106 Comments

• AmericanFenian | Aug 22, 2012, 02:25 AM EDT

  @Patricia Where can I find the statistics on this "surplus"? Other than believing the BS put out by the Clinton's, there is no proof of this surplus. They just moved money around. I don't think it's a real surplus when the government has to raid Social Security.

• seanomelb | Aug 19, 2012, 05:16 AM EDT

  It's just the petty people demeaning the VP Scott

• Scottmcgowan | Aug 18, 2012, 06:39 PM EDT

  I really resent the description of our VP as coming from Shanty Irish. The Biden family was not dirt poor and even if they were, I resent the use of such terminology to describe hard-working people. Go back a generation or two and the same description could be placed on Paul Ryan. The use of Shanty Irish and Lace Curtain is so out of date. My son and his family would not even know what the hell such terms mean in today's world.

• seanomelb | Aug 17, 2012, 11:44 PM EDT

  Well said Patricia!!

• PatriciaMarya | Aug 15, 2012, 08:07 PM EDT

  Someone who posted that VP Biden has only been in government for his career, the same is true for Rep. Ryan. At age 42, he has been in government for 14 years, starting when he was 28 and working for conservative think tanks before that. He also was taken under the wing of Jack Kemp, getting a leg up in the GOP party. Biden is older that is why he has been there for 30. Do remember too that Rep. Ryan voted for each of the Bush Admin's deals that ruined the $199 million surplus left by the Clinton administration. This included Plan D which is an out and out license to steal by Big Pharma and The Profiteering Health Insurance companies. If Medicare deteriorates to a Voucher system, it will become piece-meal and ruin a system that is working. The reason that Medicare is in trouble is because unscrupulous doctors and medical supply companies, like the rolling chairs that are so prevalent, have been draining it with impunity. Medicare needs to stop paying bills within 7 days and check with the insurer first to determine if a bill is legitimate and not try to claw back the wronged money later. Would be a great new source of jobs for so many middle-management and older workers that are currently unemployed. The money saved would more than cover their salaries and, thus, more money to go towards FICA and we are saving Medicare/Medicaid!

• BrianO | Aug 15, 2012, 08:07 PM EDT

  And thank you for the definition.

• BrianO | Aug 15, 2012, 08:06 PM EDT

  Yea and we like to work and get ahead.

• seanomelb | Aug 15, 2012, 07:08 PM EDT

  Briano! An Australian slang term for a McDonald's burger. Kids working in Maccers in Australia have the same safety net pay rate as adults in the USA. I have also read that the US does not have mandated paid sick leave the only western nation not to do so.

• irishmaryoh | Aug 15, 2012, 05:33 PM EDT

  Thank God Niall Dowd wasn't around in 1960 to label the wealthy Lace Curtain Irishman known as John F. Kennedy. When will we stop this class warfare BS?

• irishmaryoh | Aug 15, 2012, 04:16 PM EDT

  Joe Biden being depicted as Shanty Irish is utter nonsense. The facts are there for anyone who wants to look at them. When Joe Biden Sr. died in 2002, his obituary in the News-Journal of Wilmington reported that when he married in 1941, "he was working as a sales representative for Amoco Oil Co. in Harrisburg." "Biden also was an executive in a Boston-based company that supplied waterproof sealant for U.S. merchant marine ships built during World War II. After the war, he co-owned an airport and crop-dusting service on Long Island." Upon moving his family to Delaware, the News-Journal said, Biden "worked in the state first as a sales manager for auto dealerships and later in real-estate condominium sales. In his book, "Promises to Keep," Biden writes that his father was "the most elegantly dressed, perfectly manicured, perfectly tailored car sales manager Wilmington, Del., had ever seen." Biden notes that he himself could have gone to the best public high school in Delaware. Instead, he enrolled at Archmere Academy, a Catholic prep school that made him think he had "died and gone to Yale." He took a summer job to help pay the steep tuition, which today amounts to $18,450 a year. NOT TO SHANTY IF YOU ASK ME.

• BrianO | Aug 15, 2012, 02:19 PM EDT

  Biden should do standup. In his best fake southern accent "They're goin to put youall back in chains" Biden is a laugh a minute, just ask wheelchair bound Chuck Graham, or in Bidens words "stand up Chuck let em see ya"

• BrianO | Aug 15, 2012, 01:35 PM EDT

  Seano, whats a maccer?

• hancock | Aug 15, 2012, 11:14 AM EDT

  So stick to paradise and mind your own business.

• seanomelb | Aug 15, 2012, 06:51 AM EDT

  I do not have to worry I live in the richest country in the world in the worlds most livable city according to the experts. Not in a third world country posing as a first world country where the minimum wage or adults is the same as the minimum wage (in Australia) for kids working in maccers.You're the one who should be worried.

• hollabackgurl | Aug 14, 2012, 04:45 PM EDT

  It is much easier to advocate taking responsibility for yourself when you have several million dollars worth of inherited assets.

• hancock | Aug 14, 2012, 03:48 PM EDT

  Don't pay attention to that Australian. Sean worry about your own constitutional monarchy.

• BrianO | Aug 14, 2012, 12:02 PM EDT

  Seano with your logic we must conclude that all men with funny mustaches are like hitler.

