Martin McGuinness to be named as Sinn Féins candidate for the Presidential Election?

HellsAngel

sparkling sea wrote: »

The Eire thing is comical - thanks for the apologies though - the man has acted in an extremely disloyal way to the voters in his own country - unfortunately our record on voting for chancers shows enough people in the Republic might be just desparate enough or stupid enough to fall for another chancer like McGuiness.
The defintion of stupid: doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result - come on people less not be fooled again

With the exception of Mary Robinson, all President's so far have been FF, how is electing a SFer "doing the same thing over and over "

Zubeneschamali

HellsAngel wrote: »

With the exception of Mary Robinson, all President's so far have been FF, how is electing a SFer "doing the same thing over and over "

Eh, Douglas Hyde, the very first President?

HellsAngel

Zubeneschamali wrote: »

Eh, Douglas Hyde, the very first President?

According to wiki -

Hyde was chosen after inter-party negotiations as the first President of Ireland, to which he was elected unopposed. He was selected for a number of reasons:

• Both the Taoiseach, Éamon de Valera, and the Leader of the Opposition, W. T. Cosgrave, admired him;

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Douglas_Hyde#Nomination

KeithAFC

HellsAngel wrote: »

One of the things that makes me laugh about unionists is that they tell us in the south we should mind our own business - and this on .ie forums such as boards, politics.ie and :eek:

- 3 of Ulster's county's are in the ROI if you hadn't noticed.
- 100,000's of nationalists in the six counties hold Irish passports.
- Our present president is from Belfast.
- Sinn Fein are elected on both sides of the border.

Which is a shame. Would be better with a United 9 county independent Ulster but what can you do. 6 is fine in the UK. Martin running for president is a sign that he has most likely done all he can in Northern Ireland.

HellsAngel

Interesting perspective from the Belfast Telegraph (main unionist inclined paper) -

" Sinn Fein handled the nomination process professionally and in marked contrast to other contenders. .....McGuinness is the best possible candidate the party could have run.......His past as an IRA leader cannot be ignored and will be a turn-off for some. But he will also draw support from those looking for a protest vote. A sizeable amount of the population is opposed to the Republic's IMF-EU bailout. "

Read more: http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/opinion/news-analysis/irish-presidential-race-dont-write-off-martin-mcguinness-skys-the-limit-for-this-outsider-16051454.html#ixzz1YOmS42VF

Zubeneschamali

• Both the Taoiseach, Éamon de Valera, and the Leader of the Opposition, W. T. Cosgrave, admired him;

Not a FFer, so?

Starokan

Raskolnikov wrote: »

I don't see the point of McGuinness running - he simply just cannot win.

He is not totally out of it, couple the sf vote with a lot of the ff vote which i think he will get and you have a genuine candidate. I dont think he will win but he will not do badly overall.

I would imagine the whole point is to take Sinn Fein even further into mainstream politics. There is no doubt he will be the focal point of all discussions in the coming weeks, he is the most interesting character from a media point of view (assuming norris does not re enter he race).

McGuinness's past is already well documented, no one will be surprised by anything new that emerges. His role in the peace process has made him extremely popular . Sinn Fein and Martin McGuinness have nothing to lose by running in this election.

Liam Byrne

dulpit wrote: »

walrusgumble wrote: »

He does not reside in the SOuth, so yes. I think Mary McAleese could not vote either - assuming for themselves. Ridiculous. Even the North Unionists should have a vote on the Presidency

What is the point?

All I am saying is that isn't it weird that he isn't eligible to vote, but is able to run? I think that if you're going in front of an electorate you should be part of it, no?

If they change the rules (i'm not in favour of it, but that's just me) then that's fairy nuf, but as of right now it is strange...

I'm hoping he doesn't win, but in fairness to him the above applies to not just him, and wasn't raised as an issue re McAleese.

So let's at least try to stick to actual issues related to him, rather than create ones that people were perfectly happy to ignore before - and in fact praised as a sign of a mature Ireland at the time.

crucamim

KeithAFC wrote: »

You have very partitionist views.

Indeed, I have. I would like Sinn Fein (or the SDLP) to change its name to "The Catholic Freedom Party" and seek a devolved government within the UK for the Catholic areas of Northern Ireland.

There are 2 nations in Ireland and the minority nation, the Prod 20%, has a right to self-determination.

There are 2 nations in Northern Ireland and the minority nation, the Catholic 40%, has a right to self-determination and an even greater right to self-administration.

The enemy of the Catholic people of Northern Ireland is not the British army, the British people or the British government. Our enemies are the Protestants of Northern Ireland, especially the Presbyterians.

crucamim

jonniebgood1 wrote: »

You are not living in the 1960's.

The evil that men do lives after them.

vellocet

crucamim wrote: »

Indeed, I have. I would like Sinn Fein (or the SDLP) to change its name to "The Catholic Freedom Party" and seek a devolved government within the UK for the Catholic areas of Northern Ireland.

There are 2 nations in Ireland and the minority nation, the Prod 20%, has a right to self-determination.

There are 2 nations in Northern Ireland and the minority nation, the Catholic 40%, has a right to self-determination and an even greater right to self-administration.

