How much will the Pearse Doherty Factor influence the outcome of the general election

56lcd

Like him or loathe him Pearse Doherty has become the darling of many of the disgruntled low paid workers in Ireland.
Doherty has got the X Factor, people that would have never contemplated voting for sinn fein will do so now because of Pearse Doherty's media performance.
Prior to Mr Doherty arriving on the scene sinn fein were going nowhere with their ultra-left wing ideas.
The guy oozes charisma and is a very confident speaker, women from all party affiliations are going weak at the knees everytime he appears on TV.

People are talking about how Pearse Doherty put the fine gaelers,the failers and labour in their place on frontline.

Doherty and sinn fein are telling diaffected voters what they want to hear, people don't want to hear that they have to pay for what the fianna fail/green government did to this country.

In my humble opinon the Pearse Doherty factor will have a major influence on the outcome of this election.
Doherty has become the acceptable face of sinn fein with no obvious links to terrorism/bank raids etc.
I think many people that have become disgusted with fianna fail's antics will vote sinn fein, many left leaning labour voters will vote sinn fein.
Doherty will have the highest personal vote of any candidate in the election and could it be possible that sinn fein will run a 2nd candidate in Donegal south-west.
How long will it be before Pearse Doherty replaces Gerry Adams as sinn fein's leader.
Make no mistake politicial affiliations are changing and sinn fein could well be the 2nd largest party after the forthcoming election.

The Volt

Not that much. People will see through SF's nonsensical economic policies and look North to see how they've handled being in power. Sure, they'll win maybe 10 seats but that's it.

d'Oracle

I heard him on the radio this morning and Eamonn Ryan more or less lamped him around.

Which says it all really.

Its grand to sound great on frontline, but in the cold light of day, if your economic policies are fairy stories you will get pulled apart.

johngalway

56lcd wrote: »

The guy oozes charisma and is a very confident speaker

Bertie Ahern TD.

Uriel.

It is my belief (in the absence of reform in how we elect and manage the Dáil and national governance) that we need to look at voting for parties now rather than specific candidates. Deputy Doherty might be charismatic, intelligent, capable etc... but what are his (his party's) policies. Policies are (should be) the driving factor here not social networking/likability capabilities

gcgirl

johngalway wrote: »

Bertie Ahern TD.

Berti made a show of Ireland whenever he opened his mouth

Chucky the tree

gcgirl wrote: »

Berti made a show of Ireland whenever he opened his mouth

So that's how he was so poplar? Bertie was an excellent public speaker in that he came across very well to Joe Average and was seen to be "one of us" as it where. Doherty is very good at making populist BS speeches like the budget one at the Dail, the problem he'll have is when he goes into debates and how he handles having SF economic polcies torn apart because anyone with even the most basic of knowledge will easily be able to do it. Bertie came off worse when he faced Michael Noonan in the pre election debates in 2002 but then alot of people didn't really care about politics so he got away with it. The problem now is people have taken a much bigger interest in it for obvious reasons and when they'll see Doherty getting torn apart on his parties economic policies they won't consider a vote for SF.

Pete_Cavan

He made a fool of himself and his party last night on Prime Time. He complained about the USC and then it was pointed out to him that his party are looking to raise twice as much money in taxes than FF (€4.5bn compared to €2bn). Clearly there would be a lot more taxes introduced if his party was in power.

They want to default on our loans and bailout and when asked how would we fund the state considering we already have a €19bn deficit between income and expenditure, Doherty said use the National Treasury Management Fund. Of course he was told this would only cover us for this year and the obvious question of how do we raise money next year was asked of him. His response was to go back to the bond markets. Hand on a minute, we are going to take €20bn off these guys, default on that so we dont pay them back, then go to them again 12 months later and look for another loan. That is not an economics policy, that is a farce.

Get Pearse on the tele talking economics as much as possible, he will do them more harm than good. If this lot are running the country it would truly be a case of the lunatics running the asylum.

d'Oracle

Charisma isn't an important skill in government.

