I do not like or respect Ian Paisley.This is a man who staged his first protest in 1963,when he organised a demonstration against lowering the British flag to half-staff over Belfast City Hall in mourning after the death of Pope John XXIII.
This is a man who in 1988 interrupted Pope John Paul II as he addressed the European Parliament in Strasbourg,France by unfurling a banner which read "Pope John Paul II Anti-Christ" as he roared,"Anti-Christ!I renounce you and all your cults and creeds!"
This is a man who has put the lives of Catholics at risk through his bigotry.
However he is also a man who promised to "smash Sinn Fein" and even though he believes the IRA were behind the Northern Bank raid he refuses to rule out a deal in the future.Why?

Paisley is an egomaniac.It's something he actually has in common with Gerry Adams.Both want their names in the lights and both want to go down in history.
Paisley has built his career on being negative,on being a rejectionist.It was Hume who said that if the word no was removed from the English language,Paisley would be speechless.
Big Ian now wants his last defining moment in politics to be one of triumph.He no longer wants to be the one on the outside but rather the one running the show.
Paisley can hope to be remembered as a great man but it is my belief that history will judge Paisley in the way it will judge Craig-as a narrow-minded bigot.
Here's some great quotes by Big Ian which show his true character:

In reference to the Unionist Party's Jewish candidate,Harold Smith,he said: "The Unionist Party are boasting he[Harold Smith]is a Jew.As a Jew,he rejects our Lord Jesus Christ,the New Testament,Protestant Principles,the Glorious Reformation and the sanctity of the Lord's Day.
The Protestant throne and the Protestant constitution are nothing to him."

After a Loyalist rally in 1968,Ian Paisley justified his violent Catholic pleas by saying, "Catholic homes caught fire because they were loaded with petrol bombs;Catholic churches were attacked and burned because they were arsenals and priests handed out sub-machine guns to parishioners;and the massive discrimination in employment and shortage of houses for Catholics were simply because they bred like "rabbits" and multiply like "vermin".

Nationalists suffer much criticism for voting for Sinn Fein but it is shameful too that unionists have kept this disgraceful bigot at the centre of politics in Ireland's north.
Paisley can desire a great legacy all he wants but I and many others will regard him as nothing more than a man who incited hatred against Catholics and who encouraged young unionists to engage in sectarian murders.