So far out to lunch that he’s not coming back
Things have gone beyond a joke and if his next of kin don’t call a doctor, they’re going to look back and regret this time when they let him self-destruct in an excruciatingly public spectacle that will end up causing severe damage even to his legal career.
At the moment the Labour Party is operating on the assumption that Franco Debono has resigned from the Nationalist Party and so no longer holds his seat under the party whip. This is because Franco himself said to Norman Hamilton that he had resigned.
He said it again to The Times today.
But apparently he hasn’t resigned at all, because this afternoon he’s been talking about contesting the general election on the Nationalist ticket – but only if the party obeys him and changes its leader.
This when on Super One he said that there is no need for the party to change the leader because the prime minister doesn’t have to be the party leader and can be any other MP – preferably him, no doubt – and that it’s up to the President of the Republic to decide.
Now his burnt-out mind has jumped again, and he’s saying that he will refuse to be a Nationalist candidate for the upcoming general election if Gonzi is party leader.
Refuse? Who told him he’s wanted? If somebody did, they should be shot.
“It’s obvious that I will not be a candidate under Gonzi,” he told The Times.
Ah yes, Franco – but that’s because you are going to be deselected, whether you wish to contest or not.
It’s odd, isn’t it, and so indicative of just how out to lunch he is, that he actually thinks it’s his choice whether to stand on the Nationalist Party ticket or not.
He probably also thinks that this latest declaration of his has sent them all into another huddle, brainstorming on how to persuade Franco to be a candidate.
What they’re probably brainstorming about is how to deal with the fall-out when he’s told that he’s not going to be allowed to contest, though what they really want to do is slot a suitably shaped rocket into the seat of his pants and blast it off.
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inkontri
Jiehdu sehem fil programm Inkontri ta Nhar it Tnejn li gej bis suggett: Pajjizna ghandu Bzonn Stabbilita:
Karmenu Vella MP
Franco Debono MP
Toni Zarb GWU
William Portelli MUBE
Lino Briguglio ekonomista
Alfred Mifsud ekonomista
Where’s John Dalli?
Here he is, waiting for the best time. Do not worry, his best friend Saviour will let everyone know.
https://twitter.com/#!/johndalii/following
In his Brussels “prison”, perhaps?
From one of Franco’s supporters, the one and only Manu Maltes (on maltatoday):
Posted by: Emanuel Cini— 09/01/2012 19:07:03
Dear Franco. Take no notice of that hideous witch!!! Everyone knows she is mad though she can hurt…just remember Dangerous Liaisons-” the pain is like the shame. You only feel it once”. She will rot in her own skin like a snake unable to shed its skin forever!!!
[Daphne – Yawn.]
Emanuel Cini can’t take his mind off that big ‘linfa’ he thinks Debono has.
He might even use the excuse that the Party deselected him as a basis to seek political asylum in Italy.
Political asylum? He’d end up in a Lampedusa compound.
There’s a different kind of asylum where he’d probably be better off.
If Dr.Gonzi decides to call an election, I expect all this attention being given to Debono will stop.
Guess why?
Because Dalli will announce his come back and he is a more juicy topic.
[Daphne – No, Silvio. It will stop because he will no longer be a news topic, as he will no longer be a candidate. He will have made himself irrelevant. As for John Dalli – how sad. There comes a time to relinquish your unfulfilled dreams.]
Dalli who?
All those with high personal ambitions are not needed in the Party, Dalli, JPO, Mugliett, Debono and some others. We need to vote only for those candidates who are loyal, the likes of David Agius, Charlo, Tonio, Carm, Demarco, Beppe, Austin, Gorg, Peter, and so on, we have quite a lot,
The list is so long we don’t even have to vote for all the candidates on the ballot paper. After all even those who voted numer 5 for Franco ‘vavu’ Debono have contributed to his being elected.
Agreed.
Coincidentally, just around some 20 minutes before this was published, I seriously thought about how Debono has become a man of contradictions of the highest order. In my blog, I argued that practically all that he has said, along the line, could be contradicted by other statements of his along the way.
And then they say that Gonzi is a man of U-turns. Franco Debono seems to commit one every single time he speaks.
Typical bipolar traits.
On another note, on Malta Today:
“Franco Debono today also hit out at the mischaracterisation of him and his girlfriend in the blog of Independent columnist Daphne Caruana Galizia, by telling The Times that a government minister had employed his mistress with his ministry.
“I am not married. I have a girlfriend. So what? Should one comment about a situation where someone has his wife at home while using some ministry to employ his girlfriend?” he said.”.
Why does the reporter assume that that “someone” need necessarily be a Minister?
[Daphne – Franco just doesn’t get it, does he. Our observations are merely about the fact that he prefers to live with his mother rather than with his girlfriend.]
I am surprised that so far the Honourable Debono has not yet compared himself with Jesus, the Son of God Himself, who, as recorded in the Holy Scriptures, lived in His Mother’s house until He was in his 30s.
How could he ever contemplate living with his girlfriend? He got a 100 in religion 25 years ago, for goodness’ sake!
I am more than convinced that nobody in the PN is sick enough to ever even contemplate asking Debono to stand on the party ticket.
His political career is over and done with, and without him realising it he has galvanised the party’s old guard into action.
Nobody, least of all Franco Debono, has the right to hijack the party which flourished in the face of all adversity.