I am sick to death saying this.
A Ferrari still looks great without an engine.

danbohan

Chucky the tree wrote: »

So that's how he was so poplar? Bertie was an excellent public speaker in that he came across very well to Joe Average and was seen to be "one of us" as it where. Doherty is very good at making populist BS speeches like the budget one at the Dail, the problem he'll have is when he goes into debates and how he handles having SF economic polcies torn apart because anyone with even the most basic of knowledge will easily be able to do it. Bertie came off worse when he faced Michael Noonan in the pre election debates in 2002 but then alot of people didn't really care about politics so he got away with it. The problem now is people have taken a much bigger interest in it for obvious reasons and when they'll see Doherty getting torn apart on his parties economic policies they won't consider a vote for SF.

Bertie was an excellent public speaker in that he came across very well to Joe Average and was seen to be "one of us" as it where


maybe in ballymun etc , to the rest of us ie the great majority of the population who live outside dublin he was an embarrassment

Uriel.

d'Oracle wrote: »

Charisma isn't an important skill in government.

I am sick to death saying this.
A Ferrari still looks great without an engine.

I think it is important to a point. Though definitely not THE priority factor.

Forgetting policies and political standpoint for a moment. If Eamon Gilmore and Enda Kenny swapped places I think you would see a big difference in the polls between FG and Labour (i.e. FG I expect would have a higher margin of support over Labour than they currently have) - solely on the basis of the public perception of the leaders involved.

Chucky the tree

danbohan wrote: »

Bertie was an excellent public speaker in that he came across very well to Joe Average and was seen to be "one of us" as it where


maybe in ballymun etc , to the rest of us ie the great majority of the population who live outside dublin he was an embarrassment

So how did FF get so many seats in the country? Maybe if the country boys weren't such fans of parish politics then we wouldn't be in this mess.

d'Oracle

Uriel. wrote: »

I think it is important to a point. Though definitely not THE priority factor.

Forgetting policies and political standpoint for a moment. If Eamon Gilmore and Enda Kenny swapped places I think you would see a big difference in the polls between FG and Labour (i.e. FG I expect would have a higher margin of support over Labour than they currently have) - solely on the basis of the public perception of the leaders involved.

And that is the problem.
It is important, but it shouldn't be.
I want to live in a country where having an irritating voice is considered less important than policies, convictions and leadership ability.

As it stands, Enda Kennys voice and delivery (and possibly his freaky blue lips in the posters) seem to be of more significance than his ability to lead a party/government.
That is foolish and I don't like it.

The Volt

d'Oracle wrote: »

And that is the problem.
It is important, but it shouldn't be.
I want to live in a country where having an irritating voice is considered less important than policies, convictions and leadership ability.

As it stands, Enda Kennys voice and delivery (and possibly his freaky blue lips in the posters) seem to be of more significance than his ability to lead a party/government.
That is foolish and I don't like it.

Same can be said for Joan Burton

d'Oracle

Indeed.

Enda has better manners by comparison, but that is immaterial to the discussion.

The Volt

d'Oracle wrote: »

Indeed.

Enda has better manners by comparison, but that is immaterial to the discussion.

Except for when making racist comments about an assasinated PM of course

Chucky the tree

Voltwad wrote: »

Same can be said for Joan Burton

The problem with Joan Burton is she comes across terribly but also doesn't seem to have any economic polcies to get us back on her feet. The other night this is what she said

We are in the business of solutions for people and the businesses in this country who are not working and the way to get a solution is to have a general election and a fresh government

A fresh government is the solution? That's the best she can come up with?

d'Oracle

Voltwad wrote: »

Except for when making racist comments about an assasinated PM of course

I'm sorry, I was talking about media appearances and debating, in focus her recent performance on "Vincent Browns Political Car Crash".

I'm afraid I don't get the reference.
Can you explain?

d'Oracle

Chucky the tree wrote: »

A fresh government is the solution? That's the best she can come up with?

Given that a significant part of the problem is a lack of political/governmental talent in the party which has been in power for donkeys years, A fresh Government is a bloody good start.

