Michael D. Higgins, Ireland President, Takes Down Tea Party Pundit Michael Graham (AUDIO)

Michael D. Higgins, Ireland President, Takes Down Tea Party Pundit Michael Graham (AUDIO) (Full Version)

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kalikshama -> Michael D. Higgins, Ireland President, Takes Down Tea Party Pundit Michael Graham (AUDIO) (8/24/2012 8:47:24 AM)
Leave it to the Irish to teach their American cousins a thing or two about the ancient art of the smackdown. A 2010 interview between Michael D. Higgins, who was elected President of Ireland in 2011, and Boston conservative radio host Michael Graham has recently gone viral, with a YouTube clip of the debate attracting over half a million visitors. (Close to 200,000 of those visits were recorded in the past 48 hours, according to The Irish Times.) The clip's newfound surge in popularity is due in large part to video-sharing website Upworthy, which posted the audio on Tuesday with the headline, "A Tea Partier Decided To Pick A Fight With A Foreign President. It Didn't Go So Well." The contentious encounter occurred during a May 28 special broadcast of The Right Hook, a NewsTalk radio program hosted by conservative Irish radio pundit George Hook. The fiery Higgins, a longtime leftist politician and human rights activist, takes Graham, a Tea Party organizer, to task for the party's criticisms of President Obama and its strident opposition to the White House's health care reform bill. "I think even the poorest people in the great country that is the United States should be entitled to basic health care," Higgins said. "And I don't think they'll thank the Sarah Palin lookalikes and followers for taking it off them." Although Graham tries to interject, Higgins is clearly having none of it, continuing to berate Graham and Sarah Palin for perceived warmongering. "You're about as late an arrival in Irish politics as Sarah Palin is in American politics, and both of you have the same tactic," Higgins continued. "The tactic is, to get a large crowd, whip them up, try and discover what is that creates fear, work on that and feed it right back and you get a frenzy." Graham, who according to his bio introduced Sarah Palin during a Tea Party rally on Boston Common in 2010, is barely able to get a word in during the tirade, which lasts over four minutes. As applause and cheering is audible in the background, Higgins tells the American pundit that "the image of the United States is getting better," and upbraids Graham, urging him to "be proud to be a decent American rather just a wanker whipping up fear." Audio: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/08/23/michael-d-higgins-takes-down-michael-graham_n_1825812.html

stellauk -> RE: Michael D. Higgins, Ireland President, Takes Down Tea Party Pundit Michael Graham (AUDIO) (8/24/2012 9:43:37 AM)
This is going to be an interesting thread..

Politesub53 -> RE: Michael D. Higgins, Ireland President, Takes Down Tea Party Pundit Michael Graham (AUDIO) (8/24/2012 10:15:19 AM)
I always wonder about the vitriol from some on the American right. What right do they have to call those with differing viewpoints UnAmerican..... Thats UN-American as against U.N American. They come across like the BNP or EDL....... our two racist parties.

Charles6682 -> RE: Michael D. Higgins, Ireland President, Takes Down Tea Party Pundit Michael Graham (AUDIO) (8/24/2012 12:20:51 PM)
Those are the very far right of the Conservative movement here inn America usually tend to be racist anyways."The Tea Party" is nothing new.It was just the leftover losers from the Bush era trying to find a new label to hide under because being a "Bush conservative" just wasn't cutting it anymore.Which reminds me,where was the Tea Party when Bush was wasting billions of dollars on useless wars?O right,the Bush defenders are now the Tea Party,nevermind.

Fightdirecto -> RE: Michael D. Higgins, Ireland President, Takes Down Tea Party Pundit Michael Graham (AUDIO) (8/24/2012 2:05:58 PM)
quote: ORIGINAL: Politesub53 I always wonder about the vitriol from some on the American right. What right do they have to call those with differing viewpoints UnAmerican..... Thats UN-American as against U.N American. They come across like the BNP or EDL....... our two racist parties. IMO, the similarity between the BNP or EDL and many of the American Right is that many of the American Right believe in "American Exceptionalism" and the BNP or EDL believe in "British Exceptionalism". (Having lived in Europe and Asia, I have encountered "French Exceptionalism" and "Japanese Exceptionalism" as well.) "//Fill in the blank// Exceptionalism" is the mistaken belief that, if fate caused you to born in a specific country or to be born a citizen of a specific country, anyone born anywhere else or born a citizen of any other country is inferior to you and should defer to you in all things. If you are born in the privileged nation or are a citizen of that nation and do not feel you are naturally "exceptional", you are perceived as being anti-your nation. So an American who believes that all humans, regardless of race, religion and national origin, are equal in the eyes of the Supreme Being is, ipso facto, "Un-American" or even "Anti-American". Americans, in general, give lip service to individualism but at heart deserve mass conformity. If you don't conform, you are "Un-American".

