Presidential Election

[Guest105]

This is turning out to be a right fiasco with all sorts of swipes being directed at the candidates. Douglas Hyde must be turning in his grave. I reckon if this bickering carries on it will result in a very low turn out on the day

 

[truthseeker]

Its very mud slinging isnt it?

I dont remember it being this bad the last time or the time before - although Id have been less bothered about current affairs than now so perhaps it was and I just didnt notice.

 

[Guest105]

No last time it didnt come anywhere near the mud slinging that is currently doing the rounds. Personally I am disgusted at the carry on and it dosent do us any favours. Maybe Enda could do the job along with his own, sure I heard it say more than once that he is a great statesman, save us a fortune so it would.

 

[onq]

I think a lot of it is the general disillusionment people feel - they're tearing at anything - few enough apart from the Christian Right seem to have any real agenda.

 

[Sunny]

To be fair to the media, it is more than mud slinging. McGuiness, Dana, Mitchell and Norris all have serious questions to answer which they have not done. It's the main reason a nothing candidate like Gallagher looks like winning.

Still don't understand why FG picked Mitchell. With their ratings, their candidate should have walked this election.

 

[onq]

I would say that in additions to the four you mention, the other three have questions to answer too. Davis is known to have benefited from appointments to severla quangos, Gallagher is tainted by his previous association with FF and what some see as his questionable provenance as an "entrepreneur", while Michael D is hobbling around on a bad knee.

 

[Sunny]

I would say that in additions to the four you mention, the other three have questions to answer too. Davis is known to have benefited from appointments to severla quangos, Gallagher is tainted by his previous association with FF and what some see as his questionable provenance as an "entrepreneur", while Michael D is hobbling around on a bad knee.

Not exactly in the same league as the others though is it? Alleged involvement in murder, knowledge of alleged child abuse by a member of your campaign team, unpublished letters that could contain questionable attitudes to underage sex never mind the damaging published ones. And then you have Mitchell who never outlined exactly what death penalty prisioners he sought to help or was it just the ones found guilty of murdering people involved in abortion.

Having links to FF and a bad knee kind of pale into insignificance.

 

[Shawady]

Definitely a dirty one this time around and expect it to get more intense now that Gallagher is flying in the latest opinion poll.

 

[liaconn]

I actually think one of the reasons for such a dearth of impressive candidates is the knowledge of what they and their family will be put through once they mount a campaign. It's an awful shame the media behave like this and it really isn't doing the country any favours.

 

[T McGibney]

And then you have Mitchell who never outlined exactly what death penalty prisioners he sought to help or was it just the ones found guilty of murdering people involved in abortion.

Mitchell explained clearly in several interviews that he has consistently opposed the death penalty and made representations, including clemency letters, for a wide range of cases, some of which he named.

I would have expected Mitchell's stance on the death penalty to be an electoral hindrance in somewhere like Alabama but I'm genuinely taken aback that this also now applies in Ireland.

Michael D Higgins has also a long and admirable record in opposing the death penalty.

 

[Complainer]

I actually think one of the reasons for such a dearth of impressive candidates is the knowledge of what they and their family will be put through once they mount a campaign. It's an awful shame the media behave like this and it really isn't doing the country any favours.

I agree - but until people stop buying tabloid stuff, the meeja will keep on producing it.

I would have expected Mitchell's stance on the death penalty to be an electoral hindrance in somewhere like Alabama but I'm genuinely taken aback that this also now applies in Ireland.

I really don't think this has been a major issue for Mitchell. IMHO, his inability to open his mouth without picking a fight with somebody has been his big problem.

 

[Sunny]

Mitchell explained clearly in several interviews that he has consistently opposed the death penalty and made representations, including clemency letters, for a wide range of cases, some of which he named.

I would have expected Mitchell's stance on the death penalty to be an electoral hindrance in somewhere like Alabama but I'm genuinely taken aback that this also now applies in Ireland.

No he didn't. He claimed he made representations on numerous cases but never revealed which ones. Or at least I never read them. Do you have a link?

I don't have a problem with his stance on the Death Penalty. I do have a problem with selective campaigning on the issue.

 

[Sunny]

I agree - but until people stop buying tabloid stuff, the meeja will keep on producing it.