It is not GonziPN but the Partit Nazzjonalista which is being threatened by this maverick, and he can rest assured that there is no way in heaven or hell that he is going to get his way and dictate the way forward.
He needs to come to terms with the fact that when he was sitting for his St Aloysius College secondary school exams or giving his Christmas sermon we were fighting for democratic rule.
One of the standards of democracy is that if you are elected on a party ticket you must respect it and your colleagues. If you come into serious disagreement with the party, then you resign and let your seat be taken by somebody else.
Well, I feel that it is not GonziPN and not even the Partit Nazzjonalista that are being threatened but me as living mortal on this bloody island, which at all cost do not want to see any socialist party in government. By my yardstick, nothing good has ever been done by socialists.
Has anyone noticed Joseph Muscat’s declaration i.e. “would not go down the populist route and may take decisions which some could disagree with, but it was ready to do so for the sake of the country.”
Initially I thought that we were seeing another, more mature face of Joseph Muscat or that (most likely) not ready for an election.
But then, it suddenly dawned on me – the European Presidency of 2017.
If the election is held now, Joe Muscat will either not be the Prime Minister in 2017 (a somewhat early election) or the election would be held during Malta’s presidency. If the election is held next year, and he becomes prime minister, then he is assured to be prime minister during the first semester of 2017.
And this thought frightened me even more, as this way, it would confirm what is already very apparent, Joe Muscat and Franco Debono are two of a kind.
I have got the same impression: Joseph Muscat is not so keen on an early election. I don’t know whether it has to do with the EU Presidency; my feeling was that he’s not prepared for an electoral campaign and even less prepared to govern.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mania
Grazzi Franco talli gielt lil prim ministru jifred il-ministeru tal-gustizja minn dak ta l-intern ghax konnha ghaddejin minn dbatijiet kbar hafna.
Franco may be having a nervous breakdown and may be severely depressed and possibly crying out for help and really should be helped because he is at risk of self-harm.
His erratic behaviour would be typical of severe depression.
He needs compassion at this moment and not derision.
This is not a time for political advantage or cheap jokes. His colleagues should help him discreetly and not abandon him.
I should know because I was there and it’s no fun going through a nervous breakdown, and the last thing I needed was to be derided by my colleagues.
For heaven’s sake, someone just sit him down, calm him down and find out what’s really bothering him. It is likely to be totally unrelated to his work. Give him a break, Daphne.
[Daphne – If you want my honest opinion, I think he’s actually worried about money. He seems to have debt-related stress and is ‘acting out’ in a separate arena.]
Where did this money thing pop out out from? Are you privy to something?
Lino, Franco Debono would deserve sympathy if he resigned and sought help. Whatever he’s suffering from, he’s involving the rest of us – the entire country – in his problems. Why should we give him a break?
Franco Debono thinks he still has the option of contesting the next election on the PN ticket.
There you have the diagnosis on a plate.
If I were Gonzi I wouldn’t deselect Franco as a candidate in the next election. I would let him suffer the humiliation of seeing his personal votes plummet next to nothing.
“What they’re (The PN) probably brainstorming about is how to deal with the fall-out when he’s told that he’s not going to be allowed to contest, though what they really want to do is slot a suitably shaped rocket into the seat of his pants and blast it off.”
I think we have a lift off!
http://www.maltatoday.com.mt/en/newsdetails/news/national/Reprimanded-candidates-in-full-view-at-Marsaxlokk-rally-20120109
“The aspiring candidates whom the PN publicly ‘reprimanded’ as not being “approved candidates” – Hermann Schiavone and Manuel Delia – were visibly present on Sunday, with Schiavone accompanying the Prime Minister on a tour of Marsaxlokk outlets, and triumphantly clasping Delia’s hand.”
Here’s the footage: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eBJAuUyia04
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u4T86DgHdHg&sns=em
Franco Debono forms his own party:
http://bisserjeta.hsara.com/2012/01/franco-debono-forms-his-own-party/
“Out to Lunch” is the title of a song by Eddie + Hot Rods, from the album “Thriller” and it’s bloody appropriate. The chorus goes “so don’t you bother talking if you’re only talking sense, I haven’t understood a single word that you have said”.
I have always maintained that Malta’s smallness is a two-edged sword: the downside is that in a small society, you only have to beat a few rivals to rise to the top and this is clearly Franco’s motivation.
For some reason though, he suddenly decided that his progress was not fast enough for such a talented individual. Seeing he was so good at history, I’m surprised that he never realised that success in politics usually goes to those who play the long game.
Come what may, Franco will be consigned to the dustbin of history in a few weeks’ time.
Looks like Joseph will get his chance sooner than he thought, and possibly, sooner than he wants.
I actually pity the man. He is obviously in a manic state: fighting with everyone, thinks that he has the majority of Nationalist MPs’ approval thus making him the obvious choice for a PM, thinks that people in his district are all ecstatic to have him as representative etc.
He’s not thinking clearly.
I really think that he needs someone who cares enough for him to take him to a psychiatrist. He needs one.
Ic-cucata hi li qed inbatu kollha mieghu. Ghalkemm nahseb li jekk in-Nazzjonalisti jilghabu l-karti tajjeb ghall-elezzjoni, ghandu mnejn din l-storja juzawha favurihom..