Rabbitte caught in the footlights

Mayo man Pat Rabbitte is expected to resign as Labour Party leader any minute now.

With Joe Higgins gone, the Dáil will become a bigger snore fest than ever. The ruling party has treated it with contempt under the Bifo / Bertie axis of evil anyway, but there's no way I'm staying up for Oireactas Report anymore -unless of course I can't sleep.

Rabbitte was too self righteous, but he was the only one to get under the smarmy skin of the FFers, so, for that reason I'm sorry to see him go.

I'm so sick of the run-with-the hare and hunt-with-the-hound duplicity of FF that I'd love to see them exposed for who they are. But the people spoke in May so I'll just have to stew for another five years...at least.

The number of eloquent TDs diminishes further and the proportion of gob****es increases further......:(

If I was a Labour member I would be glad to see him resign as he has failed to improve their lot since he took over. Jokes are all very well but do they win any votes?

I don't think his legacy will be great.

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Originally Posted by pete

If I was a Labour member I would be glad to see him resign as he has failed to improve their lot since he took over. Jokes are all very well but do they win any votes?

I don't think his legacy will be great.

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Given who the Irish electorate have voted for, maybe its more a reflection on the moronic nature of your average voter Pete?

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Originally Posted by OneRedArmy

Given who the Irish electorate have voted for, maybe its more a reflection on the moronic nature of your average voter Pete?

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I have no doubt the voter population is moronic but as I have said before its a flaw of democracy that everyone gets a vote. :(

The goal of the Labour party is to get as many members elected as possible so they have power to implement their policies. Rabbitte has failed to delivery that.

i hated the man personally, bugged the **** out of me!

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Originally Posted by pete

The goal of the Labour party is to get as many members elected as possible so they have power to implement their policies. Rabbitte has failed to delivery that.

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HE improved on their last showing. Maybe he did get as many elected as possible...

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Originally Posted by MyTown

Mayo man Pat Rabbitte is expected to resign as Labour Party leader any minute now.
Rabbitte was too self righteous, but he was the only one to get under the smarmy skin of the FFers, so, for that reason I'm sorry to see him go

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I could never take to Rabbitte. His attitude seem to be why use a 100 words when you can use 1000. Always wanted to hear the eloquence of his own verbosity when really, he was only talking down to the working class. Soundbittes and clever cliches rather than substance. I also listened to Brendan Howlin after Labours disaster in the elections. Got the impression Howlin wasn't too enamoured by Rabbitte. Was this the Labour rump of the party showing their disdain for the WP rump. Funnily enough I think Rabbitte was honorable in his intentions. Problem was he didn't engage in enough constructive criticism.

I'm afraid I have to rail against popular opinion: I like the man immensely, thought he was absolutely the best man to be in charge, and I don't think anyone in the party is fit to replace him. Quite possibly the end of Labour as we know it in Ireland imho.

adam

I actually quite liked him, thought himself and Kenny would have made a better team than Bertie and Satan at any rate

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Originally Posted by dahamsta

Quite possibly the end of Labour as we know it in Ireland imho.

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It will be if Joan Burton gets the gig anyway.

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Originally Posted by dahamsta

I'm afraid I have to rail against popular opinion: I like the man immensely, thought he was absolutely the best man to be in charge, and I don't think anyone in the party is fit to replace him. Quite possibly the end of Labour as we know it in Ireland imho.

adam

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Your last sentence raises another question which could be a topic all by itself Adam. The lack of Trade Union involvement with the Labour Party in this country in the same way that Trade Unions representing the Working Class are entwined with the Labour Party in the UK.

So who's up to replace him?

Please don't say Joan Burton. :mad:

His departure was inevitable really, following the party's election performance. With the PD's in meltdown, Labour really should have taken advantage of it. Instead they were the only big party to lose a seat. It was their performance which ultimately scuppered the chance of an alternative coalition.

