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Gay Mitchell Disastrous Presidential Election

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    #32
    books4sale
    Closed Accounts Posts: 595 ✭✭✭books4sale


    So there we go....

    Mitchell couldn't even be bothered to turn up for the inauguration, I think this backs most people's view of his bad attitude...point proven!

    It's also disrespectful to those who gave him a vote.


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    #33
    xsao
    Closed Accounts Posts: 17 ✭xsao


    caddy2 wrote: »
    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!!)

    Gay Mitchell showed how unsuited he was for President by not turning up at count centre yesterday for final declaration. He has no respect for the Office of President or for the system of election. He was in this for himself alone. Shame on him and Mary Davis. They disgust me.


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    #34
    mark17
    Registered Users Posts: 58 ✭✭mark17


    I think F.G. need to address their policy of personal attacks to make political gains. This tactic is outdated and has the reverse impact. Mitchell consistently attacked McGuinness, it got pathetic, and McGuinness got double the vote Mitchell got. Then Shatter done the same thing in relation to the eight attorney generals and the amendment was defeated. That type of arrogance, the old "we are right and everybody else is wrong" attitude that I thought we got rid of with the demise of F.F. It's time F.G. woke up.
    Mitchell vindicated the public perception of him, by not attending at Dublin Castle, as totally unsuitable for the presidency. I think his seat in Europe will be in doubt in the next euro election also.


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    #35
    Jimoslimos
    Registered Users Posts: 4,930 ✭✭✭Jimoslimos


    partyguinness wrote: »
    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.
    Not quite the same, but in a similar vein didn't Gallagher suggest perhaps changing the national anthem? That had absolutely no effect on him and didn't appear to alienate the core FF vote. Probably no correlation but his figures skyrocketed from that point.

    He started off poorly and never recovered. Couldn't seem to mount any sort of coherent campaign. Whatever your views on McGuinness, he made a tactical blunder in attacking him. McGuinness voters would be highly unlikely to switch to FG, and even the floating ones would have gone elsewhere.

    When he stayed quiet, he was perceived as dull, but when he tried to put some emotion into his speeches he came across as whiney. Prime example was the rant at Kenny where up until then it had been one of his better performances.

    In fact most of his incisive comments were actually directed at Gallagher not McGuinness, particularly in regards to his FF links and accounting practises - however these seemed to be lost in the crossfire. Mistiming, I feel was his greatest flaw.


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    #36
    nesf
    Registered Users Posts: 27,645 ✭✭✭✭nesf


    K-9 wrote: »
    FG had a socially reforming agenda under Garrett, wonder where that went?

    It still has it to an extent with some of the front bench but there is still a conservative wing to FG unfortunately.


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    #37
    Dampsquid
    Registered Users Posts: 681 ✭✭✭Dampsquid


    Anyone know why Mitchell wasn't eliminated at the same time as norris?


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    #38
    tfitzgerald
    Registered Users Posts: 2,285 ✭✭✭tfitzgerald


    To me he came across a very arrogant , and his attacks on MMG really annoyed me it was like as if he was fixated on him and cared about nothing else also it was very bad form not to turn up at the count centre yesterday IMHO


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    #39
    thebman
    Closed Accounts Posts: 10,012 ✭✭✭✭thebman


    nesf wrote: »
    It still has it to an extent with some of the front bench but there is still a conservative wing to FG unfortunately.

    Much like FF, the best thing that could happen FG is if it split along those lines IMO.


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    #40
    ted1
    Registered Users Posts: 23,502 ✭✭✭✭ted1


    I think he fought a political campaign, when in reality voters don't care or know about politics. They'd rather put them all in the aras and vote them out on live tv.
    Politics in this country is dead. Jedward , westlife, Roy keane etc could all win an election without having a single opinion.


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    #41
    goat2
    Registered Users Posts: 4,939 ✭✭✭goat2


    Nodin wrote: »
    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%.
    not one fine gael canvasser asked me or my family for our support, also he kept speaking badly of martain mcginness, he seemed to be more worried about mcginness getting votes, than asking the general public for their votes, that kind of bickering lost vots for him, he sold himself badly


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    #42
    vampire of kilmainham
    Closed Accounts Posts: 2,048 ✭✭✭vampire of kilmainham


    WalterMitty wrote: »
    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.
    whats wrong with being raised in inchicore are you up on your high horse there looking down on everyone i dont like gay mitchell but i will say fair play to him he worked building busess in spa rd inchicore and went to college at night to educate himself so good luck to him for making it and how would you know if he only had apple cores to eat rember everyone's sh1te smells the same


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    #43
    goat2
    Registered Users Posts: 4,939 ✭✭✭goat2


    WalterMitty wrote: »
    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.
    i dont agree with people thinking that if we had not much growing up that we would not do well, while in fact the opposite is true, as people work harder to make life good for their family and children so that they have a better life, and i can tell you i know families where there was little or nothing growing up, and these people did far better than those who got it cushy.


