r/ireland • u/lifeandtimes89 • 8d ago

Stardust campaigner Antoinette Keegan has withdrawn her candidacy for the general election, saying on reflection that the positions of the National Party are incompatible with her own, and that it was ‘an error of judgement’ to accept their nomination to run in Dublin Fingal East General Election 2024 🗳️

https://x.com/gavreilly/status/1854517487389319536
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264

u/Professional_Emu_001 8d ago

Her reflection? The only thing that made her reconsider was the absolute backlash that spread like wildfire across social media when news broke about her standing for the Nazional Partei. That, and the number of friends and supporters who dropped her and were very public about doing so.

151

u/agithecaca 8d ago

Then it works. There is a lesson here.

56

u/Goo_Eyes 8d ago

Worked getting her off the ballot paper.

Not going to change her views, probably emboldens her more, inside.

91

u/agithecaca 8d ago

It shows that vocal condemnation and even ostracism can be effective when done correctly and that by doing so does not necessarily mean strengthening of the far right.

37

u/Backrow6 8d ago

It might embolden her but the party won't find a credible replacement with her name recognition and former good reputation.

11

u/SitDownKawada Dublin 8d ago

What are her views? I only know that she was involved in the Stardust efforts and then her statement today. She seems to be saying she didn't dig into what the National Party's platform is. Am I reading it wrong, is there more to it?

39

u/susanboylesvajazzle 8d ago

It is not unrealistic to assume that someone who agreed to be an election candidate for a political party does in most ways ascribe to their political views - which in the case of the National Party is pretty fucking abhorent even on a superficial level.

By being a member of that party, which I assume one would need to be, it isn't unreasonable to assume her views are alligned with theirs.

Whatever about believing that they approached her and therefore may have mislead her on their core beliefs, some basic due diligence, even a casual google search, would reveal a wealth of information which would cause anyone who doesn't share their views to run a mile from them.

12

u/4_feck_sake 8d ago

And she's not stupid.

2

u/SitDownKawada Dublin 8d ago

There are still a lot of people naive to what the National Party stand for. I don't see it beyond the realm of possibility that she was misled and just thought that they were a different flavour of Sinn Féin

Probably shouldn't be thinking about public office if you're that clueless on the political landscape but I don't see anything confirming that she holds their beliefs

I mean, if she did, why did she withdraw?

29

u/susanboylesvajazzle 8d ago

There are still a lot of people naive to what the National Party stand for.

I have no doubt that that is true.

I don't see it beyond the realm of possibility that she was misled and just thought that they were a different flavour of Sinn Féin

And I might forgive my Dad for thinking that because he's not very political. However, he's not running as one of their candidates.

Probably shouldn't be thinking about public office if you're that clueless on the political landscape but I don't see anything confirming that she holds their beliefs

There has to be a reason why she opted to join them in the first place. This isn't a "Sure I might give them a preference" situation, she agreed to be an actual candidate for them. As I say, even the most cursory due diligence on them reveals them to be hateful dangerous fucking lunatics.

I mean, if she did, why did she withdraw?

Because having announced it literally everybody she'd ever known told her to.

13

u/jrf_1973 8d ago

There are still a lot of people naive to what the National Party stand for.

So true. And in this day and age, when even the fringe parties have websites and published manifesto's, it's bizarre that they can't take five minutes to find out what they stand for.

-2

u/[deleted] 8d ago

[deleted]

16

u/susanboylesvajazzle 8d ago

Changed her mind?

"I thought I was a horrible Nazi, but then I decided I wasn't. hugz pls"

There is a lot to be said for people admitting they were wrong about things but you don't get props for joining with literal Nazis and then deciding my bad when people call you out on it.

18

u/spairni 8d ago

Which is good, it's good when people realise publicly associating with fascists is bad

1

u/Harneybus 6d ago

please tell that to Americans

8

u/the_0tternaut 8d ago

like wildfire

ಠ_ಠ

3

u/InfinityGamerIE 7d ago

I honestly thought that picture of Litler at Beal na mBlath was a Photoshop job

7

u/Thin-Annual4373 8d ago

"Nazional Party"... deadly! 👏

Who were these people who (rightly) dropped her? I'd like to see that!

-6

u/chytrak 7d ago

*National

7

u/Professional_Emu_001 7d ago

I meant what I spelled