General Election 2007, who has your first preference?

Giblet

FF. In a time of economic growth and stability, it's the wrong time for change.

Time Magazine

FG. After a time when we've earned so much and are still left with the desperate transportation, infrastructural and social systems we had previously, it's definitely time for a change.

And I wouldn't call inflation of 5.1% "stability", Giblet.

Gaspode

FF. But lets face it, its Hobson's choice. FF are as crooked as my knob, yet strangley seem to be doing OK, but FG just dont inspire any confidence whatsoever.
The rest arent worth a toss.

irish_bob

Kernel Quote:
Originally Posted by irish_bob
thier is a question i have been asking myself now for quite some time
that question is , why oh why are the pd,s so unpopular
to me , the pd,s are indicitive of celtic tiger ireland , to me they would seem like the ideal party for young educated professional go getters of which thier is a generation of in this country ,
thier are thousands of people in this country , particulary in the age group under 30 who in the past 10 yrs have embraced irelands new found wealth


No, I think you have completely over-estimated the demographic you have quoted. Most people in the country are pissed off and under severe pressure financially speaking. Celtic tiger or no. You're judging the populace by your circle of friends/work colleagues I reckon.

PD's = Irish version of Thatcher's Conservative party.

Also, wealth != happiness, social harmony, civic contentment.



none of my friends vote pd because i live in the countryside , not the south side of dublin , so sorry to burst your pre concieved cliched bubble about where pd voters must live
my friends like a lot of young people who live in the country vote for the party thier family vote for
a lot of people became defensive in here when i made that suggestion
try not to take such an accusation personally , while the idea might be abhorrent to many , surely you must admit that it does happen in a lot of cases
oh and im neither a barrister or some other kind of knob who plays rugby
i am not religously a pd voter , thier are only 3 partys i would ever vote for
fianna fail , fine gael and the pd,s
the rest are into giving the state more power and you cant trust the state in my opinion , be it the inneficent bloated public service or the guards for that matter,
the reason i would slightly favour the pd,s over the other 2 is fine gael are a pretty conservative party on social issues plus thier a bit cautios also , its easy to spot a fine gael voter , they wouldnt chance thier arm to save thier life, fianna fail , well thier the quintesential irish party , thier only idealogy is being in power , thier cute hoors and thier supporters while charismatic people are quite parochial in outlook

also , while voting pd for some people might be unthinkable , some would never admit to it becaue thier street cred would take a nose dive alone
surely you can see why the pd idealogy has been fostered more than any other in the past decade
oh and to the person who said that the celtic tiger has resulted in only a few getting rich , hogwash , just count the shiny new cars on the road
most people are not strugling compared to say 20 yrs ago, your listening to too much LIVELINE

this thathcherite tag that the pd,s get , is this just used as a term of abuse because most irish people hold margeret thatcher in complete contempt
northern ireland aside , she was pretty good on the uk economy
before she came to power , the unions in the uk had the country by the short and curlys
if bertie got his way , that might happen here too unfortunatley such is berties unwillingness to even alienate any votes from fianna fail stroke labour voters
also the line that the pd,s are anti worker , whats that about , low taxation has been one of the key reasons why we have had such growth in thee economy in this country , the pd,s have always been a low tax party
i know we have a high degree of indirect taxation in this country

the stamp duty debacle springs too mind, by the way the reason brian cowan didnt get rid of it and ensure a 3rd term for fianna fail was the thick bull preferd to get one over on the pd,s because they were the ones who 1st
suggested it should be scrapped

the pd,s have always championed the private sector worker , seeing that the private sector create all the wealth for much lower wages than the average public sector worker , ie the nurses and thier cynical opportunistic grab before an election
how can anyone say the pd,s are anti worker

i have stated in the last post and this one that thier must be a sizeable demographic out there who,s natural home is the pd,s . theese people are the popes children as david mc williams called them
the people who work hard , play hard and have cast off the shackles of the likes of the church who the other 2 centre right partys still have close links with
i think perhaps thier are 2 reasons why the pd,s are not getting theese peoples vote
1, theese people are too busy working too bother voting
2. the pd,s get such a bad rap in the media , they are such an uncool party to be associated with , young people would much perfer say they support sinn fein even though the united ireland policy aside , sinn fein would do nothing but take from theese people ,

i guess untill michael mc dowell who is seen as a bit of an ogre and mary harney who is seen as dour also bow out , the pd,s will continue to be a tiny party

nesf

irish_bob wrote:

oh and im neither a barrister or some other kind of knob who plays rugby

Really, that was completely unnecessary and an utterly pointless comment. Less of it please.