DaddySatyr -> RE: Michael D. Higgins, Ireland President, Takes Down Tea Party Pundit Michael Graham (AUDIO) (8/24/2012 2:18:31 PM)
Anyone that thinks that hate speech doesn't come from both sides clearly isn't reading through un-jaundiced eyes. My home state which normally goes Democratic (well, has done so, continuously, for 20 years) has an article on it's website, talking about those fun-lovin', embracing everyone democrats. Now, while some amount of "us-vs.-them" is to be expected, for anyone to suggest that dems don't engage in hateful rhetoric is just disingenuous. I guess it really is no wonder why their symbol is a jackass. Peace and comfort, Michael

joether -> RE: Michael D. Higgins, Ireland President, Takes Down Tea Party Pundit Michael Graham (AUDIO) (8/24/2012 3:29:10 PM)
From time to time, I've listen to this....Boston Talks....with Mr. Michael Graham, while driving around the back roads of Massachusetts. Most of this guy's material is best summed up by this Irish President pretty well: "...just a wanker whipping up fear". Before the Gabby Gifford's shooting down in Arizona, the station (96.9 fm) was known as 'Boston CONSERVATIVE Talk Radio'. And everything (including some of the ads) were just Tea-Party-ish in every manner. Many of their 'chats' were full of inaccuracies, lies, and completely made up garbage. But I suspect most of the non-conservative listeners figured this out after twenty minutes as well. It was funny to listen to that guy OWN this Tea Party 'wanker' who really does on a routine basis push the conspiracy theories and fearmongering as much as he can get away with. Every day he has a chance to do some real good for the citizens in and around the Boston area; and every day, Mr. Graham pisses away the opporunity to do so. He wouldnt be in the Tea Party if he had a shred of wisdom under his belt.

dcnovice -> RE: Michael D. Higgins, Ireland President, Takes Down Tea Party Pundit Michael Graham (AUDIO) (8/24/2012 6:49:23 PM)
quote: My home state which normally goes Democratic (well, has done so, continuously, for 20 years) has an article on it's website, talking about those fun-lovin', embracing everyone democrats. Fwiw, your "article" is actually a letter to the editor from someone who clearly has an ax to grind. (One clue: Normal people do not use "Democrat" as an adjective.) A few things particularly intrigued me: -- I wonder why he felt the need to identify one of the speakers as a Muslim. -- The author offers an interesting sleight of hand: "But the truth is, Tea Party members 'are generally representative of the public at large' according to a USA Today/Gallup poll that finds 28 percent actively support this movement." If one takes the trouble to find the actual poll, however, one learns that the letter writer left out a key adjective at the start of the sentence: "Demographically...." The poll in no way says that Tea Party views are representative of the larger population. This slipperyness with the facts makes me wonder what else the author is misrepresenting. Also, 28 percent is far from a majority. -- The bit about there being no Congressional White Caucus is either faux dudgeon or evidence of an appalling lack of understanding of U.S. history.

Yachtie -> RE: Michael D. Higgins, Ireland President, Takes Down Tea Party Pundit Michael Graham (AUDIO) (8/24/2012 7:07:30 PM)
Most interesting. The Irish, whom voted till they got it right in joining the EU, themselves now in hard financial straits a la Greece, Spain, Italy, etc schooling a Tea Partier for essentially not signing to the Plan. Most amusing.

DaNewAgeViking -> RE: Michael D. Higgins, Ireland President, Takes Down Tea Party Pundit Michael Graham (AUDIO) (8/24/2012 9:53:03 PM)
quote: ORIGINAL: Fightdirecto IMO, the similarity between the BNP or EDL and many of the American Right is that many of the American Right believe in "American Exceptionalism" Keep in mind that to these people, 'American exceptionalism' means 'do as I say, not as I do.' [sm=dunno.gif]

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