This isn’t a contest between two equals. It’s a contest in which one of the candidates is dirty.

I have read Chris Said’s post below, and I disagree with it completely, just as I disagree with the general take on “they have every right”.

Having every right to do something has nothing to do with whether one should do it. The people Dr Said is talking about have every right to stuff their faces with doughnuts until they throw up, but should they do so? No, they shouldn’t.

They have every right to marry a criminal, but should they do it? No, they should not. They have every right to vote for Norman Lowell and join up with the Maltese Patriots. But should they? No, they shouldn’t.

They have every right, too, to have sex with a prostitute, because it’s not illegal. But should they? No.

So while the people he is writing about have every right to support Delia just as they have every right to support Said, whether they should support Delia is another matter. And the answer to that is: no, they shouldn’t, because he’s dirty.

I can understand where Said might be coming from with the “every right” reasoning, but he shouldn’t – because not only is it completely illogical, but it is also worryingly oblivious to the requirements here. The spirit of a contest between equals only comes into play when the rivals really are equal: both clean and both able.

This is not what we are looking at here. One contender is filthy and incompetent, and the other contender is not. So yes, while the individuals in question, who work for the Nationalist Party and its media, have every right to root for the filthy and incompetent contender, the fact is that they should not.

And Chris Said does himself no favours at all by putting himself on the same footing as the filthy and incompetent candidate and telling the staff that they have every right to root for him.