43 Comments

• abhainn | Nov 13, 2011, 03:45 PM EST

  Anjelica Huston, Colm Meaney, Fionnula Flanagan, and Roma Downey all backed the wrong horse. Their man, the gangster McGuiness, lost, but Michael D. Higgins won 40% of the vote and by far the highest poll of any politician in Irish history.

• seanomelbourne | Oct 20, 2011, 07:32 PM EDT

  Your have a blinkered view of the facts.By 1972 the offer was to little to late and Hume the "half glass full guy" by then had lost the confidence of the people.

• citizen69 | Oct 20, 2011, 02:04 PM EDT

  Seano: You make a lot of assumptions about me based on nothing more than your self-evident prejudices. Where am i denying freedom of speech for anyone?? Please explain? I condone NO murder of nationalists and have absolutely no problems condemning all murders by Loyalist terrorists or the excesses of the British Army or RUC. Don't tar me with the same brush that has tainted you. The IRA campaign had nothing to do with the Civil Rights movement. The main demands of the Civil Rights marchers were met by 1972 so why the extra 25 years of slaughter? You or I don't know what would have happened if the PIRA had never existed. The Provos had one aim; to remove the Brits & force a united Ireland. An aim they completely failed to achieve. They helped polarize Ireland even further. You say SF are about democratic rights for all... sounds great. They talk the talk but historically the actions of the Provisional movement have told another story.

• seanomelbourne | Oct 19, 2011, 06:51 PM EDT

  citizen69!!A democracy tolerates all points of view.The nationalists in N.E. Ireland had very few "RIGHTS" and hence the armed struggle which BTW forced the British to the negotiating table. If the nationalists in the north had to wait for you they would still be oppressed by a bigoted unoinist statelet which never had any right to exist. In fact the division of Ireland was a tragedy for all Irish people. The democrtaic rights of all Irish people has always been a Sinn Fein mantra,you are the one denying freedom of speech for all.You also condone the murder of nationalists by your inabillity to condemn the Excesses of the British and their terrorist unionist friends.If you believe you have the high moral ground think again.

• citizen69 | Oct 19, 2011, 02:04 PM EDT

  @Seano: unlike yourself perhaps, i don't have to rely on comments on an American based website to gauge the opinion of the Irish people. I live here, i can gauge it for myself. Ah, so all people who do not see things as PSF/PIRA do are pro British? Hate is too strong a word but i do dislike Provisional Sinn Fein, so sorry for not meeting your criteria to be considered Irish. I find their hypocrisy hard to swallow. They claim to be a party for human rights yet they condoned the human rights abuses of the Provos for decades. They say they are a party for justice yet the Provos shot & tortured thousands of people for alleged crimes without any kind of fair trial. They claim to support democracy yet the un-elected & un-supported Provisionals claimed their Army Council was the legitimate government of Ireland! Sounds like a would-be fascist dictatorship to me... I could go on. I don't even hate Martin McGuinness. I respect the fact he only takes an Industrial wage for a salary, and he did a decent job as Deputy first minister for Northern Ireland. My problem with him is again the hypocrisy. He finally condemned the murder of Garda officer McCabe by PIRA thieves only after weeks of pressure and having refused to condemn it in all the years previous. He suddenly now says that the Irish Army in the Republic is Ireland's only legitimate army after years of refusing to even recognize them. One has to question his sincerity. I don't think he is the man for the job. As for having a pro British point of view, well there are a million people in Ireland with a pro British P.O.V. What should happen to them in your Ireland where seemingly only one culture & only one point of view is permitted?

• seanomelbourne | Oct 18, 2011, 07:14 PM EDT

  citizen69!!spoken like a true browbeaten man.You can speak for yourself but the rest of the country has not made a comment.You can hide your pro british views if you wish.It's not that your anti republicanism that i find disconcerting it is the level of hate you have when refering to Sinn Fein/IRA.It can only lead to you having a pro british point of view.BTW the IRA did not exist until 1918 they were the army of the democratically elected government.Maybe you mean to say the "Irish citizen army".you seem to like that word citizen,reminds of the "reign of terror"(France 18th.century).

