The weekend in politics
Posted on | June 8, 2009 | 21 Comments
What a weekend it’s been. The local and European elections provided plenty of interest, even for somebody like me whose interest in politics isn’t all-consuming, by any means.
My main woman, Joan Collins and her shoulder pads, got elected in my local area. Go Joan!
On a European level it looks like it’s curtains for Declan Ganley as he failed with his bid to be elected in the North West and so far Libertas have won just one seat in the European parliament. That makes me very happy as the Libertas machine and its rampage of online advertising gave me and many websites a pain in the arse.
I rejoiced in seeing the witless Caroline Simons eliminated in Dublin and Libertas as a political entity is now essentially irrelevant.
It’s cheerio to Mary-Lou as well as the Shinners poison dwarf lost her European seat in Dublin. She’ll have all the time in the world to explain away her attendance record now. This also makes me happy.
Fianna Fail have suffered, as you would expect, in urban areas but have still managed to maintain some of their traditional vote in rural areas. It’s surely no less than they expected but it must hurt all the same. Bertie’s brother Maurice never came close to being elected in the Dublin Central by-election where Maureen O’Sullivan romped home. Ahern also lost his seat on Dublin City Council. Ha and indeed ha.
And the Greens, talk about paying the price. I wrote something a while back saying they’d suffer for their association with the most inept, crooked government of all time and so it has come to pass. They have been practically wiped out and it’s entirely their own fault. They had the chance, more than once, to show that they had some balls but they chose to stay in power and have now been kicked right in arse by the electorate.
They’ve lost all their council seats in Dublin, most of them around the country, and even the likes of Dan Boyle have blamed their association with FF for their poor results. The Greens were the easiest to punish for the failures of the government and they’ve taken the brunt of the backlash.
Senator Dan Boyle
Still, John Gormless won’t pull out of government though. I think he’s mad. At this point he could walk away, hold his hands up and say ‘We got it wrong, sorry’, and people would have a bit of respect for that. This desperation cling to what’s left of power is shameful and ever more damaging for the Greens. What’s left of them.
The most interesting part of the weekend for me though was how I got the information about the counts, who was in, who was out, etc etc.
Bar one period where I was in the car and listening to the radio all the breaking news I got has come via the web. Using Twitter and following people like Suzy and Alexia, lurking around and occasionally joining in with the liveblog and the RSS feed of the increasingly influential and important Irish Election.
We’re probably still very much in the minority but those of us who followed the events this way got our news first, we got testimony from people at the counts. We got reaction and opinion, speculation and punditry, we got video and audio, and we got it not on our radios or TVs or in newspapers but at our computers or on our phones.
It’s a big shift, an important shift, and for me the most interesting part of it was that the info came from people I trusted. People whose blogs I’ve read for years, who have earned the right to be believed, to be considered worthy and at times pivotal sources of information.
Where they have led this weekend you can be sure the mainstream will follow. They have to follow or they’ll get left behind.
So big congratulations to all of them and to everyone else who engaged them on Twitter, on their blogs, in comments and so on. It was collaborative and a big step forward for the web and its influence in Ireland.
Now, we just have to wait for the inevitable general election. That should be fun.
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21 Responses to “The weekend in politics”
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June 8th, 2009 @ 9:41 am
It’ll be interesting to see if FF (and Labour in UK) Voters take the view that they have punished their party enough in Europe (which “doesn’t really count” in many people’s eyes) and return to the fold at a General election ?
June 8th, 2009 @ 10:12 am
I was telling someone this morning. As i was going through the ballot with my 1-10 I felt like my heart wasn’t in it. I’ve nearly given up. 25% still voted for FF. We’re fucked. Irish people don’t deserve a vote. Stupid cunts.
Can the mainstream, or any stream, earn an income using the web? Nobody is willing to pay for the info/data gathered
June 8th, 2009 @ 10:17 am
Looking through the options for the town council in my hometown was very depressing.
