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Home Page > Blogs > News blogs > Periscope > Mayor Bloomberg not alone in telling bad Irish jokes -- such wisecracks a staple for many politicians

Periscope by Niall O'Dowd

Mayor Bloomberg not alone in telling bad Irish jokes -- such wisecracks a staple for many politicians

Posted on Saturday, February 12, 2011 at 08:35 PM

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Mayor Michael Bloomberg's Irish jokes gaffe earned him 'Knucklehead of the Week' award from The New York Daily News yesterday, but the reality is that he will not be the first or last politician to tell a bad Irish joke.

Indeed, Bloomberg has often used another Irish joke in his routine, which he has used often in Ireland as well as America.

This one involves an Irish guy who is dared to drink ten pints of Guinness in a row. He disappears for a while and when he comes back he says he has been across the road in a different Irish bar, trying out to see if he could do it.

Okay, not very funny.

Senator John McCain is another politician who has a single transferable Irish joke that he tells on many occasions to Irish audiences.

It involves the O'Reilly twins, drinking in the same bar, pretending they don't know they are twins and discovering they are from the same town, same street etc.

It is part of the repertoire of many American politicians.

Senator Chuck Schumer of New York uses a different tack, always referring endlessly to the Irish relatives who married into his family.

Former Senator Al D'Amato pretty much did the same thing when he was in active politics.

It can be cringe-inducing stuff

Ronald Reagan always had a version of an Irish joke ready for any and all occasions, as did House Speaker 'Tip' O'Neill.

Most people considered them pretty harmless as do I.

It is all part of the social cohesion where so many Americans from different ethnic backgrounds meet and greet each other.

Most use it to break the ice, to connect with an audience by getting a laugh.

But how do you know when a joke crosses that line from cute to contentious?

Answer is you don't. Its a bit like pornography, you know it when you hear it.

Where Bloomberg made his mistake was referring to a real institution, the American Irish Historical Society (AIHS) and implying that a bunch of drunks ran the place.

It was a bit like saying the Metropolitan Museum is run by alcoholics.

As The New York Times made clear in a Saturday article, nothing could be further from the truth about the AIHS.

The AIHS is housed in the greatest Irish building in America, a Fifth Avenue townhouse and features cultural, artistic and scholarly pursuits which makes its members the very last people to pin such a description on.

So Bloomberg might have been better sticking to his fictional joke.

So when you add up the Bloomberg gaffe, a press eager to highlight problems in his controversial third term and an Irish controversy made for tabloid headlines such a 'Irish Stew' it is clear why the story caught on.

As for the mayor one can imagine he'll check more closely on what to say before his next Irish audience.

As will many other pols.

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27 comments

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1irishgirl | Feb 15, 2011, 09:29 PM EST

Get over yourselves, a jokes a joke and if you cant see that you have no business commenting on it in the 1st place because in order to do so... A sense of humour is required!!!!

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warrenpoint00 | Feb 13, 2011, 10:40 PM EST

A bunch of loud American tourtitts came to Ireland to see and kiss the blarney stone,They were all dressed to perfection, the lads had on their pink trousers and lime green golf shirts and the ladies were were dressed in their usual maternity dresses... now there was one fat burger bag of a... well..sort of lady more so of a fat f.... anyway she was really OBNOXIOUS,nothing was good enough, she complained...about the weather, the roads, the restuarants...nothing was good enough for her.The burger king brigade get to the blarney stone and it is closed.Paddy is there looking after the sacred stone and he explains that the stone is closed so it can be washed...but says paddy you can get the same results if you kiss something that has been in contact with the stone.So said the obnoxious burger captain does that mean we have to kiss a scruffy old fart like you.No said Paddy...Im just after sitting on the stone.

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MarthaAnne | Feb 13, 2011, 09:54 PM EST

seagreen, that was so funny!

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MarthaAnne | Feb 13, 2011, 09:50 PM EST

I think that the Irish and we, the descendants, are playing victim too much. The Irish are not a people suffering any longer from discrimination (except in Northern Ireland) and really need to put their energies into ending racism and ethnic hatred where it really is a problem. It bothers me that this article was even written, to be honest.

