Biffo the boozer? Five hammered politicians that put Cowen to shame

If you thought tipsy Taoiseach Brian Cowen’s possibly drunk interview was embarrassing yesterday, rest assured that plenty of nations have suffered worse over the years.

By Emmet Purcell

So, was he or wasn’t he? The debate over whether or not Taoiseach Brian Cowen was drunk as a skunk on yesterday’s RTÉ ‘Morning Ireland’ continues, with several brainless news outlets already referring to the event as ‘Drunk-gate’. Yes, Biffo’s boozing is now big enough to warrant a Watergate comparison.

Yet despite the issue of whether Mr Cowen was ‘hoarse’ (his words) or ‘halfway between drunk and hungover’ (Fine Gael’s Simon Coveney’s words), the Taoiseach would not be the first global leader to have been accused of being on the sauce when he was meant to be on message for a public appearance. We’re not suggesting any of the below politicians are completely hammered, mainly because we fear the lawsuits, so we’ll just recommend that you have a look and judge for yourselves.

1. French president Nicolas Sarkozy at the 2007 G8 Conference

This is what happens when you try keep up with the Russians at the G8 conference. You know Russian President Medvedev will be there, getting shooed around the place by Berlusconi, so don’t even try to keep up with that lot. Yet in 2007, Sarkozy decided to go to lunch with former Russian President Vladimir Putin, and immediately apologised for his late appearence. Sarkozy later attributed his breathlessness to having ran to get to the appearence asap. Have a look at him clinging onto his podium for dear life above and see if you can find any fault with Nicolas’ excuse.

2. Sha Zukang Vs. the UN – 2009 and 2010

China’s top-ranking UN diplomat Sha Zukang got into a tizzy with UN officials last week in the Swiss Alpine resort town of Alpbach. Before taking the stage, Sha warned “wine affected me a little…I want to say something that’s on my mind” before letting rip. Sha focused much of his drunken vitriol towards American UN official Bob Orr, remarking, “I really don’t like him: he’s an American and I really don’t like Americans.”

The bad boy of the UN, Sha is no stranger to controversy, as you can see from the 2009 clip above. While we have no footage of last week’s tirade, and no proof that the above rant was under the influence, it’s still worth a watch purely for the line “I know… that I am offending everyone, which I do not care.”

3. Shoichi Nakagawa at the G7 Summit 2009

Just what exactly do politicians get up to at their G7/G8 summits in the first place? Former Japanese Finance Minister Nakagawa made a fool of himself in 2009 with his above drunken performance, though he later claimed that his drowsiness and slurred speech were as a result of taking too much cold medicine before his meeting took place. Not a bad excuse, that.

Despite calls for his resignation by opposition parties at the time, Nakagawa did not immediately resign from his post. Sadly, the former Minister passed away in October 2009 at the age of 56 after suffering from alcohol addiction for much of life. Hmm, suddenly this article isn’t quite the fun idea we had originally figured it might be…

4. Minister Michel Daerden in the Belgian Parliament

No, we can’t imagine a jollier political drunk either. Minister Daerden’s love of alchohol has led to the current Belgian Federal Minister for Pensions and Big Cities to be referred to as the ‘Gainsbourgh of Belgian politics’, by himself, naturally. We especially enjoyed Daerden’s above performance because he seems so eager to please and crack wise while everyone else around him is trying to go about their business. He’s hammered, he’s shameless – he’s Michel Daerden. Give that man a reality TV show.

5. Barack Obama in Charlotte, North Carolina

Okay fine, the Barack video is nothing more than clever video editing but be honest – wouldn’t this be a much better version of the slightly anodyne US president? Chatting up the ladies in the audience, becoming paranoid over his political enemies, slurring his speech – have a look at the much more fun Obama above. According to one YouTube viewer, however, this video is indeed doctored – the actual footage was much worse and contained prolonged bouts of unapologetic flatulence.

And finally…

Who could forget this joker? The only politician whose penchant for alcohol warrants numerous YouTube montages. Boris Yeltsin, take it away..