[wretchard]

Ireland sat out World War 2. It can sit out this one. Irish-American relations suffered no particular damage from Irish neutrality in the conflict against Hitler. Why should it suffer any damage now?

The Irish are coated with teflon as far as most Americans are concerned, for psychological reasons. We can't really get as riled at them as at the French.

[norton]

The Irish have always gotten a pass from Americans. Nearly every image we've seen in books and in lore is of a benign and mis-treated folk set upon by a nearby enemy ruled by unfeeling lords and bestial armies.
We still see the friendly cop, friendly priest, and besotted poet - rarely the IRA Nazi sympathiser and terrorist facilitator that also represents that island.
There are still 'charities' in the US that channel money to build bombs for the IRA, just as there are those that fund Bin Laden and his brand of terror.
We just are not very good at recognizing that the 'little guy' is often at least as distasteful as the 'oppressor' he claims to be resisting.

[Tribune7]

That's true the Irish sat out WWII. On the other hand, they didn't fight against us or the British as the French did on numerous occasions.

The French arguably fought us harder than the Italians and certainly fought us harder than the Spanish -- both countries of which were considered Hitler's allies.

[js1138]

The Irish are coated with teflon as far as most Americans are concerned, for psychological reasons

That's because more Americans are proud of Irish ancestry than proud of French Ancestry.