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AitkenDrum | Feb 13, 2011, 08:06 PM EST

You can tell any Irish joke you want as long as it begins:"There was this Kerryman..."

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BARNEYKX | Feb 13, 2011, 07:09 PM EST

------------ --------- --------- --------- --------- --------- -- Paddy spies a letter lying on his doormat. It says on the envelope "DO NOT BEND ". Paddy spends the next 2 hours trying to figure out how to pick the bloody thing up. ------------ --------- --------- --------- --------- --------- -- Paddy shouts frantically into the phone "My wife is pregnant and her contractions are only two minutes apart!" "Is this her first child?" asks the Doctor. "No", shouts Paddy, "this is her husband!" ------------ --------- --------- --------- --------- --------- --- Paddy was driving home, drunk as a skunk, when suddenly he has to swerve to avoid a tree, then another, then another. A cop car pulls him over as he veers about all over the road. Paddy tells the cop about all the trees in the road. Cop says "For God’s sake Paddy, that's your air freshener swinging about!" ------------ --------- --------- --------- --------- --------- ---- An old Irish farmer's dog goes missing and he's inconsolable. His wife says "Why don't you put an advert in the paper?" He does, but two weeks later the dog is still missing. "What did you put in the paper?" his wife asks. "Here boy" he replies. ------------ --------- --------- --------- --------- --------- ---- Paddy's in jail. Guard looks in his cell and sees him hanging by his feet. "What the hell you doing?" he asks. "Hanging myself" Paddy replies. "It should be around your neck" says the Guard. "I know" says Paddy "but I couldn't breathe". ------------ --------- --------- --------- --------- --------- ---- An answer I can understand. An American tourist asks an Irishman: "Why do Scuba divers always fall backwards off their boats?" To which the Irishman replies: "If they fell forwards, they'd still be in the bloody there you from ireland

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sirpeter | Feb 13, 2011, 07:06 PM EST

What's the problem telling a joke about the Irish. The problem with people is they are not ready with a good come-back,so they get all upset and go all PC. When it comes to people who are trying to have a laugh at your expense.Laugh and keep cool.Look for their weakness.Find one that's way below the belt.The more insulting the better.Never think it's to insulting..Be ready ..Wait for your chance..The assh*le will surly try again..Laugh and then let him/her have it between the eyes..Repeat if necessary..Works every time.

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pilib04 | Feb 13, 2011, 06:42 PM EST

Hell, poor ole Dev was considered antisemetic because he opposed the partition of Isreael. No, Bloomberg is a bigot and he gets NO pass.

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pilib04 | Feb 13, 2011, 06:40 PM EST

By the way, change the situation from Irish to Jews and then tell me who is laughing or accepting apologies!!! Never in a million years could an Irish politician get away with making a "Jewish joke."

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pilib04 | Feb 13, 2011, 06:38 PM EST

In what world is that a joke? Bloomberg was not telling a joke. He was making a blatant Anti-Irish slur that he could later say "I'm sorry." Big deal!!! He's still a bigot and we should not give him our vote!

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LizFlady | Feb 13, 2011, 03:17 PM EST

Ethnic jokes don't bother me one way or the other, however, Bloomberg is a total joke himself. He's an idiot and one should totally ignore anything that spews from his ignorant mouth.

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LizFlady | Feb 13, 2011, 02:52 PM EST

Excellent perspective piece, Niall.

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haikued2 | Feb 13, 2011, 01:37 PM EST

Get over it...work and think about important things. Of course the stupid PC world created by the feel good crowd for freedom, but not for you or me, will go crazy if you make jokes about their "victims".

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adrienrain | Feb 13, 2011, 01:36 PM EST

AN Irish Stew............

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ciarrai | Feb 13, 2011, 01:11 PM EST

BTW gino466: the Irish consume less alcohol than about 5 or more European countries? What do you think about that?

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