The FF Mafia

johnnyskeleton

I think that if FF were kept out of power for 20 years they would lose all of their support, or at least the kind of support they get in its current form.

They are the party of power. If you believe in something you join the other parties. If you want to get ahead in your career, get the potholes fixed or have a pint with your local TD etc you join FF. Of course, the other parties ape FF and when they do get into power briefly they appoint their own men, but they are never in power for very long so FF come back again.

They also have much tighter control over their parliamentary party than the other parties. Do you think that if there was a Bruton style heave in FF demanding that Lenny become Taoiseach that Cowen would have fought him in public? Hell no. They would have gone off into a conclave and then both would come out saying that they support Cowen's continued leadership/a fresh new leadership under the experienced minister of finance as appropriate.

However, on a point about the other parties not having any policies, the big problem here is that people will not vote for a party which has policies. Supposing everyone in Ireland realised that what was needed is a 10bn cuts package, dramatically reducing welfare, state services and public sector pay. If everyone knew this, they still wouldn't vote for anyone who said that they'd actually do it. Furthermore, if the opposition parties do come up with good ideas, the minute they say them out loud FF will steal them and call them their own. So people are happy to accept the lie that FF trot out which is that the minimal cuts they have already made are "tough decisions" and that the other parties would implement harsher/softer cuts, depending on what audience they are addressing.

Shea O'Meara

So Callely is officially a fraudster. Will the mob cut ties?:rolleyes: