Posted on 10/26/2001 7:48:45 AM PDT by Liz
The townsfolk of Ballybunion, Ireland, thought they had an irresistible magnet for American tourists when they erected the world's only statue of Bill Clinton. They have found out otherwise.
Former roller-rink owner Frank Quilter talked his fellow businessmen into coming up with $39,000 to create a bronze likeness of our former President whacking a golf ball. But now the villagers have discovered that some of their visitors are Republicans, who have nightly donnybrooks in the pubs over the statue.
"It drives them mad," Quilter says. Tees them off, you might say. Clinton has visited the town twice. Mike Scanlon, who caddied for him, claims there were no presidential mulligans. But Scanlon tells T&L Golf, "He has a reputation for dropping balls, but none of us were going to say anything." (Clinton's office has denied reports of links chicanery.)
Clinton, who has spent a grand total of two hours in the village, doesn't seem to have done much to get his countrymen to linger. "It's worse that business has gotten," grouses a local woman.
Back in Little Rock, Clinton Presidential Library president Skip Rutherford is trying to have a groundbreaking by the end of the year — despite protests over the demolition of an 1899 train depot built by former slaves.
"It's a freight depot," Rutherford told us, adding that the foundation has given more than $30 million to restore the nearby passenger station, railroad bridge and park.
There isn't a statue planned for Clinton's library. No need: The former chief executive's Elvis memorabilia will be a draw. "The president has a large collection" of hundreds of Elvis objects, says Rutherford. Among them: a dancing Elvis phone and an Elvis clock with pendulum legs.
"You know," said Rutherford, "the most frequently requested presidential picture is the one of Elvis with President Nixon." Yeah, but then you have to go to all that trouble cutting Nixon out.
In common English usage, though, the name Donnybrook is associated not with St. Broc, but rather with violence. The Oxford English Dictionary defines a donnybrook as "a scene of uproar and disorder; a riotous or uproarious meeting; a heated argument." This meaning of the word arose because of the rough antics associated with Donnybrook Fair, which was held from medieval times up until the nineteenth century, traditionally beginning on August 26th and running for 15 days. The fair was established by a royal charter granted by King John in 1204. In 1778 one writer complained of the effects of the Donnybrook Fair: "How irksome it was to friends of the industry and well-being of Society to hear that upwards of 50,000 persons visited the fair on the previous Sunday, and returned to the city like intoxicated savages." (Freeman's Journal 31 August 1778, as quoted in The Humours of Donnybrook p. 35). The fair was certainly popular, but from the early nineteenth century onwards, there was a concerted effort by the forces of sobriety to bring about its demise. Fergus D'Arcy has proposed the theory that the decline of the fair was "the cultural consequence of class formation in Dublin" ("The decline and fall of Donnybrook Fair," p. 17). The elite class, concerned with promoting and maintaining an image of respectability, exerted pressure through the institutions of church and state to suppress the fair.
Clinton could only dream of getting away with what Burtie Ahern gets away with. He takes his concubine out on the town with him! I figure that's why Clinton wants to live in Ireland. Heck, they give him a hero's welcome in Dublin parades and such.
By the way, welcome to FReerepublic Happygal. I've managed to deprogram my mother-in-law in Dublin but my sister-in-law still thinks Clinton is "dreamy". Ack! I've had considerable success in converting my nephew into a conservative however. He was the only one in his 4th Grade class that would have voted for Bush in the last US election.
From the looks of Baby Hughie, his colon is might engorged as well.
BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! Liz you're too much!
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