Our lovely Hillary and her Irish legacy

[Maribelle]

Some of the senator's most vocal defenders have been women activists from Northern Ireland

In a series of statements compiled by labor and fair employment advocate Inez McCormack, Clinton was lauded for her "decade-long support" of the peace process.

In ‘The day that sparked my fights for rights’ Inez credits Clinton’s involvement

http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/opinion/article3356525.ece

Not the stuff of drama, but of change

On the official blog, Inez said “I came to know her through her involvement in helping building peace in Ireland. I have also worked with her through the Vital Voices network in supporting women leaders around the world. Many of these women, like me, lived in narrow and contested space and her support has widened that space and enabled their work to thrive. The network has then reached out to others and is a growing vibrant example of how women can work together to create change across traditions and divisions. I was proud and delighted recently to join her in an event which affirmed her support for women acting as agents of their own change. She presented a Human Rights award on behalf of the American Labour Movement to Ela Bhatt, founder of SEWA. SEWA has now over 600,000 women members in India who work in the insecurity of the informal economy. Hillary Clinton has consistently supported the work of this unique women's union in developing their own financial, health, educational and employment resources.’

http://blog.hillaryclinton.com/blog/main/2007/03/08/215000

Prominent backers cite relevant role in peace process

"She used her immense influence to give women like me space to develop this work and validated it every step of the way. This approach is now taken for granted but it wasn't then. She told us that if we take risks for peace, she would stay with us on that journey. In my experience, it took hard work, attention to detail and a commitment of time and energy which she delivered steadily and where needed over the last decade," McCormack added.

http://www.irishecho.com/newspaper/story.cfm?id=18626

Irish Women for Hillary

In an unprecedented move, several of them came together this week to issue a statement on Clinton’s behalf. The move came after several newspapers, most notably The Boston Globe, raised questions over whether Clinton had played any significant role in the Irish peace process as she says she did.

The women of Northern Ireland certainly think so. Several key women leaders, long active in support of the peace process in Northern Ireland, lauded Clinton for her decade-long support.

Inez McCormack organized the tribute. McCormack is one of the most influential civil rights leaders in Northern Ireland. She was first female president of the Irish Congress of Trade Unions and played an important role in the peace accords.

She said, “We believe it is important for others to know the pivotal role Mrs. Clinton played in helping us in Northern Ireland at critical junctures in the peace process. She supported us over many years and we will always be grateful to her.”

“Hillary Clinton took risks for peace in asking me and others to bring women and communities from both traditions to affirm their capacity to work for common purpose and to assert, when there was no public dialogue which supported it, that working for common purpose on the basis of mutual respect was the core to effective peace building.”

Elaine Crozier, a community worker added, “Hillary broke the mold in terms of U.S. intervention in Northern Ireland. She came here, sat down with ordinary people, and rolled up her sleeves to see what could be done. She showed us an America that was open and fair, ready to listen and ready to help.”

Among the other women from across the divide issuing statements on behalf of Clinton’s work in Northern Ireland were Baroness May Blood, a member of the House of Lords who worked for many years as a community worker promoting economic development, better housing, health and education in the Shankill area of West Belfast.

Geraldine McAteer, chief executive of West Belfast Partnership Board which works towards the economic, social and physical regeneration of West Belfast, and Avila Kilmurray, head of the Community Foundation for Northern Ireland since 1994, also contributed.

http://www.irishabroad.com/news/irish-voice/intelligencer/Articles/Intelligencer020208.aspx

Editorial : Hillary Our Choice

Of the two candidates we prefer Senator Clinton. He record on issues of importance to the Irish American community is crystal clear. She was with her husband every step of the way during his intervention in the Irish peace process, without which there would never have been the successful resolution that we’re currently witnessing in Northern Ireland.

In her own right she played a significant role, visiting Ireland seven times and creating cross community goodwill which lasted long after her trips were over.

Clinton is also a clear advocate for immigration reform and attended three different rallies held by the Irish Lobby for Immigration Reform, and spoke passionately on the subject.

http://www.irishabroad.com/news/irish-voice/niall-odowd/Articles/Hillary-Our-Choice020208.aspx

The president of the Irish American Democrats said ...

