Poll results analysed in the Sunday papers suggest that although Joe Public believes it was wrong for Bertie Ahern to take wodges of cash from well-wishing businessmen, the majority of the electorate thinks the poor man (the victim of a witch hunt!) should stay in his job as Taoiseach. Astonishingly, the Sunday Independent states, “Besides having no desire to see Ahern go, public trust in him is unaltered.”
The Irish public’s bovine acceptance of such carry-on brings to mind the anecdote associated Adlai Stevenson, the bright hope of the American intelligentsia in the 1950s (who happened to be trounced by Dwight D. Eisenhower on the two occasions he ran as the Democratic candidate for President).
During his 1956 presidential campaign, a woman called out to him, “You have the vote of every thinking person!” Stevenson called back, “That’s not enough, madam, we need a majority!”*
*(Source: Wikiquote)