Nazi slurs from Better Together

[DeeTillEhDeh]

Indeed.

We saw with Joan McAlpine and Michael Russell with their "anti-Scottish" schtick.

Political parties are huge. It is impossible to police everyone's output, particularly in the social media age.

What parties should be better at doing is ensuring their candidates for election are properly vetted. Neither of the main two Scottish parties have done this adequately.

I know that from experience that all of the main parties have had some real wallopers in what are seen as no-hope seats. There does seem to be less diligence in the selection process for those kinds of seats.

[H_B]

I know that from experience that all of the main parties have had some real wallopers in what are seen as no-hope seats. There does seem to be less diligence in the selection process for those kinds of seats.

I think that's a good point.

If you "know" these clowns are going to play the useful idiot role of running in a no hope constituency, how bothered are you?

I suppose in the Twitter world, parties need to take these jokers more seriously. And councillors.

Always make me laugh when councillors are built up to be important political figures, when they become embroiled in a controversy. When in reality they are just local nonentities.

[DeeTillEhDeh]

I think that's a good point.

If you "know" these clowns are going to play the useful idiot role of running in a no hope constituency, how bothered are you?

I suppose in the Twitter world, parties need to take these jokers more seriously. And councillors.

Always make me laugh when councillors are built up to be important political figures, when they become embroiled in a controversy. When in reality they are just local nonentities.

Don't start me about councillors.

In Dundee it doesn't matter who you elect - the real power is held by unelected council officers with councillors who are too thick to understand rubber-stamping decisions.

The same people who decided things under the old Labour administration are still making (the same bad) decisions under the SNP administration.

[Ivo den Bieman]

..plus it is the traditional way of building a political career. Run for councillor, serve successfully and get things done, float yourself as a Westminster candidate in a no hope seat, lose but run a good campaign and increar the share of the vote a bit, then have the profile and the trust to run for selection as a PPC in a marginal / winnable seat.

The fact that someone as god awful and clearly bigoted as the Wilkes character made it as a candidate for Labour- even in a no-hope seat for them like Angus- shows had far the party have fallen. Selecting someone who has more in common with UKIP and has no problem rambling on about benefit scroungers and "foreigners usurping my nationality", as well as implying that property ownership is somehow a qualification to be a part of an electporate, should all have disabrred her from being a Labour candidate, leaving aside her infantile views on Yes voters.

What Wilkes' selection shows is that Labour have not only scraped the bottom of the candidate barrel, they have broken through it and are now digging deep underground to find troglodytes like these to carry their banner. The reason? The party is haemorrhaging members and active supporters, and has been since the middle 2000s. Fifteen years ago a person like this would have been lucky to be put in charge of licking envelopes in the consituency office.

For the same reason, regardless of the referendum result, the SNP will win the next Scottish election comfortably and Salmond will continue if he wishes, in spite of the hopes of the unionist roaster / knuckledragger demographic, that he will slink away humiliated in the event of referendum defeat. People like Wilkes actually being selected show that Labour is a very long way from being a credible alternative, and IMO, ironically, actually need independence, just as the Tories do, to ditch recent baggage and begin to re-invent and re-build on an electable basis.

[DeeTillEhDeh]

If I had my way there would be a real democratic non-trotskyite socialist party instead of the facade of one we have now.

[Ivo den Bieman]

Labour stopped even pretending to be socialist sometime around 1985.

[H_B]

For the same reason, regardless of the referendum result, the SNP will win the next Scottish election comfortably and Salmond will continue if he wishes, in spite of the hopes of the unionist roaster / knuckledragger demographic, that he will slink away humiliated in the event of referendum defeat. People like Wilkes actually being selected show that Labour is a very long way from being a credible alternative, and IMO, ironically, actually need independence, just as the Tories do, to ditch recent baggage and begin to re-invent and re-build on an electable basis.

As we established though, once you get below the top few, the SNP is extremely weak also.

Do they really have a higher standard of pleb than Labour?

[Ivo den Bieman]

where did "we" establish this?

I can't remeber an example of an SNP candidate or elected member being sack...*cough*, "Resigning" for posting offensive comments about broad swathes of society on social media.

Every party has its idiots. Politics is a haven for those oddballs and friendless loners who struggle in other areas of society. With political engagement declining, political parties are not in a position to be overly choosy about who joins. The thing is, most of the idiots/ socially unacceptable rarely make it beyond licking envelopes and should never be given any kind of role where poublic interaction might be involved.

[pandarilla]

where did "we" establish this?