• irishamrep | Aug 14, 2012, 01:51 AM EDT

  Shame on you O'Dowd why don't you do your research. Paul Ryan lost his Father when he was in High School, he worked at McDonald's after school. His mother accuired a skill and worked and managed to start her own business while raising her four young children. Shame on you on all of you Irish who don't know what the hell your talking about. You just listen to the evil , lying, liberal Democrats. You have no right to call yourself a Journalist! Biden is the rich guy the so called catholic that is responsible for more abortion in the US than anyone in his long disgraceful career in politics!

• klbutler | Aug 13, 2012, 11:39 PM EDT

  had to jump in here...Paul Ryan is well respected within his own party and even by those that disagree with him. He had to work to help with the bills and his grandmother who had Alzheimers.He was not brought up with "riches' as this article wrongly implies. He worked very hard in his studies and has done nothing except focus on helping our countyr find the answer to our woes. As for Biden, he has been in gov. for over 30 yrs and it is noticeable..as forgrowing up poor, well a lot of us has,but that was a long time ago and I imagine Biden has a dim memory...he is a multi-millionaire. Biden has been an embarrassment to his own party with the constant foot in his mouth disease...as for ryan wanting to take anything form the poor and elderly, his own mother is on medicare in Florida, so the chances of him making a plan to hurt her benefits is well a flat out LIE! tHE DEMOCRATS AND OBAMA has done nothing but bring this election down to the nasty and dirty politics of Chicago. They are doing the old Chicago mob style politics with their lies and personal attacks..we have to get the liberals out of control one way or another..if Obama wins he will destroy us, but if we take back both houses he will be impotent...By Gods blessing Obama will not win.

• PatriciaMarya | Aug 13, 2012, 08:23 PM EDT

  Regarding this $70 million or $700 billion or whatever the figure is that so many of the posters< including Ryan< keep attributing to the POTUS, he wishes to tighten the money now being taken by the Medicare ADVANTAGE programs, the HMOs of Medicare. These were created when Humana, a for-profit health insurance corporation, was given a large fee as a consultant contractor to go inside CMS (Center for Medicare/Medicaid Services) and they came out with this very lucrative, pro-insurance carrier program that spends more in administrative services (including management salaries) than they deliver in medical service dollars! This fact was published by the GAO (Government Accounting Office). It is this miserable amount of wasted dollars that our President (do remember he was elected by the majority of our citizenry) wishes to eliminate from Medicare. And for those of you who feel that he has not produced enough in his four years, how could he when Mitch McConnell (who by the way is financially underwritten by Humana) actually stated at the beginning of the President's term that his sole purpose of being in Congress was to see to it that "...he does not get a second term." The GOPs of Congress have acted more like Fraternity/Sorority Haze Masters these past four years, doing their filthy best to road-block every possible good turn, forgetting that it is U.S. who have also suffered. Rover, Koch Boys, Cheney are jumping for joy - the Fox Propaganda Machine has worked its destructive magic.

• seanomelb | Aug 13, 2012, 08:09 PM EDT

  and so was Hitler and all of the South American US surrogate terrorist dictators.

• aloistmartin | Aug 13, 2012, 07:27 PM EDT

  I Francisco Franco, and Juan Carlos,can be Roman Catholics, so can Paul Ryan !

• OBPiper | Aug 13, 2012, 07:04 PM EDT

  My father's family referred to his mother's line as "lace curtain Irish"; her father was from Germany and her maternal grandparents from Ireland, and she was from New Jersey. She married a full-blooded Irish-American who became wealthy in the Great Depression (not this Greater Depression) who was never referred to as lace certain Irish (he was Irish American). I doubt that Paul Ryan's Irish immigrant ancestors were Lace Curtain Irish. Let's focus on what's truthful and what matters.

• aloistmartin | Aug 13, 2012, 07:02 PM EDT

  If Juan Carlos can be a Catholic, so can Paul Ryan !

• Maggie47 | Aug 13, 2012, 05:29 PM EDT

  Rugby, you are ok with $7B. that our president borrowed from medicare?

• Fran Connor | Aug 13, 2012, 02:24 PM EDT

  When Joe Biden had to release his tax return it showed contributions of two or three hundred dollars. That says a lot to me.

• rugbyplayer | Aug 13, 2012, 12:18 PM EDT

  1) As long as the Vatican thinks it can control every Catholic, neither Ryan or Biden have a chance at the USA presidency 2)Irish Central is too jingoistic about anyone who so much as has a drop of Irish heritage 3)Ryan would be a social disaster for the USAand the Tipperary woman who thinks Ryan is the best pick for the USA would be the first victim of Ryan's "no Medicare, Caid or Social Security" 4)Romney did not pick Ryan for VP, the far Right billionaire Koch Brothers and Machiavellian Karl Rove did

• BGAndersson | Aug 13, 2012, 12:15 PM EDT

  ...and further, Niall, the "lace curtain" remark is as unfair as for me to say to you: "Irish Central, Irish America, Irish Voice. You didn't build that - someone else did." Just sayin'.

• JimmyJK | Aug 13, 2012, 12:15 PM EDT

  Paul Ryan has only worked briefly for his family for a few months then it has been on the publics dime. Facts: He took his Father's social security for years, God Bless him. He believes snow proves climate change is not true. He does not want Big Government which means privatize teachers, cops, park workers, postal workers and the like and it also means getting rid of any assistance to the poor, handicapped and less fortunate. Any body every take unemployment or disability? Well say bye bye to that. He also dumped his stocks in 2008 after speaking to Goldman Sachs and then bought Goldman Sachs stock Look up his voting record - Please

• BGAndersson | Aug 13, 2012, 11:44 AM EDT

  Paul Ryan returned home from WORKING IN A MCDONALDS to find his father dead. He had to care for his grandmother, who was ailing with Alzheimer's while his mother returned to the workforce. They needed Social Security support through these times. He also spent time as a waiter in a Mexican restaurant and drove an Oscar Meyer Weiner-mobile. ARE YOU FRIGGIN' KIDDING WITH THE "LACE CURTAIN" REMARK?????????????????????

