No wonder he gets on so well with Max Mosely

[Derek]

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/spo...cle6633340.ece

Bernie Ecclestone, the Formula One chief, said yesterday that he preferred totalitarian regimes to democracies and praised Adolf Hitler for his ability to “get things done”.

[TheDaddy]

Presumably he means before he 'went nuts' and dragged the World to war and murdered millions, even then he is talking crap, Adolf took either existing or planned Weimar policies and dressed them up as his own and his fat little mate couldn't even get the trains to run on time either.

How did such a plank ever become a billionaire head of a global sport, the mind boggles.

[BBKing]

Apart from anything else, Hitler's ability was almost entirely in his own mind - whenever he directly intervened with anything managerially he made it worse.

If Ecclestone had said Albert Speer it might have actually demonstrated that he knew what he was talking about, but instead he's demonstrating that he's a prat.

Mind you, it explains why he liked Tony Blair's style.

[TheNorm]

It looks like he was trying to make a valid point:

In an outspoken interview with The Times, the 78-year-old billionaire chastised contemporary politicians for their weakness and extolled the virtues of strong leadership.

I'm constantly amazed at how often politicians go weak at the knees at some tabloid headlines.

Originally Posted by TheDaddy

...How did such a plank ever become a billionaire head of a global sport, the mind boggles.

By having the virtue of strong leadership, presumably.

[Kymmy]

Is it strong leadership on his part...or just plain stubborness??

[BBKing]

Hitler wasn't a strong leader, though, so he's just demonstrating that he doesn't actually know what he's talking about, unless he thinks a strong leader is someone who doesn't listen to anybody, which explains the current state of F1.

[Osem]

Originally Posted by BBKing

... unless he thinks a strong leader is someone who doesn't listen to anybody, which explains the current state of F1.

sounds familiar...

[Horace]

I pretty much agree with him on Saddam, only the future will tell if it ends up being the right decision but I suspect anarchy and violence will prevail in Iraq for many years to come. Saddam ruled with an iron fist but when you have so many factions willing to kill themselves and their own that's how it has to be. Some countries just aren't ready for democracy.

“Politicians are too worried about elections,” he said. “We did a terrible thing when we supported the idea of getting rid of Saddam Hussein. He was the only one who could control that country. It was the same [with the Taleban]. We move into countries and we have no idea of the culture. The Americans probably thought Bosnia was a town in Miami. There are people starving in Africa and we sit back and do nothing but we get involved in things we should leave alone.”