The Volt

Chucky the tree wrote: »

The problem with Joan Burton is she comes across terribly but also doesn't seem to have any economic polcies to get us back on her feet. The other night this is what she said




A fresh government is the solution? That's the best she can come up with?

Under Burton's advice Labour fully opposed the bank guarantee. Before that, she warned Lenihan that he would lead the IMF into Ireland and he laughed at her at the time.

Lenihan - Incompetent, never got anything right.
Noonan - No thanks. The job he did when he was Minister for Health doesn't inspire any confidence in him.
Doherty - I've stated already in this thread that their economic policies are nonsensical.

While Labour have not been completely clear about the full extent of their economic policies, I expect to see that clarified in their manifesto. Included in that will be the higher bracket of tax and hopefully something that will go after tax evaders.

The Volt

d'Oracle wrote: »

I'm sorry, I was talking about media appearances and debating, in focus her recent performance on "Vincent Browns Political Car Crash".

I'm afraid I don't get the reference.
Can you explain?

Today's Guardian resurfaced this story http://m.guardian.co.uk/uk/2002/sep/15/world.race?cat=uk&type=article

Chucky the tree

d'Oracle wrote: »

Given that a significant part of the problem is a lack of political/governmental talent in the party which has been in power for donkeys years, A fresh Government is a bloody good start.

So a Sinn Fein government would be a bloody good start?

Voltwad wrote: »

Under Burton's advice Labour fully opposed the bank guarantee. Before that, she warned Lenihan that he would lead the IMF into Ireland and he laughed at her at the time.

Lenihan - Incompetent, never got anything right.
Noonan - No thanks. The job he did when he was Minister for Health doesn't inspire any confidence in him.
Doherty - I've stated already in this thread that their economic policies are nonsensical.

While Labour have not been completely clear about the full extent of their economic policies, I expect to see that clarified in their manifesto. Included in that will be the higher bracket of tax and hopefully something that will go after tax evaders.

FG policies are there for all to see though. It doesn't say much for Labour when they are pushing so hard for an election yet they don't know what there policies will be yet.

Bottle_of_Smoke

The Pearse Doherty effect is going to be countered by the Gerry Adams effect.

He's just not as sharp as he was 15 years ago. Compare him in the 1994 late late show interview when economics was off the table and he's a shell of a man now.

People are making comparisons to the Bertie effect. Yes I know people here think Bertie is an embarrassment but realisticly he was charasmatic and no doubt had a major impact on FF returning so many TDs. However Fianna Fail also had others people like. Willie O'Dea for example. Again I know people here don't like him but in interviews he comes across as if he's sensible, charismatic and knows what he's talking about to a lot of the electorate Brian Lenihan, Michael Martin, Mary Hanafin the same.

SF only have one Pearse Doherty. The others who get most publicity are

Adams - Now a laughing stock over the recent radio interview, people think he's clueless. Will win seat in Louth because he's likable and its a republican stronghold but will damage SF nationwide.

McDonald - Has failed too many times, people see her as a through and through careerist. Only 50:50 chance she'll get elected

Ferris - The main reason people nationwide won't even consider voting Sinn Fein due to the Jerry McCabe killers incident.

I'm sticking some money on them to get 6/7 seats. At 10/1 its quite the bargain.

d'Oracle

Chucky the tree wrote: »

So a Sinn Fein government would be a bloody good start?

No.

I thought this was a serious conversation.

Additionally, If fianna fail were in government then it would not be a fresh government and it would not be a good start.

GSF

Doherty repels as many as he attracts. I thought Olivia O'Leary on yesterdays Drivetime had the measure of him.

sollar

Bottle_of_Smoke wrote: »

The Pearse Doherty effect is going to be countered by the Gerry Adams effect.

That is exactly as i said (2nd post) but it was deleted for some mysterious reason??

If gerry throws himself head first into the economic discussions he will undo all pearse's goodwill.

Chucky the tree

d'Oracle wrote: »

No.

I thought this was a serious conversation.

Additionally, If fianna fail were in government then it would not be a fresh government and it would not be a good start.