I actually think one of the reasons for such a dearth of impressive candidates is the knowledge of what they and their family will be put through once they mount a campaign. It's an awful shame the media behave like this and it really isn't doing the country any favours.

These are not trivial tabloid stories. We are not talking about someone smoking a joint or having an affair. Nobody cares about Dana having a fight with her family over money. I do care that she said that she wasn't aware of the allegations before the court case when if the stories today are to believed is clearly not the case.

Same goes for the other candidates. They all have questions to answer and coming out with the standard line of its time to look to the future is just not going to cut it.

 

[T McGibney]

No he didn't. He claimed he made representations on numerous cases but never revealed which ones. Or at least I never read them. Do you have a link?

He rattled off a litany of cases on Ivan Yates show last week or the week before. (He included in this the Iranian lady who was sentenced to be buried up to the neck and stoned to death). I think this was the second time I heard him say this.

You can look up the link(s) yourself.

 

[Sunny]

He rattled off a litany of cases on Ivan Yates show last week or the week before. (He included in this the Iranian lady who was sentenced to be buried up to the neck and stoned to death). I think this was the second time I heard him say this.

You can look up the link(s) yourself.

Ratting off names is not sufficient. He made written represenation in the US case and the letter has been seen. What letters did he write in the other cases? Lets see them. As far as I know, there is only one case where the representation he made has been made public.

By the way, I don't think this is a big issue. I agree with Complainer that Mitchell is just a plain awful candidate. Doesn't need a scandal not to get elected. How a party like FG can have a candidate with his rating in the polls is amazing.

 

[T McGibney]

I don't have a problem with his stance on the Death Penalty. I do have a problem with selective campaigning on the issue.

Kinda proves my point. All campaigns are by their nature selective, as its logistically impossible to be an advocate for everybody. Back in the days when Amnesty International used to campaign for prisoners of conscience, tyrants and their apologists regularly accused Amnesty of being selective and biased in their choice of campaigns. 'What about...' was their mantra whenever they found themselves under pressure.

 

[T McGibney]

By the way, I don't think this is a big issue.

That's odd. It was you who conflated it with "Alleged involvement in murder, knowledge of alleged child abuse by a member of your campaign team, " etc

Ratting off names is not sufficient. He made written represenation in the US case and the letter has been seen. What letters did he write in the other cases? Lets see them. As far as I know, there is only one case where the representation he made has been made public.

That is the precise question Yates asked him.

 

[T McGibney]

Just to clarify, my interest in this subject derives, not from support for Mitchell, but from a concern that this episode will leave Irish politicians very reluctant to make statements whenever someone is lined up to be executed on dubious grounds in a foreign jurisdiction.

Anyone who is old enough will remember the tabloid headline 'LOONY MP BACKS IRA PUB BOMB MONSTERS' which was used to vilify Chris Mullen, campaigner for the Guildford Four. I sometimes wonder how many of Mullen's fellow MPs were scared into silence by that and similar headlines, and how many innocent people were left to rot in jail, being unable to garner sufficient public attention to have their cases re-examined.

And Mullen was no stranger to being accused of 'selective campaigning' either

 

[MrMan]

Just to clarify, my interest in this subject derives, not from support for Mitchell, but from a concern that this episode will leave Irish politicians very reluctant to make statements whenever someone is lined up to be executed on dubious grounds in a foreign jurisdiction.

Anyone who is old enough will remember the tabloid headline 'LOONY MP BACKS IRA PUB BOMB MONSTERS' which was used to vilify Chris Mullen, campaigner for the Guildford Four. I sometimes wonder how many of Mullen's fellow MPs were scared into silence by that and similar headlines, and how many innocent people were left to rot in jail, being unable to garner sufficient public attention to have their cases re-examined.

And Mullen was no stranger to being accused of 'selective campaigning' either

I think you are giving far too much credit to Mitchell if you think that writing letters is why people won't vote for him. He isn't really in the discussion when it comes to who is going to be elected.

The media are generally beaten with a stick when it comes to politicians private lives etc, but I think that the information on the main candidates (and Dana) has been for the benefit of the public.
Each candidate stands up and tells us what they will bring to the role, they don't tell us what baggage they bring, and that is what the media is there to produce, so that we can make a somewhat informed decdision.

 

[Birroc]

I think 5/4 on PaddyPower for Higgins represents great value.