the rest of the world. And in the process we humiliated and probably destroyed an honorable man.
There are many worrying aspects to this sorry saga. Is there anyone who can say that they have not at some stage turned up for work the morning after a late night and performed at less than their best? Not me, and definitely not most people.
In spite of that, it seems that there is a new puritanism at work here now. It's totally unforgiving and vindictive, especially where our political leaders are concerned.
Like rats on a sinking ship we are turning on each other. It's not pretty and it's certainly not fair.
Of course Cowen should not have done what he did. In the age of Twitter and Facebook and chat sites and all the rest of the Internet jungle, the rules for politicians have changed.
These days you can't be human in politics, you need to be an automaton. So a taoiseach who still likes to behave normally and who enjoys a sociable pint with his colleagues risks automatically being labeled a drunk.
There is another way of looking at it, of course. Cowen is a man with a natural gravitas and impressive intelligence when they are needed.
He is also a man with enough of a spark to be able to entertain a roomful of his colleagues on a night off. In my estimation, that is a plus, not a minus.
There is also the fact that, tired as he was from the night before, Cowen was still able to handle a lengthy interview live on radio -- and an even longer one which followed with the rest of the press -- dealing with the very difficult economic situation.
This is in stark contrast with the opposition Fine Gael leader Enda Kenny, who relies on memorized answers and sound bites and gets hopelessly flustered when he forgets his lines.
The background to all this, of course, is a country that is depressed and angry. Everyone, including journalists, is looking for someone to blame, for pat answers to highly complex problems.
The truth is, there aren't any easy answers. So when Cowen failed to come up with any during a 13-minute live radio interview, he is seen as not being up to the job, of not being on top of his game because he was up late the night before, of being too casual, too fond of the beer ... of being half drunk.
Cowen has a lot of legitimate questions to answer about his time as finance minister during the boom -- but then so do all the other senior politicians, the bankers, developers, regulators, economists and all the rest of the experts who did not see the crash coming.
In spite of all that Cowen is head and shoulders above all the other politicians in the Dail, including some on his own side who are plotting against him. On top of that he is real. What you see is what you get.
He is a man of formidable intelligence, which gives him the confidence to feel he can handle a major radio interview without getting stressed, or even without enough sleep.
He is also an unreconstructed Irishman who likes a pint and a singsong and who is not too bothered about Facebook and Twitter. If all this nasty nonsense finishes his political career, we will be the losers, not him.
Think about it. We could end up with someone like Mr. Perfect, the tweeting Simon Coveney, as taoiseach some day. Then we'll all need a few drinks.
11 Comments
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maloney | Oct 01, 2010, 07:50 PM EDT
We'll take your drunk & give you obama & HRC. will throw biden in for free.
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plasticpaddy | Sep 28, 2010, 06:33 PM EDT
Honorable man my ar#e
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ancavker | Sep 23, 2010, 01:10 PM EDT
Whether he was drunk or not is mere specualtion. As far as the economic mess why blame Mr.Cowen? The Irish just like many Americans are just as much to blame; they lived above their means, way above their means, and many became arrogant and obnoxious to boot. I guess there will be no more trips from Ireland to NYC to go shopping for the weekend (pompous fools). Perhaps the sorry state of affairs over there now will make the Irish a littl more humble; that would be welcome.
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Dublinjas | Sep 23, 2010, 12:33 AM EDT
This is what happens when you allow a Redneck to take a job they are far from qualified to do, Of course he has made us the laughing stock of the World, Of course he has reinforced the "Drunken Paddy" reputation just like the drunken paddies who created it in the first place they were also Rednecks lying around the streets of Britain drunk out of their skulls, disgracing Ireland and gaining us the reputation that Cowen felt the world needed to be reminded of....Well done brian...Well done Mr Taoiseach
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sirpeter | Sep 22, 2010, 10:06 PM EDT
WoundedKnee I read your post and to be honest,it really is a load of crap,My answer to you is, you don't become a leader of a country if you are stupid.
