How Saviour changed his tune, for convenience’s sake
Saviour Balzan on Franco Debono, May 2008: 'The man is unbearable'.
Malta Today has, of course, discovered a new idol in Franco Debono. He ticks all the right Labour and John Dalli boxes.
The newspaper is currently making itself ridiculous, discussing him as though he is normal and rational. But given that its newsroom is stuffed full of loons, it might well be that they really do think this.
If so, Saviour Balzan has certainly changed his tune and his sense of judgement, because back in May 2008 he had the measure of the man.
——-
Malta Today, 18 May 2008
By Saviour Balzan
Only this week I was fortunate enough to personally meet and suffer the presence of the youngest Nationalist parliamentarian – Franco Debono – talking about politics in a television programme.
He is, I tell you, unbearable.
Listen to Franco Debono and you really wish for Batman to come to Malta’s rescue and save it from the Joker.
Talking on the box, Debono spent an immeasurable number of precious minutes explaining to One TV viewers how he elected himself against all odds.
In reality Franco Debono’s election had one major fatality: it led veteran minister Louis Galea to teaching piano to spotty kids instead of taking up a ministerial post.
There is little love lost between Franco Debono and Louis Galea, but even though Dr Galea is not the best example of the virginal politician we hope for, he is, there is little doubt, light years ahead of Franco Debono when it comes to intellect, vision, communication and charisma.
Yet thanks to Gonzi’s GonziPN strategy in promoting young and fresh faces, we have been landed with high quality politicians: namely JPO and Franco Debono.
Now when asked about JPO on television, Debono was lost for words. Literally.
And when I say nothing to say, I really mean it: nothing. Un bel niente.
He had no words, just a meek sigh, a tense smile, that is all.
Without any coyness, he asked who was he to pass a comment about this case?
Minutes before, he was explaining the complexity of how he got himself elected, taking all the time in the world to bore us to death with his electoral success. Gloating would be an understatement.
But when asked for an opinion about JPO, he just froze.
Which is why I am pleading Batman to come to our rescue, fast! And save us from the Joker!
53 Comments Comment
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Here’s how Saviour Balzan envisaged Labour coming to power in 2013 way back in 2008. Look out for his reference to Franco Debono.
http://www.maltatoday.com.mt/2008/10/26/sbalzan.html
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TB3RBxnn98g
Excellent article. Almost sounds like you had written it. Were you helping Saviour at the time huh?
[Daphne – As if. Jaqq.]
the signs had been there for ages…
Anyway you might want to read this about how bad malta’s position is in the world today, where we live under dictatorial rule and have great suffering in general…
http://internationalliving.com/2011/01/07-ils-2011-quality-of-life-index-reveals-best-climate-in-the-world/
Balzan should repeat this now.
What a scoop! Masterpiece! Says a lot about Saviour and Franco.
Incredible! How many, other than these two, have seriously corroded and eroded brain cells? Very scary if it’s contagious.
http://www.facebook.com/groups/nitolburizenjatafranco/?notif_t=group_activity#!/questions/10150513132789424/?notif_t=question_answer
Please vote if you are on facebook
Pity Batman does not exist.
You can say that Saviour Balzan diagnosed the problems with this man already on 18 May 2008.
Which leads to a simple question: is Dr. Debono being used?
Yes.
Maltatoday is becoming more appalling by the minute, and only Saviour Balzan can challenge Franco for the record of most U-Turns and shamelessness.
http://www.azzopardinicky.com/2012/01/heres-your-manifesto.html
Saviour Balzan has no agenda.
Franco Debono is fighting for democracy.
Ic-Cittadin Malti has lost his tongue.
What a lovely picture – truth and transparency all the way.
Also in Malta Today, 18 May 2008
http://www.maltatoday.com.mt/2008/05/18/n4.html
Franco Debono’s ‘sitting room of democracy’
Charlot Zahra
(…)
The Ghaxaq MP, who is known for his penchant for publicity as he chases hapless court reporters to give them court judgements of inane cases in which he would have appeared as defence lawyer, said that “the exercise in democracy that we have recently passed from revealed us to be an educated, disciplined and mature nation.”