It is. I just find it strange how Labour can be considered a good thing for a fresh government when no one knows what there economic policies are, for all we know they might be worse then SF's. Although I'll admit that's unlikely.

Chucky the tree

Chucky the tree wrote: »

So how did FF get so many seats in the country? Maybe if the country boys weren't such fans of parish politics then we wouldn't be in this mess.

Oh ffs stop blaming the rest of ireland. Dublin area elected 21 of the 77 fine fail td's last election. almost a quarter. yes there is great elements of parish pump in rural ireland but no worse then dublin. Mr Bertie Ahern the biggest parish pumper of them all, topped the poll in his constituency.

d'Oracle

Chucky the tree wrote: »

It is. I just find it strange how Labour can be considered a good thing for a fresh government when no one knows what there economic policies are, for all we know they might be worse then SF's. Although I'll admit that's unlikely.

B.S. Media clice.

http://www.labour.ie/policy/

Off you go.
They have always posted policies in an easy to find manner on their website.

Uriel.

d'Oracle wrote: »

And that is the problem.
It is important, but it shouldn't be.
I want to live in a country where having an irritating voice is considered less important than policies, convictions and leadership ability.

As it stands, Enda Kennys voice and delivery (and possibly his freaky blue lips in the posters) seem to be of more significance than his ability to lead a party/government.
That is foolish and I don't like it.

I don't really agree with you. I am not talking about physical appearance or even how they sound. That's not the sole component of charisma. Enda Kenny for my mind, in terms of leading a country has not really shown any outstanding leadership qualities. He doesn't come across as commanding or passionate. These are important aspects of driving an agenda both within Ireland, Europe and Internationally.

A (potential) leader requires a mixed bag of components to be effective and to be good quality. He/She needs to command respect, instill passion and hope in people, and his/her policies.

d'Oracle

Uriel. wrote: »

I don't really agree with you. I am not talking about physical appearance or even how they sound. That's not the sole component of charisma. Enda Kenny for my mind, in terms of leading a country has not really shown any outstanding leadership qualities. He doesn't come across as commanding or passionate. These are important aspects of driving an agenda both within Ireland, Europe and Internationally.

A (potential) leader requires a mixed bag of components to be effective and to be good quality. He/She needs to command respect, instill passion and hope in people, and his/her policies.

How bout maintaining control of his (frankly rather fractious at the best of times) party through a heave and having the sense and foresight to keep some of the people most vocal against him in the heave on the front bench as he knows their value to the front bench.

That impressed me and I am no fan of his.
Frankly its the most solid example of leadership I have seen from any of them.

Uriel.

d'Oracle wrote: »

How bout maintaining control of his (frankly rather fractious at the best of times) party through a heave and having the sense and foresight to keep some of the people most vocal against him in the heave on the front bench as he knows their value to the front bench.

That impressed me and I am no fan of his.
Frankly its the most solid example of leadership I have seen from any of them.

I am not suggesting that he doesn't have some good leadership qualities and you are right he did handle that situation pretty well. But he needs to start showing good strong leadership to the Electorate. Public opinion/perception of him, generally is quite poor and of course, there is a mix of reasons for that, but I do think that if FG had a stronger, more (publicly/visibly) passionate and more vocal leader then they would have a higher percentage in the opinion polls than they do.

jimmycrackcorm

If Mary-Lou was Sinn Feins Barbie; Pearse is their Ken.

d'Oracle

Uriel. wrote: »

I am not suggesting that he doesn't have some good leadership qualities and you are right he did handle that situation pretty well. But he needs to start showing good strong leadership to the Electorate. Public opinion/perception of him, generally is quite poor and of course, there is a mix of reasons for that, but I do think that if FG had a stronger, more (publicly/visibly) passionate and more vocal leader then they would have a higher percentage in the opinion polls than they do.

Well he is certainly pretty quiet at the moment.
But he is fairly well known as an absolute daemon on the campaign trail.
I reckon we will see his measure pretty soon.

Uriel.

d'Oracle wrote: »

Well he is certainly pretty quiet at the moment.
But he is fairly well known as an absolute daemon on the campaign trail.
I reckon we will see his measure pretty soon.

