Gay Mitchell Disastrous Presidential Election

Alibaba

Why did Gay Mitchell really do so bad in the Presidential election considering his party , Fine Gael is the largest party in the State and the got such a huge vote in the general election. All I can think of is whats left of Fianna Fail must be rubbing their hands together with glee.

padma

i'd say its because those who voted in fine gael in the last election are dissapointed by there performance so far

mikemac

If they selected Mairead McGuinness they would have done better.
At least third place

Poor Enda and Phil Hogan will be busy on the golf course for the next year trying to recover all the money they have lost

Alibaba

I take your points Padma and Mikemac but still there's a huge Fine Gael vote out there but Gay Mitchell to get less than 8% - something disastrously wrong there somewhere.

schween

Maybe because it's not about the party, it's about the person. The presidential election is like a personality contest. He's painful to listen to and I think he just put so many people off FG.

Nodin

schween wrote: »

Maybe because it's not about the party, it's about the person. The presidential election is like a personality contest. He's painful to listen to and I think he just put so many people off FG.

Yes, but where were the FG people is the question. Theres no way the average vote of the FG party over the last 25 years is/was 6%.

caddy2

his attitude was crap, bet fine gael are sorry not they didnt put pat cox up for election of president.
anyone think we will have a deju vu, when fine gaels nominee did very bad in the presidential elections back in the 80s or 90s, didnt the leader of fine gael resign a few months after, was it alan dukes? any chance enda might do the same (heres hoping!!)

Jeboa Safari

padma wrote: »

i'd say its because those who voted in fine gael in the last election are dissapointed by there performance so far

Don't think so, in the last polls FG were on 35%, Labour only half that and behind SF.

Fentdog84

Because he's an asshole with some kind of chip on his shoulder. I dont think it was anything anti Fine gael. The other candidates seemed more presidential.

WalterMitty

poor gay, he was raised in a brown paper bag in inchicore with only apple cores to eat but still managed to become a TD and MEP.

juuge

On RTE's six-one news yesterday evening one could clearly see Gay's wife telling him to smile at the official count results in Dublin Castle. The guy was probably the most unsuited candidate to be president.

johngalway

He was a terrible candidate, with the right qualifications for the job. It's nothing got to do with FG being in Government, if that was the case then Michael D wouldn't have won.

Wolfe Tone

I met Fergus O Dowd last night... Seemed a it down over Mitchells annihilation.

leonidas83

he made a number of errors, going all out to have a go at McGuinness and losing sight of his own presidential campaign. Not being vocal enough abot the right issues in debates, instead trying to score points over the other election candidates and having a go at the presentators. He even had a go at one of his colleagues in government in the campaign over something trivial and entirely irrelevant during the campaign.

Overall he is an idiot who thinks that because he had it somewhat tough in his early childhood, this makes identifiable with the electorate. Most people just saw through his BS

Alibaba

I thought myself he was a terrible candidate. Didn't seem to connect at all with the public. Fine Gael made a huge cock up in his selection. I think Fine Gael thought just because they waltzed into Government last Spring that the Presidency would be a cakewalk for them and it didn't matter who they picked. Also smells of some infighting within Fine Gael.

Godofhellfire

What is the relevance of this? What is the relevance of this?What is the relevance of this?What is the relevance of this?What is the relevance of this?What is the relevance of this?What is the relevance of this?What is the relevance of this?What is the relevance of this?What is the relevance of this?What is the relevance of this?What is the relevance of this?What is the relevance of this? We're not getting a chance to hear what the presidency is about! What is the relevance of you asking a question about a man who is not here? We're not getting a chance to hear what the presidency is about! What is the relevance of you asking a question about a man who is not here?

I'm just waiting on a remixed song to come out!

Alibaba

Godofhellfire wrote: »

What is the relevance of this? What is the relevance of this?What is the relevance of this?What is the relevance of this?What is the relevance of this?What is the relevance of this?What is the relevance of this?What is the relevance of this?What is the relevance of this?What is the relevance of this?What is the relevance of this?What is the relevance of this?What is the relevance of this? We're not getting a chance to hear what the presidency is about! What is the relevance of you asking a question about a man who is not here? We're not getting a chance to hear what the presidency is about! What is the relevance of you asking a question about a man who is not here?

I'm just waiting on a remixed song to come out!

