If you want to turn the deputy leadership contest into an exercise in cynicism or comedy, include Franco Debono
A man who is banned from standing for election on the party ticket should obviously also be barred from contesting the deputy leadership. It’s not a matter of allowing him to stand safe in the knowledge that nobody will vote for him – just as it wasn’t with the general election decision.
The most ridiculous piece of news I have heard in a couple of days full of it is that Franco Debono is lobbying PN councillors to see what their response will be if he stands for election as deputy leader of the Nationalist Party.
No doubt, many of those councillors are leading him up the garden path, thinking that by keeping him happy they are doing the Nationalist Party, and by default, the government, a great service.
They are wrong, and this repeated error of mollifying a person with very serious difficulties will once more create far greater problems than it seeks to solve.
I hate cynical acts of any sort. Whoever practises them is vile, whatever the end-game. If I were a PN councillor and Franco Debono came up to me and asked what his chances would be if he stood for election as PN deputy leader, I would tell him straight:
“There is no way on earth I am going to vote for you and I know nobody else who will. I think you are totally deluded to even consider that you have a chance in hell.”
I certainly wouldn’t tell him:
“Ehe, ideja tajba ta. Mela m’ghandekx cans? Ghaliex ma tippruvax. Jien nivvutalek, ta!”
God, how I hate that kind of falsity. You see it everywhere in Malta, Sicily and Tripoli. It’s seen as maintaining good relations and keeping things smooth, but it’s the polar opposite. A recipe for disaster and inherently despicable.
There’s something else, too. Everybody out here knows that Franco Debono hasn’t a damned chance of being elected deputy leader, so his inclusion in the deputy leadership race will be seen as a cynical exercise.
It won’t look good at all, and it certainly won’t be taken well.
The deputy leadership contest is a serious thing. It should include no comedic or cynical elements.
And it is patently ridiculous to have a man contest the deputy leadership who is at the same time barred from standing for election on the party ticket.
The Times today quotes a PN councillor as saying: “Although Dr Debono has not made up his mind yet he is seriously considering contesting the post as a sign of reconciliation with the party. He also sees himself as giving an option to those disgruntled with the current leadership.”
Indeed.
Can some people get a grip? Debono will not contest the deputy leadership as a sign of reconciliation, but as a last grab at power and inclusion, however hopeless and desperate.
If he really wants to show good will and “reconciliation”, he can start by ceasing to carp viciously and erratically at his colleagues and continue by not voting against the Budget.
That is the only way out of the deep hole he has dug for himself.
Anything else is meaningless, utter tosh – but he was bound to pick on a tactic like this to try and seize some of the limelight back from John Dalli about whom, incidentally, he has chosen to say nothing while being endlessly voluble about the petty perceived wrongs of others.
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If you read his latest blog and comments in his previous one it is evident he is laying the path ….
A deputy leader who isn’t being allowed to stand for election as an MP.
As if.
It’s his only chance to maybe be a Prime Minister for a day when the PM is abroad……..
Not if he isn’t elected.
http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20121029/editorial/The-Nationalists-deputy-leadership-race-.443074
http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20121031/editorial/Today-s-candidate-tomorrow-s-nightmare.443378
Can anyone imagine what his revenge would be like if he does stand for the post, and as expected, jaqa’ wahda ghan-nejk A1?
He’s delusional, so he’d blame it on a conspiracy led by “the oligarchy” “Gonzipn” “Austin pi pi” “RCC” – take your pick.
And then he’d set up his own political party, because of all the “sapport” “everyone” is giving him, and THEN the entertainment would really begin.
Smajt li mar ghand Dr. Carm Mifsud Bonnici biex jitolbu jinnominah ghal din il-kariga u peress li jkun irid min jissekondah ukoll, talab lil Dr. Austin Gatt biex jissekondah.
Jekk xi hadd minn dawn ma jkunx disponibbli, ghandu f’mohhu li jitlob lil ministry Dr. Joe Cassar biex jidhol felez fejn ikunu hemm bzonn.