Absolutely, I think personally that if he acted in a manner that gave a better public perception of him, his party would do better. Having said that , I am not one of these peeople that says/thinks things like "I know FF have done this but would FG, labour etc have done any different"... I thoroughly believe on giving someone the opportunity and evaluate them on that performance.

So we will definitely see how he fairs as Taoiseach and maybe he'll tuen out to be a great Taoiseach and leader (God knows we need someone to step upto the mark at this point) .. Here's hoping...

Dyr

It makes me giggle when people blather about sinn feins' wacky economic policies but ignore the fact that both FF and FG's economic policies has left this country on an EU funded life support machine.

The Shinners usually run dopes as candidates but they actually put the effort into trying to mobilise the vote in under privileged areas while labour et al are quite happy with the self disenfranchisement of working class voters.

Sinn Fein voters will vote on the basis that they want someone elected who will represent their interests. Labour, FF, FG will not do this for the people at the bottom of society, the Shinners might.

d'Oracle

Bambi wrote: »

It makes me giggle when people blather about sinn feins' wacky economic policies but ignore the fact that both FF and FG's economic policies has left this country on an EU funded life support machine.

How do you figure that FG were involved in this?
The last time they were in government we had a well functioning tax system and they left government in surplus. That is absolute nonsense.
Nobody is ignoring FF's economic policy either. I mean EVEYBODY is talking about it.

Bambi wrote: »

The Shinners usually run dopes as candidates but they actually put the effort into trying to mobilise the vote in under privileged areas while labour et al are quite happy with the self disenfranchisement of working class voters.

They don't. They just play on their popularity in these areas. The majority do absolutely nothing except pretend to be socialists.

Also I suspect that you have little to no Idea who Rory Quinn is.
So we can just ignore your point on Labour.

Bambi wrote: »

Sinn Fein voters will vote on the basis that they want someone elected who will represent their interests. Labour, FF, FG will not do this for the people at the bottom of society, the Shinners might.

People have been voting on that very same basis for about.....maybe 80 years or so now. Which is actually why FF have always performed so well.

The exact approach you are advocating is the EXACT approach that got us in this mess.

Labour have always looked out for the most vulnerable, because that is what they do, its is the core of their politics. But seeing as you said all that other stuff, I doubt you would even know

That was three appalling poorly thought out points.

femur61

danbohan wrote: »

Bertie was an excellent public speaker in that he came across very well to Joe Average and was seen to be "one of us" as it where


maybe in ballymun etc , to the rest of us ie the great majority of the population who live outside dublin he was an embarrassment

Have to agree with you on this one. I think people will get sick of Pearce very quickly he comes across very harsh like Mary Lou and that is one of the reason I dislike her.

outandabout

A few years ago Mary Lou was the SF poster darling. Now it's Pearse.

He might boost their chances in Donegal but outside of that I think he'll have little impact.

SF will win seats in constituencies where they have a strong base but I can't see them getting too many floating voters.

cosanostra

People need to take time to listen to what sinn feins economic proposals are there is a constant attack on them but i cant see why they are so wrong is it not logical to tax the rich and feed the poor, let the international bankers pay there own debts they gambled on irish banks! All they are saying is instead of pumping billions into private debt pump it into stimulating the economy get confidence back into our country and with that we will be able to return to the bond markets and get a reasonable rate. if you try to cut your way out of recession you will stall the economy britain have decided now their cuts haven't worked and now need to try a stimulus system. Just because sinn fein have a different economic policy doesn't mean they are wrong.

There is also alot of people saying they wouldnt vote for them because of there past connection with the ira, are people not allowed to move on to peaceful activities was eamonn devalera not a member of the ira at what point did he go from 'terrorist' to hero and deserve a vote.

I think all this attacking of sinn fein is because the other parties are scared of losing ground to sinn fein we have seen enough of ff tds representing the fianna fail party and the galway tent instead of the people of ireland!

