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McConnell gets personal | Quote: | THE fierce pre-election fight between Labour and the SNP descended into personal abuse yesterday after Jack McConnell accused Alex Salmond of being "snide", "sarcastic", and indulging in "playground mockery".
In what amounted to a full-frontal assault on the SNP leader's character, McConnell claimed Salmond was somebody of no experience in governing, who preferred to score cheap political points rather than get results .
Salmond, he added, was "out of touch" with modern Scotland, still engaged in fighting the battles of 30 years ago.
The bitter attack was met with derision by the SNP leader last night, who said that if McConnell wanted to challenge him, he should agree to a head-to-head debate to let the public make up their own minds.
McConnell's aides meanwhile said that Salmond would now be increasingly targeted in the run-up to the campaign as they seek to capitalise on what they see as his weakness as a statesman.
"We were half-expecting Salmond to appear on Celebrity Big Brother," said one Labour aide yesterday.
The assault will be led over coming weeks by Labour MPs who will be told at a meeting this week to put renewed pressure on Salmond.
Labour hope to use the Scottish Question Time slot at the House of Commons to put him under the microscope.
Labour campaign chiefs also say they plan to highlight what they see as the contrast between McConnell's experience in government, and Salmond's career in opposition.
McConnell made his comments in a speech to Labour candidates in Edinburgh yesterday. He said: "I am in politics to change things. To create positive change rather than simply attack other politicians. If you want snide comments, sarcastic laughter and playground mockery you know which leader to go to." The SNP, he added, had "no experience - none of hard decisions, tough choices, getting things done, from their leader on down".
The public wanted a First Minister "able to take tough decisions", such as implementing the smoking ban, and someone able to "get things done", such as reducing hospital waiting times and increasing jobs.
He concluded: "Compare this with the prospect of an SNP leader living in the past. Still fighting the tired battles of the 1970s such as oil.
"He is out of touch, with no experience of the hard decisions of government, far less modern Scotland, who will say anything to get elected."
Salmond rounded on McConnell last night. "Labour's campaign started as one of a series of panic attacks, unmitigatedly negative about Scotland's prospects, and has now descended into personal abuse," he said.
"The First Minister has ducked every opportunity for a head to head debate on the future of Scotland preferring to rely on assaults on the SNP from London heavies. Now he is launching assaults from the safety of his own candidates' meeting.
"Once the election campaign gets under way there will be no place to hide and the contrast will become clear between the SNP's positive vision for Scotland and the unremitting negativity of Labour's campaign."
McConnell's attack on Salmond's character comes after independent polls have suggested that Salmond is marginally preferred as First Minister.
Now, Labour aims to hit back by stepping up the attack both on Salmond's record and the SNP's spending pledges, which it claims are uncosted and will leave a £5bn black hole in Scotland's finances.
The Nationalists are proposing to scrap student debt, reintroduce student grants, and bring in a local income tax.
Labour aims to drive home the message of reliability in coming weeks when a series of UK Labour ministers come to Scotland. Prime Minister Tony Blair is also expected to make regular visits north. |
http://news.scotsman.com/politics.cfm?id=33962007
Pathetic
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IF Convenor
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Re: McConnell gets personal | Avatar wrote: | | Quote: | | McConnell... said: "I am in politics to change things. To create positive change rather than simply attack other politicians. If you want snide comments, sarcastic laughter and playground mockery you know which leader to go to." |
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Translation; I am not in politics to attack other politicians, but see that Alex Salmond...
What a pathetic unworthy little man. I really believe this is the moment Joke McConnell lost the May election.
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Avatar
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| Quote: | Translation; I am not in politics to attack other politicians, but see that Alex Salmond...
What a pathetic unworthy little man. I really believe this is the moment Joke McConnell lost the May election. |
 good translation - and thats given me a good idea for a humour thread aswell politician's quote and the translation in laymans terms 
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Aventinian
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To be frank, I do agree that Salmond is a snide and obnoxious little man. Equally however I don't think McConnell is in any position to be making light of any politician's personality.
This "out of touch" comment though - used by both recently. Are they so deluded to think either of themselves "in touch" with anything? They're both idiots who no one really gives much of a toss about, talking in language that appeals to no-one other than their devoted followers.
Which probably has something to do with why nobody bothers to vote anymore.
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Mctosh45
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Aventinian wrote.............
'Which probably has something to do with why nobody bothers to vote anymore'.
Yourself included Aventinian? 
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Anthropos
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You get the sense now that Labour are really beginning to panic. This was in todays Sunday Times:
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2090-2535470,00.html
| Quote: | Professor Christopher Smout, the Historiographer Royal, said it was “perfectly feasible” for Scotland to go it alone and that it could prosper in the same way as eastern European republics have done since the break-up of the Soviet Union. He claimed voters south of the border would be happy to see the break-up of the United Kingdom.
He also criticised claims by John Reid, the home secretary, that Scotland’s national security would be compromised by independence, describing his argument as “a complete non-starter”. |
Labour's hysterical response:
| Quote: | Senior Labour figures said his comments, so close to an election when the future of the Union will be a key issue, were “naive and destabilising” and would be an embarrassment to the Queen.
“It is unfortunate that someone this close to the Queen is coming out with these frankly shallow and not very significant arguments in favour of independence,” said Tom Harris, the Glasgow South MP.
“Politically, it would be better for us to stay in the Union and I would have thought that if a senior member of the Queen’s household did not share that view then they would just keep their mouth shut..........
.........Allan Wilson, the deputy Scottish enterprise minister, said: “An adviser to the head of state should not be trying to destabilise it and jeopardise the jobs and prosperity of millions of Scots.” |
They are getting beyond parody now.
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IF Convenor
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If it wasn't Labour it would be impossible to believe!
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Avatar
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Oh my. I could just imagine if the SNP win in May the type of insanity that will ensue. Labour MPs running around screaming "a plague on all your houses!" ripping each other eyes out and eating their own faces like wild animals.
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azzuri
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| Avatar wrote: | | Oh my. I could just imagine if the SNP win in May the type of insanity that will ensue. Labour MPs running around screaming "a plague on all your houses!" ripping each other eyes out and eating their own faces like wild animals. |
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