We need to talk about Sammy Wilson

realdanbreen wrote: »

Is it just me or does anyone else think that Sammy(DUP) is not the brightest.
Have heard him many times down through the years and he just does not come across as being very intelligent. Yet he holds down a fairly prominent role in the DUP?

Was it him I heard on the BBC NI news last night commenting on what Covney said earlier in the day.

The guy comes across the same way many of the DUP do, completely unable to be pragmatic when it comes to NI.

They are willing to destroy the economy of NI just to prove to everyone how British they are.

And in reality no one but themselves car how British they are.

The DUP are full of eccentric lunatics not meant for such office.

Tell me how wrote: »

The contributor said that since the mid-90's and the negotiation of the good Friday agreement, the political system in the north has become even more polarised with Sinn-Fein and the DUP on opposing sides. Somewhat outside centre but pragmatic parties such as the UUP and SDLP have lost a lot of their support.

And if there was an election tomorrow in NI, the dup and SF would get the same percent votes.

In other words, they wouldn't be punished for not working for 2 yrs cos the electorate are so entrenched in their bigoted views to punish them at the ballot box.

If there was a massive shift to the uup and sdlp, it might make a big change in NI, but ain't going to happen.

NIMAN wrote: »

And if there was an election tomorrow in NI, the dup and SF would get the same percent votes.

In other words, they wouldn't be punished for not working for 2 yrs cos the electorate are so entrenched in their bigoted views to punish them at the ballot box.

If there was a massive shift to the uup and sdlp, it might make a big change in NI, but ain't going to happen.

Yeah. That's the reality of it. As everyone but Karen Bradley already knew.

cryptocurrency wrote: »

The DUP are unionists, it is their nature to support the union. Why are people surprised when unionists are unionists.

And if they want their ‘precious union’ to survive they can’t keep just focusing on 30% of the electorate who vote for them. As we have seen in Scotland people don’t want to vote for uncertainty but if they continue to denigrate and treat the nationalist tradition like they do then a border poll will be looming large.

FreudianSlippers wrote: »

In fairness to Mick Wallace - he's an idealist - it's unrealistic and he's not by any stretch the sharpest tool in the shed, but the Healy Raes are unhinged to an extent I can't understand or believe.

Mick Wallace was the one who named two Gardai in the Dail who were later completely exonerated by a Tribunal, to the extent that the judge questioned why GSOC had even opened a casefile.

Mick Wallace is also a man who didn't pay his taxes and who delayed paying in their own contributions to his employees' pension fund.

https://www.independent.ie/irish-news/mick-wallace-off-the-hook-after-1-4m-tax-dodge-26891291.html


"TAX cheat Mick Wallace will escape any prosecution and will keep his Dail seat, despite admitting he knowingly fiddled his company's VAT returns."

https://www.irishtimes.com/business/mick-wallace-disqualified-from-involvement-in-companies-for-six-years-1.3267506


"A High Court judge has disqualified TD Mick Wallace from involvement in companies for six years arising from his stewardship of the affairs of his construction company, MJ Wallace."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mick_Wallace

"Shortly after being elected, while referring to Mary Mitchell O'Connor in Dáil Éireann, he said "Miss Piggy has toned it down a bit today""

"Wallace was accused of politicising the November 2015 Paris attacks by tweeting "So terrible for the victims, but when is France going to stop its role in the militarisation of the planet?" while the attacks were still happening."


https://www.rte.ie/news/2011/1205/309498-wallacem/

"Independent TD Mick Wallace has been fined €7,000 for failing to pay pension contributions for his workers into their pension fund."


I don't think there is a more despicable TD.

FrancieBrady wrote: »

I am kind of looking forward to Sammy and Arlene etc explaining themselves over the next few years.

Not looking forward to the absolute mess they have foisted on the people of this island.

Easy. They fought the good fight to honour the Union of the United Kingdom. Theresa May negotiated very badly. Everything after that is her problem.

They're only going to be speaking to those that will vote for them no matter what anyway.

Tell me how wrote: »

Easy. They fought the good fight to honour the Union of the United Kingdom. Theresa May negotiated very badly. Everything after that is her problem.

They're only going to be speaking to those that will vote for them no matter what anyway.

They fought for Brexit when nobody realised that it was a threat to the union, then they immediately looked (along with Martin McGuinness, remember?) to be treated as a 'special case' and have now flip flopped into a cul de sac over the 'union again.
They tried to hunt with the hounds and run with the fox as they say and it has exploded rather magnificently on them. Snookered on all balls.

realdanbreen wrote: »

Is it just me or does anyone else think that Sammy(DUP) is not the brightest.
Have heard him many times down through the years and he just does not come across as being very intelligent. Yet he holds down a fairly prominent role in the DUP?

It's fairly simple really.

His constituency demands that he take dumb positions and so he'll go on TV and try to defend those positions. Even a smart person defending a dumb position will look dumb once they're made to delve deeper into their soundbytes and they won't be long going full gammon soon after that.

He described the prospect of ethnic cleansing of Catholics from a re-partitioned north as a 'valuable return to reality'. People like Wilson see themselves as colonists keeping the natives outside the walls of the castle. Unfortunately for Wilson the natives are now inside the castle and have the re-decorators in.

donaghs wrote: »

Like most politicians, he always has to keep his constituency in mind when saying anything publicly.
That stuff seems to go down well with them. And it has also made them the largest political party in NI.

There doesn't seem to be any incentive for them yet to look at the bigger picture.

I wonder would a no deal crash out Brexit focus the minds of the DUP voter.

They have a support base among NI farmers who will be really hit by Brexit itself and even more so a hard Brexit.

I'm not suggesting a switch to SF or SLDP but a swing to the more pragmatic (on the face of it) UUP or a party lead by Sylvia Harmon.

I also believe that if Ian Paisley were still in charge this would have been resolved months ago, Paisley for all his ills did learn the value pragmatism in his later career.