Biden jokes ‘I may be Irish but I am not stupid’ at St Patrick’s Day lunch speech

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President Joe Biden called Vladimir Putin a ‘murderous dictator and pure thug’ in his St Patrick’s Day speech on Thursday that started with the quip: ‘I may be Irish but I am not stupid’.

Biden ramped up his attacks on the Russian leader, a day after finally calling him a war criminal, in remarks that started with him going through his Irish heritage at the annual Friends of Ireland Luncheon.

‘Father before I began, bless me, father I’m about to sin,’ Biden cracked, making the sign of the cross as he addressed Rev. Thomas O’Connor while standing between Irish and American flags inside the wood paneled Rayburn Room in the Capitol.

‘Well, I just want you to know, I may be Irish but I’m not stupid. I married Dominic Giacoppo’s daughter,’ he quipped, referencing the Sicilian name of Jill Biden’s father, Donald Jacobs. 

He then turned to upping his rhetoric on Putin and said he is a ‘murderous dictator, a pure thug who is waging an immoral war against the people of Ukraine’.

His latest war of words are the most direct at the Russian leader in the 21 days since the start of the invasion. The Kremlin has also upped the ante by warning the U.S. may need to be ‘put in its place’ for sharing ‘disgusting Russiaphobia’.

Biden then mentioned his phone call with Chinese President Xi Jinping on Friday and that the world is in a ‘genuine struggle between autocracies and democracies and whether or not democracies can be sustained.’ 

In a meeting with Irish Taoiseach Micheál Martin earlier on Thursday, Biden said ‘Putin’s brutality and what he’s doing and his troops are doing in Ukraine is just inhumane’.

In between the attacks on Putin, Biden continued with Irish anecdotes. 

At one point during the luncheon, Biden mentioned a past meeting with the Toiseach, accompanied by his father, who wore a brand new blazer with a crest that had a latin inscription on it. 

‘I never took the time to look at it,’ Biden said, pointing to his Catholic school upbringing where he took Latin. Then he did an Irish accent as he completed the tale. 

‘And the Toiseach – we’re having our picture taken, he said, ‘Oh mr Biden I agree.’ And what it said in Latin was: ‘Don’t let the bastards get you down.’ Well we can’t let them get us down,’ Biden said.

Father O’Connor also got in a few jokes during his blessing, mentioning the joy Irish celebrations bring and getting in references to Guinness and Jameson’s.

‘Like the gift of the gab present in the Irish and many politicians, present company is no exception,’ he said.

Biden, who is famous for being long winded, laughed. 

He was introduced by Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who noted when President Reagan came to the luncheon that he said ‘America has been blessed by Irish children. And one of those Irish children is now the president of the United States.’   

Biden’s remarks came after he had to scrub plans to hold the traditional meeting with  Toiseach Micheál Martin in person at the White House. 

After Martin tested positive for COVID-19 Wednesday night, the meeting was switched to zoom.

He had a few serious lines while speaking about the partnership with Ireland, which he said had ‘stepped up’ from neutrality in confronting Russian aggression and becoming an actor on the world stage. 

He cited unity in confronting Putin, who he called a ‘murderous dictator, a pure thug, who is waging an immoral war against the people of Ukraine.’

‘And Putin is paying a big price for his aggression, and they are part of the reason the cost is going so high,’ Biden said. 

He spoke about common goals between the two countries. 

‘My mother’s expression, gotten from her grandfather was, you know, ‘As long as you’re alive, you have an obligation to strive. And you’re not dead ’til you’ve seen the face of God.’ That’s what I think of when I think of Ireland. All the troubles they’ve been through, they have never, ever, ever quit,’ he said. 

He gave an update on the Toiseach. 

‘I was on the zoom as we say … He’s looking well. He feels well. He’s tested positive, but he feels well,’ Biden said. ‘He’s really sorry he can’t be here.’ 

Biden toggled between reflections on politics, praise for congressional leaders.

He called Ways and Means Chairman Rep. Richard Neal (D-Mass.) ‘Irish, as we say where I come from, belt buckle to shoe sole.’

You know, I’m the proud sone of Catherine Eugenia Finnegan Biden, he said, telling how his family came to the country in 1844 and 1845. 

He said on St. Patrick’s Day, ‘The Irish Americans think they’re more Irish than the Irish. That’s kind of how I was raised.’

‘It was imbued in me to be proud of my heritage,’ said Biden. 

‘It was part of the air we breathed, especially up in Scranton,’ said Biden of Irish-American pride.

He quoted his ‘grandpop’ – Ambrose Finnegan.

‘He’d say Joey if you’re lucky enough to be Irish, your’e lucky enough,’ Biden said.

Then he spoke about his father, and said family was ‘everything.’

‘My dad’s expression was family is the beginning, the middle, and the end,’ Biden said.

He quoted Irish poet WB Yeats.

‘All changed, changed utterly – a terrible beauty has been born,’ he said.