5/8/12

The European Fiscal Compact's Irish Critics

It's remarkable how the achievements of two past political leaders - one who is dead and one who suffers from dementia - remain the gold standard of terrorists and/or socialists who wish to hurl insults at proponents of fiscal conservatism.

Consider this snippet from the Irish Times: "SINN FÉIN leader Gerry Adams has depicted supporters of the European fiscal compact treaty as Thatcherite and Reaganite right-wingers.

He said yesterday that the choice facing the Irish public in the referendum on May 31st was between austerity and growth.

Proponents of the treaty, he said, were coming from 'a Thatcherite and Reaganite right-wing conservative ideological position'. The Louth deputy was speaking at the launch of the party’s campaign to urge a No vote on polling day. A pamphlet, Austerity isn’t working, was also launched by the party."

Some of that was inside baseball, and, as informed Americans are aware, Fedgov grew quickly during Reagan's watch, but I'm sure you get the point that Europe's massive economic and political woes are not going to be resolved anytime soon. Too much division.

Sidebar: If you haven't seen the movie The Iron Lady, please don't bother. The plot is a muddled mess, and the acting is terrible. Mrs. Thatcher (as played by drama queen extraordinaire Meryl Streep) is a dressed-to-the-nines bossy boots feminist ideologue.

The Iron Lady's rise from grocer's daughter to prime minister is a worthy subject for a decent biopic, but this wasn't it. Even the wacky, liberal Helena Bonham Carter (the actress in the The King's Speech) would have made a better Maggie Thatcher. Oh, well.

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