• DublinCitizen | Oct 18, 2011, 02:09 PM EDT

  Hollywood stars stay in Hollywood and Majorca and mind your own business. My family and I WILL NEVER buy another Francis Black recording again!

• DublinCitizen | Oct 18, 2011, 01:20 PM EDT

  What exactly is a West Brit or Free Stater (a word long since consigned to historty).

• DublinCitizen | Oct 18, 2011, 01:17 PM EDT

  I think Huston. Meaney, Downney, and Flanagan have no right to say who will be the next President of the Republic of Ireland (26 counties) as they don't live here and won't have to deal with the consequences if McGuinness becomes President. That rally was a disgrace and Meaney is an eejit. What Hollywood actors think is of no importance to the Irish. If McGuinness did not expect tough questions about his past he is at best naive, at worst a fool.@seanmelbourne obviously lives in Australia so thank God he has no vote.

• citizen69 | Oct 18, 2011, 12:16 PM EDT

  @seanomelbourne: So being anti-Provo & anti-terrorism makes me anti-Irish!?! How illogical can you be? What a warped little mind you must possess. That is a huge insult not only to me but the huge majority of the rest of the Irish people who despised Provo gangster-ism. Their breakaway 'dissident' groups (all of whom also claim to be a legitimate continuation of the original IRA of 1913) are today still carrying out the very same crimes & human rights abuses listed below. You can not dispute one of those crimes, which the PIRA performed regularly, yet you claim i am hate-filled! It seems that Aussie sun has fried your brain cell to a crisp cobber!

• gobdawpaddy | Oct 18, 2011, 05:14 AM EDT

  Citizen69, when you confront them with the truth, they have nothing to say except you are a 'west brit, a free stater, anti Irish (or worse), a blushirt'. Must be an educational lapse.

• seanomelbourne | Oct 18, 2011, 12:57 AM EDT

  Yut anti irish rantings are not worth commenting on fella.Your hatefilled meanderings have no merit FELLA.

• mastersonjp | Oct 17, 2011, 05:08 PM EDT

  These hollywood stars know a good actor when the see one.

• citizen69 | Oct 17, 2011, 11:30 AM EDT

  @seanomelbourne: Perhaps you'd like to point out any errors in my post instead of throwing insults fella?

• gobdawpaddy | Oct 17, 2011, 07:19 AM EDT

  Ah gotta love it. Anyone dares to question RA/SF re-writing of history, depicting their terrorist organization as the knights in shining armor is subjected to abuse. In days gone by, this abuse might have been a knee capping. Martin had a go at Miriam O'Callaghan last week for having the audicity to ask him how he reconciled his catholic faith with his past. Perhaps his work with the peace process is atonement for sins earlier in his life.

• seanomelbourne | Oct 16, 2011, 10:35 PM EDT

  take your head out of your arse citizen you spew enough verbal diorrhoea as it is.

• citizen69 | Oct 16, 2011, 07:45 AM EDT

  Let's cut past all the bullshit romanticizing of the PIRA by these so-called 'stars' and get to the nitty gritty of what the Provos (and therefore McGuinness) were really involved in over the last 40 years.... deliberate murder of innocent non-combatant civilians, robberies (of banks, buisnesses & private property), smuggling, punishment shooting & beatings without any kind of justice or fair trial, hijacking, expulsion from Ireland with threat to life, protection rackets against local businessmen, murder of local citizens whose employment may be in any way connected to security forces or government (i.e. cleaners, builders, delivery men, census collectors), tiger kidnappings, arson, intimidation, bootlegging, money laundering, blackmail, torture, and many other types of illegality..... Oh, and most of these activities were aimed at Irish Catholics. Now i've no doubt McGuinness has turned away from most if not all of these activities but does the fact that he has stopped the human rights abuses make him a better person than someone who'd never been involved with this behaviour at all? Man of peace my arse!

• Fergananim | Oct 15, 2011, 10:23 PM EDT

  “Martin McGuinness: From Guns to Government”, ISBN 1 84018 473 6, is an excellent biography of Martin. Highly recommended.

• merefalow | Oct 15, 2011, 04:50 PM EDT

  go martin..

