Mary Lou McDonald is almost certain to be the next leader of Sinn Féin. Kim Bielenberg writes filler pieces for the Sunday Independent. Lets see how many references to the “Troubles” we can find when the former is the subject of an article by the latter. Ready, steady, go!
With Mary Lou in frame to be SF leader, the starting gun has been fired for next election
As three combative leaders do battle, the campaign is likely to be one of the most acrimonious contests ever
Leo, Mary Lou and Micheál are preparing their arsenal of insults for the next general election
Now that Adams is finally being decommissioned and will soon be put beyond use, the real political war will begin – and no prisoners will be taken.
We can now see the shape of the coming conflict, and the dreary steeples of Fermanagh and Tyrone are not part of this vista.
The Rathgar republican Mary Lou McDonald, heir presumptive of Sinn Féin, will slug it out…
The results of this electoral scrap are unlikely to be pretty, with insults flying in all directions, but it will be a compelling spectacle, with no quarter given.
First there will be fights, acrimonious rows, outbreaks of ill feeling and accusations of bad faith on all sides.
But at the end of it all, two of these parties will have to form a loving partnership, or at least consummate a shotgun marriage.
We have already seen the opening skirmishes.
…the expected coronation of Mary Lou – with the support of the Army Veterans – has created a new dynamic for the next election.
…a more palatable version of Sinn Féin is sold by Mary Lou and her less militaristic followers.
In the next election, Mary Lou will not be slow in returning fire.
Et cetera!
One suspects that Independent News & Media are planning a campaign against Mary Lou McDonald in the coming Irish general election similar to the one enacted by Fox News against Hillary Clinton in the previous US presidential election. The right-wing ideologues who beavered away inside the News Corp. Building did a hugely successful job of “othering” the former Secretary of State for voters in conservative Middle America and no doubt the alt-unionists at the Independent House are hoping to the same for the Dublin Central TD with Middle Ireland.
AN SIONNACH FIONN 
Funnily enough, I read that article right before flipping to your site. Unbelievably even for such a brit-nat paper as the Independent, the article started off surmising Gerry Adams was playing with rubber duckies and tweeting inanely to his 150,000 followers in retirement (WTF? is that not slander?). The topper though was that, despite all the thinly veiled insults, slights of character, theories, hyperbole, insinuations, and obvious political partiality, this was published as “news,” not opinion. This paper really started digging deep after having hit rock bottom a long while back. This one of the worst pieces I have seen in a long time, and I am certainly not Gerry’s biggest fan. This author should return to his village, they are missing their opinionated idiot.
LikeLike
LOL! It’s a taste of what will be coming towards the voting public in the next general election. Now seemingly postponed again.
LikeLike
The irony of it all being Mary Lou is the most establishment comfortable Neoliberal leader Sinn Fein will ever have and one who has next to no creditability north of the border especially along the old guard of former volunteers families.
LikeLike
Well, she is defo of the Middle Ireland strain of republicanism. However that is not necessarily a bad thing, in terms of getting votes.
LikeLike