Posted on 03/17/2009 11:15:28 AM PDT by NotchJohnson
Over a chorus of gleeful Irish pub-goers literally singing Barack Obama's praises, NBC's Al Roker, broadcasting live from Ireland on Monday's "Today" show, explored the current president's Irish roots as he observed: "As St. Patrick's Day approaches in Moneygall the townsfolk join in the chorus, determined to keep hope alive." The "Today" show weatherman began the celebratory segment by exclaiming: "In a small pub in Ireland they're still celebrating Obama's victory. Dancing in honor of their adopted son."
The following is a complete transcript of the segment as it was aired on the March 16, "Today" show:
AL ROKER: You know, they say there's a wee bit of Irish in everyone. That include President Barack Obama. That's right it was first revealed last year that part of Obama's roots traced back to a village here in Ireland called Moneygall. Well it's been Obama territory, ever since.
BARACK OBAMA: I Barack Hussein Obama do solemnly swear.
ROKER: When Barack Obama was sworn in as President of the United States-
OBAMA: So help me God.
ROKER: -it was a historic day for the country for African-Americans, and as luck would have it, a great day for the Irish. In a small pub in Ireland they're still celebrating Obama's victory. Dancing in honor of their adopted son. OBAMA: It turns out that I have Irish heritage. I am, I do. No this is true.
ROKER: While more has been made of Obama's roots in Kenya and his upbringing in Kansas, the discovery that his family tree traced back to an Irish immigrant named Falmouth Karney hailing from Moneygall in County Offaly, was big news for this tiny village west of Dublin.
CANON STEPHEN NEIL, MONEYGALL AND TEMPLEHARRY RECTOR: Falmouth Kearney is the third great grandfather of Barack Obama. So you're going back six generations effectively. That's the link.
FIONA FITZSIMONS, ENECLANN RESEARCH: My immediate reaction was, good God, at last there was an American presidential candidate who wasn't linked to Ireland somehow or another.
ROKER: The road to the White House has often been paved with green. 24 of the 44 U.S. presidents had some form of Irish ancestry.
UNIDENTIFIED MAN: John F. Kennedy, of course came to Wexford. The late Ronald Reagan came to County Tipperary, and of course Bill Clinton came to Ireland as well, many times.
ROKER: Though Obama's link makes him only about three percent Irish, seems everyone is clamoring to claim him as their own.
UNIDENTIFIED MAN#2: Obama is a good Irish name.
UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN: Move over St. Patrick.
ROKER: First to stake a claim is Henry Healy, a Moneygall resident who's believed to be Obama's eighth cousin.
HENRY HEALEY: To realize I had some distant relationship to Barack Obama was unbelievable. I'm not as good a speaker. I'm not as good looking. No similarities there.
ROKER OVER VIDEO OF PEOPLE SINGING AND KID IN OBAMA T-SHIRT: As St. Patrick's Day approaches in Moneygall the townsfolk join in the chorus, determined to keep hope alive.
PEOPLE SINGING: There's no one as Irish as Barack Obama!
UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN#2: We're waiting for President Obama to visit Moneygall and to perform for him.
UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN#3 says something inaudible.
UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN# 2: Yes of course. (laughter)
BARTENDER: Here's to Obama!
ROKER: In fact that song has had five million hits on Youtube.
MEREDITH VIEIRA: Is that where the "O" comes from in Obama?
ROKER: O baby!
VIEIRA: Thank you, Al.
Bizarro World.
I’m 3% African but I don’t celebrate Kwanzaa. Jeesh. They go all the way to Ireland to get a bunch of Irish people to sing to Obama?
What tools.
They loved Clinton. ANy President that brings down America will find Europe loving him.
Well he has been compared with Martin Luther King,
Franklin Delano Roosevelt,
Ronald Reagan,
Abraham Lincoln,
John Kennedy,
He is African American, He is Irish, He is the next thing the Progressives have to Jesus Christ..
Need to get my television repaired.
I had never noticed his red hair and light complexion.
...Hello-0-0-0-0-0!!! I guess I’m just too old! I was a member of the media as far back as the late 60s..I knew their minds were slipping off the edge of the cliff back then—so......we’re shocked(?)..they’re just an individual cancer cell in the overall disease. The problem is we’ve been ordering band-aids for years when we’ve needed a surgeon all along. I’m just afraid we may have metasticized with no qualified surgeon on the horizon.
Say it loud, say it PROUD:
O ne
B ig
A ss
M istake
A merica!
I think we all got that the first thirty times you spammed FR with that.
But the 64 trillion “dollar” question is IS HE BLACK OR ORANGE IRISH?
Al should dress in drag for the gay pride section of the coke-soaked ex-Muzzie contingent of the St Patrick’s Day parade, if he really wants to express solidarity with Obama. None of it has anything to do with being Irish or of Irish descent.
I’m sorry. I couldn’t HELP myself, so egregious are Hussein Obama’s atrocities! Yesterday he disarmed airline pilots and proposed making soldiers pay for their OWN war injuries. That was BEFORE he feigned anger at the AIG bonuses that were specifically APPROVED by his rammed-thru “Stimulus” bill, and was despite the fact he got over $101,000 from AIG himself!
Is your tv black and white? Saw this the other day.
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