I like him, have a lot of time for him, but I blame him for the consequences of the Mullingar Accord. His decision to support Fine Gael in the election campaign saved Fine Gael and set Irish Politics back at least 20 years, back to 2 parties with no difference between them. The Mullingar Accord made the election a straight fight between Bertie and Enda (in which there was only going to be one winner) which had the result of sidelining the smaller parties. I'm not saying that Labour should have made their decisions in the interests of the smaller parties, but they would not have fared any worse if they went it alone.

This BTW is why Howlin was so critical of Rabbitte after the election - he was very much against the Mullingar Accord.

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Originally Posted by monutdfc

This BTW is why Howlin was so critical of Rabbitte after the election - he was very much against the Mullingar Accord.

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Absolutely, and would make a decent leader too IMO.

I don't believe Labour would be in any better position if Rabbitte hadn't aimed for a coalition with Fine Gael, in fact I think the opposite would have been true. Labour lacks innovation and a younger membership, and needs to address this urgently. Appeasing the old farts in the party because "the old way is best" will just accelerate the death of the party. If anything, what the party needs now is someone even more radical than Rabbitte, and of course that's not going to happen. Hence my opinion on it's lifespan.

adam

Rabbitte was trying to imbue his party with the centrist politics of Blair/Campbell's New Labour. He didn't have a Campbell (Spring had Finlay) and the enemy within (Broughan / Howlin) was always going to undermine him.

The Left is dormant if not dead in Ireland. It's what happens in societys where middle classes incomes shoot up and we're too dizzy with the feelgood factor to see that prices are going up faster than incomes.An economic downturn should help Labour to regroup, but IMO, it won't, the Shinners and chameleonFF will mop up what's left (no pun intended) of Labours support.

I think he will be a great loss.... from a situation where Bertie had a large majority, Rabbitte and enda got within 3 seats of government... and when one sees the lack of leadership that FF and company have shown in the manner in which they are dealing with Aer Lingus ie running with the hare and hunting with the hounds, well the people of this country deserve what they get and it's just a shame that the likes of Rabbitte and Joe Higgins are being edged out.... whilst the likes of Bev Flynn are being brought back into the fold.

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Originally Posted by MyTown

The Left is dormant if not dead in Ireland.

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Too true, although nothing a good recession won't sort out!

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Originally Posted by OneRedArmy

Too true, although nothing a good recession won't sort out!

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Sad, but looking increasingly likely.

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Originally Posted by dahamsta

I'm afraid I have to rail against popular opinion: I like the man immensely, thought he was absolutely the best man to be in charge, and I don't think anyone in the party is fit to replace him. Quite possibly the end of Labour as we know it in Ireland imho.

adam

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really, i would have thought that happended years ago

for all his shouting and roaring he didnt actually do much for the labour party in his 5 years in charge

Am I right in saying he is not giving up his seat but purely the leadership so the Dail has not lost him yet. Although he will have far less speaking time now.

Most important things is for Labour not to get caught up in the whole debate about the election strategy. Pretty much the same result as with the "independent" Quinn approach, and if anything I'd say the failure to just say no under any circumstances gave FG more seats rather than being true to his word (in the end, the only certain anti FF vote was FG). As the results panned out, it was never going to be FF/Labour unless Labour did much worse and so could demand less. I think the effect of the Mullingar Accord is overstated with regard to FG, who had started to turn it around at the local and european elections with no pact. If Labour was to kill off FG, it was at those locals that it was the time to do it, not at the last election.

As for who to take over, Broughan would be my personal early favourite with his talk of reinvigorating the left, with Labour leading the way. There is a clear opening for Labour to lead this, if only they'd grasp the nettle of being proud of their roots rather than diluting them. Being apparently soft on the unions hasn't done Bertie and FF any harm. It's a real shame that Gilmore seems to be going with the opposite approach, as I think he probably is the right personality, but taking the wrong approach. It's a pity it's a term too early for Sherlock. But tbh haven't been following it all as much as I might've so far...