• cabocla | Aug 13, 2012, 10:40 AM EDT

  Let´s forget about MATERIAL things that each: RYAN or BIDEN had or have. Let´s talk about of they have inside to give to Americans. RYAN is an INTELLIGENT person. BIDEN is a DUMB STUPID with nothing to offer. RYAN has credentials to be VICE or PRESIDENT. BIDEN is a SHAME even DEMOCRATS. YOU CHOOSE!

• michaelidaho | Aug 13, 2012, 09:06 AM EDT

  seanomelb, Where are you getting your information about Paul Ryan never having worked a day in his whole life? This contradicts everything I have read from CNN, Boston Globe, wikipedia, etc.

• obeollain | Aug 13, 2012, 09:01 AM EDT

  Biden and Obama have had 4 years to turn the economy around and they've been a dismal failure. LBJ (not Kennedy)and his Great Society haven't lifted anyone out of poverty. They just made poverty and goverment dependence a way of life!

• eiriamach | Aug 13, 2012, 08:46 AM EDT

  Go ahead, Niall: push the "Irish Catholic" label. It won't hurt Joe Biden. Every day someone calls for the Church to excommunicate him for his political views. He does not toe the Church line. But Ryan, who votes the bishops' agenda on social issues, has the support of orthodox extremists who'd like to ban contraception, impoverish seniors, and grow the number of working poor so that the wealthy can drain increasing taxes from workers' ever-shrinking paychecks. If Romney picked Ryan to woo Catholic voters, he made a stupid miscalculation. The Church's censorship of theologians, the nuns, and anyone with humane political views has had much press. The result is that the Church's influence in politics is now only negative for any candidate whom the bishops support with their "Guide" for voters. I predict serious shock setting in on election night, as the nation sees the power of the backlash against Catholic anti-equality politics in American political life. The resounding rejection will come not only from voters the Church dubs "secular," but also from more than half the Catholic laity themselves.

• EamonnDublin | Aug 13, 2012, 04:24 AM EDT

  What a terrible, awful, superficial opinion piece. Éamonn, Dublin, Ireland.

• righton | Aug 12, 2012, 11:44 PM EDT

  shanty Irish is a slur - don't use it to describe Joe Biden's family. I believe it had to do with Irish who worked on the railroad and lived in "shanties," small, dismal homes near the tracks. Lace curtain Irish lived in houses with curtains on the windows, not cardboard. Also, in America we usually don't refer to people as "Irish Catholics" -- Irish is what we say. Besides, the term -"Irish Catholic" seems to be something used more by Irish from Ireland. . .For instance, an Irishman, who upon hearing my last name, referred to it as an Irish CATHOLIC name." (for what it's worth.)

• harp579 | Aug 12, 2012, 11:28 PM EDT

  Per Wikipedia and with apologies to readers of German ancestry:............................................ "[Paul Davis]Ryan was born and raised in Janesville, Wisconsin, the youngest child of Elizabeth A. "Betty" (née Hutter) and Paul Murray Ryan, a lawyer.[6][7][8] He is of Irish and German ancestry,[9]."

• cillowen | Aug 12, 2012, 10:49 PM EDT

  how come they pick such a measima of souls who are but the middle who will take the slings and arrows from both their own, their lessers and their betters. Picking a Jew would not fit in the scheme of things. The maleable set best suits as it has been since the founding. Throw 'em a bone if its fighting you want and shower them with ridicule to excite other ethnics into a sort of comic relief. Thusly the sheep are carefully managed. Vote on jokers.

• irishamrep | Aug 12, 2012, 09:43 PM EDT

  Good for you mairint! I'm getting older and I have seen a lot! People like Biden and obama rob people of their dignity! Here in the US the poor are given free housing (better than the "working class" can afford) and food stamps, they "need" nothing! They WANT more and more! Certainly there are poor people who need it but it's a corrupt system and many trur poor do without because of it! Biden is a dishonest crazy man that has turned his back on his Church and his God for political gain! And by the way he is a very rich man!

• Kendall | Aug 12, 2012, 09:29 PM EDT

  Jamthecat, Isimply ask what is the basis of you conclusion that Ryan's plan would bankrupt SS AND Medicad? I looking for statistical data not an inflammned knee jerk analysis.

• JimmyJK | Aug 12, 2012, 09:28 PM EDT

  let's get rid of all health care supported by the government. Also let's get rid of BIG GOVERNMENT! We need to get rid of food stamps and ANY and ALL assistance to the poor. We have to reform our tax laws... why should those making over 250K a year be paying for those below it. If those below it worked harder they wouldn't need the extra tax money. Please privatize all agencies especially social security, the financial sector is doing God's job and keeping our country afloat! We have much too much government let's privatize everything.... our teachers, police, parks, emergency assistance.... all privatized! But let's keep our military going strong especially overseas where we can use our contractors to help the indigenous build much better existences for themselves so they can abandon their inefficient way of life.... is this what we want ? Do you want this? Is this good?

