Conversation at door with Fianna Fail Candidate

kbannon

kbannon wrote:

Had it been a FG canvasser doing this would your reply have been as casual?

Had he been a SF candidate I would still think he deserved respect. It's easy to sit at home moaning, these are people who are out there trying to get their point across, standing at the coal face of democracy (I'm patting myself on the back for that one!). Canvassers have 101 better things to be doing than pounding the pavement. Sure, stopping the door with the foot was a bit cheeky, but he had taken 20 minutes of having policies torn to shreds by someone who could have politely declined after 10 seconds. That's all it takes me to tell other canvassers that I am in FF but I will consider their candidate after I have voted FF. If the poster thought the foot in the door was out of order, he should have gone to the gardai, they need some humour to get through the night too...

FTA69

Cheeky f*cker, telling you "get lost" on your own doorstep?

I'll be hunting any and all canvassers who come to my door after I give them an interrogation.

I used to canvass myself for Sinn Féin and had great craic altogether having dogs set on me, being told to kill myself and informed I was going to hell. One ould one even rang the police after I knocked on her door and gave her a leaflet.

It's a tough job, canvassing.

Time Magazine

RuggieBear wrote:

I'm getting sick of all the fianna fail pamphlets been put through my door tho. There does appear to be three times as much bumph from them as the other parties. (more money?)

From the Standards in Public Office website:

Disclosure of Donations received in 2006 by TDs, Senators and MEPs wrote:

Members of Fianna Fáil disclosed the highest proportion with a total value of €108,327.27

Members of Fine Gael disclosed €10,024.00

Members of the Labour Party disclosed €6,522.40

One member of the Sinn Féin Party disclosed €2,000.00

Non-party members disclosed €5,050

No donations valued in excess of €634.87 were disclosed by members of the Progressive Democrats, the Green Party, or the Socialist Party.

Spending is similar, with the exception of the PDs who, despite not declaring high donations, have massive spends. Research by Prof. Michael Marsh and Dr. Ken Benoit of TCD's Political Science department showed the average spend for party members in the 2002 General Election was:

Fianna Fáil: €22,800
Fine Gael: €16,800
Labour: €16,500
PDs: €23,500
Sinn Féin: €11,500

(Unfortunately I didn't get time to scribble down the Green Party's figure.)

Also ye might be interested to know that the biggest spender in 2002 was Mary Coughlan who coughed up €50,000 in expenses. And the interesting fact of the day is that if you work it out (and they did), an Irish vote "costs" only €3.

comer_97

I recently had Luke Moriarty, Fianna Fail, knock upon my door himself, which I always find a nice touch. He was a pleasant enough chap. He then told me that John Curran was not running in this constituency....

Hmmm.....

joecoote

Last election we were plagued with callers to the door. So I got hold of a SF leaflet and put it on the window. Three days to go and only one caller. He was a Labour fella who called while I was working on the car. He saw the leaflet on the window, shoved a Labour leaflet through the front door, got in his car and drove off. Its better than a rotweiller.

wow sierra

DarkJager wrote:

I had one of these FF candidates on my door last week (Limerick West). After tearing his parties policies to shreds for 20 minutes I informed him that no Fianna Fail candidate would be getting my vote and went to close the door. Being the arrogant prick that he was, he stopped me closing it by putting his foot in the way and began chatting about all the good things FF have done for the country in the last 10 years!! (Seems he was a comedian as well as a politician)

I informed him, very politely, that if he didn't remove his foot from my door and **** off, that he'd be doing the rest of his hopeless canvassing on a set of crutches.

The cheek of these little ****ers really enrages me.

So what is the correct response when a canvasser FF or any other party is subjected to a rant from a potential voter?
If they politely walk away they are criticised, if they attempt to argue their corner they are criticised too.

What did you expect? that he would say "Gosh golly you are in fact right, gee thanks!!!!"

Also surely tearing someone to shreds only works if you allow the person to actually respond. A bit like claiming to win a fight with someone who is tied to a chair and gagged. :mad:

Heinrich

wow sierra wrote:

So what is the correct response when a canvasser FF or any other party is subjected to a rant from a potential voter?
If they politely walk away they are criticised, if they attempt to argue their corner they are criticised too.

