Well, Garth has packed it in. While the government dithered away, not reaching any solution and re-offering the same silly compromises—three concerts now, two in October, or back to the matinees, or why not settle for three—the singer finally made a definitive move. The moment he did the entire country seemed to turn on him, calling his demands blackmail, sputtering about how he has walked away from his fans. Suddenly the country is clear of blame and free of conscience. Must be nice.

 

More residue from this debacle: Turns out that the infamous Brian, he of the injunction, was backed by the Ulster Volunteer Force, a Unionist organization from Northern Ireland that despises the GAA and looks for any way to crush its momentum. Brian, in fact, doesn’t even live in Croke Park. In addition to the UVF paying all legal fees, some unnamed person from Cork paid Brian €15,000 to take up the lawsuit. 

 

All of this, Garth, the UVF, the Mexican Ambassador, the White House, Brian, the luckless Minister of whatever he minsters to in the government, the Prime Minister, the government itself, the wags with the wicked commentary, all of this rolled on for nearly two weeks of primetime news. I doubt Jon Stewart himself could have woven such a pointedly absurd set of circumstances.