Video 1 – Video 2 – Video 3 – Video 4

Update

You can watch back the official Fine Gael Ustream video feed here. The sound is a bit scratchy and very low, but nice to see them starting to do more live video.

Update 2

RTE have Youtubed another video on the heckling. The heckler is named Bobby by unidentified handlers trying to shut him up.

Update 3
Boooo! Hoaxarama by Cllr Terry Ghusto. Beardy hecklers around the country are hurting.

Now, the idea of collecting Fine Gael Twitter presences in one place is interesting, logical and downright useful for those of us in the political nerd herd. It makes sense.

Onto the cringey stuff.

“Twolicy”

I’m not sure even the run-of-the-mill Life Guru-Expressive Social Media Coach could keep a straight face saying this. Yes, really.

e-Canvasser

What is really objectionable about the Twolicy page though, is the e-Canvasser form.

Clicking on that banner on the page, brings up the pop-under form below:

The call to action for visitors is to effectively astroturf on social media properties. I’m kind of wondering just who this page is aimed at. Party members wouldn’t need encouragement to do this and well, floating voters – are they really going to a) enter their details into a Fine Gael site again this election cycle and/or b) spam all of their friends with “I heart Fine Gael”. Is there anything more likely to cause unfriend in social media networks than streams of political rhetoric? That old chestnut that ‘I don’t use Twitter because I don’t want to read what you had for breakfast’. Magnify that by a thousand and you have the annoyance factor of consistent electioneering noises on a network of friends.

Looking at the design and tenor of Fine Gael’s e-Canvasser page, I think it’s the kind of page that a committee of consultants would produce. Don’t you think that there are touches of Obama? We’re not an politicially-charged community of phone pools in neighbours’ houses. And I don’t think we will ever be. If anything, encouraging people to spam their friends with pro-Fine Gael messages could backfire on Lower Twount Street HQ. Hello Protest Voters.

Instead of taking risks in content and spending less, look at the power of Coveney’s Audioboos outside a McD’s on a late-night ride home, we get Fine Gael encouraging people to fill their social presences with spam. The best that Fine Gael can hope for is that this twolicy is an expensive but unmitigated disaster in user takeup. That would, at least, save them the indignity of spending money to annoy would-be voters.

And so, here’s another – Fine Gael’s Marcella Corcoran Kennedy who’s running in Laois/Offaly as part of the panzer move into Biffo country.

Last Thursday, in case you missed it, Joe Donnelly was on Tom Dunne’s Newstalk show talking about how he interviewed Enda Kenny just before the last general election. He dubbed the piece ‘Enda’s Dream’ – it’s full of L-M-A-O goodness.

Full credit to Joe for sharing it. Reproducing it here as Newstalk have yet to as a separate download and I don’t want it to get lost. Enjoy! (If you are reading this in a feed reader, open the post in a browser to see the audio embed)

Picture courtesy of finegael.ie and audio from Newstalk

Click through to see the liveblog frame!

The IIEA has removed an event with George Lee from its site. This popped into my feedreader yesterday via the IIEA events feed.

The IIEA Young Professional Network is a networking group established to

provide young, dynamic, future leaders from different backgrounds including the business and legal communities, the media, the public sector, NGOs and academia, among others, with access to leading thinkers, policy makers and business people from both Ireland and abroad

Bad timing for promoting the event, I guess. The link to the event has now been removed from the IIEA site. Any idea when this event was schedule to happen?

Actually, why did this event need to be canceled? Is it because of the strict RTE policy on balanced political discourse?

An evening with George Lee would be interesting even though he has moved on to greener pastures. Despite the national shitfit on Lee’s resignation that we’re wallowing in, the bigger questions on the economy and the quality of representation still abound. Couldn’t the IIEA event be changed to fit?

Monday 8th February 2010

“I’m greatly saddened by George Lee’s decision to resign from Fine Gael and politics just eight months into his new Dáil career.

“In July I appointed George to Chair the Parliamentary Party’s Economic and Business Affairs Committee which all members of the Party could attend, and which  was designed to act as a core group in developing Fine Gael economic policy  for  the  next General Election. During a period of great political uncertainty when a  General Election seemed imminent George played a very important  role  in  Chairing  our Business and Economic Forums around the country  before Christmas.  These  played an integral part in planning our pre-Budget  submission.  George,  along with our other economic Spokesmen, planned  and presented that Fine Gael position to the media at Budget time. I  had  anticipated  a very important role for George in the coming period with Fine Gael after a time of settling into a new career in politics.

“As  part of our economic team George was due to attend the OECD later this week  together  with  a senior Fine Gael delegation. Regrettably that, and other  developments,  will  not  now  happen after George’s decision today.

While  I  regret  his  decision  I would like, on a personal level, to wish George and his family well in the future.”

Ends

Newsflash! George Lee has resigned his Dublin South seat and membership of the Fine Gael party after a mere nine months as he said it was made clear he had no place to institute change.

He said he went into politics for a specific reason and he didn’t believe he could achieve that. Lee said that the Fine Gael front bench were ‘nice people’. His appointment as chairman to an economic committee was pointed to as a face exercise.

Olivia Mitchell dispelled Lee’s assertions saying that he went to parliamentary party meetings but added nothing ‘new’ to the meetings. Newstalk is reporting that Mitchell and Michael Ring both said Lee should have given it more time. Epic sour grapes expected to follow.

Update!

George Lee’s Statement

I wish to announce that I have resigned from the Fine Gael Party and from my seat in Dáil Eireann today Monday 8^th February 2010.

It has been a very difficult decision, but it is one that I have taken after a great deal of reflection on my position and on the role that I have been playing in Fine Gael since I joined that Party in May last year.

The nine months since then have been a period of enormous economic upheaval. Throughout that period I have done my best to play a positive role in contributing to the national debate and to efforts to find a solution for many of the country’s economic problems.

The reality, however, is that despite my best efforts I have had virtually no influence or input into shaping Fine Gael’s economic policies at this most critical time.

The role I have been playing within the party has been very limited and I have found this to be personally unfulfilling.

When I entered politics last May I made it clear that I was doing so because I wanted to try to play a new role contributing to economic policy formulation. After nine months of trying within the political system it is now my considered view that the role available to me within Fine Gael is not a role I am happy to play.

I would like thank most sincerely all those who campaigned for me, for all of their efforts and support. I would also like to thank my Secretarial and Parliamentary Assistants for all of the help and work that they have provided to me.

I particularly want to thank the electorate of Dublin South who voted for me in such large numbers last May. It has been a great privilege and an honour to serve on their behalf. However, I do not believe I would be serving the electorate honestly if I were to continue allowing my efforts and mandate to be used to promote and market economic policies into which I have had no input.