Childe McDowell To The Dark Tower Came...

            My first thought was, he lied in every word
           That hoary cripple, with malicious eye
           Askance to watch the working of his lie
           On mine, and mouth scarce able to afford
           Suppression of the glee that pursed and scored
           Its edge, at one more victim gained thereby.

Ah, Michael McDowell. Doyen of the right, devil of the left, the guy who gives even lawyers a bad name. His ascension draws closer, as one senses does the next general election. Calling him a hoary cripple might be stretching it in our new politically correct times, but political correctness and Michael McDowell are indeed strange bedfellows.

One muses on the outcome. As Mary (one more victim gained thereby, perhaps) Harney recedes into the quiet reflection on a career long run, Michael snipes and weaves, ducks and dives, prognosticates and elucidates on his distinguished career and celebrated cerebrum, to which all others are knee-high. Bertie began fighting his corner early. No tolerance of disunity. Commitent to stable government. No tomfoolery. did he mean no McDowell?

Informed sources close to the government (one has to laugh) tell us that Harney reversed her decision in June to step aside as a result of arm twisting claiming that McDowell's coronation would bring down the government. Whatever Bertie and Dermot Ahern may say publicly, the newly empowered backbenchers within Fianna Fail will have their cabinet colleagues' commitment of the summer severely tested should McDowell take the Tanaiste's post. Perhaps, in a bizarre twist, it shall not be the PD's who withdraw support from the government, but, rather, the backbenchers of Fianna Fail? It is about their seats, after all.