A line up of fools and wasters that you actually have to start from the bottom up cause you don’t want any of them to get in but some are worse than others.
Town drunks, children of other politicians and weird freaks that aren’t even from the area…
June 8th, 2009 @ 10:28 am
I voted Green in the last couple of elections. Learned my fucking lesson.
The green thing is becoming even more galling because of their attitude. Trevor fuckface whining about how it was unfair that people used the local elections to pass judgment on them in the dail. Gormley is still being a cunt. And that spa Eamon Ryan pissing and crying on RTE yesterday was hilarious…
As for the coverage. I got most of mine form the web too – but only because there was hardly any on TV – only a few hours spaced over the 3 days. Seems Winning Streak and some nature doco on RTE 2 is more important…
June 8th, 2009 @ 10:42 am
Strange that a shift to the left here has been mirrored by a shift to the right elsewhere.
I can’t believe the BNP won seats in the UK. That is mental.
June 8th, 2009 @ 10:53 am
English politics is in disarray at the moment. Lib Dems, UKIP and BNP are all making gains. And Plaid Cymru in Wales is way up the league. Their next government could well be a coalition with a BNP member holding the balance of power.
June 8th, 2009 @ 10:54 am
Been wondering about that Twenty – the UK had a nominally left Government so a shift to the right was more or less inevitable in the absence of a credible or relevent alternative – whereas the ROI Govt was quite conservative and right wing and Labour with you was quite a respectable and credible option ?
June 8th, 2009 @ 11:01 am
When a small party holds the balance of power, they can keep the bigger cunts in check, get through some of their own policies and generally buck the political trend and try and get a bit of good done. Like what the greens did. Oh hang on…
Fucking BNP. Never been Alan Boultan’s biggest fan but he did have a good old go at Nick Griffin on Sky last night…
June 8th, 2009 @ 11:27 am
Martin Says:
June 8th, 2009 at 10:28 am
And that spa Eamon Ryan pissing and crying on RTE yesterday was hilarious…
I seriously thought he was going to start having a breakdown of some sort. Burton and Mitchell were looking at him with pity. That was one of the weirdest things I’ve seen. One minute he was fine talking about shite, the next he’s bitching about people calling him names. Calling him names! heh. Joan Burton just said “I didn’t call you any names”.
June 8th, 2009 @ 11:27 am
Strange that a shift to the left here has been mirrored by a shift to the right elsewhere.
I can’t believe the BNP won seats in the UK. That is mental.
Charlie Brooker described it ,in context of it being the 60th anniversary of the D-Day landings,as shitting on the graves of those who died fighting Nazism in WW2..
June 8th, 2009 @ 11:33 am
One minute he was fine talking about shite, the next he’s bitching about people calling him names. Calling him names! heh. Joan Burton just said “I didn’t call you any names”.
Is that online anywhere?
June 8th, 2009 @ 12:08 pm
http://www.rte.ie/player/#v=1049636
32 mins into the show
June 8th, 2009 @ 12:09 pm
Thanks Whiskey.
June 8th, 2009 @ 12:12 pm
Haha, did he have something stuck up his nose?
June 8th, 2009 @ 12:12 pm
“We canvassed really hard”. Really? I didn’t see one of them.
June 8th, 2009 @ 12:23 pm
Hahaha, the meltdown comes at 1’01+
What a fucking tool he made of himself.
June 8th, 2009 @ 12:24 pm
not everyone went right wing:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pirate_Party#2009_European_Parliament_election
June 8th, 2009 @ 12:33 pm
Heh heh
Watching it again I knew it reminded me of something…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qh2sWSVRrmo
June 8th, 2009 @ 2:34 pm
He always looks like he’s about to cry anyway. Not Minister material at all.
June 8th, 2009 @ 5:56 pm
Is it just me or is Twitter a load of bollocks?
June 9th, 2009 @ 12:01 am
I am going to set up a party with a simple structure similar to that of the green party. Force my agenda down the neck of the country through law. Now where is finna fail so i can get their support.