• mairint | Aug 12, 2012, 08:30 PM EDT

  In spite of Mr. O'Dowd's old fashioned and even quaint terminology in his article, the twist does not quite work. Paul Ryan is apparently a straight forward decent man. Just because his ancestors were successful does not mean he did not have to work hard himself. It seems he managed to get himself through his uni. studies with the insurance received from his Dad's early death. Good luck to this man, a good choice and in a far more qualified category than Mr. Biden who has been quite a disaster. We begin to see a glimmer of hope for a rebirth of the once great nation of the United States of America.

• irishamrep | Aug 12, 2012, 08:19 PM EDT

  I hope it's you Niall that's so damned stupid and lacking in knowledge and not the majority of the Irish readers? At this reading I would hate to be ashamed to be Irish for the first time in my life!

• JimmyJK | Aug 12, 2012, 07:13 PM EDT

  This is an about face in political and moral viewpoints for Irish Catholics. Tip O'Neill, Hugh Carey, John F. Kennedy and so many other Irish Catholic politicians would be very sad to see an Irish Catholic America that has turned their back on the values of the hard working middle class that the Irish in America still dominate.... How can Paul Ryan go to mass and then still want to take relief away from children, the elderly, the poor and others in need??

• oaklongan | Aug 12, 2012, 06:55 PM EDT

  Haven't heard Lace Curtin, Shanty since I was a teenager from my mother. Black Irish more...At least the Presidential 'contest' is more clearly-defined now between less vs. more government, but either way Corporations win...

• Searlit | Aug 12, 2012, 06:47 PM EDT

  "Shanty Irish" is taken by some as an ethnic slur - the term comes from Gaeilge, sean tí which means old house. So you live in an old house. So what? If they call you a harp, so what? The harp is an ancient symbol of Ireland. I would be proud of it!

• seanomelb | Aug 12, 2012, 06:20 PM EDT

  Ryan another oligarch wanting to make the rich richer and the poor poorer. Ryan never had to work a day in his life.He was spoon fed by a wealthy family.

• plstg67 | Aug 12, 2012, 05:37 PM EDT

  I have always been a Paul Ryan fan.As a Wisconsin native I am very proud of the fact that he WILL make it to the White House.

• seagreen | Aug 12, 2012, 05:35 PM EDT

  The Republicans have found their perfect lackey to disarm thise that vote the ethnic route.... Another Irish/American rich kid....

• Rebelforce | Aug 12, 2012, 05:24 PM EDT

  I've seen pictures of Joe Biden's mother the late Catherine Eugenia "Jean" Finnegan Biden (1917–2010). She always looked like a very sweet, proud and respectable woman. I'm sure she'd be appalled and aghast by having her son described as being "shanty Irish".

• jflanagan | Aug 12, 2012, 05:17 PM EDT

  Vice President Biden is a cheapskate who will do everything with other peoples money but gives less in 20 years to charity than my wife and I despite making more in one year than we make in 12. He calls himself a Blue Collar Joe but has never had a blue collar job in his adult life. Congressman Ryan has at least put out a plan to tackle the problems that will affect my kids, grandkids and great grandkids in the not too distant future. VP Biden and the huge government politicians only kick the problem down the road with a promise of future cuts, which probably won't be honored by future politicians, as we have seen with the promises made under President Reagan to get him to allow tax hikes. President Clinton kept spending mostly under 20% of GDP. Reagan and Clinton were leaders enough to deal with O'Neill and Gingrich. This Administration has no leaders, only spoiled crybabies who want everything and cannot deal with others. Obama is Bush on steroids, not the antithesis of Bush.

• Searlit | Aug 12, 2012, 04:40 PM EDT

  Great postings by adrienrain & jamthecat!

• Owen Hanley | Aug 12, 2012, 04:39 PM EDT

  @Peggy P do you realise that Irish debt isn't 100th that of the U.s'

• alisaann | Aug 12, 2012, 04:30 PM EDT

  WE DON'T NEED THE RELIGOUS NUTT JOBS TAKING OVER AMERICA...AND FORCING THEIR BELIEFS ON EVERYONE...AND STRIPPING PEOPLE OF THEIR RIGHTS...AND KEEPING A GROUP OF CITIZENS FROM HAVING THEIR EQUAL CIVIL HUMAN RIGHTS....."SEPARATION OF CHURCH & STATE", PEOPLE.

• Peggy P | Aug 12, 2012, 04:22 PM EDT

  Has anyone read Ryan's budget plan? Medicare will only effect those under 55 and will give future seniors money back to buy their own insurance. This will cause compition thus bringing costs down. I want the U.S. to come back and become the great country it was before Obama and not, please God, go by way of Europe and Ireland who are up to their eyeballs in dept. Birth Control is a choice and why should I pay for it.

• judiron | Aug 12, 2012, 04:19 PM EDT

  Paul has a brain, Biden is an idiot. Biden is nothing but a stupit mouth piece for Obama. Paul R. will be an asset to the US.

