Irish President delivers smackdown on Teabaggers

[nickiknack]

Michael D. Higgins (who was elected president of Ireland last year) is fed up with over-the-top Tea Party rhetoric, and he isn't afraid to show it. Listen to him call out radio host Michael Graham on everything from health care to foreign policy in this heated exchange from 2010.

http://www.upworthy.com/a-tea-partier-decided-to-pick-a-fight-with-a-foreign-president-it-didnt-go-so-we?c=la1

This is just too funny, I love it.

[Fpqxz]

Thanks for sharing this.

It's nice to know that even conservative, Catholic countries such as Ireland look down on the teabaggers.

[Katsuro]

Thanks for sharing this.

It's nice to know that even conservative, Catholic countries such as Ireland look down on the teabaggers.

Just to be pedantic, you should say "countries such as the Republic of Ireland". Ireland is an island comprised of two countries.

[largeham]

A) Northern Ireland is not a country
B) When most people refer to Ireland, in my experience, they refer to the Republic of.

Anyway, the Teabaggers are quite stupid, reaching Mussolini levels of nationalism.

[Fpqxz]

Anyway, the Teabaggers are quite stupid, reaching Mussolini levels of nationalism.

Honestly, the nationalism by itself I could deal with.  It's the fact that they can't decide if they want to be conservative nationalists or Randroid libertarians that pisses me off.  So they tout a bunch of intellectually conflicting policies because they are too stupid to think about what they are supporting.

[RavynousHunter]

Heard this quite some time ago, unless its a different bitchslapping of Herr Graham.

<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B5OWRRJh-PI" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B5OWRRJh-PI</a>

[largeham]

Honestly, the nationalism by itself I could deal with.  It's the fact that they can't decide if they want to be conservative nationalists or Randroid libertarians that pisses me off.  So they tout a bunch of intellectually conflicting policies because they are too stupid to think about what they are supporting.

Wouldn't that be just plain old neo-conservatism? Neo-liberalism with an aggressive foreign policy?

[Fpqxz]

Honestly, the nationalism by itself I could deal with.  It's the fact that they can't decide if they want to be conservative nationalists or Randroid libertarians that pisses me off.  So they tout a bunch of intellectually conflicting policies because they are too stupid to think about what they are supporting.

Wouldn't that be just plain old neo-conservatism? Neo-liberalism with an aggressive foreign policy?

Well,  the "Tea Party movement" has been completely hijacked by neocons, so...yeah. 

[largeham]

Well,  the "Tea Party movement" has been completely hijacked by neocons, so...yeah. 

I always assumed it was a neo-con movement (is there a better word?) from the start.

[RavynousHunter]

Well,  the "Tea Party movement" has been completely hijacked by neocons, so...yeah. 

I always assumed it was a neo-con movement (is there a better word?) from the start.

Sure, I got a better word: moron.  As an aside, I thought the same, too.  Basically, a bunch of libertarian assholes who got angry because Obama is black spent some taxpayer money on something they didn't totally agree with, and that therefore makes any and all government spending bad.  Let's ignore the fact that government spending is the reason we have any educational system at all, at least mostly-working infrastructure, a form of organized law enforcement, and a god damned military.

So, yes, it is accurate to simply call them morons.

[The Right Honourable Mlle Antéchrist]

Basically, a bunch of libertarian assholes who got angry because Obama is black spent some taxpayer money on something they didn't totally agree with, and that therefore makes any and all government spending bad.

While that's more or less accurate for how it became mainstream and morphed into its current neoconservative form, its origins predate Obama's presidency by at least a decade or so. The tax day protests and tea bag theme (such as mailing tea bags to politicians) have been around since the 90s, all the way up through the Bush presidency.

[shykid]

Damn, someobody's kicking ass and taking names, and it ain't the Tea Party.

[RavynousHunter]

Basically, a bunch of libertarian assholes who got angry because Obama is black spent some taxpayer money on something they didn't totally agree with, and that therefore makes any and all government spending bad.

While that's more or less accurate for how it became mainstream and morphed into its current neoconservative form, its origins predate Obama's presidency by at least a decade or so. The tax day protests and tea bag theme (such as mailing tea bags to politicians) have been around since the 90s, all the way up through the Bush presidency.

Alas, if only they'd had the balls to actually teabag politicians...  (sighs)  Such an opportunity, wasted.

[Rabbit of Caerbannog]

"Just a wanker whipping up fear."

That's the Tea Party in a nutshell. Thankfully they have nowhere near the power they had only two or three years ago.

[VirtualStranger]

I believe this speech is at least 2 years old, actually.

That video posted in the OP actually cuts out the guy who is debating him. Here's the full 20 minute version:
http://media.newstalk.ie/extra/1602/popup

It's worth listening to, if only to witness a blithering moron debate a hopping mad Irishman.