BTW Bob, I’m unconvinced about Breda O’Brien’s ‘left wing’ thinking on economic issues. It’s all a bit hedged. But it’s irrelevant anyhow. There’s vastly more on the left who hold progressive views on social issues and the obvious reason is due to equality, equity, etc. Same-sex marriage isn’t the greatest civil rights issue of our time, but given that everyone could see throguh Gilmore’s rhetoric there and see it for what it was it merely reflects back on him, not on the left.
And given that most people I know who hold activist pro-choice views are actively engaged on the left and centre left (and are generally left of labour) its’ hard to know what conclusion to draw. Should the left shut up about those issues? And to what point? Or should it contest those issues?
And that raises the question as to what precisely is the point you’re trying to make here? One lifer who is rhetorically leftwing (though doesn’t she homeschool her own kids? One leader of the LP who makes silly statements. And that invalidates the left from engaging across a range of issues both economic and social. I’ve many criticisms of the left, but I wouldn’t fault the SP or SWP from being able to fight on a number of fronts as best they can. Or those I know who run from social democrat to Marxist to anarchist who are active in both social and economic issues.