President Joe Biden evoked on Saint Patrick’s Day an Irish stereotype that ingesting is prevalent within the Emerald Isle as he delivered remarks Friday on the U.S. Capitol throughout a themed luncheon with political leaders.
The president, whereas talking on the annual Pals of Eire gathering, recalled visiting Eire, saying he had been to the nation a number of instances however that he went on one specific event to search out his “actual family members.”
“There were so many, and they actually weren’t in jail” Biden quipped.
The president mentioned he spent almost per week in Eire earlier than noting a few of his kinfolk, the Finnegans, had been from County Louth and “if you go to County Louth there’s still a place called Finnegans pub, which is, I bet that’s related to my family.”
Biden, who has mentioned he doesn’t drink, added jokingly, “I’m the only Irishman you’ve ever met though that’s never had a drink, so I’m okay. I’m really not Irish.”
The president’s remarks got here throughout a standard lunch that dates again to the Nineteen Eighties that began with President Ronald Reagan and Home Speaker Tip O’Neill.
This yr’s luncheon featured Home Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) and Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar, in addition to former Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), Rep. Richard Neal (D-MA), and former Rep. Joe Kennedy III (D-MA), who now serves as U.S. particular envoy to Northern Eire.
President Joe Biden, Speaker of the Home Kevin McCarthy, and Irish Taoiseach Leo Varadkar depart after the annual Pals of Eire luncheon on St. Patrick’s Day on the US Capitol in Washington, DC, on March 17, 2023. (CABALLERO-REYNOLDS/AFP through Getty Photos)
Biden and McCarthy, each of Irish descent, made quite a few references to their backgrounds throughout their remarks. McCarthy recited an Irish blessing whereas Biden quoted poet Seamus Heaney.
“I, like all of you, take pride in my Irish ancestry, and as long as I can remember it’s been sort of part of my soul, how I’ve been raised,” Biden mentioned.
Whereas the occasion was lighthearted, each leaders foreshadowed the anticipated debt ceiling battle, and McCarthy pointed to the “special” relationship between Reagan and O’Neill as proof that the modern-day president-speaker pair might discover widespread floor regardless of their present positions being at odds.
“When they had fiscal problems, they found a way to get together,” McCarthy mentioned. “They would always break bread, share some Guinness, and fight hard for their own personal beliefs, and at the end of the day America was stronger for that, and it’s unique that 40 years later we’re back here again.”
Write to Ashley Oliver at [email protected] Comply with her on Twitter at @asholiver.
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