Alex Salmond, See The Duper's Delight

The man has worked all of his life for the moment they might have voted Yes. Whether YOU like him or not you could never say that all he wanted were "the rewards". His reward was independence for Scotland. This really is mad. a reply to: Kester

I have personally been involved in the yes campaign for 7 years, I have met Alex Salmond, I have met Nicola Sturgeon and many other prominent members in the yes campaign and I can assure you they were not actors, I campaigned along side the SNP for the 2011 council elections and am proud to say I played a part in them winning seats in South Lanarkshire and elsewhere. I was the the deputy head of the Young Scots for Independence or YSI in South Lanarkshire for a time and have been to Holyrood in that capacity also, my Grandfather campaigned and was kicked out of the SNP alongside Alex Salmond in the 19 80's, he was no actor then and is no actor now and has always been just as determined to see Scotland as an independent nation. I, like many Scots, am devastated at the result of yesterday's vote as I have believed in it my whole life and campaigned for it for 7 long years, my family have campaigned for it for 2 generations and I am proud to say that I campaigned alongside Alex.

Alex Salmond is a man with great integrity, so great that he will feel now that he has let his party and his country down by not getting the result that he and we wanted and believed in and that is why he feels he must step down. We all knew he would if we did not get the result he has campaigned for for his entire life. If that man is an actor then he is the greatest and most dedicated actor that has ever lived....

Scotland has suffered a great loss in the resignation of Alex Salmond and independence or not, we have a lot to thank him for. He has shielded us from public service cuts as best as he could, he has stopped any SNP held constituency from suffering from the bedroom tax, he has stopped the privatisation of our NHS, he and others like him in the party are the reason I am in university right now without it costing me £9000 a semester and he is also the reason that the several family members that I have that require medication for various ailments are not paying a fortune for it due to their abolishing of prescription charges. He has also managed to bring a promise of more powers to Scotland from Westminster, which is no easy feet and has changed British politics for the better.

This post is in poor taste and in my personal experience of the man I can assure you, he believed everything he said 100%, that is why he was such a good talker and charismatic leader, because he spoke from the heart, knew his stuff and wasn't full of s**t like the rest of them. No matter what way you look at the independence debate, this is a sad day for Scotland, in losing Alex Salmond, made only slightly better by and because of the things he did deliver and the promise that he has gotten us from Westminster, the promise of a better, more powerful Scotland.

a reply to: Alien44

Liking doesn't come into serious politics, just as it plays no part in serious business.

a reply to: Elijah23

It's notoriously hard to admit you've been duped.

He's no great actor, his smirk slipped through.

You are devastated. He keeps a studied, grim look on his face most of the time but slips up frequently.

Every time I hear how much he achieved for you I wonder why there's still such a strong desire for so much more?

And good luck with the Westminster promises.

a reply to: Maxatoria

He's said in his opinion it's a "...once in a generation, perhaps once in a lifetime opportunity for Scotland."
Instructing his faithful followers not to try again. Defeatist propaganda.

He also said the "dream" shall never die. A dream being something different from reality. He's giving the message that it cannot be done. Hardly the behaviour of someone committed to the cause.

originally posted by: Kester
a reply to: Elijah23

It's notoriously hard to admit you've been duped.

He's no great actor, his smirk slipped through.

You are devastated. He keeps a studied, grim look on his face most of the time but slips up frequently.

Every time I hear how much he achieved for you I wonder why there's still such a strong desire for so much more?

And good luck with the Westminster promises.

Oh good grief..I'm on the opposite side from Elijah, but I even starred his post as being a well written, compassionate and (fairly) accurate description of the man you are calling a fraud. I'm not that happy that he has resigned when he has, he should have been focused on re-uniting Scotland, but to call him an "actor...sheesh, that's just so far from the mark it's laughable.

a reply to: Kester

I think we will have to agree to disagree but I would trust my judgement of the man, having met him personally several times, over your judgement of him by your interpretation of a single youtube video any day. ..

He has stepped down because anything he says now about the deal that Scotland should get from Westminster could be misconstrued by the media to be unruly demands by a sore loser. . As the BBC would love to do to him.

So he knows he is not the man to negotiate these powers for us, this is no surprise to anyone connected to the party, of which I am a member. We all knew that this was what was going to happen in the event of a no vote, if he was just a power hungry politician like most of them then he would have stayed on and justified his position by arguing for the next year odd about what powers we should get but the man has to much integrity for that and has done as much for Scotland as he feels he can.

a reply to: Elijah23

We now have Gordon Brown strutting about centre stage. He is in for a shock if he thinks he is somehow popular.

I hope Salmond returns, he has been good for Scotland. I do wonder at the motivation behind this thread. Why kick a man when he is down. It says more about the OP than it does about Salmond.

originally posted by: Elijah23
a reply to: Kester

I think we will have to agree to disagree but I would trust my judgement of the man, having met him personally several times, over your judgement of him by your interpretation of a single youtube video any day. ..

He has stepped down because anything he says now about the deal that Scotland should get from Westminster could be misconstrued by the media to be unruly demands by a sore loser. . As the BBC would love to do to him.

So he knows he is not the man to negotiate these powers for us, this is no surprise to anyone connected to the party, of which I am a member. We all knew that this was what was going to happen in the event of a no vote, if he was just a power hungry politician like most of them then he would have stayed on and justified his position by arguing for the next year odd about what powers we should get but the man has to much integrity for that and has done as much for Scotland as he feels he can.

Sorry off topic here, but just wanted to say, that whilst I see where you are coming from with his motivation for resigning, I just wish he had waited, even for one week and pleaded with the Scottish people to put their differences behind them and unite to help create a better Scotland within the union

a reply to: Kester

I may be in England and his politics may have been harmful to the UK but he is a patriot, there is nothing wrong with that and he is worthy of respect even if you disagree with his opinions, also he is a damn site better politician than the clowns in westminster, if he was labour we would be looking at a Proper prime minister material, a man who would speak his mind barring a few slips of the tongue which they all make so it is a tragedy that he has decided to step down as I believe the man has more integrity than that bunch in westminster but then his dream of an idiological view of Scotland as a seperate and totally independant nation is gone for at least his remaining life time, he could still have achieved a wonderful dream if he had made that level of commitment to the Labour party, molding that back into the party that represented the majority and not behind the seens corporate and CBI interests and given that patriotism to the UK and all it's citizens instead so I do not want to see this man leave politic's and am saddened by his decision as he is a formidable force in politics regardless of your opinion of the guy.

a reply to: stormcell

Where are you getting those numbers from? 90% of the under-30 crowd voted for independence?

No they didn't... it got as high as 71% in the 16-17 age bracket, but that's hardly surprising as they are the least informed and experienced. It dropped to 48% amongst the 18-24 age bracket, before climbing up again to 59% in the 25-34 age group, before trailing off again....

90%.... If it had hit that in the entire under-30's bracket, Yes would have won by a landslide.

Liking doesn't come into serious politics, just as it plays no part in serious business.

No, it doesn't indeed! I don't like the man personally, I admire his courage and tenacity though. That makes good politics.
a reply to: Kester