5/10/2012: Endaffo - a Magic Celtic Dragon

So this... link ... is the latest twist of spin PR tumble & dry news cycle with the Time Magazine ca 2012. And it has triggered somewhat of a surfing waves weather in the websphere. On the one hand, the FGers and Green Jerseyists are cheering the coup that has led to the declaration on the magazine cover of the return of the Celtic something. Obviously in green. On the other hand it is triggering memories of the not-so-distant past: link and link.

Oh, putting aside the fact that Time Magazine clearly doesn't bother reading actual data (otherwise what comeback?), all I can say about the 'good news' is that while Enda 2012 now does Biffo 2010, Time Magazine 2012 does Newsweek 2010.

And here's a priceless, poignantly telling lunacy of the Times 'interview' (italics are mine):

"And why do you think a gulf exists between the Irish and international perceptions of Kenny?
Politicians are often more popular abroad than they are in their own countries. That’s partly because familiarity breeds contempt. You could say it’s because the Irish know him better. But it’s also because the Irish focus on the smaller picture, and sometimes you really can see things better from a distance. It’s exactly the same if you think about what goes on in Washington or Westminster."
http://world.time.com/2012/10/05/behind-the-story-times-catherine-mayer-discusses-irish-prime-minister-enda-kenny/#ixzz28Q4VfaCJ 

Yes, Irish voters, residents, taxpayers, people - you are small-minded. Better listen to the Big Picture folks in the Times magazine who can't even check IMF WEO database to see, just what a marvelous Celtic Comeback Enda Kenny has triggered in the country his Government runs. Oh, sorry... but that would be 'focusing on the smaller picture', right?

So with Washington & Westminster in mind, I give you a new Tiger of Global Politics: Endaffo combining "endearing and ...slightly childlike quality to his enthusiasm" features of Times-cover Enda and "razor-sharp intelligence" of Newsweek-ranked "The Fiscal Taskmaster" Biffo.

Update: In the latest of the series of powerful endorsements from international media, our Taoiseach was credited - via selective quotations from the Time article - by the Irish Times (here) as follows: ""He didn’t do anything that one would think of as particularly foolish..." 
Ms Mayer said..."

It never occurs, in the duration of her interviews, for Ms Mayer to ask the obvious: 'Given the gravity of the crisis that Ireland is going through, is talking to a man who sets for his Government lowest possible targets and then fails to achieve them worth the paper and ink?'

"Ms Mayer said it was her belief politicians in Ireland are less insulated from reality than in other countries."

Distance from reality, of course, is a matter of perspective. Given the degree of detachment from that concept that Ms Mayer seems to exhibit, she might be onto something there.