• alisaann | Aug 12, 2012, 04:19 PM EDT

  ryan and romney are DANGEROUS for the AMERICAN PEOPLE....they DON'T believe in EQUAL CIVIL RIGHTS or WOMEN'S RIGHTS...they will RUINE this country...you can kiss your SS goodbye, if they win as well as anything else that HELP the people.....VOTE OBAMA/BIDEN IN NOV. PLEASE. ALISA

• jamthecat | Aug 12, 2012, 04:05 PM EDT

  Ryan is an ideologue whose budget plan would increase the deficit and destroy Social Security as well as Medicare, all to protect the tax breaks of the rich idiots who cause the financial collapse and are now taking government welfare. They might both be Catholic, but only Biden actually tries to follow the teachings of Christ; Ryan spits on them even as he lays claim to them. If he's the VP, America will be bankrupt by 2016. I'd like to think that then, finally, the fools who believe and support this man and Romney will see what they've done...but they won't; they'll still blame liberals and Democrats because they are just too stupid to understand how they will have helped to destroy America.

• katiemac | Aug 12, 2012, 03:43 PM EDT

  It is amazing how often liberals, who claim to be so egalitarian, are the ones to play the 'race' card or, in this case, the 'class' card. There is no particular virtue in having been raised poor, as any of us who have been there can tell you. This perpetuation of wealth, or class, envy is unbecoming. Should Ryan , or Romney, be view as suspect because their parent(s) worked hard and made a lot of money? Is working hard or being successful a bad thing? I would far rather send a wealthy man to government, than send a poor man intent on enriching himself.

• adrienrain | Aug 12, 2012, 03:41 PM EDT

  weeknocky - you aren't being asked to pay for anyone's birth control. The insurance company is being forced to cover birth control, for several very good reasons. The first is that many health conditions - very painful and debilitating conditions - are helped with hormone therapy, aka birth control. My granddaughter had ovarian cysts at age 15, and has had to take them ever since. It is cheaper than surgery, and I am sure the insurance companies recognize this, altho' if they had their way, they'd just take the premiums and pay for nothing. The other reason - and again, I am sure the insurance companies have done the math on this, is that there is NO aspect of pregnancy, childbirth and aftercare for both mother and child (even in the most normal circumstances) that is not FAR more costly than birth control. The corporate interests always pull this one-two punch. First, as with Hilary's long lost health care plan and the Obama plan, they cooperate with the Democrats in crafting a health care bill which will favor them as much as possible IF it passes. Then, when the bill is out there, they use every trick in the book to oppose it, because they really don't want ANY health care plan at all. And so we go on, from generation to generation, our infant mortality and maternal mortality rates growing, and people dying because their insurance plan decided not to cover their needed surgery or medications. On and on and on. And Americans are too brainwashed to know that most countries are solving these problems with some variation on national health care.

• POL O L | Aug 12, 2012, 03:23 PM EDT

  @weeknocky Comment,Says it all about the small mind`s of a large percentage of the U S population.Get a grip,Paddy V Paddy,Only one winner in my view,The "POOR" Guy. I love socialism cause Capitalism aint working!!

• michaelidaho | Aug 12, 2012, 03:14 PM EDT

  71regiment has it right. This is not a choice between "lace curtain" or "shanty" Irish. It is a choice between big government and small government. If you think more government is the answer, vote the Democratic ticket. If you think less government is the answer, vote the Republican ticket.

• michaelidaho | Aug 12, 2012, 03:01 PM EDT

  Shanty Irish Biden???Give me a break, the guy is a multi-millionaire!

• weeknocky | Aug 12, 2012, 02:45 PM EDT

  Ryan-intelligent...Biden..(this is a big f...ing deal) even my Shanty folk aren't that classless. War on Women? Does that I(we) have to pay for what women do in the privacy of their home? I could care less what women do but I don't want to pay for contraceptives, abortions, dildo's or whatever the hell else is in that stupid Obama care bill. Bring on R & R and dump O & B.

• adrienrain | Aug 12, 2012, 02:29 PM EDT

  Thank you, Irish Central, for finally telling me what this election is about! When I voted for Obama, I thought I was voting for a single payer advocate, a constitutional scholar, & community organizer, who would extricate us from these cruel, needless, expensive wars, end the drug war, work to have genetically engineered foods labeled as such, purge laws that have been accumulating for some time that endanger our civil liberties, & work to restore our tattered social safety net. I was sure he'd 'revisit' our unfair 'free' trade laws, & oppose the advance of nuclear power. I must have misunderstood when he said those things. He has further moved the nation toward dictatorship, increased police power, supported 2 new nukes, 3 free trade agreements, cut soc security by denying COLAs, & imposed a kind of corporate serfdom instead of real national health care. He has coddled Wall St criminals & appointed a Monsanto CEO to the FDA. I could not have been more wrong in my expectations. Of late, I am sadly pondering whether to vote for a hopeless 3rd party candidate (hopeless because the 1st & most important factor in our politics is $$) or leave all the human fields blank, or what? NOW I see a real difference between these 2 opposing parties: one is Shanty Irish & the other Lace Curtain Irish, & altho' both categories are racist, obsolete, irrelevant to US politics @ this moment in history, it IS a DIFFERENCE! T'anks.

• Maggie47 | Aug 12, 2012, 01:45 PM EDT

  Susan, Maybe you should move to Norway! They will teach you how to spell potato (e)

• MegK311 | Aug 12, 2012, 01:32 PM EDT

  It seems to me that both the Ryan and Biden families have done very well living the American dream. Now I ask you are you better off than you were 4 years ago? For me the answer is no. Another thing you can't keep blaming George Bush for everything wrong with our economy. Obama has made the economic situation much worse during his term in office. God help us if he gets another 4 years. As for the lace curtins I thought they were for nosey old ladies to hide behind as they snooped on their neighbors.

