U.S. President Joe Biden, in his recent St. Patrick's Day address, decided to tell a joke in which he not only insulted the Irish but in which he insulted himself.
The incident, according to the New York Post, took place on Friday at the annual Friends of Ireland luncheon that took place at the Capitol.
There, House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) spoke. And, after McCarthy, Biden delivered some remarks of his own.
It was in these remarks that Biden decided to tell some controversial jokes.
Biden's jokes all had to do with stereotypes that have in the past been associated with the Irish people, such as the stereotype that all Irish people are alcoholics.
Biden, referral to a six-day trip that he made to Ireland to visit his relatives, said:
I’ve been to Ireland many times, but not to actually look up, to find my actual family members. And there are so many — and they actually weren’t in jail.
The remark did manage to garner a few laughs.
Biden continued, "There’s still a place called Finnegan’s pub that’s related to my family."
"I’m the only Irishman you ever met, though, that’s never had a drink, so I’m OK. I’m really not Irish," Biden added.
To clarify the record, the 80-year-old Biden is, in fact, Irish.
The Irish Post reports:
By heritage, Joe Biden is roughly five-eighths Irish. All of his mother’s family traces back to Ireland with ancestors named Arthurs, Blewitt, Boyle, Roche, Scanlon and Stanton accompanying her Finnegan name. The last one-eighth comes from his father’s side, which contributed the Hanafee name.
The sort of jokes that Biden told at the Friends of Ireland luncheon are not uncharacteristic for Biden. He, in fact, has made such jokes throughout his many decades in government. He continues to tell them despite the fact that they would seem to go against the political correctness for which the political left advocates.
Biden met with Irish leader Leo Varadkar on Friday, and he received much criticism for refusing to hold a joint press conference with Varadkar.
At this point, though, this sort of thing has become expected from Biden and his administration, which, in general, have not engaged with the press any near to the same extent as previous administrations. The Post notes that Biden also refused to hold joint press conferences during recent visists with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.