A precise accounting of Clinton's visits to Ireland and her work for Irish peace forms the basis for a book being published later this year by Stella O'Leary, Washington. D.C.-based president of the Irish American Democrats lobby group.

O'Leary has been one of Hillary Clinton's most fervent backers over the years and in a statement to the Echo took particular exception to a critical column penned by Dick Morris and Eileen McGann that took issue with recent campaign statements made by Clinton about her peace process initiatives.

The column, headlined "Hillary Had No Role in Irish Peace," characterized the statement as being tantamount to Walter Mitty-like dreams.

Anything but, countered O'Leary

"It will come as a huge surprise to the Irish, North and South, to hear Dick

Morris and Eileen McGann's claim that Senator Hillary Clinton played no role in the Irish peace process," said O'Leary.

"Starting with the Christmas visit to Belfast in 1995, Hillary Clinton recognized that the participation of women was critical in bringing about
an end to the conflict, and she set about inspiring women to become politically involved," O'Leary said.

http://www.irishecho.com/newspaper/story.cfm?id=18626

[Bluerthanblue]

1. this Scottish/Irish American is not behind HIllary- and

does not buy her claim of being a successful Diplomat-
What she has done to the Democratic party is pretty good evidence that she is a divisive and polarizing personality.

peace~

[XemaSab]

3. I'm a Scots/Irish woman

and I'm right behind you in non-support for Hillary.

[Skidmore]

5. This one as well.

[SoFlaJet]

2. beauty truly IS in the eyes of the beholder

I see a Medusa when I look at her now for some reason-I'm sorry I just do

[saltpoint]

4. The Clintons remain very popular in Ireland.

As do the Kennedys.

[anigbrowl]

31. So does Reagan, to be honest

Meantime, we already decided Obama is Irish

http://www.rte.ie/news/2007/0315/obamab.html

[JoFerret]

34. On my last visit they were still talking JFK

But credit and respect to Hillary for her work there.
And those who are not her supporters - you are allowed.

Democracy is wonderful.

[saltpoint]

45. Yep. Agree. I outright assumed he must be Irish.

And I don't hang out with nobody that thinks different.

[LostinVA]

6. Very nice piece -- thanks for posting

My mother's family is very Irish, as is Haruka's father's family. My mother'll enjoy reading this, too.

[grassfed]

7. traditional respect for the American first lady

runs deep on Ireland and should not be mistaken for their real opinions.


Nobel winner: Hillary Clinton's "silly" Irish Peace Claims

Hillary Clinton had no direct role in bringing peace to Northern Ireland and is a "wee bit silly" for exaggerating the part she played, according to Lord Trimble of Lisnagarvey, the Nobel Peace Prize winner and former First Minister of the province.

"I don’t know there was much she did apart from accompanying Bill going around," he said. Her recent statements about being deeply involved were merely "the sort of thing people put in their canvassing leaflets" during elections. "She visited when things were happening, saw what was going on, she can certainly say it was part of her experience. I don’t want to rain on the thing for her but being a cheerleader for something is slightly different from being a principal player."


Mrs Clinton has made Northern Ireland key to her claims of having extensive foreign policy experience, which helped her defeat Barack Obama in Ohio and Texas on Tuesday after she presented herself as being ready to tackle foreign policy crises at 3am.

"I helped to bring peace to Northern Ireland," she told CNN on Wednesday. But negotiators from the parties that helped broker the Good Friday Agreement in 1998 told The Daily Telegraph that her role was peripheral and that she played no part in the grueling political talks over the years.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2008/03/08/wuspols108.xml

[Maribelle]

13. As Obama's policy wonks proved yesterday, award winners of the highest order can say stupid things.

Lord Trimble is no different.

Hence my OP, a direct rebuke of the Lord Trimble crap

But I need to add - - - with your post you've been successful at putting the cart before the horse. And I leave you to figure out where the horses ass ended and the cart began.