• cuddlybuddly | Oct 15, 2011, 06:24 AM EDT

  Come on Martin! you have survived so much hostility and contempt...only someone with a clear conscience could keep going...keep going..you are a winner

• cillowen | Oct 14, 2011, 09:59 PM EDT

  McGuinness is of a purer stripe - unlike one honored with Prex of Erin by a people who didn't realize that Dev, was England's Greatest Spy. A brilliant cunning orator who unleashed the Irish Civil War and set Collins and followers up for the kill. DeValera was born in the United States and is of a Converso Cuban and Irish servant hanky panky.

• Fergananim | Oct 14, 2011, 07:52 PM EDT

  @Bricktop and Canadianpat - No. Neither Adams nor McGuinness worked in the interests of all people in the 32. Until the IRA went off the scene, Sinn Fein were always outvoted by the SDLP, who represented the Catholics of Northern Ireland. The SDLP always refused to use violence as a means to an end (unlike both Sinn Fein and the unionist party), and it was they, not Sinn Fein or the IRA, who got the Civil Rights movement up and running. It was their leader, John Hume, who was the architecht of the Belfast Agreement, not SF or IRA. And in the south, they still only get 10% of the vote. Mr. McGuinness does not and never has represented the majority of Irish people in the 32 counties. For the record, the above four stars live in Marjorca and Hollywood, and do not have a vote.

• slainte39 | Oct 14, 2011, 06:20 PM EDT

  I have friends (good people) in Ireland that stack up this way. In the North, Protestant Anglicans who think Martin is for real and believe he would be great for the job. While in Dublin, Catholic friends, can't seem to abide the guy. GO FIGURE!!! The man's latest work should be what he is judged on.

• seanomelbourne | Oct 14, 2011, 06:09 PM EDT

  bailey 2000 I reccommend you stop drinking the old baileys,it's clouding your mind with innane rantings.

• deirdrekeohane | Oct 14, 2011, 05:05 PM EDT

  Me too! I'm voting for Martin and I'm my own star!

• edmundburke | Oct 14, 2011, 03:12 PM EDT

  Re Fionnula Flanagan (from LOS ANGELES)- "I think he’s got balls"----- quite true, particularly to lie to the Frank Hegarty's family that Hegarty would be safe, just to lure him into an IRA execution squad. --- These actors are clueless. ---- Kudos to Fergananim and gobdawpaddy on their remarks.

• CanadianPat | Oct 14, 2011, 01:39 PM EDT

  The establisment has used Simi-celebs under their infulance and pay to attack McGuinness; so fair play to him. He is the only one of the seven worthy of the honor and capable.Those who suffered the lest during the recent Troubles seem to be the most bitter while those who suffered the most are backing him!He has been working for a peacfull ,respectful way to bring the people and the 32 counties together for the past few decades. Ask yourself why is the corrupt establishment that brought the nation to it's knees through personal greed so affraid !

• bricktop | Oct 14, 2011, 01:37 PM EDT

  I believe that Martin McGuiness is the right Man to lead The Country that he fought for and loves so dearly. What other Canidate has the credentials to be President of the Island of Ireland.Just look back and take note of what He And his good friend. Jerry Adams. has done for their Country over the past forty years We Irish living here in the USA Go out and support them. when they come over here.is it not time that the people of Ireland did the same.and remember the old saying. It's better to deal with the Devil you know. than the Devil you Don't. The World is watching Good Luck. Mike Dwyer.

• JBRAFTREE | Oct 14, 2011, 01:36 PM EDT

  Recent polls show Martin McG is third. He needs all the help that comes.

• greensod | Oct 14, 2011, 01:30 PM EDT

  Martin, Is the only person for the job

• Rebelforce | Oct 14, 2011, 12:56 PM EDT

  It doesn't seem fair that all the talented, cool people are supporting Martin McGuiness and the dim-witted nerdy types are supporting Fine Gael.

• gobdawpaddy | Oct 14, 2011, 11:34 AM EDT

  Bailey2000 is critized for his/her Al queda/RA/SF comparison. Both have killed countless innocent people in pursuit of their goals, ALQ to get US military out of Saudi and the ME, RA/SF the Brits out of Ireland. The middle east has been a complex situation for at least 45 years.