True to his pretentious self, Debono used pompous imagery and shoddy metaphors to make his point, comparing the exercise of coming up with new ideas with “quarrying for thoughts”.
(…)
If I recall correctly, last general election many disgruntled Nationalists like myself who would never have voted Labour because of Sant’s quirkiness, gave their vote to Nationalist newbie candidates.
This in the hope that by ousting out the hackneyed veterans, new blood would revitalize the party and government.
Boy, were we wrong!
Saviour Balzan, skond id-daqq, jizfen.
I think that the PN strategists should better ignore Franco, face the inevitable, and take a closer look at what is being written on platforms like Facebook and elsewhere.
They will quickly see that this is not the Malta of the 90s anymore, not even of the 2003 Referendum.
The more they delay the inevitable, the more will the legitamacy of the government be put in question.
An election not in the national interest? Not in the national-IST interest, more like it. Times are a-changing!
*Like*
In the course of my life, I have had to deal with three cases of narcissism and although I have no qualifications in psychiatry, this person is a prime example of it.
Normal people have limits to their behaviour since they have a modicum of relating to others. The narcissist has no empathy for others, not even for a doting mother who tries in vain to remonstrate.
The narcissist suffers because he has always been alone, autistically isolated by an incapacity to share emotions.
Tragically, there is no cure, and sadly still, one has to avoid narcissists as much as one can, compounding their isolation and paranoia.
So what if opinions change? JPO was your darling in 2008, actually your number 1 vote as per your declation.
Then he turned villain, then after the divorce referendum victory you said you don’t regret voting for him for the second time, but then, because of his One TV appearences, social company and Facebook comments, turned villan again, and now, since he intends voting for the government, hero again. So?
[Daphne – It’s the facts which change everything, Albert. People who learn new facts change their opinion accordingly. That would be people who don’t vote Labour. People who vote Labour tend not to change their opinion when new facts and situations emerge. And so they voted Labour in 1971, 1976, 1981, 1987, 1992, 1996, 1998, 2003, 2008, and now, 2012/13, despite the scenario changing dramatically along the way.
If I knew then what I found out about Jeffrey later – and here I’m talking mainly personality problems – I would have put a rocket under him not given him my vote. And I did not vote for him a second time. People who voted Yes in last year’s referendum voted for divorce legislation, not for Jeffrey Pullicino Orlando. Those who know me will tell you that once I have worked out what a person is, and decided I have no time for them, then that’s it. My view doesn’t change because people don’t change. They might change their attitude temporarily, but character is fixed and unchanging. Once an asshole, always an asshole.]
And the world may be going into another recession but WTF.
Francis Zammit Dimech and Jason Azzopardi were Stephen Calleja’s guests on Net yesterday evening.
They provided the much needed example of what standards politicians should follow, articulate, subtle, well mannered, humble and graceful.
Dropouts happen everywhere, it remains up to them to catch up and get back in.
I have lost count of how often I heard “Viva Malta”, “Bandiera tal Maltin”, “Qum Ja Poplu Gwejjed Qum” and ” Winds of Change” played 24/7 on ONE radio.
In the meantime Gorg Tad-Downuts has also been roped in as political observer and commentator.
On his morning show, he is busy inviting bright sparks like Taksfors Farrugia to impart the minute details of constitutional law in between the ganutell lesson and the teleshopping for Carnival costumes.
Kif tissaporti?
The perfect illustration of the enemy of my enemy is my friend.
And I am praying for Batman to come to our rescue and save us from both of them – that is, the Joker and the plonker who wrote about him.
Early warning signs were ignored.
Saviour’s accurate assessment of Franco is on the spot so, it begs the question (to Saviour): what changed since that television interview three years ago?
If Franco remained the same unpredictable self as described by him as a ‘Joker’, what has changed his stance with regards to Franco, giving him such attention?
Has the Joker by any chance, turned into an Ace or has Saviour changed into an Ass?
