Frontline debate winners and losers?

Downlinz

IMO:

The Good:

David Norris - 10 - Hit all the right notes. In his element being the aggressor with his well chosen anecdotes and humour worked the audience well. Strong performance and probably the single best showing in any of the debates. Shame about Vincent Browne.

The indifferent:

Michael D Higgins- 7 - Seemed slightly arrogant and smug, answered his questions reasonably well but didn't really get involved in the debate as per usual. Was given his usual easy ride from questioning, mistifying they had no question lined up to target him from the audience when most of the other candidates had.

Dana - 6 - Said nothing crazy which is bizarre by her standards. Mostly on the periphery on the debate but got her views across well and didn't embarrass herself for a change.


The Bad:

Mary Davis - 3 - Seems to speak as if its only her and Pat in the room, never engages with any candidate or any issue. Just a load of general, idealistic waffle.

Gay Mitchell - 3 - Rarely if ever answered the actual question he was asked. Mostly irrelevant to the discussion. Entertaining freakout towards Pat.

Martin McGuinness - 2 - Refusing to accept murder was noticable, his underhanded side to peg down SG was also petty. SF's actions won't impress the public, has a vibe of attempting to drag SG down with him.


The Ugly:

Sean Gallagher - 1 - Format predictably was going to be against him but he failed to handle it well. Was posed difficult hard to answer questions and struggled. Also broke his "positivity" noticeably by labeling someone as a criminal. Whether accusations are right or wrong he stuttered and stumbled to handle them.

drunkmonkey

Is this upside down poll night

No real losers besides Gallagher, Nothing new on Mc Guinness that a lot of people haven't accepted as part of our past.

bbuzz

I think it pretty much descended into chaos, didn't really get anything from tonight's debate.

They shouldn't have had supporters of each candidate in the audience, turned into a panto at stages.

maccored

Gay, though he hadn't much to blow - whatever was left, he blew it.

fishy fishy

sean gallagher - the biggest loser

wolfpawnat

Haven't seen enough to comment on everyone, but will say that Gallagher will have dropped a few points with his lack of comments on some things and what he said about others (O'Brien).

But again Mitchell has shown himself to be a bumbling idiot that would start an argument with himself if he had a mirror!

jimmycrackcorm

I thought Norris did very well. He's benefiting at this late stage from all the negatives coming out early where Gallagher is getting the brunt now.

Downlinz

Yeah the audience was quite poor. The jeers and such left a really bitter taste from the whole thing.

bigdaddyliamo

I'd agree that Norris stole the show in a showbiz way but the real show stopper was MMG dark alley style mugging of Gallagher. Pure Drama!
So, Norris, MMG/Higgins then take your pick from the dregs after that!!!

brimal

Complete shambles of a debate.

In fact, it wasn't even a debate, it was each candidate answering questions in turn.

Same old, same old.

pablomakaveli

I thought the crowd were too partisan.

I think Higgins and Norris came out strongest in this. Gallagher is finished. Mitchell killed himslef with his outburst. McGuinness gave a steady performance bringing down Gallagher but the refusal to call murder will hurt him.

Dana and Davis were invisible.

Duke Leonal Felmet

I reckon Norris will perform stronger than polls suggest, but will not win. It wouldn't surprise me if Gallagher storms to a win, knowing the majority of the Irish electorate.

Pride Fighter

Downlinz wrote: »

Yeah the audience was quite poor. The jeers and such left a really bitter taste from the whole thing.

The audience was fine, what that was, was a Fine Gael rent a mob, I recognised at least 2 FG TD's jeering and heckling.

Gay Mitchell imploded on national tv. Sean Gallagher was slightly better.

The real winners were Michael D Higgins and Norris in that order.

Fromthetrees

Higgins has become front runner again according to paddy power, it's actually a great resource for finding accurate up to date information on who's ahead, bookies are rarely wrong, I used it for the general election a lot and they got very little incorrect.

Tigerandahalf

bigdaddyliamo wrote: »

I'd agree that Norris stole the show in a showbiz way but the real show stopper was MMG dark alley style mugging of Gallagher. Pure Drama!
So, Norris, MMG/Higgins then take your pick from the dregs after that!!!

Winner was maginnis, thought he was v impressive.
Losers gallagher is like the titantic after the iceberg.
Thought norris was v poor. good entertainer. not a good president.
Others didnt show much

Jimoslimos

He's well down on my list but IMO Mitchell was doing better than usual until his 'episode' near the end.

MMG aside from the usual shaky issues performed above average

Dana: The usual waffle about 'the peeeple this the peeeple that' but answered well on the referendum.

No surprises from MDH or Davis.

Norris did well also, his strongest performance but the fact there's little expectation now helped - I still don't like the interjections he continually makes on others comments.

Gallagher was car-crash though - it'll need to be some statement tomorrow.