• Searlit | Aug 12, 2012, 01:29 PM EDT

  Unfortunately, for Ryan, he has become the posterboy for the 'war on women' which the far-right decided to wage. There is no Democracy without compassion!

• handsome68 | Aug 12, 2012, 01:21 PM EDT

  I think Romney-Ryan might be a very good team. As for the lace curtain-shanty Irish stuff, I figure it is near the Ides of August, and you guys just want to ruffle readers' feathers over nothing. Like I've said before, try closing the mouth and neither drinking nor writing for a while. Then, read a lot and think really deeply. I know that is hard for youse liberal omadhauns. Try anyway.

• wjb1tex | Aug 12, 2012, 01:14 PM EDT

  susan724 | Aug 12, 2012, 12:00 PM EDT wjb1tex - If yo are an American, and I assume you are "tex" from Texas, you better get your fact straight about Ryan's budget plan -----------------------You assume correctly. I am an American and I live in Texas. So may I assume you have read Ryan's budget plan ? Can you provide any detail. Just one or two ?

• Robbie69 | Aug 12, 2012, 01:08 PM EDT

  Paul Ryan is a "make-believe" Catholic with not an ounce of compassion or concern for seniors and the poor. With the Romney-Ryan ticket, their motto should be, "Government for the 1%, by the 1% and through our corporate lobbyists. If Romney required Ryan to disclose several years of tax returns, why don't we get to see Romney's tax returns as well. I am interested in knowing how much of a tax deduction he got for his dressage horse. I assume it is much more than I could ever get for my child. The Romney-Ryan ticket will go down faster than the McCain-Palin ticket did four years ago.

• Mousemess | Aug 12, 2012, 01:07 PM EDT

  Better shanty and progress and forward-looking than lace curtain and harmful to thousands of Americans and backward-looking.

• wjb1tex | Aug 12, 2012, 01:06 PM EDT

  susan724 | Aug 12, 2012, 12:00 PM EDT wjb1tex - If yo are an American, and I assume you are "tex" from Texas, you better get your fact straight about Ryan's budget plan ---------------- You assume correctly. I am an American and from Texas. Can I assume you have read Ryan's budget proposal ?

• 71regiment | Aug 12, 2012, 12:49 PM EDT

  I wonder why O'Dowd trys to make the Ryan vs Biden, a rich man, poor man debate. Their differences are more along the line of big government vs small government, Obama & Biden favor unlimted spending by big government while Romney & Ryan favor pay only for what you the taxpayer can afford and what is logical. As regards Romeny's so called gaffe's while visiting the UK, Isreal & Poland, it was the liberal media folks who decided to attack Mitt, for their lack of being objectionable. Susan724, when are you going to relocate to Norway, bring warm clothes. As well Big Oil contibutes via taxes to it generous pension system, to its citizens.

• Nicomax | Aug 12, 2012, 12:34 PM EDT

  A small note to hooligan: Today's Germany is much more socialistic than their infamous Nazi period, and also much more than the current USA. But it is a type of socialism that works by not leaving their unemployed without health coverage if per chance they lose their job due to an economic downturn. We

• Springfield9 | Aug 12, 2012, 12:29 PM EDT

  I am disgusted by your use of "Lace Curtain" Irish and Shanty" Irish. It is a pair of racist labels that were meant to point out that ALL Irish were bad ..... but some were worse. IN the 1800s it actually split families. My family was included in this - the girls married well (lace) and then men worked 12 hour days (shanty?). ALL of their children and granchildren have, at least a B.S. - perhaps the Shanty was a more genuine life then the 5th Avenue crowd.

• Springfield9 | Aug 12, 2012, 12:26 PM EDT

  My mother always told me that the "lace curtains" were just the cobwebs in the window.

• Mousemess | Aug 12, 2012, 12:17 PM EDT

  Lace curtain Irish!!!!!???? There is NOTHING "lace curtain" about a religious fanatic hiding his bigotries behind God, an anarchist of the worst sort and extremist budget cutter using a meat cleaver on the budget named Paul Ryan in the GOP who want to kill Social Security that millions of Americans paid into, Medicare, etc. About an arch-bigot named Ryan who wants to reinstate Don't Ask, Don't Tell (good luck with THAT!)wants to ram a national marriage discrimination amendment down the throats of millions of gay Americans and millions of their straight allies! Down with Romney/Ryan! And don't tell me all about how Catholic he is. There are Catholics who don't agree with his bigotries and his nonsense and with his desire to drag USA in the process of modernizing and updating itself into a modern 21st century democracy backwards in time. Don't Ask, Don't Tell was repealed, dead and buried and the US military has no interest and no desire to revisit that harmful and antiquated crap that kept us behind compared to our allies that have long since canned that nonsense. Millions of Americans are not going to tolerate a marriage discrimination amendment to the US constitution at a time when growing jobs and economy is a far greater priority for many people than which gender of adult can marry which gender of adult. This country is gradually improving and getting back on its feet and I will not vote for Romney/Ryan and their useless hankerings for the failed policies of the past 8 years pre-Obama.

