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I don't think Gerry Adams really thought your question was stupid. What he was telling you as the 麻豆官网首页入口 NI's political editor was, I think, you know better than to try and provoke me into giving an answer to questions that I alone cannot answer at this time. You asked the same question twice which irritated him. Next time you interview William McCrea would you ask him, was he sick to his stomach when he sat beside Billy Wright and applauded all his anti Catholic and anti Irish rhetoric?

Mark,

The person who said, "There is no such thing as a stupid question" was Moses, as he tried to find his way out of the desert. It is in the Bible.

Keep on asking "stupid questions". it is every journalists' duty and right. Lectures from Gerry, or indeed his new best friend Ian, on the duties and responsibilities of journalists ought to be filed in the cabinet under "d" (for "drivel" and right next to "disappeared" and "dinosaurs").

I enjoyed your interview last night on 麻豆官网首页入口 Newsline almost as much as I enjoyed the sight of Northern Ireland fans dazed by a second famous victory. Not that even that would leave nornirlanders speechless.

Prof. Colum Kenny,
School of Communications,
Dublin City University.

Hi Mark I seen your interview with Gerry and he is very childish in his comments to you. When will Gerry and his MP's sit in westminister? What is the point of the electorate voting Sinn Fein whenever they dont represent their voters in westmininster?

Mark

Irrespective of the merits of your question to Gerry there's no doubt he gave you a stupid and vacuous answer. Great to see him squirm!

Susie Flood

Mark:

I used many search engines on the internet and could not find out if 'there is such a thing as a stupid question' is an actual quotation.

However, I agree with Prof Colum Kenny. Keep asking 'stupid' questions; but there are many of those MLAs who could not answer an intelligent one!

Mark

another stupid question....
If the highly principled Jim Allister saw his way to resigning his european seat - which he would never have won nor could ever retain without the DUP tag - would there be a bye-election? .. or is there a DUP substitute sitting waiting for Allister to do the decent thing?

Mark - an oppertunity missed:

You should have said to Gerry that you would stop asking stupid questions if he stopped giving stupid answers!

To answer the question at the bottom of this post, I believe the full quote is, "There's no such thing as stupid questions, just stupid people." Or at least, such was the full quote from an episode of either the first or second season of South Park, as spoken by the teacher, the then-Mr. Garrison.

By the way, yes, I am American, but I hope the light-heartedness of my response gives you all the sense that I'm not keeping my finger on the pulse of Northern Ireland politics right now. I will say, though, that if it was the blogger's intent to use the full version of that quote that I mentioned, I don't think that Gerry Adams is a stupid person at all. I do think that it's a bit screwy that the IRA is disarmed but not disbanded, but maybe that's just me.

This may be a stupid question, but why isn't there as much outcry over the unionist militias that have yet to disarm?

I like that you put Gerry on the spot I think it was a straightforward and simple question. He was clearly unprepared. I agree with Andy too however, why is there no pressure on the unionist politicians to pressure their own paramilitaries to disarm and disband? They have been getting away with murder literally.

I would be inclined to agree with Kevin Sullivans post , and do think that the media should give things a chance to shake out ,as events clearly cought everyone by surprise including many politicians ,and political pundits .

Hi Andy Post:

If you wish to know about arms decommissioning of the paramilitaries, I refer you to the IICD Report of 19 January 2006. You can find this Report by going to www.nio.gov.uk/decommissioning - under Publications "Report of the Independent International Commission on Decommissioning - 19 January 2006.

I for one, know there are stupid questions, stupid people, stupid answers and stupid comments. Hopefully, I'm not boring you with stupiditym but here goes:

I am an American of Irish decent. Not an "Green" or an "Orange", but a "Brown" (green and orange combined; a mix of Catholic/Protestant. I don't give a ... darn if communion is the actual body and blood of Christ or is just symbolic. I love the English, I want a United Ireland, and I think all Irish Isle para-military psycho-punks twits should "off" themselves so as to protect the innocent or better yet, let them volunteer for a tour of duty in Iraq to get their fill of blood, guts, savagery and terror!!!!

Surely what irritated Mr Adams was the question's pertinence, not its stupidity. Yes, journalists have responsibilities, as Mark D. noted in his televised comments a few days ago, but these responsibilities include the duty to ask searching questions. This is particularly the case where there is effectively no significant 'opposition', in the conventional parliamentary sense.
This is not the first time in recent weeks that the mask has slipped of Gerry Adams as measured statesman - his response to a youthful questioner from the studio audience recently on 麻豆官网首页入口 1 descended likewise to an unfortunate level of verbal thuggery. Not unlike that honed to perfection by his new colleagues in the DUP, in fact. Perhaps he's been taking lessons, in the spirit of togetherness and unity of purpose.
But it is the journalist's job to ask questions, and the politician's to answer them - or not. The irony here is that had Mr Adams' response been more measured, less attention would have been drawn to the issue. As it is, we now know that we should watch that space very closely for further developments.
Have a good break, Mark, and when you return ... more stupid questions, please.

What is a war council? In the US and UK it may be a highly secretive group of 'thinkers' in some underground vault. 'Where should we drop the bombs now?' IRA doesn't play that game anymore...is the game of chess a terrorist activity because the board consists of territory, a king, a queen, and pawns. Some matches are won, some lost, others are called a draw.