A week is a long time in politics @Bandage. 8 days is even longer.
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His only hope
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I don’t see Mick Martin going in with SF.
They’ll go in with FG and whichever small fish has the numbers.
I didn’t see the Upfront debate last night, but going by the analysis here I assume that Tóibín, Fitzmaurice & Carthy were the big winners and O’Gorman did a big poo on the floor?
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On the gov side I thought McEntee did alright. O’Gorman was a lot more combative and frantic.
On the other side - Tobin is a very slick communicator. He’s well suited to opposition- he’s got lots of simple solutions that clearly wouldn’t actually work in the real world but he sells them well. Fitzmaurice is a bit of a bar-stool buffoon but I’m sure his constituency loves him for it.
The most surprising to me was Carthy. SF have definitely leaned hard into the anti-immigrant populism after the locals. It’s cloaked in “common sense” but it’s definitely there. Sure what would you expect from the flip-flop party I suppose.
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My view. McEntee was surprisingly good. Carthy was surprisingly poor. Toibin was excellent and clear until asked what he would do and then it all fell apart. Nobody who supports him will give a fuck. Fitzmaurice is a fine upstanding racist. Brown never spoke unless he was dragged into it by Kty Hannon and was then surprisingly good and skewered Carthy a few times. I’m very biased on Rod but he’s most things i want to see in a politician. I thought he was pretty clear, pulled toibin up on his bullshit figures and was remarkably honest with that lady from dundrum. He could have owned it a lot more as the man who managed the shitshow though. And he’s lacking in a bit of normality in terms of manner/charisma. I’d forgive him that. Carthy was the big disappointment for me.
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wrong way around mate
O’Gorman hammered the 3 far right politicians
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the bit at the end when the lady spoke about the racist attack & carthy not supporting targeted laws against that was very telling
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I’d forgotten Browne was there. What a no-mark 
Ah he was running the ff playback. ‘Go in there… keep your mouth fucking shut and let the wackos tear strips off Rod and Helen… good man’
Job done for the cute hooors
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You’re dead right. “Don’t push away the anti-immigrant vote but don’t alienate the do-gooders either”. Classic FF
Quite soft I thought when Katie Hannon quoted him FF candidates around the country who were leaning into anti immigrant messaging
His job was to upend Carthy and he did it well
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Browne destroyed Carthy three times & had him hopping.
Saying trying to pin down SF’s flip flopping stance on immigration was like trying to nail jelly to a wall was the first one.
Carthy got really wound up when Browne said SF wanting to cherry pick the parts of the EU Migration pact they liked was like recycling the Tory’s Brexit policy. We want that part of the EU but not that part & not that part. Saying SF were using the Tory playbook really had Carthy frantically shouting nonsense back at him.
There was something else near the end too where Carthy was seething. [Edit: it was when he pointed out that SF voted against the laws referenced by @Little_Lord_Fauntleroy above]. I thought it was fairly funny - barely saying anything other than having Carthy on strings.
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What are targeted laws?
Carthy was only a thermometer for MLMD. She’ll now act accordingly and go the opposite way to Carthy.
Even blue hugh is turning on them
Carthy was really disappointing last night imho. Browne had him hopping like a sausage in a pan. He was like a lad having an asthma attack at one point. There was something about the nonchalant delivery of it that had Carthy hopping.
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Browne’s auld lad was a man of the people type typical FF TD for decades. Huge following among the GGA/GGA types, heavily involved in the Rapps/Starlights in Enniscorthy town. I think Browne is a barrister by trade & seems like a more introverted sort. He certainly doesn’t have the people skills that his Dad has but retained the “family seat”. He comes across a bit awkward at times & isn’t that visible locally or nationally. But he’s been a minister for state in some kind of lawmaking / justice-y type capacity so would be on comfortable enough ground talking about last night’s topics…he was happy enough to be largely in the background for the reasons mentioned by others.
Informative. Tbh, i barely knew him before last night. The barrister training would come in handy at debates like last night. He was happy to let the moron fill the space and bleat. No matter what you’re saying, it goes to show how important a good delivery is.
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it was so calculating, sit tight, wait until carthy said something nuts, and then calmly destroy him
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