Ruen

irish_bob wrote:

the pd,s will continue to be a tiny party

With any luck:)

swiss

I had at one time quite a deal of respect for the PDs. I felt that the foundations on which they were built was that of integrity and a true desire to do public service based on the aspirations of Des O'Malley. Although they were never large, and their message of free market reform and curbing of a bloated public service often proved unpopular, at least you knew where you stood with them.

However, their current record in government has disillusioned me greatly. While one time they might have walked away from a FF led government in the wake of revelations over Bertie, they did not several occasions where it was not only appropriate but the only decent thing to do. The "watchdogs" of government have become the pussy cats. Michael McDowells truly excellent café bars legislation was shot down by publican FF backbenchers without so much as a murmur, and the health service is still in chaos despite attempted reform.

The upshot of this is that I feel that a vote now for the PDs might as well be a vote for FF. I really see no hugely discernible difference between the two parties.

With respect to the election, I plan on voting FG - Labour - Greens - Ind - PD - FF - Other - SF in that order in the next election. I don't see that changing unless something really quite dramatic happens, though I intend to scrutinise all of the parties carefully.

Sad Professor

Sad Professor wrote:

I'm gonna spoil my vote, thank you very much . Can you add an option for that?

You'd be better off using it tactically against the candidate that you would least like to get in.
For example if you think 2 candidates will be close,give it to the one you'd rather beat the other.

My first preference will be to labour.

Ulster9

Will vote Sinn Fein.

JerkyBoy

I have no party allegiances whatsoever, but I know for a fact that I want a change of Government.
I like what I'm hearing from Enda Kenny about this "Contract" and I admire Pat Rabbitte as a thinker and speaker.

However, neither are in my constituency so I have to figure out how I will vote.

There's a great independent in my area who opposes the current Government so she may get my number 1.

But I also may vote FG,LAB or LAB,GF just because they ARE the alternative Government and I think they would do a better job than the current shower of wasters.

Still undecided which order my vote will go FG? LAB? GREEN? IND? but it will definitely be spread among these.

Time for the muppets to step aside!

Raskolnikov

daveirl wrote:

This post has been deleted.

That clot just sent a leaflet through the door advocating a Luas for Cork City and the entire metropolitan area, an SSIA-style pension giveaway, some green issues crap, one teacher for every pupil, blahdeblah. Basically, he's going against everything that the PD's seem to espouse in order to win votes. I'd have given him a first preference if he had challenged these useless wastes of taxpayers cash.

nesf

Who moved this thread out of interest?

nesf

nesf wrote:

Who moved this thread out of interest?

Twas WWM.

Stephen

Why aren't polls allowed here? I had a look through the "politics guidelines" thread and found no mention of them. "No polls" seems to be a fairly bizarre policy for an election forum!

Dave!

It's the policy of the main politics forum.

God forbid an exeption could be made for the bloody general election :rolleyes: Sure the forum is barren as it is! Don't want anything else taking away from the discussions, rare as they are!

Oh no wait..........

Raskolnikov

DaveMcG wrote:

It's the policy of the main politics forum.

God forbid an exeption could be made for the bloody general election :rolleyes: Sure the forum is barren as it is! Don't want anything else taking away from the discussions, rare as they are!

Oh no wait..........

I agree. Surely we can make a once of exception. Might be fun.

The previous one was wiped out too?

jem

FF and proud of it.

ballooba

jem wrote:

FF and proud of it.

Like a baby after doing a dirty nappy.

Closing this.
Theres now an open poll in the new sticky thread.