A Candidacy Implodes.

On April 13th 1987 Gary Hart announced his candidacy to be the Democratic Party nominee for President of the United States. A two term Senator for Colorado, he was charismatic and good looking and was immediately the front runner. There were however rumours about infidelity which Hart tackled straight on with this challenge to the press “Follow me around. I don’t care. I’m serious. If anybody wants to put a tail on me, go ahead. They’ll be very bored”. They gladly accepted the challenge and soon found him pumping a 29 year old named Donna Rice. His campaign imploded and he suspended it 3 weeks after launch. Kate Forbes will be lucky to last 3 days after her comments on Gay Marriage.

At the time of writing she is still in the race for SNP leader but I can’t see how she lasts much longer after her catastrophic launch yesterday. Honesty is a trait that should be admired in any politician and Forbes was nothing if not searingly honest about her views on Self ID, GRR and Gay marriage. It will however be her undoing. A member of her own campaign put it succinctly “she’s fucked it”

This is where the religion conundrum comes in. Where does it start and end when talking about leadership. She says that she would never roll back on Gay rights but then the question is if she was in charge would she ever put forward the legislation in the first place? Tim Farron found it impossible to separate his faith with leadership but as leader of a handful of Lib Dem’s the biggest decisions he ever made was deciding what sandals to wear in the morning. Leading a country is a different level entirely.

The SNP knew it was coming. Backers and opponents sat with Forbes in Cabinet, they knew her views and were perfectly happy to work alongside her. Are they saying it’s ok to be in Cabinet with these views but not be leader? This resulted in the high farce of Richard Lochhead endorsing her and then un-endorsing her hours later, although being endorsed by him in the first place could be classed as damaging.

I hope that the other candidates are now pressed on their religion and asked the same questions as Kate Forbes was. Was she wrong to answer so honestly? Politically yes but wether you agree or disagree with her at least she was true to herself and not many politicians can say that.