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    #44
    Corkblowin
    Registered Users Posts: 622 ✭✭✭Corkblowin


    What it showed to me was how Enda had the insight to realise there was no one in his party who could win, which is why he tried to get Pat Cox on board. He couldn't have made his displeasure at the nomination any more plain.

    Mitchell wasn't the man for the job ( his snub to the president elect showed a lack of class) and I don't blame the FG big guns for not coming out. There was no way their intervention could have got him into second even - it was embarrassing enough as it was.


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    #45
    NIMAN
    Registered Users Posts: 33,499 ✭✭✭✭NIMAN


    Listened to him on the news tonight, saying that he did badly because the public didn't want a party related candidate.

    Is he delusional? HE has zero personality, ran a terrible campaign which seemed to rely on attacking MMG 24/7 and came across as a smug git.

    Time to waken up Gay. You were the problem. And nothing else.


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    #46
    swampgas
    Registered Users Posts: 3,548 ✭✭✭swampgas


    Corkblowin wrote: »
    What it showed to me was how Enda had the insight to realise there was no one in his party who could win, which is why he tried to get Pat Cox on board. He couldn't have made his displeasure at the nomination any more plain.

    Mitchell wasn't the man for the job ( his snub to the president elect showed a lack of class) and I don't blame the FG big guns for not coming out. There was no way their intervention could have got him into second even - it was embarrassing enough as it was.

    Agree with this. There certainly didn't seem to be any great enthusiasm from FG to run any kind of campaign, and Mitchell himself didn't really seem that interested. It might have been easier all round if FG had simply backed MDH!


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    #47
    kraggy
    Closed Accounts Posts: 6,414 ✭✭✭kraggy


    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."
    nesf wrote: »
    It still has it to an extent with some of the front bench but there is still a conservative wing to FG unfortunately.

    As far as I can see, there is much more than a conservative "wing" in Fine Gael.

    They are almost wholly conservative from what I can make out. Even their youngest TD does not believe in equal marriage rights for all, never mind the older members of the party.


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    #48
    Nodin
    Closed Accounts Posts: 46,938 ✭✭✭✭Nodin


    Mitchell 'explaining' matters. Watch the clip from the 9 news all the way through for the charm and charisma we've come to expect.
    http://www.rte.ie/news/2011/1030/mitchellg.html


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    #49
    Nodin
    Closed Accounts Posts: 46,938 ✭✭✭✭Nodin


    kraggy wrote: »
    As far as I can see, there is much more than a conservative "wing" in Fine Gael.

    They are almost wholly conservative from what I can make out. Even their youngest TD does not believe in equal marriage rights for all, never mind the older members of the party.

    They were, at one stage in the 1980's, considered far more socially liberal than FF, though for obvious reasons thats not precisely an achievment.


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    #50
    K-9
    Registered Users Posts: 43,311 ✭✭✭✭K-9


    Nodin wrote: »
    They were, at one stage in the 1980's, considered far more socially liberal than FF, though for obvious reasons thats not precisely an achievment.

    Well, they always had the Flanagan wing, I'd have said reforming and willing to put divorce and abortion referenda to the people.

    I look at the party now and wonder where did that wing go? Enda Kenny, Mitchell, Lucinda.....................Garrett would be proud!

    Mad Men's Don Draper : What you call love was invented by guys like me, to sell nylons.



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    #51
    PARKHEAD67
    Closed Accounts Posts: 2,400 ✭✭✭PARKHEAD67


    swampgas wrote: »
    Agree with this. There certainly didn't seem to be any great enthusiasm from FG to run any kind of campaign, and Mitchell himself didn't really seem that interested. It might have been easier all round if FG had simply backed MDH!
    Mitchell would be a good death noticer:D on the radio. He screams of useless apathy.Anyway.....Jayzez.Hes one grumpy oul who*e.


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    #52
    TheUsual
    Closed Accounts Posts: 2,288 ✭✭✭TheUsual


    Gay Mitchell would fight with himself in a locked room.

    A nasty west-brit loser whose fellow blueshirts wouldn't even come out to support him.

    You know you are Billy-no-mates when the blueshirts turn their backs on you.
    His over the top reactions to all his professional interviewers showed his true "mental" nature. The guy needs help, always has, always will.


