It’d be better if he was just as candid with our own politicians.

If only they had such an orator as MDH then the tea party and republicans might have some hope of challenging Obama.how they can justify opposing Healthcare for the less well off defies all understanding.Having to leave hospital because you cannot afford a pint of blood pre op is outrageous in what is called the greatest country in the free world.I would question that.

Search for ‘Michael D Higgins rap’ on YouTube.

Michael D said what we all think about the baggers, but he couldn’t have said it any better. The punchline at the end sealed it. Go Mike D!!

So long as he doesn’t end up as Minister for Finance here! Himself and his borrowaholic socialist pals should bog off to Cuba or some other similar ‘paradise’ where the state takes from the earners to give to those who sit around sucking on the welfare teat. Giving a person money/services for nothing is morally reprehensible and this very principle is at the core of Michael D’s thinking. These celebrities fail to shout down the Tea Party’s core message – cut the mad borrowing and keep taxes low for those who dare to go out and earn their crust. Makes sense to me – but I could be crazy.

@gary well Jesus look what capitalism has done to us!!! Socialism doesnt seem half bad

One of the major political stories raging in the US this week is a British Harvard professors carpeting of Barach Obama in Newsweek and counter-carpeting by Obama supporters.
The Journals look across the Atlantic features pro-Democratic propaganda, which includes a two year debate between a radio host and MDH (the ultimate champagne socialist).
Is the Journal part owned by Democrats or what?
http://mobile.bloomberg.com/video/niall-ferguson-defends-newsweek-obama-story-kLn4VRYURvSbfzQggJXfJQ.html

@ Sean To be honest, I would assume that thejournal chose not to cover that story, not because of any pro-democrat agenda, but because it woldn’t bring in enough comments and hits. Leaving out sports and human interest stories, the motherlode articles revolve around slagging off Irish politicians, provoking tensions between nationalities, immigrants, abortion, social welfare, prostitution, the phantom menace of a new tutonic world order, taxi-drivers, developers and anything Sinn Fein related. Can you spot the common denominator between these topics?

I disagree. There would appear to be a clear pro-Democrat agenda in stories covered in The Journal.
The idiotic comments recently made by Republican, Mr Akin, has been the subject of more than one piece. However, the Democratic Vice President routinely issues ill-advised idiotic (at times offensive) comments, but I’m hard-pressed if I can remember this being covered in The Journal.

@Conor There was nothing capitalist about the fall of this country. We ended up capitalising the profits of the boom and socialising the losses. That’s not capitalism. There are no bank bailouts in a capitalist system.

Exactly Matthew,great point.Let’s not forgot that D Higgins was part of the campaign of lies to have Labour elected.Sadly too many people fall for this type of populist rhetoric. Just to be clear here,Michael Graham is a knob,a guest on a show hosted by another knob and FG cheerleader,George Hook,but D Higgins is no hero,and his no legend or anything like it.He’s just another overpaid,under worked,hypocrite like the rest of the politicians in this country.

Because as president of Ireland he has to remain apolitical according to our constitution

If he can’t comment about the state of the system in a crisis like this one then we don’t need a president, do we?

Someone’s been watching The Newsroom. It doesn’t mean you’re not correct.

@Karswell, I knew about the Koch brothers before “The Newsroom” (great show). Perhaps Antóin did too.
The simple fact of the matter is that the vast majority of Tea Party members (the ones who do the tea bagging) have as much faith in Fox News reports as they do in the Bible. Complete faith.

Fair and balanced, full of contradictions and open to interpretation, but mostly used for scaremongering.

Twas a rather exellent idea of ours, wasn’t it?!

arch enemy or one of the same? Illusion of choice.

Sorry, but I’d like you to clarify your comment. If you don’t mind.
Are you American?

Spot on. Nice one.

Yes, I am an American. Re: “Tea Party”
Hate and Bigotry Party

Nail on the head Terry …

Aren’t all tea partiers?
They like the sound of their own voices, say shocking things and troll the media airways and in my neighborhood, flood gardens with signs supporting their loyalty for the tea party. They are selfish ignorant gits who want everything for free but want to pay for nothing.

Not sure what you mean by that? None of this post was sourced from reddit? The video initially went viral because of an Upworthy post which is both mentioned and linked to. The rest of the videos were sourced from YouTube? In fact, I haven’t been on reddit all week?

Which got its hits from reddit this morning Irish time, I really don’t care

Well then don’t reply? If I, and indeed most normal people, don’t care about something they avoid it, not embrace it and become part of it.

Yes, I would.

My answer’s above, where you asked this question the first time.

Respect for a tw@t like Sarah Palin? A moron like Todd Akin? I have more respect for what’s in my cat’s litter tray”! Taking the piss out of bigots and idiots like the Tea Party is not anti-American.

Michael D made no anti American remarks, he made anti-Tea Party remarks. The Tea Party are far more anti American than Michael D Higgins.

I would take the view that vilifying the tea party is an act of respect and support for the USA, not a condemnation of that state. They have a constitution that is possibility the most noble and egalitarian ever drafted. The tea party’s agenda is in complete opposition to the spirit of that document.

Anti-American and anti-Tea Party are two completely different things. Too many people are berated into thinking that any criticism against anything American is anti-American. Is not liking the IRA anti-Irish? How about not liking the UVF? You can despise extremists within a society without despising the society itself. For that matter, let’s leave extremists out of it… you don’t like Michael D – does that therefore mean that you are anti-Irish? I don’t think you are, but by your reasoning, that’s how it reads.