Is that you Gay ??

sink

I probably would have given Pat Cox my first preference, instead I gave Gay Mitchell my fifth preference, ahead of McGuiness and Dana, but behind Gallagher and Davis. He was a poor candidate for many reasons but mainly he was socially conservative, was a poor debater and he lacked personality. It had nothing to do with fine gael.

PennyLane88

i just got a bad vibe off him - he came across as sly and a lying twat. Plus the constant comments he made about MMG did him absolutely no favours.

Just pure tactless really.

Dirk Gently

I like to look at it as a rejection of conservatism. Although Mitchell and Dana were the most whiny of the candidates too so maybe it was a rejection of emotional moany gits. I think a more progressive FG candidate would have got a much bigger vote so wouldn't necessarily equate Mitchells result to FG.

ThisRegard

padma wrote: »

i'd say its because those who voted in fine gael in the last election are dissapointed by there performance so far

Doubt it, it was a personality led election and he just didn't come across very well. Party politics didn't really come into it bar maybe for MMG.

partyguinness

TBH he was prob the best qualified all things being equal....but he comes across as a whinny miserable asshole with a huge chip on his shoulder.

Makes me wonder...how does a working class hero like Gay Mitchell with a strong Dub accent end up in Fine Gael.....not exactly a natural home....perhaps he rose above his station which might explain the chip on the shoulder. For me, he just does not come across as a very nice guy. Plus wanting to amend the Constitution to insert a special place for the British monarch was hardly going to be the best choice as a President in a Republic.

He will never be a true blue shirt no matter how hard he tries..just does not have the pedigree....poor old Gay.:(

Sunnyisland

Posted this on another thread


If Gay mitchell had concerned himself more about how to get the people to vote for him and why, Instead of telling us the public why we shouldn't vote for MMG he would have done a better job of being elected, Also he came across as a very cross & unhappy man with a very condescending attitude.Imo.

Dr Galen

Can I just remind people that this is Politics Forum, and as such we look for a bit less of the simple and crass namecalling, that might be ok elsewhere.

Cheers

DrG

K-9

Fine Gael have some divisive characters and Cox wouldn't have got much more of a vote, Mairead McGuinness was the candidate to go for.

The FG vote drifted to Gallagher, some of that would have been ex FF supporters but many FG'ers that just don't particularly like him. Even despite the Gallagher stuff, more FG'ers voted for him than Mitchell! :eek:

nesf

I imagine there were a lot of people like me who voted FG in the last election who looked at Mitchell and went "um, I've no wish to support a conservative candidate."

PARKHEAD67

Alibaba wrote: »

Why did Gay Mitchell really do so bad in the Presidential election considering his party , Fine Gael is the largest party in the State and the got such a huge vote in the general election. All I can think of is whats left of Fianna Fail must be rubbing their hands together with glee.

Because he has absoloutely no personality whatsoever.People cant relate to a sad, down in the dumps multi- millionaire(which he is).But why should fianna fail be the alternative to fine gael and vice versa? What is it with voters in this country?

K-9

PARKHEAD67 wrote: »

Because he has absoloutely no personality whatsoever.People cant relate to a sad, down in the dumps multi- millionaire(which he is).But why should fianna fail be the alternative to fine gael and vice versa? What is it with voters in this country?

It's an age divide thing, the soft FF and FG voters will look to the 2 mainstream parties as choices. The encouraging thing was Gallagher's vote went to Higgins.

What it means as regards General elections? God knows! SF are attracting first preference support but still struggle for preferences and the floating voter, in particular! That'll hold them back to small gains.

FF will take encouragement as well though! People don't see a FF history as a bad thing, his vote held up after those revelations, any hint of corruption does damage votes!

K-9

nesf wrote: »

I imagine there were a lot of people like me who voted FG in the last election who looked at Mitchell and went "um, I've no wish to support a conservative candidate."

FG had a socially reforming agenda under Garrett, wonder where that went?

syklops

padma wrote: »

i'd say its because those who voted in fine gael in the last election are dissapointed by there performance so far

I disagree. I think its more that by voting something other than FF, the irish electorate have broken the habit of 'party say, party do'. This is a very healthy sign. The electorate _may_ be maturing.

Or not.

jimmycrackcorm

I've said it already in other threads but as far as this presidental election went, hardcore voters voted on party lines, the rest voted on the creditibility of the person.

Still, I don't even understand how Gay Mitchell was suggested as a candidate let alone picked. My theory is that FG recognized that the presidency essentially doesn't matter but they felt obliged to put up someone regardless.