FG presidential nomination

darkman2

Who is going to get the Fine Gael nomination? I think Pat Cox will get it and probably deservedly so. He is the most accomplished of the candidates.


Pat Cox, Mairead McGuinness and Gay Mitchell up for the nod today.


http://www.rte.ie/news/2011/0709/president.html

GSF

It's Gay.

cranog

David Norris for President.......

legendary.xix

Fine Gael have made the right choice. I would not have voted for either of the other two candidates. Mitchell stands a good chance.

Corsendonk

Wow not much reaction, not a very inspiring selection,at least Cox would have caused a reaction. Strangely a relative that is a rampant FF supporter actually said they would give Gay Mitchell their number 1 vote if he was nominated.

Any word on Norris success with the councils? They all must be on summer hols till Sept? For all this talk about Norris as a shoe in if he doesn't get the support of the councils or TDs and Senate the people won't have a chance to vote for him.

GSF

In his favour he is going to be different to Norris and Higgins. The market for intellectual lefties is already crowded. Whether he is transfer friendly though is another matter.

mgmt

He doesn't come across as being people friendly. Won't vote for him.

jos28

Uninspiring choice in my opinion. I would have picked Cox as the best of a bad bunch purely because of his connections in Europe.

RonMexico

Delighted that Cox lost out. Parachuted in at the last minute as the poster boy for Europe. Stinks.

eagle eye

Worst of the three gets selected. No chance he wins the election imo. I personally think Mairead McGuiness should have been given the nomination. Pat Cox would have been a stronger candidate than Gay Mitchell too.

matthew8

eagle eye wrote: »

Worst of the three gets selected. No chance he wins the election imo. I personally think Mairead McGuiness should have been given the nomination. Pat Cox would have been a stronger candidate than Gay Mitchell too.

I would be ashamed to have Pat Cox as president. McGuinness isn't far behind. Mitchell, though I'm not a social conservative, was the only option. Most people who've ever met Pat Cox will tell tell you that he is smug, arrogant and in awe of himself. Not to mention that he is just interested in advancing his political career. McGuinness is a journo who got bored with it and decided to go political and constantly tries to advance her political career. Mitchell, on the other hand, is FG's knight in shining armour a lot of the time. One of 3 FG Dublin TDs left in 2002, he helped revive the party, in 2004, when nobody seemingly wanted the nomination, he won a seat in Dublin perceived to be out of reach for FG. McGuinness spends more time on talk shows than in the EU parliament, while Mitchell keeps working away.

Also, of FGers I know, the anyone but Pat Cox brigade is much larger than those who would vote for him in the election.

sollar

I wouldn't want to see him as president at all.

eagle eye

matthew8 wrote: »

I would be ashamed to have Pat Cox as president. McGuinness isn't far behind. Mitchell, though I'm not a social conservative, was the only option. Most people who've ever met Pat Cox will tell tell you that he is smug, arrogant and in awe of himself. Not to mention that he is just interested in advancing his political career. McGuinness is a journo who got bored with it and decided to go political and constantly tries to advance her political career. Mitchell, on the other hand, is FG's knight in shining armour a lot of the time. One of 3 FG Dublin TDs left in 2002, he helped revive the party, in 2004, when nobody seemingly wanted the nomination, he won a seat in Dublin perceived to be out of reach for FG. McGuinness spends more time on talk shows than in the EU parliament, while Mitchell keeps working away.

Also, of FGers I know, the anyone but Pat Cox brigade is much larger than those who would vote for him in the election.

There is no chance of an FG candidate winning the presidential election. What little chance went when they selected Mitchell.
Cox and McGuinness are both well known and respected politicians. I don't think that Cox would have won it had he got the nomination either but I think McGuinness would have given it a real go.

jank

eagle eye wrote: »

There is no chance of an FG candidate winning the presidential election. What little chance went when they selected Mitchell.
Cox and McGuinness are both well known and respected politicians. I don't think that Cox would have won it had he got the nomination either but I think McGuinness would have given it a real go.

So who in your opinion will get it. Gay Mitchell will be there or there abouts at the end. The person who beats him will get president. Michael D is an old man that should be put out to pasture and not everyone will vote for Norris. The heartland of rural Ireland will vote for FG this time around.

bmaxi

Mitchell wouldn't inspire me, strikes me as an arrogant prick. My preference would be for Norris if only because he's a larger than life figure, it wouldn't be a dull Presidency, something that could be guaranteed with Higgins or Mitchell.

nuac

imho the heartland of rural Ireland may not be as conservative as suggested, and may noy be a happy hunting ground for Mitchell

e..g the Roscommon Hosp[ital saga won't garner him many votes

MDH may be left wing, but he is from the West, not Dublin.

Mitchell's nomination is a slap in the face for party officials - who are not popular in many parties

BlaasForRafa

jos28 wrote: »

Uninspiring choice in my opinion. I would have picked Cox as the best of a bad bunch purely because of his connections in Europe.

Thats precisely why I wouldn't pick Cox, because he is too much of a Europhile.

hotmail.com

Mitchell is running as the Christian Democratic candidate...basically the Catholic straight right-wing guy that is the opposite of Norris. Vote for me if you hate Norris should be his slogan.

He's a Dubliner and yet has talked about going around the country parish by parish, when we all know Dubliners do not talk in "parish" terms.

Apart from this cynical attempt to get the Catholic vote, Mitchell is just a complete nutcase and flies off the handle if challenged about anything.

Duffy the Vampire Slayer

nuac wrote: »

imho the heartland of rural Ireland may not be as conservative as suggested, and may noy be a happy hunting ground for Mitchell

e..g the Roscommon Hosp[ital saga won't garner him many votes

MDH may be left wing, but he is from the West, not Dublin.

Mitchell's nomination is a slap in the face for party officials - who are not popular in many parties

I'd agree with you on this, Mitchell doesn't appear to have a great deal of popularity throughout the country compared to Michael D. I think Mairead McGuinness would have been the most likely FG candidate to win the presidency.

skearon

Am amazed FG went for a Catholic fundamentalist who is also a Monarchist