I can't remeber an example of an SNP candidate or elected member being sack...*cough*, "Resigning" for posting offensive comments about broad swathes of society on social media.

Every party has its idiots. Politics is a haven for those oddballs and friendless loners who struggle in other areas of society. With political engagement declining, political parties are not in a position to be overly choosy about who joins. The thing is, most of the idiots/ socially unacceptable rarely make it beyond licking envelopes and should never be given any kind of role where poublic interaction might be involved.

Definitely this.

[Blaven]

Indeed.

We saw with Joan McAlpine and Michael Russell with their "anti-Scottish" schtick.

Political parties are huge. It is impossible to police everyone's output, particularly in the social media age.

What parties should be better at doing is ensuring their candidates for election are properly vetted. Neither of the main two Scottish parties have done this adequately.

So this woman who was just repeating a veiwpoint if Alister Darlings was not vetted properly?

[Thundermonkey]

The best way of raising the standard our politicians? Vote Yes.

[H_B]

where did "we" establish this?

I can't remeber an example of an SNP candidate or elected member being sack...*cough*,

John Mason?

Are we glossing over that horrible little bigot?

[H_B]

The best way of raising the standard our politicians? Vote Yes.

Why?

Are we going to have a politician transplant? It's still going to be the same people living here.

[H_B]

Mr Smith, writing in the Scotland on Sunday newspaper, said: "Sadly, the motion before our nation's parliament lacks any idea of respect at all.

"The plea that nobody should be forced to even approve of same sex relationships, never mind marriage, is just plain odd."

He added: "What is in the small, mean, angry heads of bigots is a matter for them. I never asked for their approval, but I demand equality."

Mr Smith said his colleague's stance "saddens" him but accepted he has a "right to his views".

Of course, he isn't alone... maybe people looking to get into the SNP's major donor's good books, by being homphobic bigots.

"John Mason's nasty little anti-gay marriage motion is just wrong, and really disappointed that other colleagues have signed it."

Three SNP MSPs have signed up to support Mr Mason's motion.

Green MSP Patrick Harvie said the motion was "specifically anti-gay".

[Ivo den Bieman]

No, we're not, and it has been made clear that his bigoted opinions on gays and his weird Baptist sky-fairy world view is very much his own, and not party policy. His comprehensive humiliation over gay marriage should have been proof enough of that.

As I already said, every party has its idiots and certainly in Mason you have a very good example.

In a Dutch auction of who has the bigger idiots, I still think Labour (featuring many time servers who were elected by the bizarre mathemaitcs of the list system and who didn't actually expect to be elected) win hands down, out of all the groups represented in the SP currently.

[H_B]

No, we're not, and it has been made clear that his bigoted opinions on gays and his weird Baptist sky-fairy world view is very much his own, and not party policy.

lolwut?

Are you suggesting this Labour gimp's views are party policy?

The sNP, as has been established, has a fruitcake homophobic bigot contingent, who have proposed bigoted motions in Parliament.

You condemned, quite rightly, Wiles for her views - why are you not incandescent over Mason's bigotry?

[H_B]

In a Dutch auction of who has the bigger idiots, I still think Labour (featuring many time servers who were elected by the bizarre mathemaitcs of the list system and who didn't actually expect to be elected) win hands down, out of all the groups represented in the SP currently.

Based on what?

[H_B]

The thing is, most of the idiots/ socially unacceptable rarely make it beyond licking envelopes and should never be given any kind of role where poublic interaction might be involved.

I agree with you completely here...

[Ivo den Bieman]

lolwut?

Are you suggesting this Labour gimp's views are party policy?

The sNP, as has been established, has a fruitcake homophobic bigot contingent, who have proposed bigoted motions in Parliament.

You condemned, quite rightly, Wiles for her views - why are you not incandescent over Mason's bigotry?

clearly you are incapable of reading my last post.

or, have fixed the latest worm in your company's IT infrastructure and have an afternoon's whataboutery planned.

[H_B]

clearly you are incapable of reading my last post.

or, have fixed the latest worm in your company's IT infrastructure and have an afternoon's whataboutery planned.

Umm, you were the one who went down this rather bizarre road :-

"where did "we" establish this? I can't remeber an example of an SNP candidate or elected member being sack...*cough*, "Resigning" for posting offensive comments about broad swathes of society on social media."

The party of Bill Walker and John Mason.

You then grudgingly said (after being scathing about Wiles' bigotry earlier) that well OK Mason and his SNP pals are bigots, but that's their personal views not party policy. Which is, like, true for Wiles also.

The only thing you got right is that all parties have these arseholes.