This comment by one nationalist forum poster seems to sum up the basic attitude:
...during a period of mourning we should restrain our activities to a minimum,and show a degree of respect for the individual and his family,or at least appear to do so in public... Once that has been done,I agree that the war against corruption,sleaze,nepotism,and gravy train quisling parties resumes...But now this, from the Guardian, about recent SNP activity in Mr MacDougall’s constituency:
The SNP... paid warm tribute to MacDougall yesterday. But Labour sources say the party has had an "under the radar" campaign in the constituency since it became clear he was terminally ill.Iain Macwhirter confirmed this version of events:
They have been canvassing the constituency for most of the last year.And the Scotsman provided additional detail:
The Nats' campaign machine has geared up in the area since last October, and it has spent the past few months canvassing 40,000 constituents...Call me old-fashioned, but I see this kind of cynical opportunism as beneath contempt.
Fcukwit!
I'll leave this post in situ as an example of why I've had to activate moderation. Here is this site's commenting policy.
Alrighty AM2 ? thought i would pop in and say hello, wee bit impressed with your blog even though some of your slavering around the SNP is on the hyperventilating side but never the less a blog well done.
Now i thought i would like to post some good news on your blog..
YouGov poll, commissioned by the SNP, conducted 6-8 August, sample 1,028.
Scottish Parliament constituency vote [change from May 2007 in brackets]:
SNP: 44% [+11]
Labour: 25% [-7]
Lib Dem: 14% [-2]
Con: 13% [-4]
Other: 4% [+2]
Question..Although the above figures are for the Scottish elections, do you think the SNP will win the Glenrothes seat?
You'll never get to be my "featured CyberNat" with semi-friendly comments like that, Mr Spook!
Will the SNP win Glenrothes? Highly likely, but ask me again once the candidates have been confirmed.
Sorry - but along with many other people I find the opportunistic mudslinging here from "Labour sources" and their friends in the Johnston Press just as contemptable.
1. I expect that you will know full well that the party has been actively telecanvassing the whole of Scotland - not just Glenrothes - in order to get data in place for a general election. Its a tool called Activate and anyone that has any actual real world non-blogging contact with Scottish politics will know about it.
2. Given that only 37,366 (56%) of the people in the constituency voted in 2005 I think it puts into perspective the widely inaccurate and somewhat creative claim that we have already canvassed 40,000 (60%) of the electors.
3. As usual you make narrative links that aren't there to support your dogmatic point of view: Iain Macwhirter does not confirm the "Labour source" - his observation is quite independent of that nasty, opportunistic little comment that you have kindly reprinted: He's just confirming what we all know in that the party has been building its canvassing data across the whole of Scotland.
4. Before you also get creative with stories of nasty Nats building databases on people I trust you acknowledge that the technology and techniques were developed by the Labour Party ahead of the 97 election. They also developed the now infamous "rapid rebuttal unit" ... which stangely enough employed many of the techniques that you've employ on this blog....
Personally I find it somewhat repugnant that the party forced a terminally ill man to stay in post, including attending the 42 day vote - in stark contrast to another Scottish Labour ex-MP who was allowed to quietly resign for reasons of expenses-related-stress.
As said before, you don't do yourself justice with these nasty or personal entries AM2..
PS. If I followed your behaviour in trying to smear all unionists with the actions of an individual then I could refer you to this odious individual.
However, that's not grown up politics. And I'm big enough to admit that the vast majority of people "on the other side" will be decent and principled... it just so happens that I politically disagree with them.
So I won't ;-)
Leaves on the line
It's neither nasty nor personal. I merely collated three reports which were suggesting that the SNP may have been canvassing in anticipation of a by-election in Glenrothes.
Now, I have no connection with or loyalty to any particular party, so I don't propose to defend what Labour sources have said.
But Iain Macwhirter said, quite clearly, that the SNP have been canvassing the constituency for most of the last year. He said nothing about any other constituencies. We don't know from what he said whether there has been a greater focus on Glenrothes than elsewhere.
However, the Scotsman's claim that some 40,000 people have been canvassed is quite remarkable. It is, as you point out, a huge percentage of the total electorate.
You write it off as "inaccurate" and "creative" - essentially a fabrication emanating from Labour Party "friends" in Johnston Press. But what evidence have you for that?
Can you provide the actual figures for the number of voters canvassed in Glenrothes? And what's the average across all Westminster constituencies in Scotland?
So let me rephrase the last sentence of my post. If this has been going on, I would see it as cynical opportunism as beneath contempt.
Two more quick points:
1. Have you any evidence for your claim that Labour "forced a terminally ill man to stay in post"?
2. The individual who referred to "gravy train quisling parties" claims to have joined the SNP in 1968, to have known Dr Robert McIntyre reasoably well and to now know Kenny MacAskill quite well. True or Mittyesque; typical or fringe - I couldn't say. But his comment struck me as typical of the pervading tone.
Mr Unionist,
I can't answer how many have been canvassed in Glenrothes, but I know that canvassing is ongoing during "peacetime" - ie when there is no election on. I cannot for one second believe that 40,000 have been canvassed since 2007 - indeed, not even since 2005. I believe most constituencies (though I am perhaps well out here - this is just a guess) have probably less than 20% done since May 2007. And that's for all parties - again, a guess, but an educated one.
Second, I'm not speculating that Mr Macdougall was "forced" to stay in post, but I do understand (from a reliable Labour source - if such a thing exists) that he had been reselected to fight the next General Election.
Just some information for you. Guess I'll never be featured cybernat either!
I hope not, Malc! ;-)
So, what are your thoughts about the possible origins of the 40,000 figure?
Of course the SNP has been canvassing in Glenrothes since October. We have been canvassing every constituency since October. Not only do we have the euro and Westminster elections coming up but an independence referendum as well.
Perhaps the problem is that a lot of political journalists and readers do not know how elections are actually fought. The party that identifies the most support and gets that support out on the day wins. It's that simple. So canvassing goes on all year round.
As for the 40,000 figure - someone just made that up. No-one acively involved in politics would believe that. Whether the journalist made it up or someone did it for him - well, who knows? It's the Scotsman isn't it?
My last comment on this one.. but if we're going to discuss unbecoming behaviour before the poor guy has even been buried then have a look at this story about the Labour infighting that has already erupted, which includes the choice statement from a "friend" of Gordon Brown that Henry McLeish is a - and I quote - "litte bastard". Nice!
So now which party's behaviour is contemptable?