Dear All
Last night saw the debate happen between
Alex Salmond and Alistair Darling in Glasgow.
The battle was fought and won by Alistair
Darling who pulled off an epic victory, in a snap poll ICM poll of 525 people;
it found that 56 per cent thought Mr Darling had won hands down.
Alex Salmond has suffered his first but not
last independence debate defeat in front of Alistair Darling. Last night the
painful experience for Alex Salmond was that he had no answers to the serious
questions on the major issues.
It was all bluff and bluster, it was all short term knee jerk reactions to various causes he has tagged on to his campaign such as foodbanks and bedroom tax..
It was all bluff and bluster, it was all short term knee jerk reactions to various causes he has tagged on to his campaign such as foodbanks and bedroom tax..
He showed his contempt for not just the
audience but also the viewing public by refusing to answer questions. Even the
interviewer Bernard Ponsonby and audience members were having ago at Salmond in the show.
Scotland last night sent the SNP a clear
message, the answer is No!
Salmond worked hard to sell the lie and vision
of an independent Scotland with the powers to create a more just society. That
feeble attempt crashed and burned, more to be laughed at and also pitied. Alex
Salmond and unpopular Nicola Sturgeon have done nothing in real terms to make
Scotland a more equal and fair society.
The SNP is a rich man’s party who court the rich!
Darling challenged Salmond over his
currency plans as he used forensic questioning to take apart piece by piece
Salmond’s arguments. Everything Salmond said showed he was now on the back foot
through-out the debate trying to play catch up.
Afterwards both sides claimed victory after
a session that was dominated by the economy but there was only one winner and
that was Alistair Darling.
Alex Salmond’s dream is now dead!
We are now going to see the start of the
breakup of the Yes Scotland campaign that has already started as the Radical
Independence Campaign which includes Scottish Green party members, trade
unionists and socialist and community activists start to distance themselves from
Salmond and the SNP. They are planning mass canvasses of poor
areas to hoodwink working class voters and try and sell the lie that a vote for
independence isn’t a vote for Alex Salmond.
It is!
Salmond was expected to win easily last
night but the fact he lost shows clearly that spin cannot win over substance, and the SNP
strategists don’t have any plans, any vision and have done no work to prepare Scotland for an independence bid.
Right at the start of this miserable excuse
for an independence campaign I said many things that needed to happen, all the
mistakes I pointed out have now happened, the most important was tell the
truth.
Instead the people of Scotland were treated
with absolute contempt and lied to repeatedly.
John Curtice, a polling expert at
Strathclyde University; said the overall poll findings were difficult for Alex Salmond,
because he had been widely expected to win:
"In broad terms, it was a score draw,
but given that was Alistair Darling's objective, that's a win for the no
side."
The big killer of the evening was currency which
will now be a stick to beat Salmond and Sturgeon with: Salmond argued that the
pound belonged to Scotland and England. It does but only within the United
Kingdom. If Scotland leaves, it won’t be as the debate got angry Darling effectively
stamped his authority on Salmond and said the pound belonged to United Kingdom.
He added independence would lead to
Scotland “scrabbling around with someone else’s currency”, which would be
“foolishness of the first order”.
In a devastating putdown Darling said every
eight-year-old knew that the Scottish flag was the Saltire and that the capital
was Edinburgh, adding:
“You can’t even tell us what currency we
would have.”
As Salmond lost the plot further knowing he had been beaten, he cited No supporting politicians had made outlandish claims about
independence, including the suggestion that Scotland would drive on the right
and would be vulnerable to alien attack.
Alex Salmond was all over the place trying
to fight back in a contest he already lost.
Alistair Darling won last night and the SNP
have no answer to that fact, this was a warm up fight, the gloves really come
off when the debates switch to the BBC.
Those debates really will see no prisoners
taken as the pressure ramps up on Salmond to produce a gamchanger.
Alistair Darling did the job that was
expected of him last night, I was asked my opinion did I think he would win.
I said Alistair Darling would win it and
George Laird is always right!
Yours sincerely
George Laird
The Campaign for Human Rights at Glasgow University
You mentioned activists. I can't believe that they are still out knocking on doors after years of this pathetic amateurish campaign. They are quite willing to bet on their kids future on the basis of what a guy said down the pub to a news reporter. Allegedly.
ReplyDeleteSalmond was sweaty and nervous. He knew it was another bluff and bluster session. Quoted news reports and played the man but never answered a question of substance.
He'll be beamed out at the next Party Conference.