Warper

The real LOSERS are the 40% of people that were going to vote for the FF guy in disguise in Gallagher. Those are the real losers in all of this - cannot believe how gullible the majority of people in this country are. No wonder this country is down the swanny.

jonniebgood1

I thought having an audience that were partial to different candidates was a bad idea. Jeering and cheering does not help anyone. If someone makes a stupid point I dont need jeering to show it.

This took any value out of the debate for me.

fishy fishy

jonniebgood1 wrote: »

I thought having an audience that were partial to different candidates was a bad idea. Jeering and cheering does not help anyone. If someone makes a stupid point I dont need jeering to show it.

This took any value out of the debate for me.

no, more jeering the stupidy is needed.

MrSing

Very interesting at times but cant see any real gains for Martin McGuinness tonight. Too simular to other type events. Tight lipped!

Mr.Micro

Gallagher looked like baldy Mehole Martin. He did not fare well to night ans was caught out badly....whether it does any damage ?

pablomakaveli

jonniebgood1 wrote: »

I thought having an audience that were partial to different candidates was a bad idea. Jeering and cheering does not help anyone. If someone makes a stupid point I dont need jeering to show it.

This took any value out of the debate for me.

Felt a bit like a pantomime at times. Audience really brought it down to be honest.

Downlinz

Fromthetrees wrote: »

Higgins has become front runner again according to paddy power, it's actually a great resource for finding accurate up to date information on who's ahead, bookies are rarely wrong, I used it for the general election a lot and they got very little incorrect.

To be fair Boylesports had paid out on MDH on Thursday when days later RedC had SG 15% ahead.
Even today they've cut Norris odds in half in the space of an hour of television. There is a lot of fluctuation amongst them and right now maybe an over-reaction to a bad SG performance, odds may steady tomorrow.

Downlinz

Warper wrote: »

The real LOSERS are the 40% of people that were going to vote for the FF guy in disguise in Gallagher. Those are the real losers in all of this - cannot believe how gullible the majority of people in this country are. No wonder this country is down the swanny.

Sigh take this **** out of my thread. Does my head in seeing morons copy and paste lines like this to try and shove in seamlessly into any context. Complete disrespect to the readers if you think drivel like this will impress anybody.

yosser hughes

Warper wrote: »

The real LOSERS are the 40% of people that were going to vote for the FF guy in disguise in Gallagher. Those are the real losers in all of this - cannot believe how gullible the majority of people in this country are. No wonder this country is down the swanny.

Im not sure about that. From what I can see,people that are engaged with and interested in the political process are overwhelmingly against Gallagher.Anyone I meet and if you look across the comments on boards and countless other sites most will not vote for Gallagher. Yet his ratings have gone up in the last week.
People I meet who have no interest in politics and do not read newspapers all seem to think Gallagher is a great fella and know him from Dragons Den and they think he will bring jobs. These people are the 40 percent.

maxer68

winner, definitey Norris.

Loser - MMc Guinness - He still thinks the murder of 3000+ people was warranted.

Loser #2 = gallagher. He should have had the answers better than that, but still he was a small time member of FF and I still don't see anywhere where he had any input into the mccreevey/aherne/cowen shambles.

others - no change

tonycascarino

Sean Gallagher was embarrassing. Mitchell imploded too. Higgins, McGuinness & Norris were best.

Downlinz

How right I was, that nob literally has been copy/pasting that same line in every political thread. I guess this is the level of intelligence the labour supporters think the rest of us have. :rolleyes:

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2056403617&page=170

murphhy

Downlinz wrote: »

Sigh take this **** out of my thread. Does my head in seeing morons copy and paste lines like this to try and shove in seamlessly into any context. Complete disrespect to the readers if you think drivel like this will impress anybody.

Warper makes a fair point, Gallager is a FF man, everyday i hear people say that they will vote for him because he's not affiliated to any party, the ignorance of some people is unbelievable

ragg

Mitchels freak out while funny, only served to make him look stupid

Sunnyisland

On tonights programe MMg & DN came out the best.

dogpile

MMG showed Mitchell the art of taking out a fellow candidate tonight....was a real assassination job (no pun intended)


hope he was taking notes

Liam Byrne

bigdaddyliamo wrote: »

I'd agree that Norris stole the show in a showbiz way but the real show stopper was MMG dark alley style mugging of Gallagher. Pure Drama!
So, Norris, MMG/Higgins then take your pick from the dregs after that!!!

So you're ignoring the fact that MMG hangs out with fuel smugglers?

cardwizzard

I thought Norris did well, entertained everyone like the class clown. You could tell he was more relaxed.

MMG slaughtering SG over the FF fundraiser was the highlight for me. Felt sorry for Gallagher as he hadn't a clue how to react. Then when it returned to the subject, the 'envelope' comment made for great TV.

Higgins was his usual, steady eddie, I do admire his Irish skills.

Mitchell was doing OK until his rant at the end, what was all that about.

Dana, done better than her normal. Had good comments and seemed not to be to nuts.