The Tea Party is the embodiment of everything America has stood against since it was founded. Cop on Paul,

Listen again! He makes several pro American comments and clearly distinguishes between the right wing Tea Party and general America. In fact he gushes about America.
I felt proud at his put down of Michael Graham who is a notoriously good debater ( politics aside).

Spose you’d prefer it if we all fawned over the likes of Bill O’Reilly…Truth is, Michael D. said nothing anti-American, he crticized their foreign policy and the tea party…If a right winger from a foreign country criticized Obama, that’d make him anti-American? My God, since the shambles that was the Bush years was shown for what it was by the legacy of death and despair it left, the tea party, Palin, ewt al are soooo passe. Get over it; comparing people to Hitler for wanting health care and opposing war just doesn’t cut the mustard anymore. Nutjobs

CUBA

@ medred .. Don’t be simple..Regular well educated Americans have more brains and dont fancy the Teaparty either.. Anybody in their right mind knows theyre only a shower of crackpots!!

I think the point was showing other well known people who have publicly slammed the tea party in one way or another similar to what Michael D did. Not to try and persuade people they should agree because its cool.

The celebs are in a position to make their opinions known. The tea party are extremist nut bags who are known for using whatever leverage they can drum up to pressure the media into giving a one-sided view. Non-politicians speaking up for the other side is only redressing the balance.

“Unbiased” journalism just like we are getting 24/7 from Fox News , the great fascist mouthpiece of the GOP – Tea Party ! Will you get a life sir .
Michael D spoke for every right thinking Irish citizen and for the real majority in the US too .

@JTHM would you classify Occupy Wall Street as extremist nut jobs as well?

@Eddie so by your reasoning I presume you’d agree that the rest of the US media (CBS,NBC,CNN,ABC) would be one giant mouthpiece for Barack Obama & the democrats. Fox News is the only station in America that actually allows conservatives opinions, it is the least biased station of the lot.

Wise Up.

What happened to news channels that just read the news?

Remain ?

Great ad hominems from those who claim to be intellectually superior!!!

@ Cian – a minority of Occupy would be extremist buttons, yes. But only a minority. The Occupy movement was a collective movement, many different people with constraining ideologies came together under a single banner. It was a great thing to see but sadly this is also the reason for their in effectiveness; the diversity of ideologies meant that it was very difficult for the movement to have any concrete aims, it slipped into being an “anti”, movement, defining itself as “anti-capitalism”, “anti-authority” etc, rather than “pro-” anything. The diversity of the participants lead to a very blurring identity and with no clear progression.

@ sceptically speaking: whatever happened to coffee-flavoured coffee? You can’t increase your market share by simply selling the same high-quality products. You need to keep adding extras and shiny new gimmicks. Why is toothpaste or washing power always “new and improved”? How much better can it really be?

@ medred – it’s not the first time you’ve made a spurious claim that your detractors claim to be intellectually superior. It seems to be less to do with what they believe and more to do with what you believe, I’d address the low self-esteem issues you have with your own intellectual prowess, if I were you. You are very quick to see slights in the shadows.

Seems you cant read either JTHM

@medred, you really have to have to worst thought process of anyone I have ever heard / read/ seen.

claiming I have a inferioirty complex is again ad hominem
Why do you comment so much when you have nothing more to say than masterbate your own ego

@ medred – you tend to be an attention seeker, so I’ll reply once but, unless you develop your argument rather than just repeating your outburst, I won’t be replying again to you on this thread.

1. You have tried to derail the comments section by bringing the topic off the topic of the article and onto yourself. Stay on topic.

2. I did not say that you had an inferiority complex, I said you had low self-esteem issues. Please be accurate.

3. You quoted another comment to show how people think they are intellectually superior. But the comment doesn’t do this. Rather than criticising your intellectual ability, it criticise how you present an argument. These are two very different things.

4. You are fond of the Latin “ad hominem”, but you often use it incorrectly. Please check its actual meaning. Received knowledge is never a replacement for actual knowledge.

As I’m said, I’m more than happy to continue this discussion, if it is a discussion. If it’s only a series of repetitive outburst without and progression, then please do not expect a reply.

Oh my god the journal has been infiltrated by the Commies, sure if yea want right Wing neoliberal news sure pick up all the papers and watch RTE, thanks journal for a bit of a choice.

Oh my, the journal has been infiltrated by the Commies, and democrats

what part in particular was a stupid liberal rant? Do you agree with most of what the tea party is trying to achieve? and at the time of obamas election it was the case that americans gained some small piece of respect from the world.

You cant deny the damage to the view of American people Bush did. He was the president of America and known around the world as a war monger and one of the dumbest individuals to ever walk the face of the earth. Obama since taking the presidency has changed that view somewhat. I dont see whats so stupid about pointing that out.

http://media.newstalk.ie/extra/1602/popup

Full Interview, that clip has been edited.

In order to deflect hostility, many young people from the US who were travelling in Europe during Bush’s presidency placed a Canadian flag on their backpacks!

@Paul I was backpacking around Australia when Bush was in power and at that time a lot of American backpackers were getting a really hard time because of their foreign policies/war on terror….I am sure they were getting a hard time in Europe too hence MD statement you obviously were not aware of this hence your obtuse comment ^^

The tea party may have started as a grass-roots movement, but it has been clearly proven that that is no longer the case. Just look at where the funding comes from. It is now a top-down not a bottom up movement, and it’s agenda is to use fear and prejudice to benefit a small minority of wealthy capitalists. But what they’re advocating is not free-market capitalism by any means, it’s a classic case of businessmen obtaining positions of power via capitalism, and then using a political movement to chop the rungs of the ladder to remove the possibility of a new generation of free-market capitalists repeating their successes and eclipsing them. It’s a strategy if removing competitiveness, not facilitating competitiveness.