Could Fianna Fáil be the John and Edward of Irish Politics?

So it’s the bank holiday weekend and am contemplating the jump/gain/reversed decline of Fianna Fáil in the latest RedC poll (+1 ) with one eye on the news feed whilst the other lingers on the TV where the X factor is witnessing once more the critics confounded by the seemingly inorexable rise of the ‘terrible twins’ John and Edward from Ireland.

A week on, “Fright night” over and I’m mulling over the same conundrum.. Could John and Edward be the Fianna Fáil of reality talent shows? Or could Fianna Fáil even be the John and Edward of Irish Politics?

Like one of those Lincoln/Kennedy conspiracy tales, there’s certainly lots of consistencies. They’re both Irish, a touch of stage Irish at times, or at least more Irish than their opponents when votes are in the balance. They remain the black sheep of the entire commenting establishment, pilloried by mass media and pub pundits alike. Professional commentators and industry analysts queue up to disdain as to their technical abilities (or so they tell us, an astonishing lack of). Yet to the chagrin and utter distaste of the mainstream establishment, they appear to appeal directly over the heads to the voters and seem to snatch victory from defeat time after time.

When all else fails, they can always rely on support from the West of Ireland (Louis Walsh in the boys case!), they are both apparently undaunted by condemnation and fearless in flinging themselves forward, nobody is quite sure where they’re from geographically although several places appear to have tenous links (Just like Charlie was simultaneously from Derry/Dublin/Kerry and others, the boys have been claimed by Leixlip/Rathangan/Lucan/South Dublin). And tt can be hard at times (especially these days) to find an admitted supporter.

Yet once the people go free to the sanctuary of the ballot box / voting lines, they keep on defying the odds. The boys words borrowed from Britney last week “We’re not that innocent” could certainly be lent also to their spiritual siblings, whilst the old 1960’s aphorism could just as well apply to JEdward that “Everyone hates Fianna Fáil except the electorate”.

How either of these rollercoaster rides will end up is anyones guess but certainly makes for compulsive viewing. And just for the record, I’ll be voting for both of them!