I am proud to have pearse doherty as my td and look forward to voting for him again for too long ff and fg have monopolised the votes in donegal its time for change!!

outandabout

Doherty is a good speaker and may be a very good local TD for Donegal, but that still isn't enough to convince people to vote Sinn Fein in other constituncies.

d'Oracle

cosanostra wrote: »

People need to take time to listen to what sinn feins economic proposals are there is a constant attack on them but i cant see why they are so wrong is it not logical to tax the rich and feed the poor, let the international bankers pay there own debts they gambled on irish banks! All they are saying is instead of pumping billions into private debt pump it into stimulating the economy get confidence back into our country and with that we will be able to return to the bond markets and get a reasonable rate. if you try to cut your way out of recession you will stall the economy britain have decided now their cuts haven't worked and now need to try a stimulus system. Just because sinn fein have a different economic policy doesn't mean they are wrong.

There is also alot of people saying they wouldnt vote for them because of there past connection with the ira, are people not allowed to move on to peaceful activities was eamonn devalera not a member of the ira at what point did he go from 'terrorist' to hero and deserve a vote.

I think all this attacking of sinn fein is because the other parties are scared of losing ground to sinn fein we have seen enough of ff tds representing the fianna fail party and the galway tent instead of the people of ireland!

I am proud to have pearse doherty as my td and look forward to voting for him again for too long ff and fg have monopolised the votes in donegal its time for change!!

Eamonn De Valera is dead.
Gerry Adams is alive.

This continual arguement that FF and FG were originally involved in the IRA, is frankly rather stupid.

There are no members of any other party who were involved in terrorism or fraternised with terrorists.
There quite simply are in SF.
It is not a past connection. It is a current connection.
And people didn't accept Provisional IRA activities when they were active, these same people were hate figures in the republic during the troubles. Ferris is still rightfully a hate figure.
The original IRA fought so we could have a nation and a police force of our own.
The PIRA killed members of that force. And Ferris was the guy to pick them up from jail.


And nobody is saying Sinn Feinns economic policy is wrong because its different. They are saying its wrong because it is stupid and would very obviously destroy what is left of the countries economy.

People are attacking SF because they are known terrorists and have crackpot policies. Not because they will take seats from Fianna Fail.

cosanostra

Well i think hes bringing sinn fein policy to the forefront in irish politics hes showing people sinn fein will stand up for them and hold the goverment to account a lot of people will vote for that.

d'Oracle

cosanostra wrote: »

Well i think hes bringing sinn fein policy to the forefront in irish politics

Which is why he should shut up.

In the last 2 days I have seen/heard him 3 times.
He did well on Frontline, by attacking other peoples policy.
The other two times he was whipped around by people who just pointed out the stupidity of Sinn Feins Economic policy. Including Eamonn "the rabbit" Ryan.

cosanostra

d'Oracle wrote: »

Which is why he should shut up.

In the last 2 days I have seen/heard him 3 times.
He did well on Frontline, by attacking other peoples policy.
The other two times he was whipped around by people who just pointed out the stupidity of Sinn Feins Economic policy. Including Eamonn "the rabbit" Ryan.

What is so stupid about seperating private debt with state debt why should we pay for private international banks mistakes?

What is so stupid about taxing the people who can afford to pay instead of those who cant?

What is so stupid about stimulating the ecconomy?

d'Oracle

cosanostra wrote: »

What is so stupid about seperating private debt with state debt why should we pay for private international banks mistakes?

We aren't. We are paying for irish banks mistakes.
The international banks are the strong ones. Like NIB, or (embarrassingly) Ulsterbank.

cosanostra wrote: »

What is so stupid about taxing the people who can afford to pay instead of those who cant?

We already do that. Something like 70% of our tax bill comes from the highest band earners.

cosanostra wrote: »

What is so stupid about stimulating the ecconomy?

Everybody is claiming they will do this.
The difference is they have no credible suggestions to do actually do this.
Infact they don't even have an up to date statement of economic policy available on their website.

Dyr

d'Oracle wrote: »

How do you figure that FG were involved in this?