The enemy of the Catholic people of Northern Ireland is not the British army, the British people or the British government. Our enemies are the Protestants of Northern Ireland, especially the Presbyterians.

Brilliant. This is the best fishing trip I have seen in ages.

KeithAFC

vellocet wrote: »

Brilliant. This is the best fishing trip I have seen in ages.

Why? He is entitled to such views.

dulpit

crucamim wrote: »

Indeed, I have. I would like Sinn Fein (or the SDLP) to change its name to "The Catholic Freedom Party" and seek a devolved government within the UK for the Catholic areas of Northern Ireland.

There are 2 nations in Ireland and the minority nation, the Prod 20%, has a right to self-determination.

There are 2 nations in Northern Ireland and the minority nation, the Catholic 40%, has a right to self-determination and an even greater right to self-administration.

The enemy of the Catholic people of Northern Ireland is not the British army, the British people or the British government. Our enemies are the Protestants of Northern Ireland, especially the Presbyterians.

Oh dear...

crucamim

vellocet wrote: »

Brilliant.

Thank you. I am glad that, at long last, my brilliance has been recognised. You are my first disciple.

Bullseye1

If we are going to chose another politican from the north I'd prefer John Hume.

Liam Byrne

KeithAFC wrote: »

vellocet wrote: »

Brilliant. This is the best fishing trip I have seen in ages.

Why? He is entitled to such views.

Er, yeah, and the KKK are entitled to theirs too.

Most decent people judge others by their actions, not by stuff they had no control over like where they were born, their colour or their religion.

And the catholic church is hardly a bastion of decency either......the enemy of a catholic boy isn't a protestant, it's the priest raping him with the blessing of the bishop and the pope.

* might be slightly stereotypical but at least it doesn't write off an entire group of people for no reason

vellocet

Bullseye1 wrote: »

If we are going to chose another politican from the north I'd prefer John Hume.

Alas, JH is losing his battle with the booze.

vellocet

KeithAFC wrote: »

Why? He is entitled to such views.

I think that went over your head.

I strongly doubt they are in fact his views, more likely an attempt at a wind up.

KeithAFC

Liam Byrne wrote: »

Er, yeah, and the KKK are entitled to theirs too.

Most decent people judge others by their actions, not by stuff they had no control over like where they were born, their colour or their religion.

And the catholic church is hardly a bastion of decency either......the enemy of a catholic boy isn't a protestant, it's the priest raping him with the blessing of the bishop and the pope.

* might be slightly stereotypical but at least it doesn't write off an entire group of people for no reason

I agree with you but IF that is his genuine view, then he is entitled to it. I agree with you on the Pope though.

vellocet

KeithAFC wrote: »

I agree with you but IF that is his genuine view, then he is entitled to it. I agree with you on the Pope though.

But conversely, IF it is his view, we are entitled to rip him to shreds.

KeithAFC

vellocet wrote: »

But conversely, IF it is his view, we are entitled to rip him to shreds.

No problem with that.

crucamim

Liam Byrne wrote: »

Er, yeah, and the KKK are entitled to theirs too.

Most decent people judge others by their actions, not by stuff they had no control over like where they were born, their colour or their religion.

And the catholic church is hardly a bastion of decency either......the enemy of a catholic boy isn't a protestant, it's the priest raping him with the blessing of the bishop and the pope.

* might be slightly stereotypical but at least it doesn't write off an entire group of people for no reason

It is strange how often anti-Provos are also anti-Priest. Conor Cruise O'Brien, Dr Noel Browne, Jim Kemmy, Nuala Fennell and sundry Stickies.

crucamim

vellocet wrote: »

I strongly doubt they are in fact his views, more likely an attempt at a wind up.

Why do you doubt it?

crucamim

vellocet wrote: »

But conversely, IF it is his view, we are entitled to rip him to shreds.

What is wrong with the view that, if Ulster Protestants have a right to self-determination, Ulster Catholics also have a right to self-determination. Are you anti-Catholic?

Wolfe Tone

This threads gone down the ****ter.

FTA69

Obvious troll is pretty bloody obvious.

crucamim

Wolfe Tone wrote: »

This threads gone down the ****ter.

You are right. Certain people used this thread to launch a vicious attack on the Catholic people of Northern Ireland.

vellocet

crucamim wrote: »

It is strange how often anti-Provos are also anti-Priest. Conor Cruise O'Brien, Dr Noel Browne, Jim Kemmy, Nuala Fennell and sundry Stickies.

Its strange how anti-Provo the priests were. Its quite recently that IRA men were excommunicated, priests took the opportunity to criticise the IRA at funerals of innocents butchered by loyalists and the church condemned the IRA.

Christ, go back to the 20's and 30's and they were siding with the pro-treaty forces and blessing boats with swastika's on them.

The idea that the church was anything other than nakedly hostile to Republican's of any hue is wrong. Plain wrong. Time and time again the Vatican sided with the powerful over their own flock's interest.

vellocet

crucamim wrote: »

You are right. Certain people used this thread to launch a vicious attack on the Catholic people of Northern Ireland.

You were the first person to mention the C word...

coffee_cake

This thread is not about catholics and non catholics. Back on topic please.