An Irish take on the U.S. elections

By Mirela Iverac and Gayathri Vaidyanathan – 31/10/08

Blue-collar Irish workers sat in a sparsely populated Irish bar in New York City, sharing mid-afternoon pints of Guinness.

“We are in for a rough ride for the next, at least, six years,” said Michael Layden, 45, a carpenter in New York.  He’s not pleased with either candidate but plans to back McCain.  Read More.

William Marcus, 49, horse exerciser and full time bum

I came across William Marcus, 49, in a food line in Jackson Heights.  His hands were covered in tattoos, his lithe frame in disheveled clothing.  His yellow teeth were spaced out and rotting.  His eyes were bloodshot from too much alcohol.  This is the transcript:

I exercise the horses.  At the racetrack. Was suspended for year.  I took the horse to the store.

And did what?

I tied him to the meter, get my food and brought him back. They caught me coming in the street with him.  I had a choice of a $10,000 dollar fine or a year suspension.  I took the year…I didn’t want to walk so I took the horse with me.

This would be a particularly bad time not to work right? Especially this year?

Three more months left.

Have you tried to work in some other industry in between?

No, I go to church. I know a lotta priests. I even know the head priest here so I got to all the priests.  I do what they tell me to do.

Marcus goes church-to-church and lives on their handouts, often conning parishes into thinking he belongs within their boundaries.

What about during the day? You just really don’t do much?
I walk around.  I used to be on SSI but they stopped it.  Social security.

Why did they stop it? They said I wasn’t disabled. I can work.  They stopped it now for 12 years now.

Are you going to vote in the coming election?
No way.  They are two scum bags to me.  One is dumber than the other.

Which one is the dumber one? The Democrat one.

You think Obama is dumber? Yeah.  They took it away from Hillary Clinton.  Hillary Clinton should’ve won that…I wish Hillary Clinton could go in there but they think she lied.  I don’t think she lied about anything. She said a couple a bad things, just listen to her husband. You have a husband like that, you wouldn’t have lost.  But she made a few lies that’s what they say. That’s the best president we’d have had right now. These two are dumb and dumber.

If I had to vote, I’d probably go with the Democrats because I don’t trust those rich ass people man!  I’m registered to vote but not going to vote.  I hope they both [Obama and McCain] just go out somewhere.  I’d rather have no president than them two. They don’t even know what they’re doing.

Did you watch the presidential debates? I watched debates against Hillary Clinton.  I know why she lost, its cause she’s a woman and that’s bad.  Its not because she lied, its cause she’s a woman.  I don’t agree with that.

The worlds gonna blow apart unless Bill Clinton comes back.  Bill Clinton would have won again if he’d run because he is the best person that ever lived in my book.