[grassfed]

15. ploicy wonks?

[Maribelle]

23. lol

[MannyGoldstein]

8. They Can Have Her

I'll even pitch in for the relocation cost. Let her vote for war over there - can't do nearly so much damage as what it did here.

[Dinger]

9. Thank You AGAIN Hillary!

You will make a GREAT president!:patriot: :patriot: :patriot: :patriot:

[Spider Jerusalem]

10. Your Hillary, perhaps.

Not mine.

As someone of Irish Catholic ancestry, letme say that if they like her that much back on the auld sod, they can have her.

[rodeodance]

17. Madam President will speak for all of us

[Spider Jerusalem]

18. Question: Does George Bush speak for you?

no? Then don't presume to tell me Hillary would speak for me, thank you very much.

[rodeodance]

21. good morning to you too.

[NDambi]

28. I must say, I love your post on this board...haven't seen anyone top ya yet....dance on...

Your Rodeo two-step is very nice...

[bigtree]

11. nice

thanks for this

[blm]

12. THIS black Irishwoman knows too much about Clintons and Bushes to support that alliance

as it continues to endanger the entire world.

Do the Irish women charmed by Clinton know much about BCCI and how Clintons covering up those matters throughout the 90s led directly to Bush2, 9-11 and the global war on terror many of those women are AGAINST?

I would guess no.

[Beregond2]

14. Northern Ireland

I am perfectly willing to concede that she played some role in bringing peace to Northern Ireland. So what? It doesn't alter the fact that in the one instance when she made an important decision regarding American foreign policy, she was catastrophically mistaken; a mistake that has cost hundreds of thousands of lives. Further, her mistake was due to both criminal negligence of her duty to review all relevant data, and a cynical political calculation based entirely on self-interest. If she had single-handedly rebuilt New Orleans, it wouldn't begin to compensate for what that mistake has cost our country, Iraq, and the world. In the face of that, I find it incredible that people are grabing at straws like this to try to portray her as competent at foreign policy.

[rodeodance]

16. Off to the Greatest.

[rucky]

19. Kicking the positive posts!

[rodeodance]

36. :-)

[Lucinda]

20. Thanks very much Maribelle!

K&R

[durrrty libby]

22. K & R for the only intelligent presidential choice

[grassfed]

25. intelligent?

to have Clinton staffers circulate the photo of Obama in tribal dress and the original "Obama's a Muslim who won't put his hand on his heart, used a Koran to be sworn in", called him a plagiarist when glaring examples of Clinton's base plagiarism abound, inflated Rezko story when, again, countless stories of unethical Clinton finances exist, orchestrate phony moments of faux moral indignation to present Hillary (and McCain!) as commander-in-chief material and on and on. If that's intelligent then Karl Rove really is a genius.

Welcome to the Barnum, Bailey & Hillary sideshow:
No one went broke - or lost an election - underestimating public taste.
There's a sucker born every minute.
ME OR NO DEMOCRAT!

But she loves the children:

Cluster bombs and landmines are particularly terrifying weapons that wreak havoc on communities trying to recover from war. They are fatal impediments to reconstruction and rehabilitation of agricultural land; they destroy valuable livestock; they disable otherwise productive members of society; they maim or kill children trying to salvage them for scrap metal.

Over 150 nations have signed the 1997 Mine Ban Treaty. In the autumn of 2006, there was a chance to take a step in the right direction: Senate Amendment No. 4882, an amendment to a Pentagon appropriations bill that would have banned the use of cluster bombs in civilian areas. Amendment No. 4882 was an easy one to vote against: Who'd want to risk accusation of "tying the hands of the Pentagon" during a never-ending, global War on Terror? As is so often the case, there was no political cost to doing the wrong thing. And there was no political reward for doing the right thing.

But Senator Obama did the right thing.

Senator Obama of Illinois voted IN FAVOR of the ban.

Senator Clinton of New York voted AGAINST the ban.