• FrPeteOFeely | Aug 12, 2012, 12:11 PM EDT

  Lace-curtain Irish versus shanty Irish in US politics -- that's a laugh. Actually, both the Republicans and the Democrats slavishly serve the wealthy ruling class (the lace curtain Mafia). JFK and RFK were murdered by the agents of the US government because they didn't toe the line and serve the ruling class as they were expected to do. In 2008 a lot of Americans voted for Barack Obama because he offered "hope" -- but Obama has turned out to be yet another servant of the elitist lace-curtain Mafia that rules the USA. In office, Obama's acting just like George W. Bush did -- serving the interests of the wealthy corporations and ruling elitists. Obama had an Irish mother who worked for the CIA in Indonesia. The 9/11 attacks were perpetrated by the US government to justify the bogus War in Terrorism, which is actually a US/NATO/Israeli war of aggression for control of the resources, territory, populations, and markets of the Middle East, South Asia, and Africa. The Bali, Madrid, and London 7/7 bombings were perpetrated by the Western intelligence agencies for the same purpose. Watch John Anthony Hill's video "7/7 Ripple Effect" here: http://mtrial.org/ripple A lot of the bombings and assassinations that were blamed on the IRA were actually false-flag attacks that were perpetrated by the MI5 and the SAS.

• susan724 | Aug 12, 2012, 12:00 PM EDT

  wjb1tex - If yo are an American, and I assume you are "tex" from Texas, you better get your fact straight about Ryan's budget plan because you and all Americans who are not in the 1% will fall victims to it! He does not want to raise taxes on the wealthy and want to make up for the shortfall off your back! That's a fact, partner. When you go to the voting booth, ignorance is no excuse - or else most Americans will suffer the same consequences that we suffered (and are still suffering) under the "W" Bush administration. You know, the past President whose name Romney or Ryan won't even mention for fear it will conjure up old memories of a hugely failed 8 years and people will suddenly remember it!

• Eschetic | Aug 12, 2012, 11:56 AM EDT

  Interesting perspective here on the "conservatives" who tout Biden's "blunders" - most people with sense would point out Congressman Ryan's actual VOTING record and budget proposals as the biggest gafs. The real contest isn't "Lace Curtain" vs. "Shanty" Irish (what demeaning put-downs those two are!) but "inexperienced big guy" vs. "experienced little guy". Since the first days of Independence, those of us from the proud little "First State" of Delaware (3 Electoral College Votes) didn't think we'd ever get this close to having a president (not since Biden as a Democrat and Pete DuPont as a Republican were both waging futile campaigns for their parties top spot nominations). Little guys everywhere are pulling for Biden and his top drawer ticket. No amount of Right Wing lies and tea party twaddle can hide their accomplishments in bring us back from the verge of a Bush-caused Depression and restoring respect for the nation in the international community. Maybe in 2016 we Republicans will ignore the rabid Right and have a chance of re-taking the Presidency.

• hooligan6a | Aug 12, 2012, 11:33 AM EDT

  susan724, The best place to live in the world, is where the heart is. Not where the freebies are. What us wrong with Socialism? Have you heard of National Socialism? Also known as Nazi's

• micky74007 | Aug 12, 2012, 11:30 AM EDT

  thanks to a construction company fortune and a successful family legal practice... but remember, his family didn't do that, the obama whitehouse is responsible for that.

• bogsidebunny | Aug 12, 2012, 11:26 AM EDT

  No contest. Dimwit Beiden (is he really Oirish?) will pop out blunder after embarrssing blunder along with some vile language (OOP's guess that proves he's Irish), while Ryan will smoothly lay out the facts like the country's BROKE and America needs to stop the welfare handouts ot it'll wind up just like Greece.....and Ireland too.

• wjb1tex | Aug 12, 2012, 11:15 AM EDT

  Consdering the comments regarding what Ryan's udget plan does or does not do makes me curious as to how many people with firm convictions about it have ever read his plan. And, no I have not so I don't think I am qualified to pass judgement on it.

• susan724 | Aug 12, 2012, 11:14 AM EDT

  hooligan6a - what is wrong with socialism? Look up Norway - we should all live so well and be so well educated. It has been dubbed the best place to live in the world - not America!!

• susan724 | Aug 12, 2012, 11:10 AM EDT

  freebie28 - No, you're thinking of "W" Bush's (Yale edgicated)statement (fact) "Is our children learning" and then there was Republican VP Danny Quayle who, while visiting a school, told a child who spelled potato correctly that he needed to add an "e" on the end! (FACT!) Ya just cant make this stuff up, folks!! LOL! As we saw here, in America, during the Republican Presidential debates, at least they are great for some real laughs without even trying! Oh, we can't forget the numerous mistakes Mittens made on his recent trip to Europe - they discovered what we smart Americans have known all along, he's really dumb - but great for laughs1!

• briddy29 | Aug 12, 2012, 11:06 AM EDT

  So Paul Ryan's family achieved the American dream, and Joe Biden himself achieved the American dream. I guess Biden's children are in the same boat as Ryan is now. I believe they are growing up in a mansion and living a pretty cushy life. Didn't Joe Biden's older son run for office? Was he branded a rich kid?

• susan724 | Aug 12, 2012, 11:02 AM EDT

  hooligan6a - Grow a damn heart.

• EasyGoingIrish | Aug 12, 2012, 11:01 AM EDT

  What is the tipping point from Shanty Irish to Lace curtain Irish, are V.P. Biden's children Lace curtain. Or is the problem that the Ryan's made their own way in the New World.

