7/08/2009

This is the way the Green Party campaigns - Telling the truth at all times ?

The Greens yesterday got some publicity, with their Tory friends, for claiming to have signed up for a campaign pledge where they apparently promise to tell the truth at all times.

Interestingly the Green Party candidate in the Norwich North by-election likes to take the moral highground on this issue, but it is clear from his own blog that he really is the last person we should look to for lessons on not telling lies in campaigns after he was caught out during the recent Euro elections where he was the Greens lead candidate.

Telling the truth at all times ? Green hypocrisy ? Politics and cynically winning votes ?

Make up your mind.

10 comments:

Anonymous said...

Are the Lib Dems going to sign up to the pledge,thought not,why change a habit of a lifetime?

Remember the 'straight' choice in Bermondsey?

Angry voter

Nich Starling said...

So you want the Lib Dems to sign up to a pledge that the Greens have already broken. In effect you want the Lib Dems to sign up to a worthless pledge !

Why not learn to read before posting such silly comments.

Nich Starling said...

And seeing as your IP address suggest you are not a local voter and the last few links to this blog have all been on Green related stories, I think we know you are not a local voter and a Green.

Costigan Quist said...

Ah the old "I've heard you ran a dodgy campaign 26 years ago, therefore the Lib Dems always lie and the Greens always tell the truth" logic.

I'd heard that the main anti-gay rhetoric was from Tatchell's opponents on the hard left and far from being a gay slur, "Straight Choice" was a pretty standard slogan for the time, like "It's a two-horse race".

Still, why bother getting to the facts when you can throw mud.

Peter Cranie said...

As a fellow blogger, I actually remember the post Rupert had to apologise for. Ironically it was challenging misleading Lib Dem claims.

The headline on that blog post was clearly out of order. "Perjures" is legal terminology and suggested a specific offence that Cllr Lubbock was not guilty of. So Rupert apologised and removed the post.

Now compare that to say, the Lib Dems in Liverpool, amongst other things making the claim that Green councillors forced homeless people to sleep in the snow, in a leaflet they delivered earlier this year.

It's demonstrably false, we've tabled questions to council on it, and we are pursuing FoI requests and legal action, because the Lib Dems won't say sorry.

The problem is systematic Lib Dem smearing, and we document it all here http://liverpool.greenparty.org.uk/focusattack/focus_attack.htm

So how about it? Clean campaigns from now on. Will Lib Dems (everywhere) sign up to the pledge?

James Higham said...

How long will the Lib Dems hang onto there leader for, do you think, Nich?

Anonymous said...

The Greens, broke election law, in the counties where I live. Putting up posters with out an imprint,and putting up posters on the polling station. They may have broken data protection law too. Let's face all parties have their rouges; parties are made up of people.

None of the above said...

I'm sure all candidates think they are on the moral high ground. None are. Life is much more complicated than that.

re the holocaust faux-pas. A relative of mine passed through Buchenwald concentration camp (as did several allied airmen)in the latter stages of WWII. And still managed to eat meat afterwards. And also had a slightly different perspective on Israel to the Green candidate. But then people are funny.

I'd forgive him that, he seems basically decent and well-meaning even if annoyingly smug, self-obsessed and unlikeable. I find several green policies to my liking and would seriously consider voting for their candidate, if I vote (no lectures please, I know the arguments). Besides, I'm sure he'd be entertainment value in parliament, if only in a cring-making 'watch from between your fingers' kind of way.

Anonymous said...

On the Norwich Green Party’s website the Greens have sought to take full credit for the "Twenty’s plenty" campaign but no credit has been given for the widely acknowledged role played by Liberal Democrat Councillors.

Isn't this another example of the Green party breaking its own pledge ?

Nich Starling said...

Their hypocrisy knows no bounds. The Greens allowed the Tories to sign up to the pledge knowing that in a Tory leaflet the Conservatives state the Conservative candidate is “fighting for justice for taxpayers following the Greyhound Opening sheltered homes scandal”.
This is despite the fact that Conservative Councillors on Norwich City Council joined with Labour Councillors in blocking Lib Dem attempts to get an independent inquiry.

This is a cleat attempt to deceive Norwich residents by the Conservative party but the Greens allow them to sign the pledge. Doesn't this make thw pledge utterly worthless ? The Tories can't paint themselves as fighting for justice when they blocked an independent inquiry.

Clearly the Greens have no problem with Tory lies ?

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