Calling politicians stupid is stupid...these people own everything and run everything and are able to take backhanders from the most powerful people in the country..this goes for every country,so you are been stupid by saying they are unintelligent,just because from YOUR perspective they appear stupid doesn't mean they are stupid,they know exactly what they are doing, and they have all the power and what exactly do you have!!
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sirpeter | Sep 22, 2010, 09:41 PM EDT
At last Mr Spain,you have the voice of truth and reason..and i thank you for that, and i thank you for calling him An Taoiseach,He is an intelligent man who has inherited some very serious problems.Even his colleagues don't dispute that he is very smart.But like all smart men,they need a bit of space...they have their ways of dispelling the stress in their life's and they need to be respected for been human..and not have to justify every move they make.If the leader of my country needs sex with 20 women a week, that's fine with me..as long as it helps him lead the country,If it helps him relax by having those 20 women poo in his face..that's fine with me too.In other words...what's important for any leader is that he is given the space and respect,so that he can do his job to the best of his ability,so that the people of Ireland benefit from his abilities.
Simon Coveney hit below the belt and he doesn't earn my respect for that,and this country needs unity at the moment.My fellow Corkman needs to shut his mouth,because we can all hit below the belt when it comes to his father.A closed mouth catches no flies.
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jacersagain | Sep 22, 2010, 03:15 PM EDT
BTW Mr. Spain... I think in the interests of integrity, honesty etc.. that you should frequently mention that the Irish banking and economic situation arose because Lehman Bros crashed in the grand o' US of A. Nothing to with Cowen. As you say yourself.. "Cowen has a lot of legitimate questions to answer about his time as finance minister during the boom -- but then so do all the other senior politicians, the bankers, developers, regulators, economists and all the rest of the experts who did not see the crash coming." It was the Lehman fiasco, not the Irish fiasco. Let truth prevail and you might be pardoned by Mr. Cowen.
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jacersagain | Sep 22, 2010, 03:07 PM EDT
I agree w/ you Wou'knee. Mr. Spain's writings of late are total proof that Irish Journalism is in the gutter. Wow-hoops! Did I just say that?? Don't think that I've just invented "gutter-press". That was invented before Mr. Spain and his colleagues dipped their pens into the poison taught in Irish Journalism schools. To get Mr. Spain and colleagues and today's Irish students of journalism off the hook, we first have to find out who is doing the teaching. Will Irish Times and Irish Indo people please stand up? I have a question for youze - WHO TAUGHT YOU THIS RUBBISH WAY OF WRITING YOUR THOUGHTS???? Before you stand up to answer, think of all the money you paid to these tutors to teach you this way of thinking, writing and - worse! - publishing yr writings. Gutter-press stuff. Is there any hope for future Irish Journalists? Well, is there?
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kell7757 | Sep 22, 2010, 12:28 PM EDT
hear hear
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WoundedKnee | Sep 22, 2010, 10:36 AM EDT
What a load of garbage, an item that Mr Spain specializes in. Just to take two points rather than the dozen I could deal with. Spain seems to think Coveney should have said that Cowen was drunk rather than that Cowen sounded drunk. What, was Coveney supposed to go look for Cowen, administer a blood test, and then declare whether Cowen was drunk or not? Have some sense, Spain. Another point: Spain tells us that Cowen is a "man of formidable intelligence". Whaat the hell is intelligent about him? That he has brought the 26 Counties into the biggest economic disaster? What has he ever done in his pampered and narrow career? I understand he is a career politician, who has never worked in a real job in his life. Finally, Cowen tells us that "we" (the Irish) will be the losers if Cowen's career comes to an end. Are you sane, Spain? The worst Prime Minister in the history of Southern ireland, one who has created massive poverty and emigration, and left Ireland with a begging bowl to international finance? No, Spain, when Ireland gets rid of this incompetent fool Cowen your loss will be Ireland's gain.
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