Have a read of their last election manifesto. They would have gone down the same road as FF only faster. There has been little real difference between either party on economic policy in the last decade. Wacky economics are what leads to countries crawling to the IMF with cap in hand, yet you rarely hear the mainstream parties having their policies described as "wacky"

They don't. They just play on their popularity in these areas. The majority do absolutely nothing except pretend to be socialists.

Presumably you have proof of this. I'm pretty sure Sinn Fein have been accepted as a socialist party for most of their modern existence. Maybe they are'nt really socialists deep down in their hearts but only you know this. I saw the local sinn fein guys out canvassing just an hour ago. The reason I know they're shinners is because I see them out and about all the time, maybe real socialists stay at home or at least away from the ballymun flats. :rolleyes:

Also I suspect that you have little to no Idea who Rory Quinn is.
So we can just ignore your point on Labour.

Firstly, who is "we" here? Do you use the Royal plural for some reason? Or maybe you lead a jolly band of pirates, I don't know. Either way, the sentence smacks of a presumptuous arrogance. I don't know who Rory Quinn is. However, I do know who Ruairí Quinn is, and maybe you should too. I used to walk past him most mornings as he made his way through the mean streets of D4 towards Merrion Square. I remember him in coalition with Fianna Fail..they seemed to like him, a fella that Fianna Fail could do business with it seems. Is there meant to be something else that I should know about him? His tireless representations on behalf of the underprivilleged of Sandymount and Clontarf or something? His chagrin at finding out that the bank his sibling is a director of has helped blow our economy out of the water? What?

Labour have always looked out for the most vulnerable, because that is what they do, its is the core of their politics. But seeing as you said all that other stuff, I doubt you would even know

Nah they have'nt. Just like every other party they look after their constituency, who are also the people that bankroll them through their union levies, civil servants and public sector workers.

aridion

56lcd wrote: »

Like him or loathe him Pearse Doherty has become the darling of many of the disgruntled low paid workers in Ireland.
Doherty has got the X Factor, people that would have never contemplated voting for sinn fein will do so now because of Pearse Doherty's media performance.
Prior to Mr Doherty arriving on the scene sinn fein were going nowhere with their ultra-left wing ideas.
The guy oozes charisma and is a very confident speaker, women from all party affiliations are going weak at the knees everytime he appears on TV.

People are talking about how Pearse Doherty put the fine gaelers,the failers and labour in their place on frontline.

Doherty and sinn fein are telling diaffected voters what they want to hear, people don't want to hear that they have to pay for what the fianna fail/green government did to this country.

In my humble opinon the Pearse Doherty factor will have a major influence on the outcome of this election.
Doherty has become the acceptable face of sinn fein with no obvious links to terrorism/bank raids etc.
I think many people that have become disgusted with fianna fail's antics will vote sinn fein, many left leaning labour voters will vote sinn fein.
Doherty will have the highest personal vote of any candidate in the election and could it be possible that sinn fein will run a 2nd candidate in Donegal south-west.
How long will it be before Pearse Doherty replaces Gerry Adams as sinn fein's leader.
Make no mistake politicial affiliations are changing and sinn fein could well be the 2nd largest party after the forthcoming election.

That is the key. They just tell the people what they want to hear. No constructive policies.
If the people said tomorrow morning that they wanted all immigrants herded off in a ship and left adrift in the Arctic sea to die, then SF would come out saying that they supported that for years and condemned all the other parties for not supporting it. We ain't all stupid enough to support SF.

d'Oracle

Bambi wrote: »

Presumably you have proof of this.

Proof that they show up all over the poorer/disadvantaged areas during elections?
And these just happen to be the areas where they get elected?
That and areas where you see "IRA" scrawled on the wall?
You could go for a stroll around these areas in the next few weeks.

Bambi wrote: »

I'm pretty sure Sinn Fein have been accepted as a socialist party for most of their modern existence. Maybe they are'nt really socialists deep down in their hearts but only you know this. I saw the local sinn fein guys out canvassing just an hour ago. The reason I know they're shinners is because I see them out and about all the time, maybe real socialists stay at home or at least away from the ballymun flats. :rolleyes:

You might roll those eyes a little more and look at a bit of history and previous elections.