I’ll be honest with you, (and I admit this doesn’t say anything good about me) but if Franco asked me those questions I’d lead him on just for the laughs. A bit like they used to do to Spiridione Sant and Tal-Farfett in the 80s and early 90s.
I hang my head in shame, but I’d still do it.
[Daphne – That’s exactly what I mean: bloody despicable.]
Oh, undoubtedly – I keep telling myself that there’s nothing to be gained by exploding the myth of Franco’s popularity, as it exists solely in his head, but my baser instincts prevail.
Why not? It would be good to see him get a handful of votes and have to eat humble pie.
Franco Debono would not eat humble pie if he were starving to death.
Franco Debono prefers tuna toast to humble pie.
Who votes in these party elections?
If party members then how does one join and become a member please?
[Daphne – Councillors.]
If John Dalli contests, you will all be for quite a surprise.
[Daphne – Tghidli xejn.]
John Dalli is not going to stand for election as deputy leader, because he wants to be the leader, not the deputy.
Hadn’t he resigned three times from the Party?
If he is not a member of the party, he is not in a position to run for deputy leader. So unless he applies again for a tessera, I will claim unfair advantage and will myself apply for deputy leader.
Never try to predict what a madman will do.
By telling him what you suggest you might actually spur him on.
By telling him he has a good chance you might massage his paranoia into not considering it, since he would sense a plot.
The best solution to any PN councilors would be to not take his calls and run like hell if you see him approaching.
It’s a tricky one dealing with crazy people, and I say this from sustained experience in the matter, having done business with madmen before.
Ambition is a drug that makes its addicts potential madmen.
(Emile M. Cioran)
Daphne halli din il- hatra f’ idejn il- kunsilliera, kulhadd ghandu dritt jiehu sehem . Il- partit mux tieghek biss.
Can we blame him for trying?
Judas betrayed Christ once and Peter denied him 3 times before the cock crowed – and he got made Head of Church.
So Franco probably has hedged his chances on a “Peter the fisherman” tactic. At least Judas was man enough to do the decent thing in the end.
Oh what a surpirse.
So Franco Debono wants to be part of the oligarchy, part of the “evil clique”.
Well, he must adhere to the adage “If you can’t beat them, join them.”
If Franci Debono stood for deputy leader, he would be buying a self fulfilling prophesy: the evil ‘click’ are at it again.
Why should anyone throw a life-line to a drowning Debono? He would only pull down his potential rescuer to join him in the cruel sea.
There is one way this can be immediately stopped. The PN secretary makes it officially that Franco Debono has been permanently kicked out of the party and therefore there is no chance is hell for him to contest any position in the PN.
Bravu Franco, kompli miexi hekk. Erga mur fit-triq it-tajba. Ivvota ma Gonzi ha tigbor giehek.
http://www.di-ve.com/news/franco-voted-lawrence-february
May I ask whether Debono is still a PN member – I might be wrong, but wasn’t he kicked out of the party and he himself said that he is no longer in the PN?
[Daphne – He is still a member.]
What is the party waiting for to kick him out?
Well said Franco. Now take the first step.
http://www.francodebono.com/2012/11/01/reconciliation-the-key-to-the-pn-deputy-leadership-contest/
I cannot believe this crap:
http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20121101/local/busuttil-not-against-reconciliation-with-franc-debono.443630
Seems some people never learn. Vote Simon, get Franco.
I prefer “Patti chiari amicizia lunga”
How deluded can one get?
He is considering contesting for deputy leader to a leader he has already said very loudly he does not support. I’d his understanding I’d the English language so appalling that he does not understand this simple concept.
It is said that he is seeing this as a way of reconciling with the PN. And what will his reaction be when he is defeated? From his past antics let me have a guess: ‘I gave the PN councillors the opportunity to reconcile with me, it is their fault that they did not elect me so it is their fault that I am now having to act against government.’