The EU Gets Its Irish Up
As predicted, the EU oligarchy is miffed at those Irish making like good little democrats instead of obedient serfs:
From the minute it became clear that the Irish people had said ‘No’ to the Lisbon Treaty, Irish politicians and commentators lined up to spew bile at the electorate.
Uneducated, racist, ungrateful, parochial, dysfunctional: those are just some of the insults hurled at the 53 per cent of voters who rejected Lisbon. Swearing is not normally allowed in Ireland’s quality papers, but an exception was made after Thursday’s referendum. The Irish Times quoted one Brussels official as saying: ‘Ungrateful bastards. After all the money you got.’
Leo Varadkar, a leading member of the Irish party Fine Gael, accused the ‘No’ campaign of exploiting the xenophobia of the voters. The Irish Times wheeled out Professor Richard Sinnott of University College Dublin, an ‘expert’ on the Irish voter, who explained that the Irish people were somehow incapable of understanding what was at stake in the referendum. Apparently this is a result of Irish people’s low level of education and their lack of confidence in their own ability to grasp ‘complex issues’.
The breathtakingly elitist view that the ‘No’ camp was basically too stupid to understand the Treaty and its implications was expressed everywhere in the media coverage of the result.
As you can notice, it goes without saying that the pro-Lisbon Treaty forces are viewed as being politically and morally legitimate, while any opposition is viewed as being inherently corrupt, ignorant, and quite possibly evil. What is scary to see is that the European press has largely abdicated its role to question the designs of the EU oligarchy. For the most part they are acting as agents of the EU establishment, and not as representatives of the people. This isn't a great surprise, as the influence of government over the press is more accepted in Europe than it is in the United States. But you can even see once independent newspapers in places like the UK being co-opted by this process.
Why have the bureaucrats been unable to sell the "new" EU to the people who are actually going to be ruled by it? The answer given by the EU is, "because more than half the people of Europe are ignorant, racist bastards." Does the press really find nohing about that answer they could possibly question?
World news | Rich Horton Monday, 16 June , 2008
By Gary Gulrud, Monday, 16 June , 2008 @ 10:51 am
I predict this will end badly. Some of the elite will lose their heads, but look fabulous, en state.
By Neo, Monday, 16 June , 2008 @ 11:40 am
This saves the EU from the potential embarrassment of an EU army that could do nothing.And itt’s always nice when somebody yells that the emperor has no clothes.Now if somebody could do that with AGW .. maybe we’d be on our way to energy independence.
By old_dawg, Monday, 16 June , 2008 @ 12:55 pm
Thank God for the Irish! Someone finally had the courage to call "BS" on the EUnuchs.
By martian, Monday, 16 June , 2008 @ 2:34 pm
"As you can notice, it goes without saying that the pro-Lisbon Treaty forces are viewed as being politically and morally legitimate, while any opposition is viewed as being inherently corrupt, ignorant, and quite possibly evil. "
Why not? They’ve seen American Liberals take that approach for years. Liberals always assume there’s something wrong with anyone who doesn’t agree with them. And what do they say when someone doesn’t agree? That the person is corrupt, ignorant, evil or all three. Or, to quote a current presidential candidate,"so bitter that they cling to guns and religion as means to cope".
By Bleepless, Monday, 16 June , 2008 @ 4:46 pm
There being no constitutional rights in the EU against the EU itself — coincidence? — the Utopian centralizers will find some way to get around this and to make sure that no scummy little reactionaries can ever again interfere with the Great Plan. Pass more caviar, Pierre, while we find some way to make our coup look like a victory for civilization.
By Mwalimu Daudi, Tuesday, 17 June , 2008 @ 8:45 pm
Frankly, I think the Irish vote is moot. Although I admire the courage of Irish voters in standing up to the imperialistic European Union, there is no doubt in my mind that the EUtopians will eventually find a way to evade the "No" vote.
Recall that in this country policies like affirmative action and gay/lesbian "marriage" are routinely voted down when presented to voters. But these same voters then elect and re-elect the very politicians who use unconstitutional means of ramming the defeated measures down our throats. Don’t be surprised if Irish government leaders do the same thing by overturning the "No" vote - and then get re-elected.
The excuse for re-election is always the same. "I don’t like Senator Sy Kottik’s view on fill-in-the-blank," says Upset-Yet-Sophisticated-American-Voter, "but the Senator has done a pretty good job overall and deserves re-election." Senator Kottik knows that if he just lays low for a bit and then tries again, he will eventually get what he wants - without paying a price. It would be a mistake to assume that Irish voters are somehow immune to this.