Micheál Martin and his bowl of shamrock

[Odras]

Any opinions on how this will go? I ALMOST feel sorry for Micheál Martin as much as I dislike him. There is no good way to handle this - if he plays up friendly Irish lad and keeps things complimentary he’ll be rippped apart at home if he talks about Israel/gaza or Ukraine he risks being ripped apart in front of the global media.

There is no good way to handle it. And apparently it was his dream to hand over the bowl of shamrock in what is usually a pleasant celebration of Irish- america relations.

I'd be happy with a bit of oul plamas at this stage, since sucking up to the marmalade moron is a brief moment in time and necessary today anyway. I see MM wore a suit.....

Nope good statemanship
Dear sir
Be remembered like the champion of democracy and peace who was never pro-Russian.
RR maintained the US as a global power as USSR declined and was seen as a strong peace broker for all nations (once it benefited the US) during rocky period of international political change.

I think Micheál did well considering who he was dealing with.

I think Micheál held himself very well

Only saw highlights but MM did well.

It was so odd to see a US President not claiming Irish heritage. Surely surely he could have found a connection somewhere!! There must be a petrol station or bridge somewhere needing renaming

I think a hotel and golf course is probably enough. He actually owns a chunk of Ireland which is more than any of the others did (and was evidently very courteous and civil to the locals when he visited).

I was hoping they might have managed to identify a few of Vance's Ulster Scots forbears.

Yes he did what he had to do.

The Make Ireland Great Again question was definitely asked by someone who has never read the briefest fact sheet on Ireland. Imagine a politician running on the premise of bringing Ireland back to the old days!

It was interesting that when the housing crisis was alluded to, Trump immediately linked it to a booming economy and supply not keeping up with worker demand. MM obviously did a good job, but so did many unnamed people who prepared the briefings for everyone.

Trump is a real eejit. The response to the housing crisis question really annoyed me.

Yes me too it is so typical of Trump's attitude there are winners and losers in everything with zero responsibility for bridging the gap between the haves and have nots. He doesn't view the have nots as his responsibility at all. So homelessness is just an unfortunate by product of a booming economy, hey ho.

MM did well, can you imagine Mary Lou there?

I really, really cannot imagine it. It was definitely the right decision not to go. I’d say MM was relieved.