What did you expect? that he would say "Gosh golly you are in fact right, gee thanks!!!!"

Also surely tearing someone to shreds only works if you allow the person to actually respond. A bit like claiming to win a fight with someone who is tied to a chair and gagged. :mad:

Get a grip!!!

These clowns are as bad as the chuggers. Unsolicited callers to the door trying to sell their candidates. If they were that bloody luminous in the Oireachtas they would not need to hawk their wares on your doorstep.

The promises laid out in the party manifestos are made to be broken at the earliest possible convenience. Having seen the botch job made by the incumbents during the last ten years I reckon that Mr MacDowell's three monkeys with screwdrivers behind the television set would make equally as good a job at far less expense!.

johnlambe

wow sierra wrote:

So what is the correct response when a canvasser FF or any other party is subjected to a rant from a potential voter? ...

I agree that politely walking away and arguing their case are both reasonable responses, but putting his foot in the door is not.

P_1

Rock Climber wrote:

I just deleted one reported post.
Folks do not be posting unsubstantiated allegations.
Thank you for your co-operation.

Sorry about that, may have been a bit too strong.
Lets just say that I used to work for the man and from all I saw whilst working for him I'm not at all surprised about the event the OP described.

Milktrolley

Whenever canvassers/candidates do what the OP described, or stick their foot in the door or tell the resident to "get lost", it's not simply a matter of not getting a vote that you were never going to get anyway.

If they're lucky, the justifably angry resident will tell their voter friends about what happened and they'll have potentially cost themselves three or four votes after a few texts.

If they're unlucky, the justifably angry resident will post their dealings on boards.ie.

All part of the consequences that Moriarty et al didn't consider. Apart from all of that, it's just plain rude to go calling round to people's houses and doing a leithéid on their own doorstep.

fly_agaric

Deleted User wrote:

standing at the coal face of democracy

the poor canvassers are definitely shovelling something for their bosses but I don't think its coal...:)

lucernarian

Some of the canvassers have a hard time. I was out only one day for a few hours but I was lucky and didn't get any sort of rant. If any of the others got into trouble, they just sat it out with as much patience as possible and then left at the earliest opportunity. But putting a foot in the door is no way to conduct the canvass. A little bit of manners go a long way with the public and he did no favours to FF.

Funnily enough, one fella was kept at a house for 20 minutes, while listening to a torrent of criticism. Bizarrely, he actually asked for a vote for the party at the end of the lecture and the man in the door said "Yes I will"!!!:p

Mellor

comer_97 wrote:

I recently had Luke Moriarty, Fianna Fail, knock upon my door himself, which I always find a nice touch. He was a pleasant enough chap. He then told me that John Curran was not running in this constituency....

Hmmm.....

They are both in the same constituency, but John Curran deals with Clondalklin, and Moriarty with Lucan and palmerstown.

Mellor

To_be_confirmed wrote:

Some of the canvassers have a hard time. I was out only one day for a few hours but I was lucky and didn't get any sort of rant. If any of the others got into trouble, they just sat it out with as much patience as possible and then left at the earliest opportunity. But putting a foot in the door is no way to conduct the canvass. A little bit of manners go a long way with the public and he did no favours to FF.

Funnily enough, one fella was kept at a house for 20 minutes, while listening to a torrent of criticism. Bizarrely, he actually asked for a vote for the party at the end of the lecture and the man in the door said "Yes I will"!!!:p

A canvasser doing it is one this, but a candidate is far worse.

lucernarian

I think that a canvasser and a candidate putting a foot in the door like that is equally wrong, but also a candidate should lead by example. I wonder will we find out who this particular candidate is??

It would be good if DarkJager made a complaint with FF HQ in mount street or their election headquarters as that kind of behaviour is unacceptable. I think threatening the candidate was also heavy-handed...

arctictree

I had a FF canvasser at my door the other day. They literally had nothing to say at all. Just said hello, handed me the leaflet and walked off!! They should at least make some sort of effort! BTW - I'm still undecided....

johnlambe

To_be_confirmed wrote:

Funnily enough, one fella was kept at a house for 20 minutes, while listening to a torrent of criticism. Bizarrely, he actually asked for a vote for the party at the end of the lecture and the man in the door said "Yes I will"!!!:p

Probably someone who votes for the party because his/her parents (or ancestors going back several generations!) did - it doesn't seem to occur to them that if they don't like them, they could do something about it.

