Don’t mention the war…

…is the thought that comes to mind reading Stephen Collins latest exercise in defending the indefensible.

Apparently Pat Rabbitte has a point in the following, according to Collins.

[Rabbitte’s] key argument is that the media has become engaged in a relentless denigration of politics which could ultimately have adverse effects on society.

Problem is, as Fintan O’Toole noted some weeks back, and Vincent Browne at the weekend in the SBP, our situation is dire, and all the panglossian stuff that some cheerleaders for the government can’t conceal that.

As Brown noted:

Kenny and Michael Noonan had been so positive throughout 2012, celebrating it as the year of return to economic growth. The Central Statistics Office (CSO) was less positive, recording negative growth in 2012, as measured by gross national product (GNP), the more reliable growth measurement.
Not very positive either has been the statistic of the number of people leaving Ireland. In the 12 months to April 2012, the CSO estimates that 87,100 people left Ireland, while the number of immigrants is estimated at 52,700, a net outward migration of 34,400 in the year.

And he addressed Rabbitte’s contention head on:

Labour’s Pat Rabbitte kicked off the silly season in mid-December with a great burst of positivity. He claimed the government would certainly not pay the €3.1 billion promissory note bill in March. But then it turned out he had no idea whether this was so or not.
When it comes to his own bailiwick, however, Rabbitte is depressingly lacking in positivity. He says he will oppose any attempt to legislate for privacy, just as he seems determined to do nothing to challenge the media control enjoyed by Denis O’Brien, both because of the extent of O’Brien’s media control and the findings against him by a tribunal of inquiry, instituted by the parliament of this state. But then this is positive news for O’Brien.

But Collins is indefatigable.

Given the mistakes made by senior politicians in the years running up to the crash it is hardly a surprise that media coverage of politics turned increasingly negative. Unfortunately such scepticism was sadly absent when the big mistakes were being made, but it has been applied unremittingly towards the politicians who have been left with the task of trying to sort out the mess from 2008 onwards.

It brings another question to mind, one that could be put to Collins, ‘where were you during that war?’.