One thing is for sure, Lawrence Gonzi was never fooled, hence Franco remained a back bencher and never had a chance of becoming minister of anything.
This man was unbearable already three years ago when he met Saviour and he has had this personality problem since he was a child. I cannot understand how the PN accepted him as a candidate.
One News carried a piece Wednesday evening, stating categorically Malta is still facing issues with the EU commission regarding its deficit.
It did not report yesterday’s conclusions. Isn’t this blatant misinformation, diametrically opposed to the truth?
There’s lies, damned lies and Labour.
If it wasn’t going to be Franco it was probably going to be someone else.
The one-seat majority was already a hot topic for Labour in an attempt to downplay PN’s victory in the last election.
So the Franco Debono saga was an episode that was waiting to happen.
After the last election, the Prime Minister wanted to have fewer ministers which probably had its benefits. But in hindsight, it was not such a good idea because it made many back benchers unhappy.
If Franco was made minister some other back bencher would have surely complained heavily and might have taken the same route.
[Daphne – Franco was never going to be made minister. This is his first term in parliament, for heaven’s sake, and that’s quite apart from the fact that he was marked down as unfit for purpose almost immediately.]
JPO made a similar attempt early in the legislation and it took some time for him to be sedated.
[Daphne – Sedated? An interesting choice of word, and probably not entirely inappropriate, either.]
This should teach the country a lesson that a simple majority in an election is not enough.
In times like this, a coalition might have been more effective. Alternattiva Demokratika has a big part to play in all this If (!) they can manage to get a seat in Parliament.
it is you who are ridiculous purcinella.
Your beloved Gonzi is fleeing to Tunisia and Qatar on a country trip when the country is in mid-crisis. How can Gonzi go away at such times? Gonzi can run, but he cannot hide and his actions are bringing ridicule to his party.
Ah, Franco. You can run but you can’t hide.
Calling yourself ‘Gordon’ now, are you? That would be Gordon Pisani who attends cabinet meetings and you don’t.
It takes a lot to bring ridicule to the PN.
A “top student” with multiple delusions is trying very hard.
Manana.
Gonzi is right to go away. He was elected to work for this country and not to pander to the whims of one embittered wannabe minister.
We all know what the agenda of Malta Today is, but the hidden agenda at The Times is not that much different.
They even produced a picture of Kim il Sung today, to try to depict Gonzi as a dictator. The story about the PN parliamentary group meeting is spinned to depict Gonzi as a sort of dictator.
http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20120112/local/Only-sin-in-politics-is-to-criticise-the-Great-Leader-.401950
http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20120111/local/Early-election-could-draw-sympathy-votes.401842
http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20120111/local/It-s-business-as-usual-for-Labour.401844
No wonder this blog has reached 100,000+ hits.
The Malta Independent is also fair, but the published news are regularly one day behind.
[Daphne – They’re working on that. Live site coming soon.]
Daphne, I wonder what you said about Dr Debono in 2008, I am sure you changed your tune about him too, the same as Saviour Balzan of course.
[Daphne – I had no idea who he was or what he looked like, though I did take note of the tantrum he threw with the editor of The Sunday Times for failing to mention that he had unseated Louis Galea. And then I briefly registered that he was – is, actually – a jerk.]
Meta gie elett u qrajt dak l-artiklu kont staqsejt: “hawn biex se nghabbu?”
Apparently Dr Debono is very appropriately named. I came across the term “Franco Tiratore” mentioned by Charles Schembri in the Times comments.
I thought he made it up, but this is the definition on Wikipedia:
“Franco tiratore è una locuzione per definire un individuo che non segue i modi d’azione generalmente utilizzati dai componenti della schiera in cui milita e, invece, adotta un comportamento autonomo e imprevedibile, spesso fuori dai limiti imposti dalle convenzioni.”
http://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Franco_tiratore
It is the Italian definition of ‘a loose cannon’.
Very apt.