Crash

Little heavy handed? to be honest anyone dares to do something like put their foot inside my home to stop me closing the door on them would be very lucky to get away on crutches.

Thats something you should never do to anyone like, major invasion of privacy, and I know from the number of times that people have tried to break into my place that anyone doing it really gets my goat.

&#231

&#231 wrote: »

major invasion of privacy

One foot in your house?

:eek:

0ubliette

Mellor wrote:

I couldn't believe the way he told blatant lies to try prove a point.

You were shocked someone from FF lied to you?
Jesus, you musnt have been paying much attention to FF over the last 10 years so!!

Money Shot

Gael wrote:

The cheek of ya! Expecting a high-flyer hero like him to have to justify to you, one of the great unwashed, why you should vote for him. You should be honoured he graced your doorstep!

Great post - this really is the attitude a lot of them have - espeically FF'ers

Money Shot

Money Shot wrote:

Great post - this really is the attitude a lot of them have - espeically FF'ers

Source for the allegation please.

If its your own work, you might specify how many FF candidates/canvassers you spoke to.

Or is it just spurious nonsense?

jmayo

Deleted User wrote:

Source for the allegation please.

If its your own work, you might specify how many FF candidates/canvassers you spoke to.

Or is it just spurious nonsense?

Actually haven't had the pleasure of Mr Roche's visit to my door, even though I live in his neck of the woods.

Of course why should he, he would have to leave the comfort of his state car.
That is the car, as he stated on radio interview, he deserves because after all he is a minister and very important. He should be driven around in a large car for additional protection.
Oh and if we were to drive in an equally large car we should be taxed additionally, because of course we would pollute the environment.
It appears we or our families do not deserve the same protection.

Arrogance personified.

DarkJager

Should be a nice surprise to these arrogant pricks on Friday, when they find out they won't be getting in to government

DarkJager

DarkJager wrote:

Should be a nice surprise to these arrogant pricks on Friday, when they find out they won't be getting in to government

You can post without swearing you know.

Did the FF candidate really hang around and listen to you for 20 minutes?

jjbrien

I had a FF candidate on my door as well simular thing happened to me as well.

He asked me would you consider a vote for him and his other running mate. I told him no.

He then asked me why. I replied by saying "I thougt it was a good time for a change of goverment. There was alot of problems that the current goverment didnt fix and wont fix if they stay in" I also told him I was going to vote for a very prominant depudy leader of one of the opposition partys who is the TD for my area.

He then asked is there anybody else in the house who would vote FF. I told him no. They guy would just not leave and take the hint that there was no possibility of a vote from my house. Evenelly I just had to tell him to leave.

lucernarian

&#231 wrote: »

Little heavy handed? to be honest anyone dares to do something like put their foot inside my home to stop me closing the door on them would be very lucky to get away on crutches.

Thats something you should never do to anyone like, major invasion of privacy, and I know from the number of times that people have tried to break into my place that anyone doing it really gets my goat.

A threat is a threat. It's illegal no matter who said it and under what circumstances, if I understand correctly.

Just as much as putting a foot in someone's door without permission is illegal.

In general, one's a bit of a fool who thinks it's worthwhile to assault a politician or canvasser because they've no manners. And putting a foot in someone's door like that is atrocious manners. Not a major breach of privacy.

Snake Plisken

Pity the OP didn't have a recording of this on video could have stuck it up on utube, I'm sure it would have ended up on the news and ended this feel and fall muppet's political career.

Snake

Lemming

To_be_confirmed wrote:

And putting a foot in someone's door like that is atrocious manners. Not a major breach of privacy.

it can also be viewed as an attempt to gain entry into ones home abode. In essence, the canvasser was attempting to force themselves upon a constituent inside their home by preventing them from closing the door.

So yes, it can also be viewed as a breach of privacy as well as a rather eloquent display of arrogance.

comer_97

Mellor wrote:

They are both in the same constituency, but John Curran deals with Clondalklin, and Moriarty with Lucan and palmerstown.

I don't care how they divide things up between themselves, John Curran is the sitting TD in my area and he represents the whole constituency.