St. Patrick's Day Remembrances: John McCain vs Gerry Adams
Published March 15, 2008
I hope the following serves as a vignette regarding the steely nature of presidential candidate John McCain:
During the 2005 St. Patrick's Day celebrations in Washington, Sinn Fein leader Gerry Adams was largely cast out in the cold. This came as a blow to him, as he had come to expect cheers, not jeers, from the Washington establishment. But by 2005, Congress, and President Bush himself, had grown tired of Sinn Fein's apparent ambivalence toward the Irish Republican Army's criminal elements and activities.
Yet another of the IRA's many atrocities came to light around this time — the killing of Robert McCartney outside a bar in East Belfast by a crowd that included many IRA members. When the McCartney sisters appealed to Adams to help them investigate the circumstances of their brother's death, the Sinn Fein leader repeatedly snubbed them.
The 2005 St. Patrick's Day fete in Washington focused on the McCartney sisters who had been invited to tell their story over shamrock-shaped cookies and tea to Ted Kennedy, Hillary Clinton, Christopher Dodd and John McCain. They also met with President Bush, who vowed to support them "100 percent." The whole story blew the lid off the romantic vision of the IRA amongst Irish-Americans and, for perhaps the first time ever, Americans saw Adams, Sinn Fein and the IRA for the monsters they really are.
Gerry Adams, meanwhile, had seen his guest-of-honor status at the St. Pat's celebrations scrapped. He did not meet with the President. Instead, the justice-seeking McCartney sisters were the cause celebre on this day. Even Kennedy, that Irish-American stalwart, pulled out of a meeting with Adams, citing the IRA's "ongoing criminal activity and contempt for the rule of law."
But John McCain — an Irish-American himself — delivered a thunderous speech at the American Ireland Fund dinner in which he branded the IRA "cowards" who did not deserve to be called Republicans. Looking Adams right in the eyes, McCain declared, "Stealing from banks and slaying men on the streets to settle personal grievances are not the acts of freedom fighters, they are the work of a small minority trying to hold back the forces of history and democracy and they hurt the very people for whom they claim to fight ... There is nothing republican about the Irish Republican army."
McCain also stated that "[a]nyone, Irish, American or British who desires and works for the success of peace, freedom and justice must denounce in the strongest possible terms not only the cowards who murdered Robert McCartney but the IRA itself and any political organization that would associate with them." McCain's speech was so saturated with vitriol toward Sinn Fein and the IRA that Adams was stunned to silence — shortly after the speech, he wordlessly made a hasty exit. Adams' aides recalled wondering if the Sinn Fein leader was about to explode, cry or faint.
And so Gerry Adams learned that John McCain was not a man you wanted to mess with. McCain proved his mettle on March 16, 2005.
Mark Edward Manning grew up in Boston, MA and now lives in London, England. He wrote commentaries for The Boston Herald in the mid 1990s.
- St. Patrick's Day Remembrances: John McCain vs Gerry Adams
- Published: March 15, 2008
- Type: Opinion
- Section: Politics
- Filed Under: Politics: Government, Politics: International, Politics: Policy, Politics: U.S., Politics: War and Terrorism
- Writer: Mark Edward Manning
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Comments on this articleComments
Not very factual or concise of a blog if you ask me. For a start it oozes a little anti-irish republicanism.
Also, if you get your facts right, the Northern Bank robbery despite what McCain could contrive, was never, ever proven to be the work of the I.R.A nor indeed the brutal, savage murder of Mr.McCartney. A murder might I add that was wholly, condemned by the leadership of Sinn Fein and Gerry Adams himself. The McCartney family appeared on stage, applauded and was welcomed at a Sinn Fein party conference shortly after.
Another good piece, Mark. McCain clearly understood better than most Americans of Irish ancestry that the modern terror organization is far from being the same IRA that fought for Irish independence in the early years of the 20th century.
I don't think, though, that it took until 2005 for most IRA sympathizers in the US to start withdrawing their support. The IRA had been struggling since 2001, when 9/11 brought home to every American the literally visceral effects of real-life terrorism which the people of Ireland and Britain had been living with since the sixties.
I am far from anti-Irish republican, friend. Nothing would please me more than a united isle of Eire. The whole 26 + 6 = IRELAND thing is a concept I embrace. But NOT through violence, intimidation and terror.
I don't like it, but the British have set their roots down in Northern Ireland, and there are generations of loyalist families there who've known no other home. Where are they supposed to go? Things are already crowded enough here on "the mainland," thank you very much.
There are two types of Ulsterman, both of whom lay claim to those six counties, and we have to accept this as a geopolitical reality.
It's really demeaning to say that just because someone is Irish or has Irish blood (which I do) should look fondly upon the IRA. That's just inane.
Saying that I'm anti-Irish for hating the IRA is like saying Mahmoud Abbas hates the Palestinians because he favors the peace process. It's not that simple, friend.
And if Gerry Adams and Sinn Fein condemned McCartney's murder, why, therefore, did the McCartney sisters seek solace with a receptive American audience? Why were they so desperate to meet with Bush? Why did they think help in seeking justice could only be found across the Atlantic?
Don't get me wrong. The Catholics/republicans need a framework set in place to protect their rights against the likes of the goons in the Orange Order, but for that framework to be the IRA or its political affiliate is a step too far.
Mark,
I rarely comment on this issue, but once upon a time I used to sympathize with the IRA. After all, in 1947-48, they helped us win independence from the Brits.
But having seen the IRA been purchased lock, stock and shillelagh by the Arab terrorists, I have no sympathy for them at all.
Nevertheless, I do believe it is far better for Irish Protestants to be a big fish in the Dail Eirann than a little second rate guppy in the British Parliament. Holding about 20% of the seats in the Dublin Parliament would be far better than a lousy six or ten MP's (out of over six hundred) begging for scraps from London bureaucrats.
I believe that intelligent Protestants in Ulster can see this as well. And now that the Repuublic is a going concern (even as a German subsidiary), it's not like the Ulstermen would be sentenced to penury and potatoes.
After all, after six or seven (or twelve) beers, does it really matter if you are from the Church of Ireland or the Church of Rome? You'll still be pissin' the same bathroom. And if the two churches effect a Reconciliation, what's the fight going to be over?
After 100 years in Iraq, we'll go on to liberate Northern Ireland from IRA terrorists and their livers of mass cirrhosis!
/lame attempt at humor
Good column, Mark.
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Too bad he wasn't serving his 2nd term as president THEN.