Bambi wrote: »

Firstly, who is "we" here? Do you use the Royal plural for some reason? Or maybe you lead a jolly band of pirates, I don't know. Either way, the sentence smacks of a presumptuous arrogance.

Eh how bout WE THE NATION OF IRELAND. I facepalm, I really do.
The Something like 70% of the tax bill comes from people in the top tax band.
People with the most ALREADY pay the most money.

Bambi wrote: »

I don't know who Rory Quinn is. However, I do know who Ruairí Quinn is, and maybe you should too. I used to walk past him most mornings as he made his way through the mean streets of D4 towards Merrion Square.

Who is being arrogant now? And pedantic and childish etc.
Inverted snobbery too. What were you doing in D4 if its such a crime?
I'm sure all those loadsamoneys in the flats in ringsend make you sick.
I suggest you read up on his history.

Bambi wrote: »

I remember him in coalition with Fianna Fail..they seemed to like him, a fella that Fianna Fail could do business with it seems. Is there meant to be something else that I should know about him?

Yeah how about CAB, or his tenure as minister for finance in the early 90s. Bringing unemployment down 5 percent and bringing the nation from deficit into surplus. What do jobs and money for government support do for poor people?

Bambi wrote: »

His tireless representations on behalf of the underprivilleged of Sandymount and Clontarf or something?

They are two different constituencies.
On has Sherriff street the other has ringsend.
Just because some radio show or idiot on the street tells you that Sinn Fein is the only one who care about poor people doesn't mean its true. Gerry adams doesn't know what the VAT rate or Child benefit rates are. REAL SOCIALIST.

Bambi wrote: »

His chagrin at finding out that the bank his sibling is a director of has helped blow our economy out of the water? What?

His brother is a director of a company so he is to blame?
So if you have a girl from ballymun, who goes to school tries hard to make it and get a job but her brother is a dealer. Do you question her ability to do a job? Is it her fault that her brother is a dealer. That is an utterly disgraceful statement.

Bambi wrote: »

Nah they have'nt. Just like every other party they look after their constituency, who are also the people that bankroll them through their union levies, civil servants and public sector workers.

Whats wrong with public sector workers?
I hope you never need the services of the gardai, need medical assistance (or can you afford health insurance?) need social support, assistance from the social services, have a fire. Sure what about all those folks in the flats who need housing? Where do they get their houses? Who fixes them up when they move out for the next family?
Who maintains the water and sewage network?

Huge amounts of the "working people" ARE public servants. I know and sometimes work with them.

Typical media fed crap.
Anti public sector crap that was drummed up by Fianna Fail to make the impact of slashing service delivery costs seem better.

Snakeblood

56lcd wrote: »

Like him or loathe him Pearse Doherty has become the darling of many of the disgruntled low paid workers in Ireland.
Doherty has got the X Factor, people that would have never contemplated voting for sinn fein will do so now because of Pearse Doherty's media performance.
Prior to Mr Doherty arriving on the scene sinn fein were going nowhere with their ultra-left wing ideas.
The guy oozes charisma and is a very confident speaker, women from all party affiliations are going weak at the knees everytime he appears on TV.

People are talking about how Pearse Doherty put the fine gaelers,the failers and labour in their place on frontline.

Doherty and sinn fein are telling diaffected voters what they want to hear, people don't want to hear that they have to pay for what the fianna fail/green government did to this country.

In my humble opinon the Pearse Doherty factor will have a major influence on the outcome of this election.
Doherty has become the acceptable face of sinn fein with no obvious links to terrorism/bank raids etc.
I think many people that have become disgusted with fianna fail's antics will vote sinn fein, many left leaning labour voters will vote sinn fein.
Doherty will have the highest personal vote of any candidate in the election and could it be possible that sinn fein will run a 2nd candidate in Donegal south-west.
How long will it be before Pearse Doherty replaces Gerry Adams as sinn fein's leader.
Make no mistake politicial affiliations are changing and sinn fein could well be the 2nd largest party after the forthcoming election.

Are you Pearse Doherty?