• hooligan6a | Aug 12, 2012, 10:50 AM EDT

  What a bunch of socialist you Irish are. Welfare, Medicare, abortions. that is the only reason you people vote, to get "free" stuff from the government. Grow a damn backbone.

• AGRIPPAMOM | Aug 12, 2012, 10:43 AM EDT

  @MarybethC.P: You make it sound as if poor Paul had to struggle his entire life. Oh really? He and his family OFTEN went on hiking and skiing trips in the Colorado Mountains. Yes, his mother received social security benefits after his father's death, which RIGHT NOW every widow and child would. They STOPPED when he was 18, so he must have saved them to go to college, which no one could call a struggle. If you look at his family bio, his is NOT a family that had to struggle, period.

• freebie28 | Aug 12, 2012, 10:41 AM EDT

  "The Congressional Budget Office reported that Obamacare will slice $716 billion from Medicare over the next 10 years. As one Romney spokesman puts it “There is only one person in this race who has already cut Medicare for seniors, and that is President [Barack] Obama,” See, government public education did 'learn' me one thing alongside Joe Biden in the Scranton School system. I ken read!

• Padraig8 | Aug 12, 2012, 10:37 AM EDT

  This election does NOT hinge on Lace curtain or shanty Irish i know people from both sides of that divide and it matters what is in your Heart and whether you have compassion,One woman i know said to me and i quote "We should take all people on welfare (dole)and put them in one state and let them fend for themselves and if they fail so be it let them perish, why should i spend my money to feed and clothe them" This is the attitude of the Paul Ryans of the world so just remember this attitude prevails in our political society as well as in every day people. i am sure it is NOT the position of the Catholic Church or any other religious organization. Vote for compassion NOT Greed. (i come from both Shanty and Lace Curtain)so i know it is a personal trait not an inheirited one.

• susan724 | Aug 12, 2012, 10:37 AM EDT

  Paul Ran feigns Catholicism, which is based on Christ's teachings of charity. The FACT is that Ryan's views are laid out in the budget he produced for House Republicans last March as chairman of the House Budget committee. That budget would cut $3.3 trillion from low-income programs over the next decade. The biggest cuts would be in Medicaid, which provides healthcare for the nation's poor -- forcing states to drop coverage for an estimated 14 million to 28 million low-income people(non-partisan Center for Budget and Policy Priorities). Paul Ryan Catholic and lace curtain Irish? Not by a long shot. Give me Joe Biden any day - he's the true Catholic and Lace Curtain Irish with class,intelligence and a HEART!

• Whitey1 | Aug 12, 2012, 10:32 AM EDT

  Niall-I am pretty disappointed (but not surprised) at your characterization of Mr Ryan. M y antenna went up when I saw the word "mansion" because I can see what type of picture you are trying to paint. I did, unlike you, take 5 mins to check out the real estate market in Janesville and am happy to report that you could buy an historic mansion for about $250k. Guess the facts don't quite fit your narrative.

• jfoynyc | Aug 12, 2012, 10:32 AM EDT

  Where are all the other comments,Niall? Are you too thin Skinned?

• patrickesq | Aug 12, 2012, 10:30 AM EDT

  I will abide by Mr. Biden and his Boss, who care more about people and their well being, than the Aristocrats on the -----right, who do not want the 1% ters, to pay their fare share of taxes!

• MarybethC.P. | Aug 12, 2012, 10:22 AM EDT

  From several print medium resources, I have read the biography of Paul Ryan, and those say that he lost his 55-year old father to a heart attack when he himself was 16. These also say that his mother struggled to raise her 4 children, and they survived on Aid to Dependent Children (Social Security), which is what put Paul through college. Now that he's got his, he's been trying to cut that for ALL his fellow Americans since he started his own political career in 1999. Lace curtain? In a pig's eye!

• Maggie47 | Aug 12, 2012, 10:20 AM EDT

  Eileen, you need to go back and re-read what Mr. Ryan said about welfare and social security.

• Gearoid4 | Aug 12, 2012, 10:08 AM EDT

  Romney has picked a candidate for Vice-Presidency who is 100% pro-life both in word and deed, and advocates fiscal responsibility as distinct from social welfare programs, top-heavy with bureaucracy, and into which countless billions of dollars over the years, have been dispensed and wasted. This does not help those who have lost jobs or caught in the poverty trap.

• yrrab24 | Aug 12, 2012, 09:53 AM EDT

  Ill Take a Country of Lace curtains over a Country of Shanty Towns any day! Go Romney & Ryan Losers & liars must go

• yrrab24 | Aug 12, 2012, 09:50 AM EDT

  Ryan is a far better intellect than Amadan Biden who is Americas gaffe machine and village idiot. Ryan at least knows the medicine America must take to prevent it becoming Greece

• eileenkny | Aug 12, 2012, 09:36 AM EDT

  I will stick with my first choice-Obama and Biden. Ryan may be Catholic, but that doesn't mean what he wants to do to Medicare and Social Security is right.

• faberm1 | Aug 12, 2012, 09:34 AM EDT

  I am not part of the Catholic vote, but as an American of Irish descent I'll vote for Ryan any day of the week. Biden is a poor manager. He bragged during the last election that he had little or no money in his savings and could identify with the "little guy". He's worked in government for decades making in excess of $150,000 a year and he has nothing to show for it. Not the kind of guy I want running the country.

• eiregirl | Aug 12, 2012, 09:33 AM EDT

  Lace curtain...that must be what the conservatives relate to.