Sarah Palin's Irish cousin disowns her

Sarah Palin has one living Irish relative – and he wants nothing to do with her.

Reverend Simon Lathrop is a Church of Ireland pastor living in the midlands of Ireland, and recently Palin campaigners have contacted the cleric seeking to enlist his support for her future endeavors. Lathrop, however, dislikes his cousin's politics and is rather embarrassed by his link to Palin. In the past he has even attended anti-American rallies, according to newsfromireland.com.

"In the last few months, I have been inundated with calls from genealogists who said they were acting on behalf of an American family trying to trace their roots,” Lathrop told the site.

“The intensity of it got me curious and when I probed further I discovered that the people who are searching were connected to the Palin campaign.

"They told me that they were trying to establish some Irish credentials for her in the build up to the campaign, but I have told them that I have no interest in being used as some sort of electoral pawn.”

full article: <http://www.irishcentral.com/news/Sarah-Palins-Irish-cousin-disowns-her-84843802.html>

Hahahahahah - smart cousin.

Didn't Rumsfeld's German relatives do the same after Iraq?

I think he was disowned by them.

thought it said "Irish cousin drowns her" To which I thought - whatever.

all. . . ? I mean ministers here in the states are dime a dozen for folks like sp. So this one is related, so what?

Do you think the attraction to this guy has anything to do with the fact that it is Ireland?

among Irish-Americans who are predominantly Roman Catholic but that would assume that they wouldn't not that he's a Protestant.

Probably way more here in the US than in Ireland. Of course, most consider themselves "Scots-Irish," an ethnic identity they invented for themselves to distinguish themselves from the Catholic Irish who came in later waves of immigration.

Scotch Irish aren't the ones behind the St. Paddy's traditions here, for example. The early (Protestant)Irish immigrants left little imprint of Irish identity in the U.S. It's the waves of 19th century (and early 20th century) RC Irish who did that. Their descendants also know that certain types of Protestant faiths view them with fear because of their Church of Rome connection.

Anyway, it's just my theory on why the Palin camp would care. Who knows what is really behind it.

-this desire to identify with the home countries of ancestors. You hardly ever see a Brit saying, 'I'm Dutch-British' or an Aussie saying they are a Greek-Australian. It seems to be peculiar to some Americans to identify themselves as 'Italian-American', 'Irish-Spanish-Hebridean-American'.

Don't know why it happens.

More an idiosyncrasy :)

Which is a very old country. Many English can trace their line back to the 1100s. It's not the same here in the States.

My family came over less than 100 years ago.

It's easier to play up your Irish roots when you're a generation or two removed from being Irish. In England, there are plenty if citizens who probably are the sons/daughters of parents who were born in another country, but not nearly at the level it is here. Most English probably have family who have been living in that country for 100s of years.

comes from somewhere else. Folks long for an autochthonous connection.

Falmouth Kearney of Ireland was the Great GrandFather of Obama's GrandFather.

"It seems that on March 20, 1850, a 19-year-old farm hand named Falmouth Kearney landed in New York Harbor from famine-wracked Ireland.

He went to Ohio to live with relatives, married and had eight children. Three of his daughters married brothers in the Dunham family and one became Obama's great-great-grandmother, according to Ancestry.com.

Obama's Kansas-bred mother, Ann Dunham, married a Kenyan student named Barack Obama in Hawaii in the 1950s."


Also, Sarah Palin and Barack Obama have common ancetors.

John Smith and Susannah Hinckley are ancestors of Sarah Heath Palin as well as Barack Obama.

There isn't that much room for contrast.

Palin style!

Remember how he played up his Irish heritage? Especially when Tip O'Neill was Speaker of the House?

It was like the two giants of American politics at that time had Irish ancestry.

So Palin reveals an Irish past and everyone thinks "Reeeeaaaaggggaaaannnn"

Maybe her staff thought it might help her in traditional Irish strongholds, i.e., Chicago, New York, Boston, and the like...

seeing as how not only are they traditional Irish strongholds, they're also traditionally Democratic strongholds.

I DO predict, though, that at some point in 2011 Sarah will invent a recipe for Moose Haggis.

So she's not only an expert on Russia, but Britain as well.

:beer:

Piss on him, he hates us all.

"Does he pal around with that Lepri Khan dude?"

New keyboard thanks!

as I understand how Christ lived. Nice to see that he's true to his faith.

...about having 'been to Ireland', and it turned out that was a refueling or connecting flight stop on the way to somewhere else?

:wtf:

This was when they were trying to tout and puff all of her 'foreign experience' (besides being able to see Russia from her house, I mean).


Consensus was that she may have been able to visit the duty-free gift shop, but that didn't really count as having 'been to Ireland'...:eyes:

Didin't you know, Sarah Palin can see Ireland from her garage.

You betcha!
:toast:

Well, not really. But I had to throw that in.

:toast:

Off of the earth
like snow
off of a ditch

Irish curse

down the banister of life,
and get splinters on her arse

Irish proverb

Okay, I kinda changed that one a bit, but it works for me. :)

Guess you learn something new every day!

See http://palinquestions.blogspot.com/2010/02/sarah-palins-irish-cousin-disowns-her.html
No such cleric, no such parish. Originated on newsfromireland.com which has issued spoof stories before.

Spectacular.

"I have told them that I have no interest in being used as some sort of electoral pawn.” :thumbsup:

it's head out of the snows of Alaska.

scuba

The original story seems to still be up:

http://newsfromireland.com/2010/02/palins-only-paddy-is-a-peace-loving-pastor-who-hates-hunting/

Seems to be a bit more comprehensive as well.

scuba

and newsfromireland.com - the original source of the story specialises in spoofs and parodies. There is no such parish in Ireland and so such cleric in the Church of Ireland. Sorry to rain on the parade!
See http://palinquestions.blogspot.com/2010/02/sarah-palins-irish-cousin-disowns-her.html for further confirmation.

Most anti-American rallies abroad exist only in the minds of right-wing Americans, who suffer from a bizarre persecution complex.

I am calling bullshit on that one. You see a lot of folks in Ireland and around the world protesting American (especially under the Republicans) policies, but not America in itself.

:rofl:

Let's hope not! Pretty sure he would disown her.

:thumbsup: