A Labour of Love

Folks, if recent history has thought us anything, it’s that every great man who wants to initiate change must have a sidekick by his side. Look at America where John F Kennedy had his brother Bobby when he brought “Camelot” to the White House in the early 1960’s. George W. Bush had Tony Blair when he created a new and better Iraq. Reagan had Pope John Paul II when he defeated communism. Clinton on the other hand had nobody and he accomplished nothing. Irish history is no exception. With a little help from Arthur Griffiths, Michael Collins single-handedly brought the British Empire to her knees during the War of Independence. Now, almost 90 years later we are once more blessed in this country to have a great man with a sidekick. Enda Kenny, with Pat Rabbitte by his side, is winning the fight against the left and the pseudo-intellectual elites in this country.

Let’s begin with last Wednesdays night where Pat squared up to the number one enemy of this state, Michael McClown. With a devastating body blow, accusing McDowell of being a ‘menopausal Paris Hilton’, Pat knocked the wind out of the intellectual left in this country. The knockout blow was swiftly delivered when Pat explained his joke so that every man woman and child in the country could understand it. Pat doesn’t just do biting wit, he does biting wit for everybody and like a good comedian takes time to explain the joke if needed. Game, set and match for that debate. As if to prove my point, Pat put himself into auto-pilot for the rest of the debate, just repeating the standard party rhetoric over and over.

Genius.

It’s important to remember that it was McDowell he attacked so effectively. That makes Pat a member of a very unique group who have actually been brave enough to criticise McDowell in public. McDowell thinks he is better than each and every one of us, folks, and that makes him one of the favourite sons of our unfortunately partisan media. It makes him an unpopular target. Pat’s attack on McDowell, was a blow against pseudo-intellectuals everywhere. It was also an attack on the party who introduced risk equalisation into our health insurance, a blatantly far left policy.

It’s not the first time that Pat has had to call McDowell on something. At the start of 2006 Pat was kind enough to urge the Irish people that ‘there are 40 million poles, remember’. He brought up the issue of work permits being introduced for non-EU immigrants here. McDowell has said, to paraphrase, that he wants to personally go to the airport and listen to people’s stories coming into the country but the U.N won’t let him. Stories? What kind of namby pamby approach is that? And since when should the U.N be able to tell our elected officials what to do? I don’t know about you but it’s about time that somebody took a tough line on immigration in this country and stood up to the U.N while they are at it.

Fast forward to the weekend, where Pat consolidated his good work of Wednesday night by delivering a scud-missile to the heart of socialism in this country. ‘Forget it Bertie’. Have 3 words being uttered with more conviction since George H. W. Bush defiantly declared ‘No more taxes’ in 1988? I think not. Pat attacked Bertie, the most famous socialist on this island and the premier pretty boy of our so called media. In under a week he has taken down public enemies number one and two.

See, Pat and his party fight the good fight against the left in this country and to do that you instil equality into the system. A famous maxim of equality states that you should “treat likes alike and unlikes unlike”. The Alliance for Change is committed to the notion that everybody in Ireland is equal. That’s why they don’t want the extra 1000 beds it is claimed co-located hospital could quickly produce. Co-Location would lead to a two-tiered health system and that is something this country does not want.

Accordingly, the programme for government is committed to lowering taxes at all levels even for the rich, a section of our society sometimes shamefully neglected by parties before an election. . (Of course, cutting taxes is nothing new for labour. They were also the first party to give the corporations a sporting chance in this country, lest we forget.) Brian Cowen tried to argue that these tax cuts are a bad thing on Questions and Answers on Monday night. The simple fact of the matter is, it would be hypocritical of Fine Gael and Labour to criticise the two tier health system that would occur under co-located hospitals and then turn around and have a multi-tiered tax system. Of course those on €450,000 per annum should pay as much PRSI as those on €45,000. It would be totally immoral if they paid a penny less and a black eye for equality in this country. The Alliance for Change knows the 3% of the population Cowen was speaking about is every bit the equal of the other 97%.

Confirmation of Labours good work, not just this past week, but throughout the campaign, was unwittingly provided by the now famous Irish “Chimes” poll. Fianna Fail up 5%? Give me a break! Not only does this poll contradict the sentiments Fine Gael and Labour have being hearing on the doorstep, it flatly contradicts the 2 most important opinions of all; those of Enda Kenny and Pat Rabbitte. Enda and Pat know that the opinion poll in their hearts irrefutably claims that the Irish people want a change. They feel it and that’s good enough for me. The Irish Times poll is merely confirmation that victory will be ours on Thursday. The left wing partisan media have panicked and released this barometer of “popular “opinion in an attempt to give the now savaged left (Thanks Pat) a fillup in the days before the election, claiming that Fianna Fail are popular amongst the electorate. Excuse me, but since when has an election been a popularity contest?