• johhnyb | Oct 14, 2011, 11:31 AM EDT

  If Hollywood says he's good, he must be. They were right about President Obama, weren't they?

• wyalusingjohn | Oct 14, 2011, 11:04 AM EDT

  After reading the posts I will stand with gobdawpaddy. Way too many Americans of Irish heritage have no clear understanding of Irish history or what happened on both sides during the "troubles". I would not condemn McGuiness but I think Ireland should look a little closer to home for a President

• brennanirish | Oct 14, 2011, 11:03 AM EDT

  I hope he wins. He'll drive all the Englishmen on this website crazy...

• hugonugget | Oct 14, 2011, 10:43 AM EDT

  Bailey2000 - That is an idiotic post, to compare AlQaeda to the IRA is nonsense. You clearly have no understanding of Irish history let alone an understanding of the complex situation in the North for the last 30 years. Its a nice day - Go outside and play.

• Celtic4403 | Oct 14, 2011, 10:42 AM EDT

  McGuinness without doubt has a dark history and should never be allowed forget his violent past. We don't need a dividing influence representing a united Ireland. As a reminder of what we really need - quality, brilliance, education and 'class' - let's look at our recent presidents Mary Robinson and Mary McAleese. Character counts, as they say, and Martin McGuinness does not meet that standard unfortunately. His past will always stand in front of him. Ireland needs a diplomat with impeccable credentials and one who can represent us magnificently around the world. As an aside - the 'Hollywood' actors who are expressing their support for Mr. McGuinness should quietly 'go away' and in 'going away' should remember the wisdom of 'never forget'! Martin McGuinness should have his feet permanently kept to the flame.

• hugonugget | Oct 14, 2011, 10:39 AM EDT

  Fergananim - All over the world Governments have given immigrants the right to vote. All of the Countries in the EU bar Ireland and Greece have given their immigrants the right to vote in elections while they are out of the country. In the UK, citizens can vote in elections for 14 years after you leave the country. I think it is only right that we give the same right to our citizens that are leaving these shores through no fault of their own. Many of these people are sending money home each month and they do intend to return once the economy has recovered. They deserve to have their say in elections.

• Bailey2000 | Oct 14, 2011, 10:28 AM EDT

  I really wonder whether any American would think that a (allegedly former) member of the AlQaeda army council should be President of the United States. Beggars belief that these people can be so naive. What is a soldier who fought the IRA for 20 years to do when he finds himself saluting the murderer. Even by the standards of the child molesters of the church this is a drop in morals that is hard to take.

• Fergananim | Oct 14, 2011, 08:58 AM EDT

  McSpartacus - while I don't have a problem with someone retaining their right to vote while living abroad for a time, how long is that right to be extended? If I end up emigrating - a possibility these days! - why should I be allowed to continue to vote in a country I no longer live in?

• gobdawpaddy | Oct 14, 2011, 08:52 AM EDT

  Agree Fergananim. McGuinness is also calling on the Irish Diaspora to send video messages of support (presumably to be used in TV advertising). These people don't have a vote and a big percentage of them were the misty eyed, uniformed clowns who supported 'the cause' through the years, who threw a few USD into the hat as it was passed around 'Paddy McGintys' in the Bronx, or 'The Drunken Pig' in Southie, with no clue what these funds were to be used for. Did these gra mo chroi republican sympathizers ever stop and think after RA/SF planted a bomb that killed innocent people, shot Private Kelly of the Irish Army or Frank Hand a member of the Garda that they may have contributed to those murders? When Gerry McCabe was murdered while RA/SF were engaged in the heroic act of knocking over an armored truck in a blow for Irish freedom, did these funders of 'the cause' pause to ask, could I have contributed to this? If the Iriash Diaspora had a vote, McG. would be a shoe in as their votes would for the most part be based on misty eyed ignorance.

• McSpartacus | Oct 14, 2011, 08:49 AM EDT

  @Fergananim Yes, none of us emigrants should be allowed to have an opinion - or to even vote, unlike US citizens abroad. Our sole purpose is to deliver funds for Irish tourism.

• Fergananim | Oct 14, 2011, 08:29 AM EDT

  Strange how not one of those notables who support McGuinness actually live in Ireland.