Analysts say Clinton did not want to risk appearing "soft on terror," as it would have harmed her electability. Amendment Rejected.

http://www.stopclustermunitions.org /

[Maribelle]

27. Your post is filled with untruths. Sheesh give it a rest, will you?

You crybabies could not withstand the republican onslaught from McCain.

[grassfed]

44. really?

http://www.therandirhodesshow.com/live/

http://www.politico.com/blogs/bensmith/1207/Clinton_staffer_on_antiObama_email_chain.html

[rodeodance]

59. the OP has testimony from folks who actually worked with Hillary.

[Carolina]

54. the truth is the truth but

Hillbots are WILLFULLY BLIND

[Celebration]

24. Come on guys

Our country is in deep doo doo economically and we are waning in power in the world. Whoever is the next president really *is* going to have to inspire people, not be a policy wonk, because things are dramatically shifting, and not in a favorable way.

Sure I am part Irish and Scottish, but who cares? If I must have a label, it is American. Americans are going to need a leader, not a manager. In 2000 we needed a manager and got a whacked out nut job.

We are in for a difficult time. We will desperately need someone who is inspirational, and that is NOT Hillary.

[Maribelle]

26. I have enough inspiration for my life time. I want someone that will give us solutions.

[Celebration]

33. hate to tell you this

But the so called solutions to this are draconian. If Hillary is elected, she will most likely be impeached.

[Maribelle]

37. She will, will she. Is that the latest Obama threat?

Or did you make that up on your own?

And would it be OK with you, if we Hillary supporters use your post to show the hate mongering y'all are doing against her?

[Celebration]

38. it isn't hate mongering at all

Our country is in desperate shape--DESPERATE SHAPE. What we are up against in the coming months and years is way beyond what any practical solutions can cure.

No matter who is president, that person is going to have an extremely difficult time. We know that the country cannot unite behind Hillary. Just look at her negative ratings in the polls. She will become a scapegoat for all that we experience, which is going to be a huge step backwards in standard of living and all measures of comfort. All we have to do is go back to Clinton I to see what they will do to her--it will be a repeat.

Obama will have the same problem, and McCain, too. The difference is Hillary is so divisive because of her negative ratings that she will get blamed for everything, and we will be even worse off. McCain would be a disaster of course--he is such an old fart.

The only "hope" is Obama, at this point.

Most people have no idea what is coming--it is economic armageddon. Think disarray, shambles. We don't need anyone in office as divisive as Hillary, with a history of high negatives.

I don't hate her at all. She just is not a president for the current times.

[Carolina]

55. name some solutions HRC has given us

She has experience.........NOT
She's ready on day one.....NOT
She has solutions..........NOT

Experience being First Lady
Not even ready for a formidable primary opponent
Solutions (i.e. policy proposals) go nowhere without money and allies in Congress. Since so much is being spent in Iraq and so many hate her (and she won't have coattails), her alleged solutions are null and void.

[rodeodance]

63. Check out her website and learn about her solutions/plans before you make yourself look more FOOLISH

[rodeodance]

60. that would be HRC:-)

[ElsewheresDaughter]

29. This huge Irish /American family supports Hillary!...11 sibblings and all the offspring too!

[rodeodance]

50. great:

[NDambi]

30. Hillary Clinton's Role in the Northern Ireland Peace Minor.

Senator George Mitchell, the Clinton administration's leading northern Ireland peace negotiator, said Hillary was "not involved directly" in the diplomatic negotiations that led to the landmark April 1998 Good Friday agreement on power-sharing. She took an "intelligent interest" in the issues and got acquainted with many of the key players.


blog.washingtonpost.com

[rodeodance]

46. you obviously did not read the OP--from those actually involved!!

[NDambi]

49. lol uh huh

[rodeodance]

64. YOU still have a phobia to reading and learning i see.

[Drunken Irishman]

32. I'm Irish and support the first black Irish-American president. :)

[JoFerret]

35. If he's elected - so will I

Meanwhile I support O'Hillary McClinton

[rodeodance]

39. Thanks--great reseach

[BlackVelvet04]

40. K&R

[zabet]

41. Kicked,

recommended and bookmarked!!

