Has 'Tweety' Boyle Finally Lost It? His Campaign Leaflet Suggests So!

cork | politics / elections | opinion/analysis

Friday February 18, 2011 00:28

by FSB! - Electoral Anti-Hypocrisy Commission

'Lest We Forget' – but he'd really like us to forget his track record in this government

Dan Boyle, formerly Bertie Ahern's choice for senator, is running for election in Cork South Central once again. This means he has to present a justification of his and his party's record as part of this government we've suffered for getting on four years. One of the ways he has been doing this is through his election literature, some of which I received in the post only this morning. After reading it, I must say I was surprised at the level of grandiose self-delusion on display in this leaflet!

Text side

Boyle quotes Rudyard Kipling on the address face of the leaflet beside his picture, as one might imagine a British Conservative MP of a certain vintage also doing. It makes you think of him as Col. Dan Boyle(Retd.). How risible! It gets even more look-through-your-fingers funny once you turn it over and read on.

'Politics Can Be Different'
Indeed they can be Dan, but it was noticeable that you and your party's time in government made no difference to the way bourgeois politics gets done in Ireland. Your party behaved as dishonestly and venially as all the others have in their time. You stood by and oftentimes repeated the lies your partners in government told the Irish public. You even told a few of your own for good measure. And we are still expected to vote for a motley of corrupt chancers and call it democracy.

'Honesty in politics is not pretty, and is often harsh.'
This is how Dan starts to address his Electorate, I kid you not. I am for real, he starts with this. This is then followed by a lengthy paragraph of whining redolent of his buddies Ahern and Martin replete with fake contriteness and how it was all the fault of other people or factors. Of course he omits that his party shared in the responsibility for this cronyism and mismanagement he complains of, and often made excuses for it these last four years. This noble government he was part of was undone by internation al factors beyond their control, according to Dan. All that was missing was a mention of Lehman Brothers, à la his patron Ahern.

'We in the Green Party don't do lies, we deal in truth and reality.'
You gave the impression before June 2007 that you would not go into government with Fianna Fáil. It was enough to see five of your party elected, but not your good self alas. When it came down to it, the prospect of ministerial Mercs (sorry, Priuses) and pensions was enough to make your minds up. What Trevor Sargent said was parsed carefully to ensure the coalition could go ahead without sullying your 'integrity'. This may not be lying per se, but it owes a lot to the world of mendacity all the same. You told yourselves you could make a difference in government, you told us this at the time too, and you kept telling us this long after you stopped believing this yourselves. Even more lies, when you think about it, Dan.
And as for 'reality' Dan, your earlier paragraph would suggest you live in a world of your own imagining, where it's everybody's fault but your own. The reality endured by the hundreds of thousands of people who have lost their jobs during your party's time in government is very different from that of a selectee senator. It is harsher, I would say, and you seem to be proud of being the teacher of harsh lessons, Dan. I think that reality is about to bite you in the arse.

'We also have no interest in taking to the streets to engage in a violent manner against the Gardaí as some recent and reluctant converts to democracy have done.'
This is a complete red herring Dan. What's it doing here? Oh hang on, it's a ham-fisted and petulant jibe at your former party colleague Chris O'Leary now running for Sinn Féin and against you in Cork South Central. It's a slur one would expect the likes of Eoghan Harris to utter, and not from a candidate who reminds us that 'politics can be different'.

Dan then asks us to 'consider supporting honesty in politics' by voting for him and his party. He goes on to bullet-point us that the Greens 'never sought or accepted donations from bankers or developers' (that leaves plenty more sources of corporate cash, Dan), introduced a Planning Bill that will clean up the planning process for good (I'll believe that when I see it Dan, and not before) and legislated for insulation retrofitting grants (mere pissing in the ocean Dan, and it pales as an achievement compared to bringing the IMF to town). He finishes with asking us his Electorate to
'Please consider the consequences of electing a government made up of the 'usual suspects' without honest Green Party involvement. Please think 'clean politics'...Vote Green.'
Dan, when your party went into power with FF you were not considered the 'usual suspects' for such behaviour. So why should voters trust you or your party over anybody else running for election next Friday? Your actions and public statements while in government since June 2007 have shown you to be no better than anybody else in Irish politics when it comes to honesty and 'clean' government, and a damn sight worse than some.

Yes Dan, shafting the people of Rossport and the Shell to Sea campaign was harsh. After going to all those protest rallies seen saying how much you supported that community's struggle and attending the occasional Cork S2S meeting, of course it would not be pretty. That's just one of the numerous treacheries you and the Green Party have committed since 2007, all of them harsh and unpretty in their own special way, as you might put it. But sure there was four years of a senator's salary in it for you. When it came down to it Dan, that was all that mattered – yourself, and all of those who voted for you last time expecting a different political dispensation or took your support for various campaigns and causes at face value could go take a hike. Dan Boyle was more motivated by the future of Dan Boyle than the future of the people of Ireland.

These are nasty lessons you teach, Col. Boyle(Retd.). You may learn a few harsh lessons yourself Dan before this election is over.