St. Patrick's Day Controversy

Today was a day of celebration for the Irish, the half-Irish, the little bit Irish, the Irish by marriage, and basically everyone else who likes to celebrate.

Ridiculous headlines shouted that St. Patrick's Day events were overshadowed by controversy and protesters. Not true.

Sure, there was some controversial moments, but those hardly cast a shadow over the millions of people enjoying the festivities of the day.

The nation's largest celebration is in New York City, where the 245th annual St. Patrick's Day parade made its way up Fifth Avenue.

Naturally, the Associated Press tried to put a damper on the parade. People were happy and having fun. If there's one thing that the miserable elites in the lib media can't stand, it's happy people.

Verena Dobnik of AP writes:

Protesters joined bagpipers, marching bands and thousands of flag-waving spectators at the St. Patrick's Day parade Friday after the parade's chairman compared gay Irish-American activists to neo-Nazis, the Ku Klux Klan and prostitutes.

As huge, happy crowds lined the streets, the chairman, John Dunleavy, sidestepped questions about his remarks to The Irish Times.

"Today is St. Patrick's Day. We celebrate our faith and heritage, everything else is secondary," he said before the start of the Fifth Avenue parade.

Dunleavy set off a firestorm this week when he told the newspaper: "If an Israeli group wants to march in New York, do you allow Neo-Nazis into their parade? If African Americans are marching in Harlem, do they have to let the Ku Klux Klan into their parade?"

Referring to the Irish Lesbian and Gay Organization, Dunleavy said, "People have rights. If we let the ILGO in, is it the Irish Prostitute Association next?"

On Thursday, Christine Quinn, the City Council's first openly gay leader, blasted Dunleavy for the comments. Quinn, who is Irish, declined to participate in the parade after organizers barred an Irish gay and lesbian group from marching under its own banner for a 16th straight year.

...Police on scooters positioned themselves between the marchers and about a dozen gay-rights protesters, who chanted: "We can march in Dublin, we can march in Cork, why can't we march in New York?"

Also barred from the parade was the Irish Lobby for Immigration Reform, which lobbies on behalf of undocumented Irish immigrants in the United States.



About a dozen protesters?

That's not many at all. They'd be nearly impossible to spot in the crowd. The ILGO must have notified the media of their presence, or maybe the media made the inquiry. Either way, the protest was so tiny that it wasn't worthy of coverage by the press.

Also, I don't think the parade's chairman John Dunleavy actually was comparing gay Irish-American activists to "neo-Nazis, the Ku Klux Klan and prostitutes."

He was talking about the right of a group to celebrate its heritage and determine the appropriateness of the participants in the event.

That said, I do think anytime one evokes Nazi or KKK imagery, it's asking for trouble. Dunleavy used poor judgment.

I wonder. Would a gay pride parade chairman allow a group to march that openly opposes gay rights? I doubt it.

This controversy about the gay Irish-American marchers has been going on for SIXTEEN YEARS, and every year it gets way too much attention from the media.

The gay activists weren't the only ones that drew Dunleavy's fire.

He had some rather harsh words for Hillary Clinton as well.

This is funny. From Newsmax:

The chairman of Manhattan's famed St. Patrick's Day parade is blasting Sen. Hillary Clinton, saying she only shows up to march when she's campaigning for votes.

"I haven't heard anything from [Sen. Clinton] since the last time she marched, which was years ago," John Dunleavy complained to the Irish Times yesterday.

"There has been no communication with her office to say thank you, kiss my rear end or goodbye," he said.

Mrs. Clinton, who's seeking reelection this year, intends to march in today's parade.

Clinton spokeswoman Jennifer Hanley said Dunleavy's criticism was unfair, telling the paper that her boss had marched four years ago and had attended St. Patrick's Day events around New York state in 2003.

Did you think Hillary's spokeswoman would say that Dunleavy's criticism was justified? Would she admit that Hill decided to make an appearance only because she's up for election?

I can understand why Dunleavy would complain about being used by Hillary. That seems reasonable.

I haven't followed this closely. Maybe Dunleavy is a bit of a nut. Maybe he deserves to be criticized. I don't know. I guess I just don't trust the lib media to be fair.



I found the caption that accompanied this photo to be pretty amusing.

New York Senator Hilary Clinton (C) is escorted by unidentified Irishmen as she marches in the 245th Annual St. Patrick's Day Parade on New York's Fifth Avenue March 17, 2006. The photo was shot using a 14mm wide angle lens. REUTERS/Peter Foley

HAHAHAHA

First, Hillary is misspelled. Too much Guinness?

Second, was it really necessary to specify that Hillary was in the center?

Third, "escorted by unidentified Irishmen" sounds so strange. What is Hillary, the U.S. senator and wannabe U.S. president, doing marching with "unidentified Irishmen"?

HAHAHAHA

HAPPY ST. PATRICK'S DAY!