Who am I missing? Mary Davis, also above average for herself, and like Norris, the pressure seemed to be off and got her points across well.

bbuzz

According to Vincent Brown, the twitter feed Pat Kenny was quoting isn't an official one and apparently Sinn Fein have no press conference planned for tomorrow.

MMG's official twitter feed says:
"As official campaign twitter for Martin we need to point out that we have made no comment on the Gallagher FF donation issue."

http://twitter.com/#!/martin4prez2011

Feckfox

In no order:

David Norris - 8 - Came across quite well. Spoke well. The only candidate that looked cheerful and energetic.

Michael D Higgins- 7 - Handled questions well and spoke well but let himself down being the joke guy I think. I appreciate humour but don't interrupt a speaker just for a cheap gag..

Dana - 3 - Seems a bit ditzy tbh which is a pretty big flaw for a president. But then again .. eurovision...

Mary Davis - 8 - Came across respectable and presidential.

Gay Mitchell - 3 - Angry at Pat and then got owned when Pat pointed out it was his cronies clapping.

Martin McGuinness - 3 - Refusing to accept the murder thing brought him down obviously. He played the "I'm Irish" thing well imo.

Sean Gallagher - 7 - Kept his cool even though most of the night was about attacking him. Didn't respond to Michael D's snidey comments/cheap jokes.

stewie01

pablomakaveli wrote: »

Felt a bit like a pantomime at times. Audience really brought it down to be honest.

YEAH the audience really brought it down (in a sarcastic tone)

Higgins ftw, delighted gallagher was brought out in his true colours. filth.

MrSing

tonycascarino wrote: »

Sean Gallagher was embarrassing. Mitchell imploded too. Higgins, McGuinness & Norris were best.

Copy that!

Feckfox

fishy fishy wrote: »

no, more jeering the stupidy is needed.

The debate should be about getting points across and discussing topics and views. No audience response would be much better. I really didn't need to hear X candidates supporters clap between every sentence X spoke. Pointless.

bigdaddyliamo

Liam Byrne wrote: »

So you're ignoring the fact that MMG hangs out with fuel smugglers?

No, I'm not. Gallagher hangs out with them;)

bleg

bbuzz wrote: »

According to Vincent Brown, the twitter feed Pat Kenny was quoting isn't an official one and apparently Sinn Fein have no press conference planned for tomorrow.

MMG's official twitter feed says:
"As official campaign twitter for Martin we need to point out that we have made no comment on the Gallagher FF donation issue."

http://twitter.com/#!/martin4prez2011

That's hilarious!

Downlinz

Anyone have the twitter link for the supposed fake Mcguinness account? Its a very interesting claim.

oppenheimer1

Downlinz wrote: »

Yeah the audience was quite poor. The jeers and such left a really bitter taste from the whole thing.

I thought the whole lot was very distasteful.

Liam Byrne

bigdaddyliamo wrote: »

Liam Byrne wrote: »

So you're ignoring the fact that MMG hangs out with fuel smugglers?

No, I'm not. Gallagher hangs out with them;)

....AS WELL!!!! That's the important point!

Godofhellfire

don't forget to buy Dana's crazy autobiography as well that was launched in Stormount which she had to get in

wow sierra

Everyone knows Sinn Féin have some murky associates - no shock about the alleged smuggler.

But Gallagher went from 1)denying the incident happened to 2) insulting the man involved to 3)denying getting the chegue to 4)admitting he got the envelope but not knowing what was in it?????:D:D

maddragon

Go Yoda.

La_Gordy

Fromthetrees wrote: »

Higgins has become front runner again according to paddy power, it's actually a great resource for finding accurate up to date information on who's ahead, bookies are rarely wrong, I used it for the general election a lot and they got very little incorrect.

I was just looking at the Paddy Power site and it said Gallagher is 'evens'. Does that mean it looks very likely or impossible or what?!

brownswiss

Is'nt it obvious MMG and Sean Gallagher are being financially supported by the same people....SG saw fit to accuse MMG'S party of having dealings with oil entrepeneurs while forgetting about the brown envelope he received from the same entrepeneur...

I wonder how many people will share their voting preference between MMG and SG........Definitely the oil dealer and his friends will.

10000maniacs

The muckers who voted in the likes of fools McCreevy, Ahern and Cowen will vote in Gallagher.
They have no shame. This country has no future.

Ronin247

Jimoslimos wrote: »

He's well down on my list but IMO Mitchell was doing better than usual until his 'episode' near the end.

MMG aside from the usual shaky issues performed above average

Dana: The usual waffle about 'the peeeple this the peeeple that' but answered well on the referendum.

No surprises from MDH or Davis.

Norris did well also, his strongest performance but the fact there's little expectation now helped - I still don't like the interjections he continually makes on others comments.

Gallagher was car-crash though - it'll need to be some statement tomorrow.

Don't think I could fault the above summary.