Not accountants but wannabe politicians
Posted by Maman Poulet on 19 Mar 2009 at 08:25 am | Tagged as: Elections, Irish Politics, Social Media
A few weeks ago Fianna Fáil uploaded a video of local election candidates. I only got round to watching it on Monday.
The first thing that struck me – Poor Dermot Flanagan from Tallaght South – someone didn’t check the caption spelling! (Dermot was one candidate who caught my attention at the Ard Fheis, he can actually give a speech without keeping his eyes stuck on a script.) Dermot likes the word local also – wonder will he swap it for place names in his ward, the way Charlie ‘Tallaght’ O’Connor does.
Does anyone in Fianna Fáil wear a jumper or a hoodie or an anorak? These candidates look like people who work for KPMG (or used to!)
Ok I’m going to say it now and it might stick. Stepford Candidates anyone?
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Ok, maybe it’s a little too scripted but it’s a good effort. No party is going to produce a video without a similar script, would you rather they just bumbled off the cuff? And as regards their clothing, of course they have to dress that way, they aren’t going to just show up in hoodies, I mean, show me a candidate who won’t be canvassing wearing a suit for ANY party? ‘Young people’ (hate that) have to make double the effort to appear professional but not above their station, it’s not easily done.
Would you like it professionally (but not stuffy), or to be a haphazard splicing of bumbling outtakes (a pleb YFG vid from youtube comes to mind here)?
I’d say lots of candidates won’t be wearing suits canvassing! I’ve seen blogs of some candidates wearing logoed rain gear and the like out knocking doors. I despair at the locals including town councils becoming mini Dail’s.
Of course I didn’t expect anything else from this video or any video from a political party. It just does not feel real – Maybe the community based candidates running youth clubs or tidy towns schemes or women’s refuges are out there, as are those struggling to pay mortgages, who don’t have degrees or their own businesses. I look forward to hearing about them!
I still don’t know what they believe though. Where do they stand on local taxation, community transport initiatives, school control, rights for minorities, preventing violent behaviour blighting specific neighbourhoods?
I will answer any question you have about Tallaght South to the best of my ability and truthfully. Its a difficult time to be a first time runner for Fianna Fail but the expectation that Fianna Fail will be punished at the poll leaves little expectation on the individual and therefore what have we got to loose?
Regards
Dermot Flanagan
Tallaght South
[...] I saw this via Suzie Byrne’s site. As an introduction to the candidate, I think it is superb. Personality, location and a sense of a place in a community are snappily portrayed. Follow up videos giving us specifics on what he hopes to achieve would be needed, of course. But as a first look, you get a much stronger impression of a real human being than any of Suzy’s Fianna Fail Stepford Candidates. [...]
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