Given that he dismissed 450k people last week as "economically illiterate, unscrupulous dole scroungers", he knows how to win friends and influence people, doesn't he?
Originally Posted by Macy
I'm inclined to agree with both posts. The Yes side needs O'Leary mouthing off about as much as it needs the surgeon general presenting strong evidence that voting yes gives you clap.Given that he dismissed 450k people last week as "economically illiterate, unscrupulous dole scroungers", he knows how to win friends and influence people, doesn't he?
" I wish to God that someone would be able to block out the voices in my head for five minutes, the voices that scream, over and over again: "Why do they come to me to die?"
I tend to disagree, the general public have an unhealthy respect for O'Leary's opinions, seeming to equate his particular brand of brashness as honesty. As a group, which is of course what we have to deal with, I would think the majority will think that what's good for O'Leary will be good for them. Completely in error, of course. O'Leary does what's good for O'Leary in the first instance, what's good for O'Leary in the second instance, and what's good for Ryanair in the last instance. The public never enters the equation.
Fitgerald's comments have been rubbished in turn by Karl Whelan and others. It's hard to argue with Karl, he's a ball of energy that comes across as a mite argumentative - which I sympathise with, as I get accused of the same - but he uses facts to back up his arguments, and the people I've seen him up against, well, they don't. What they say sounds like facts, but if you look into them they're generally bluff, or failing that blunder. He was on the radio the other day and they guy he was arguing completely personalised the whole thing, I was just waiting for the obnoxious little ******* to say "do you still beat your wife Karl?"* Seriously, that was the guys level.
adam
* To my shame, I got caught out with that when I was a young flame warrior on a mailing list I really had no intellectual right to be on. It's a lesson I've never forgotten.
Last edited by dahamsta; 31/08/2009 at 11:01 PM.
O'Leary is a sideshow.
Much more worrying is Cóir launching their campaign today. Lets hope the media take them to pieces for being the Youth Defence fascist scum they are and always have been. Time to drag up Justin Barrett's political history again methinks....
Last edited by dahamsta; 31/08/2009 at 11:35 PM. Reason: Troll.
Or maybe the Government will completely fook everything up by attacking them and giving them credibility (and I'd completely agree with your sentiment about the bigots).
If you attack me with stupidity, I'll be forced to defend myself with sarcasm.
Its worrying that we are well into what should be the real campaign and the real issues aren't yet being debated (by either side), which allows people like Cóir and O'Leary to fill the vacuum.
Its like deja vu all over again (as Yogi Berra once said).
Labour wheeled out A poster driven on the back of a truck
The first pole posters in Dublin have come from Coir though, with a range of hard-hitting, effective messages backing up their campaign. So Round 1 in the marketing campaign to the No side.
God help us if the public fall for the tripe spouted by Youth Defence..,oops Cóir, no link there at all, even though they share the same members and offices....
I actually think these loonies are a potential positive for the Yes side. People should be asked if they want to side with a far right, anti-divorce, anti-immigration bunch of zealots for whom defeating Lisbon is only a small step on their journey to bring Ireland back to the Dark Ages.
As with the post Lisbon1 focus on Libertas, the Yes side continue to focus on the right wing nutjobs with the the negative side of their campaigns*. It takes the focus off the leftist groups, that are obviously making points they find hard to rebut!
* not that I have a problem with them going after the aforementioned nutjobs - it's a pity this Government is so quick to panda to them on social reforms and advances such as gay marriage, blasphemy, schooling etc
If you attack me with stupidity, I'll be forced to defend myself with sarcasm.
The Coir posters are mostly crap, but then so is the rhetoric coming from the Yes side.
I saw a poster the other day claiming that 95% of europeans would vote no. I was on a bus, and missed whose poster it was. Was it Coir? How partisan do you have to be to actually believe that?
You can't spell failure without FAI
Apparently its a Charlie McCreevy quote.
If my eyebrows go any higher, I'll look like an anime character.
You can't spell failure without FAI
Google it.
I've no idea whether he actually said it, but thats whats alleged.
http://www.examiner.ie/ireland/mccre...-no-95078.html
You can't spell failure without FAI
It was 95% of countries, not 95% of Europeans. A bit on it here: http://www.irishtimes.com/blogs/stat...e-no-campaign/
He's a complete **** in fairness, and a corrupt one at that.
#NeverStopNotGivingUp
I think I see what your saying and yet I reckon there might be a good few more passive yes voters out there than passive no voters. That is - I can picture a cohort of people who would stumble from the deathbeds to vote no. I find it difficult to picture a counterpart yes contingent.
O'Leary, given enough Oxygen of publicity, and lord knows he'll get it because he's cheap bluster yap on radio or tv, might just make some of that passive yes tune out and stay home.
" I wish to God that someone would be able to block out the voices in my head for five minutes, the voices that scream, over and over again: "Why do they come to me to die?"
How do you sell procedural efficiency?
In fairness, its not a particularly easy task.
One can but hope Lionel Richie.
Everyone else, I want be absolutely clear on the Coir stuff before it starts: While I dislike them as much as any Yes voter, I don't want to see attacks out of hand here. Debunk with facts and statistics or keep your mouth. And vice versa on Yes debunkers.
Not that there's much to debunk. I don't think I've seen a single fact from the Yes side, which I'd guess is the point Coir is trying to make.
adam
In many ways the position is clearer this time around without Libertas and their downright misleading "pro-EU, anti Lisbon" trojan horse.
The groups that are pro a bigger and stronger EU are pro Treaty and those who want EU powers to be rolled back are, unsurprisingly, against.
To paraphrase a US election slogan, "it's not about the Treaty, stupid". Adam I realise this doesn't sit easily with you, but it is what it is. In a democracy people can vote for whatever reason they see fit and I've seen nothing as yet to indicate that people are viewing the Treaty as anything other than a signpost for where the EU goes.
I might be wrong and the FF/FG/Greens/Labour brains trust might surprise everyone and find a convincing way to sell the Treaty itself over the next few weeks. But from a general perspective it's always easier, whatever the topic, to argue against something and for maintaining the status quo.
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