There's a YouTube video of an exchange between Ireland's President Michael D Higgins and Tea Party-loving radio host Michael Graham from May 2010 on an Irish radio station that is already going viral with over 1.5 Million views so far. The only image in the video is a photograph of President Higgins.
Yesterday I was talking to my husband and he brought up the video of the Irish President. I told him that I had already seen it and thought it was fantastic, but when my husband talked about all the Tea Party signs they were showing in the video, I said, "Wait a minute. Show me what you're talking about." He went to this page on his iPad: The Ire Of An Irishman Unleashed On Tea Party Organizer. Wow!
Even if you've already heard the original video that is going viral, you have to see this version for the brilliant way the producer included images of Tea Party protesters and their misspelled signs. A few days ago, thinkingblue posted the video in a diary, The Ire Of An Irishman Unleashed On Tea Party Organizer, but the diary went by without much notice. It may be a coincidence, or thinkingblue may be the person responsible for this video since the YouTube channel that posted this version is "thethinkingblue."
If clicking the video title in the upper left corner of the video in the YouTube above won't take you to YouTube, here's the direct text link.
The first 2 1/2 minutes of this version of the video begins with text describing the background story. I have transcribed it here for you, so you have the choice of watching the entire video, or reading the intro here and fast-forwarding to the part where Higgins starts speaking. Just be sure to watch "the Tea Party Placards that display the extensive ignorance of this group of American people who repeatedly vote against their own financial interests."
On screen with Irish music playing in the background:
A 2010 interview between Michael D. Higgins, who was elected President of Ireland in 2011, and Boston conservative radio host Michael Graham.
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 the video-sharing website Upworth, 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 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, whim them up, try and discover what is that creates fear, work on that and feed it right back and you get a frenzy."
Michael D. Higgins, Ireland President, Takes Down Tea Party Pundit Michael Graham (AUDIO)
As you listen to the eloquent articulation of Irish President Michael D. Higgins, view some of the Tea Party Placards that display the extensive ignorance of this group of American people who repeatedly vote against their own financial interests, thus playing into the hands of the Billionaire's Astroturf, Tea Party Movement.
Without a doubt, President Higgins must have return to Ireland with a realization that Ignorance is NOT Bliss!
There is already a transcript of the exchange between Higgins and Graham
available online here.
Here's the original Upworthy post at Facebook that started the wide-spread sharing of the original video. If you are not already following Upworthy on Facebook, now's a good time to do so. Click the picture to see the original Upworthy.com post: