Losing touch with the common punter? Say it ain’t so, Joe

POLITICIANS pride themselves on being in touch with the ordinary citizen, knowing the instincts of the man on the street.

Take Joe Walsh, the longtime Agriculture Minister.

Some thought the man from Cork south west lost the common touch and became the political equivalent of pampered singer Jennifer Lopez.

Well, we know better than that, don’t we? Joe’s interview with Morning Ireland spoke volumes.

His heartrending story about sacrificing Mercs and perks for quirks and jerks must have touched everybody. Take flying.

“When you arrive at the airport, the duty officer’s no longer there with your boarding card; you have to actually find where the Aer Lingus desk is and join the queue like everybody else.”

“Things like roundabouts were a new thing to me after 20 years. High-rise car parks — I didn’t realise that the barrier didn’t lift until you pressed a button and got out a ticket. And when you returned, you had to cash that ticket in a little machine to make the barrier lift again.”

More Rip van Winkle. Where has he been sleeping for 20 years?

Bert’s recycle backpeddle speaking of losing touch, check out The Bert’s interview on TV3’s The Political Party. Ursula Halligan asked did he recycle himself? Bert was caught off guard. Oh, yes, he said, of course. He refused to say what he recycled or where for privacy reasons.

The notion of Bert pulling up at the bottle bank in his Taoiseach’s limo and throwing the used bottles of Bass and Mi-wadi into the bank brings us to a parallel universe.

What he does best is recycle ideas and policies, 53 of them during 30 minutes of Árd Fheis speech.

You've Bean framed speaking of THAT speech, it was like the Price is Right. Bertie the host telling the audience to come on down. Roads, taxes, health, schools, guards. You name it, we’ve got it.

You have to hand it to Pat Rabbitte for seldom missing a blooper.

Who did he spot only Michael Mulcahy, Fianna Fáil TD for Dublin South Central. Now, Earwicker didn’t see the live broadcast (being there in person) but was told Mulcahy’s clapping and hollering were a bit overenthusiastic, especially when the Bert announced all those lovely tax cuts.

But there was a fly in the ointment. Days earlier Mulcahy had made a statement urging the Taoiseach to stand firm, not to cut taxes and to stop additional spending. Now here he was applauding like a man who has heard his wife won the Lotto.

Rabbitte’s put-down in the Dáil is the best so far this year: “I saw Deputy Mulcahy on the screen before my eyes on Saturday night, applauding like Mr Bean on speed.”