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    #53
    PARKHEAD67
    Closed Accounts Posts: 2,400 ✭✭✭PARKHEAD67


    TheUsual wrote: »
    Gay Mitchell would fight with himself in a locked room.

    A nasty west-brit loser whose fellow blueshirts wouldn't even come out to support him.

    You know you are Billy-no-mates when the blueshirts turn their backs on you.
    His over the top reactions to all his professional interviewers showed his true "mental" nature. The guy needs help, always has, always will.
    This is brilliant.Every word is true.


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    #54
    TheUsual
    Closed Accounts Posts: 2,288 ✭✭✭TheUsual


    PARKHEAD67 wrote: »
    This is brilliant.Every word is true.

    Unless you are Gay Mitchell and then you are a King.


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    #55
    Gergiev
    Registered Users Posts: 228 ✭✭Gergiev



    So there we go....

    Mitchell couldn't even be bothered to turn up for the inauguration, I think this backs most people's view of his bad attitude...point proven!

    It's also disrespectful to those who gave him a vote.

    Fine Gael have form on this matter.

    Alan Dukes declined to turn up in Dublin Castle in 1990 at the same stage of the proceedings when Mary Robinson was declared the winner.

    (Even Haughey and Lenihan were there to do the right thing despite the great bitterness over the "shafting" of Lenihan during the campaign).

    As regards the selection of Mitchell, it shouldn't be forgotten that some of the same people who promoted Mitchell for the FG presidential nomination, are the same crew that tried to ditch Enda Kenny last year.

    And some of those have only been in political office since 2007 and were promoted by Kenny almost immediately to positions of influence within that party.

    Fine Gael need to get their head around the fact that the general election result was a backlash against Fianna Fail and also a vote for Kenny who is seen by a substantial amount of the electorate as being a fair dealer and above the kind of tribal politics we tend to have here a lot of the time.

    This perception could disappear as quickly as it arrived if the old reactionary tendency within FG is seen to be back on display.


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    #56
    Sponge Bob
    Banned (with Prison Access) Posts: 25,234 ✭✭✭✭Sponge Bob


    Gay mitchell was supposed to be heave #2 against Enda by proxy and he ended up embarrassing the thicknecked heave #1 tards.

    I think Enda should sack Lucinda Creighton and Leo Veradkar to show that he cares. :D The axe must fall cleanly on Dublin FG who have proven themselves both an irrelevancy and an insult. Gay mitchell was a horrible way to waste €850,000 worth of FG funds ( minus the €200k taxpayer rebate)


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    #57
    Captain Graphite
    Closed Accounts Posts: 1,272 ✭✭✭Captain Graphite


    Sponge Bob wrote: »
    I think Enda should sack Lucinda Creighton and Leo Veradkar to show that he cares. :D

    He should do that anyway! Irish politics would be a better place if those two were no longer in the Dáil.


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    #58
    Sponge Bob
    Banned (with Prison Access) Posts: 25,234 ✭✭✭✭Sponge Bob


    Weeeeeeell he can't unDáil them because the people put them there after all.

    It is just that after they deliberately ran mitchell he can send the pair of them off to the backbenches where they belong.


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    #59
    Captain Graphite
    Closed Accounts Posts: 1,272 ✭✭✭Captain Graphite


    Sponge Bob wrote: »
    Weeeeeeell he can't unDáil them because the people put them there after all.

    Pfft, a trivial legal obstacle. An iron fist would see to that! Shur why bother ruling a country if you can't abuse your position and remove members of parliament at will? :pac: Lack of ambition is all that's stopping him!
    It is just that after they deliberately ran mitchell he can send the pair of them off to the backbenches where they belong.
    Here's hoping a reshuffle will be on the cards soon.

    FG probably should have ran Mairéad McGuinness but now that the presidency is over they should focus on removing the deadwood from their party instead.


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    #60
    Sponge Bob
    Banned (with Prison Access) Posts: 25,234 ✭✭✭✭Sponge Bob


    Captain Graphite wrote: »
    FG probably should have ran Mairéad McGuinness but now that the presidency is over they should focus on removing the deadwood from their party instead.

    Mairéad would certainly have been their best bet but she is not popular with Lucinda and Leo and their ilk.


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    #61
    Gergiev
    Registered Users Posts: 228 ✭✭Gergiev


    Sponge Bob wrote: »

    Gay mitchell was a horrible way to waste €850,000 worth of FG funds ( minus the €200k taxpayer rebate)

    Bob,

    Gay Mitchell doesn't get the €200,000 rebate.

    He failed to make the 12.5% of the vote threshold required to get this.


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