The "inebriated Irish" had words for Mike Bloomberg yesterday. While the chorus of comments and, in the Times's words, "lusty boos" that met the mayor as he walked in the St. Patrick's Day parade weren't as intense as they were in Rockaway earlier this month, the reverberations from our billionaire mayor from Boston's bad joke at the Irish Historical Society trailed him all day.
Of the angry Irishmen Dennis Dunn—who was heavily festooned in Irish flare and carried a sign that read "Bloomberg You're A Drunk!"—probably got the most media attention! "[Bloomberg] did it as a joke, but the Irish community doesn't take it as a joke," Dunn explained to the Post.
Other jeers shouted as the mayor walked up Fifth Avenue included “Boo Bloomberg! Down with him!” and “Go back to Bermuda!" One teacher from Queens tried to get the mayor's attention with another sign that read "Bloomberg: Kiss Me, I'm Union" (he didn't).
There were some also cheers for Bloomie, though. Just many of them reportedly were coming from out-of-towners.
But to his handler's credit, Bloomberg tried to play down the joke (as best he could) all day, starting at an address at Gracie Mansion which he kicked off by mock-calling out to his speech writer: “I hope this speech goes better than the one you wrote for me at the Irish Historical Society. I mean really, what were you thinking?”
