Two days ago, echoing a recurring theme from the West Wing, I joked about how I’d been avoiding the R Word.
It seems the Taoiseach has picked up the same theme, and is equally determined to avoid using the word recession.
Unfortunately, the word he chose to use to use instead is not reassuring.
Somehow, ‘there is no economic Armageddon ahead‘ is not reassuring.
Brian Cowen clearly didn’t read the chapter in Spin Doctoring For Dummies which explains how issuing a denial can be dangerous, and the denial defines the facts.
The classic instance of this, of course, is Richard Nixon’s ‘I am not a crook’ speech.
In his short tenure in the top job, Biffo hasn’t shown a great deal of media sense.
Admitting he hadn’t read a treaty he helped to negotiate didn’t exactly inspire confidence.
And the childish attempts to retcon ‘Biffo’ as a ‘Big intelligent Fellow From Offaly’ gave the impression of a disturbingly thin-skinned leader.
Cowen relishes his image as a plain-spoken no-nonsense man of the people, but has a habit of speaking without thinking.
Plain speaking only works if you talk horse sense.
Where is Bunny Carr when you need him?