“Id-diskors ta’ Debono jagħti insight fuq il-psikoloġija tal-Membru Parlamentari Nazzjonalista fejn għalih l-ambizzjoni tieħu post ċentrali tal-ħidma politika tiegħu.” – Illum
http://www.illum.com.mt/2009/12/20/t8.html
Today’s latest news seems to indicate that the situation has beem temporarily defused.
The important thing now is to give the topic a break, hoping that all concerned will think of a way out of this impasse, and they all decide in favour of the wellbeing of our country.
We should all stop with the insinuations, mud-slinging and character assassination that has been going on, and here we must admit, that this blog was in the forefront in this respect.
[Daphne – Glad to be of service.]
After all, was he wrong in asking for the ministry of justice to be reformed?
[Daphne – Yes, Silvio, get this: he was wrong because the only reason he asked for the justice and interior portfolio to be split was so he could get to be justice minister. But then I forget that I’m talking to somebody who thinks that bribing to get a government contract is all right because ‘you have to do what you have to do for your business and your family and if that is the only option…’.]
Was he wrong in asking that we citizens, should have the help of lawyers, during interrogation?
[Daphne – Nobody was sitting around waiting for Franco Debono to say that, Silvio. It’s his revved-up self-publicity machine that has got you to think that way. And the fact is, we still don’t have lawyers during interrogation, but only before interrogation. I prefer to look at it another way: that if Franco Debono were a better politician, a better lobbyist, a better negotiator and a better diplomat, we would have had the whole thing and a lot sooner.]
Was he wrong in wanting something done on party financing?
[Daphne – Again, Silvio, yes – because the only reason he wants something done about it is because his thesis (the one almost marked as failed) was about just this, and he imagines that because he wrote a law thesis on it, then he would be put in charge. I’m not going to advise you to go through life asking the key question ‘why?’, because you need no life lessons from somebody a generation your junior, but people who ask ‘why?’ never say that Norman Lowell and Franco Debono have a point.]
Was he wrong about Arriva? Was he wrong about the increase in ministers’ salary?
[Daphne – Yes, because Arriva wasn’t about Arriva. It was about personal animosity. And yes again, because he only began objecting to the ministers’ salary now, after he realised that he wouldn’t be getting that salary himself after all.]
All these have been impemented by the Govt. So after all he was right.
[Daphne – No, he was not. His motivation negates the stated objective. If you cheat on your wife and buy her a diamond necklace out of guilt and she finds out why you bought it, she’ll fling it back at you. She won’t say, oh, but he was right to buy me a diamond necklace (which you would have been in other circumstances).]
Some might contend that the method he uses is wrong, and I agree, but after all everybody has his ( I can’t find the right word) I’LL call it Modus Operandi.
So let’s give the whole matter a break and let them find a way out in a civilised way.
Good luck Malta.
No Daphne, to be fair you should have put the emphasis on “if that is the ONLY option”.
No Daphine, if Franco was a better politician, a better lobbyist, a better negotiator, a better diplomat,he might have ended up as prime minister.
[Daphne – That can be said of everyone, Silvio. It can even be said of me, and of you.]
No Daphne, tt was gonzi who appointed him to draft a report on party financing.
[Daphne – To appease him like a child, Silvio, after he sent him thousands of text messages. And the prime minister isn’t the only one who was laid siege, too, either. Then when, as expected, the result was not up to scratch (they knew it wouldn’t be, and so they shouldn’t have given in), they had to get somebody else to do it and sent that report to GRECO instead. He failed to deliver, Silvio. When you deliver goods that are not up to scratch, that’s also failing to deliver.]
No Daphne, it was not personl animosinty that made him censor Austin Gatt. It just happened that the latter made such a mess of Arriva that Gonzi set up a task force within the OPM to fix things up.
[Daphne – You speak as though you know him, Silvio, but do you? Have you had to sit there and listen to him bang on like somebody with a breakdown for hours, as I have had to do? Well, I didn’t HAVE to, but I did, because it gave me useful insight into his character. Minutes into our conversation I knew already that he was not right in the head – not crazy, but certain effed up. As Saviour said, he was unbearable. Don’t ever make the mistake of attributing rational or altruistic motives to somebody that far gone.]