:headbang:

[libbygurl]

42. K & R! nt

[rodeodance]

43. I am glad to that those actually involved have backed Hillary!!

Prominent backers cite relevant role in peace process

"She used her immense influence to give women like me space to develop this work and validated it every step of the way. This approach is now taken for granted but it wasn't then. She told us that if we take risks for peace, she would stay with us on that journey. In my experience, it took hard work, attention to detail and a commitment of time and energy which she delivered steadily and where needed over the last decade," McCormack added.

http://www.irishecho.com/newspaper/story.cfm?id=18626


Irish Women for Hillary

In an unprecedented move, several of them came together this week to issue a statement on Clinton’s behalf. The move came after several newspapers, most notably The Boston Globe, raised questions over whether Clinton had played any significant role in the Irish peace process as she says she did.

The women of Northern Ireland certainly think so. Several key women leaders, long active in support of the peace process in Northern Ireland, lauded Clinton for her decade-long support.

[JoFerret]

67. Yes, indeed

.

[rodeodance]

47. great work Maribelle

[Lucinda]

48. Kicking and Bookmarking

:kick:


http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=132&topic_id=4966883&mesg_id=4966883">Hillary in Ireland

[Cali_Democrat]

51. Hillary's involvement in the Irish peace talks is a MYTH

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2008/03/08/wuspols108.xml

[not_too_L8]

53. I read that

snip//

Hillary Clinton had no direct role in bringing peace to Northern Ireland and is a "wee bit silly" for exaggerating the part she played, according to Lord Trimble of Lisnagarvey, the Nobel Peace Prize winner and former First Minister of the province.

snip//

Mrs Clinton has made Northern Ireland key to her claims of having extensive foreign policy experience, which helped her defeat Barack Obama in Ohio and Texas on Tuesday after she presented herself as being ready to tackle foreign policy crises at 3am.

[DrFunkenstein]

56. Want Another Pillow, Hillary?

I don't have problems with her pumping up her resume, but doing so while trying to suggest that Obama will allow your children to die in their sleep is a wee bit much.

[rodeodance]

66. Obama has dibs on pillows for his "I agree with Hilary" remarks. He gets to sleep.

[Alamom]

52. k

[rodeodance]

57. a book will be coming out.

The president of the Irish American Democrats said ...

A precise accounting of Clinton's visits to Ireland and her work for Irish peace forms the basis for a book being published later this year by Stella O'Leary, Washington. D.C.-based president of the Irish American Democrats lobby group.

[rodeodance]

58. "Clinton recognized that the participation of women was critical"

[grassfed]

61. David Trimble blasts Clinton's foreign policy claim

Irish
Published: March 9, 2008 at 8:18 AM

BELFAST, Northern Ireland, March 9 (UPI) -- David Trimble, Nobel Laureate and former Northern Ireland first minister who helped broker peace in Northern Ireland said Sen. Hillary Clinton's role in those negotiations was that of a cheerleader, not a participant.

"I don't know there was much she did apart from accompanying Bill (Clinton) going around," Trimble said, adding, "I don't want to rain on the thing for her but being a cheerleader for something is slightly different from being a principal player," The Sunday Telegraph reported.

Conall McDevitt, who served as the chief negotiator during the Good Friday Agreement talks that ended the conflict between England and Northern Ireland, said there was "no contact with her" during the negotiating processes.

McDevitt said Clinton played a supporting role following the signing of the agreement.

"So in a classic woman politicky sort of way I think she was active ... She was certainly investing some time, no doubt about it. Whether she was involved on the issue side I think probably not," McDevitt said.

http://www.upi.com/NewsTrack/Top_News/2008/03/09/irish_blast_clintons_foreign_policy_claim/9676/

[rodeodance]

65. too bad. All the groups and testimony in the OP trumps mr. t.

[libbygurl]

62. K. nt

[robbedvoter]

68. Lots of good stuff here!

[Beacool]

69. Thank you!!

Lovely post!!!

:kick:

[AX10]

70. K & R! Also, bookmarked!

:hi: