Paisley's last stand.

[lawnseed]

forget his ideology just for a minute.. as has been said he set up a church, a party and drove a cart and horses through conventional Irish politics and carried it off with aplomb. had our side of the political divide had anyone to match him things could have been so much different. look at the feeble mutterings of 'wullie' to me hes trying to play the same game but simply cant pull it off. paisley had exactly the right mixture of politics and religion, just enough politics to be a force and just enough religion to make sure he never missed a vote. no other leader could do what he has done. just look at the reception he got in Dublin ffs he was treated like royalty. while most of the charges levelled against him are very true he did stir up trouble and hatred. you simply have to admire his ability to raise the feelings of people who would ordinarily have very little interest in even voting. paisley changed because he no longer needed to be the firebrand "never never never" guy, his position at the time was unassailable it was job done.
his meteoric raise to the top shows the nature of politics and how someone can capture the moment a little like sean gallagher in the recent presidential election he came from nowhere and almost had it. paisley went a step further. paisley also shows how politcal parties with morally correct policies can be eclipsed by extremists.
the question should be are there any more "paisleys" lurking in the background and what message/hardship will they bring..?

[Dougal Maguire]

It doesn't matter how many there are, and Jim Allister is one for a start, its how influential they can be in stirring up enough fear and therefore hatred to mobilise the masses, that is the main issue.

[lawnseed]

It doesn't matter how many there are, and Jim Allister is one for a start, its how influential they can be in stirring up enough fear and therefore hatred to mobilise the masses, that is the main issue.

its a bit like the movie 'highlander'   "there can be only one.."  for allister to rise paisley would haved to be dead and there would have to be a percieved threat amoungst the rabble eg increased dissident activity. or severe economic hardship. but it the nature of these guys that they just appear without warning. also allister is too nice this type of leader has to be the real deal ie willing to do jail etc..

[ballela-angel]

In 1973 Leon Uris, the author of Trinity, Exodus and some other notable novels wrote the text for a pictorial book his wife, Jill Uris was publishing entitled "Ireland – A Terrible Beauty"  - In it he had the following to say regarding Ian Paisley "His most notable victory was attained in collapsing the O'Neil government over Civil Rights and getting himself elected to both Stormont and to Westminster. His political mentor, a standoffish barrister named Desmond Boal, cleaned up Paisley's act for the British Parliament;  here he has shown himself to be a reasonable man with wit and mock candor that have hoodwinked thousands in Ulster, Britain and even Ireland. In support of a most remarkable Jekyll and Hyde charade, His Puritan Press runs overtime with a nonstop barrage of hate literature ............ Ian Paisley is not so naive as not to learn from his chosen enemy. He has created his own papacy in some three dozen Free Presbyterian churches (Written in 1973, this number has grown significantly since then) ...... Paisley is the Moderator, a Protestant Pope complete with infallibility. Confession, the use of ministers in a role similar to that of Catholic priests, and many other adaptations are straight from Rome. He practices it all with a totalitarianism that few Catholic churchmen practice ........ If a man could be singled out as responsible for the tragic condition of Northern Ireland, no one has more to answer for than Ian Paisley"
I was very struck by that last sentence when I first read it many years ago because I knew in my heart that it was true
I had been aware of Paisley and his infant organization from the early 60's when he had "converted" a young Tyrone girl from Catholicism to his brand of Presbyterianism (I knew about it as I was friendly with one of the girl's neighbors) – During the Civil Rights area, I came to realize that Paisley was an evil person, especially after the incident at Burntollet Bridge – Ian Uris opens his piece on Paisley with this "The most diabolical by-product of three hundred and fifty years of the plantation of Ulster is a cancerous growth known as Paisleyism ....... Few men possess the power to hate with such magnitude, and more frightening, few have the energy and ability to transmit and infect fellow creatures with that hatred" 

[Minder]

Paisley is a far worse egg than Maggie Thatcher, in my opinion.

[orangeman]

It doesn't matter how many there are, and Jim Allister is one for a start, its how influential they can be in stirring up enough fear and therefore hatred to mobilise the masses, that is the main issue.

Does it not say a lot about the electorate then that were taken in by him and voted for him continually ?.

Indeed the same could be said on the nationalist / republican side, i.e tribal politics. You have to start out as extreme as is barely legal and then row back ever so slowly and condition the fools electorates' minds into thinking that it's all perfectly normal.

[Orior]

Ian Og was on the radio this morning talking about his favourite subject... himself.

He's not a bad spud, and would be good crack on a night out.

Tit bit: He met his wife while working at Dundonald Ice Bowl.

[Tony Baloney]

Paisley is a far worse egg than Maggie Thatcher, in my opinion.

By a long way.

[lawnseed]

Paisley is a far worse egg than Maggie Thatcher, in my opinion.

By a long way.

is there a movie being made about paisley..? something about liam neeson in it