No Daphne, I am sure that as a woman yourself, you must admit that a diamond necklace is always a diamond necklace.
[Daphne – You are quite wrong, Silvio, once more, unless of course you are married to a whore or a doormat, which I am certain you are not.]
And if women were to ask their husbands where the money came from, most women would end up wearing costume jewellery.
[Daphne – Most women DO wear costume jewellery, Silvio, for the simple reason that it’s more fashionable than the real thing and, unlike the real thing, accessorises an outfit. Also, I hate to rub it in, given that you are a different generation, but women who work buy their own jewellery nowadays, and don’t depend on having it bought for them. That way, they get exactly what they want and they know that the person buying it has the right motives.]
As a man of “a different generation”, I know when to stop. I admire you so much and enjoy contributing to your blog, that I will stop here as I wouldn’t want to write anything that will, later, make me feel sorry.
But just one last salvo.
Have you ever seen the Queen’s diamond collection, mostly given to her as presents? I am sure you wouldn’t classify her as a “whore or a doormat”.
[Daphne – Her diamonds are her inheritance. And I did not say that women who accept diamonds are whores and diamonds. I said that no woman will accept a present of diamonds from a man as consolation for having cheated on her, unless she is a whore or a doormat, and will fling them back at him and tell him where to stuff them. That’s significantly different. And when I said that women wear costume jewellery nowadays because they prefer it, and that women who work buy their own jewellery (real or costume), I did not mean that women do not accept presents of jewellery, but that they no longer need men to buy it. And that too is different. Talk to any jeweller or diamond dealer who will tell you that women are now buying their own.]
We only had Franco Debono’s word that he was commissioned to write the report for submission to Greco.
He was asked to do the groundwork, which is an entirely different thing.
So, to keep him quiet, they asked him to pull together the various bits and pieces that had already been written about party financing and he translated that into something else entirely.
His report was probably a mess, and the quality of his research is open to question. But here’s the question that really intrigues me:
Did Franco Debono’s research include Joseph Muscat university thesis on party financing? It’s only three years older than Debono’s thesis on the same subject.
I am no fan of Saviour Balzan but what he wrote reflects my sentiments. Better late than never. At last more people are coming to terms what Franco is all about.
You’ve got it backwards. Franco Debono was unbearable in 2008. Now he’s Malta Today’s darling.
Not sure where to post this, but I just read the comment below on timesofmalta.com, posted beneath the story that confirms (as if such confirmation were needed!) that the PM’s visit to Tunisia and Qatar has been planned for a year or so.
At times like these I don’t know whether to laugh or flee this country.
“E VASSALLO
Today, 15:59
Gonzi PN par idejn sodi… li ma ghadhomx sodi…… qed jistenna li il-PL jaghmel il-pass tieghu u jsejjah ghal vot ta sfiducja halli mbghad nisimaw il-kantaliena tas-soltu…..tort tal-PL.
Kieku jien flok Joseph Muscat inhalliehom jghazzqu u jkissru l-pajjiz. Elezzjoni tasal fi zmienha u il-poplu jirrispondi bil-vot.”
Well, we must say that Saviour got it just right about Franco in 2008.
When he’s wrong, he’s wrong, and when he’s right – he changes his mind.
Typical Sav’.
Did you really expect any better of him?
He has a cheek calling Franco “unbearable”.
Pot. Kettle. Black.
http://loubondi.blogspot.com/2011/07/franco-cant-attack-himself.html
The photo in that blog sums up everything. Franco messed up his chances and has only himself to blame.
If he’s capable of logic and reason, which I’m sure he is, it will have to sink in.
http://loubondi.blogspot.com/2011/11/franco-is-suffering.html
Any more updates on the suffering of Franco Debono? Maybe somebody has deprived him of VIP tickets again? I wonder how he is suffering more now than he did under a Labour government.
Fortunately I was born under a Nationalist government.