Scion of traitors and warlords: why Bush is coy about his Irish links

[papau]

http://www.guardian.co.uk/usa/story/0,12271,1399353,00.html

Scion of traitors and warlords: why Bush is coy about his Irish links

Tapestry artist reveals ancestors of US president as murderous bunch

Angelique Chrisafis, Ireland correspondent
Thursday January 27, 2005
The Guardian

It is perhaps not the best omen for US foreign affairs. Local historians in Wexford have discovered that George Bush is a descendant of Strongbow, the power-hungry warlord who led the Norman invasion of Ireland thus heralding 800 years of mutual misery. With a long line of Scots Irish presidents including Woodrow Wilson, the Irish are normally quick to claim US leaders as their own. But, despite President Bush's large Ulster Scots vote in the American Bible belt, Ireland had let his family escape the genealogical microscope. But now Ann Griffin Bernstorff, an artist working on a tapestry to commemorate Ireland's Norman heritage, has discovered what she claims is the Bushs' missing Irish link.

Ms Griffin Bernstorff was researching Strongbow's son-in-law, William Marshal, when she discovered the connection. A descendant of Marshal married Anne Marbury Hutchinson, a famous 16th century religious dissenter who had already been linked to Mr Bush. <snip>

The US president's now apparent ancestor, Richard de Clare, Earl of Pembroke - known as Strongbow for his arrow skills - is remembered as a desperate, land-grabbing warlord whose calamitous foreign adventure led to the suffering of generations. Shunned by Henry II, he offered his services as a mercenary in the 12th-century invasion of Wexford in exchange for power and land. When he eventually died of a festering ulcer in his foot, his enemies said it was the revenge of Irish saints whose shrines he had violated.
<snip>

The genetic line can also be traced to Dermot MacMurrough, the Gaelic king of Leinster reviled in history books as the man who sold Ireland for personal gain. <snip>

[Inland]

1. In all fairness, aren't we all ashamed of our Irish links?

I kid, I kid!

[Sequoia]

2. The apple never falls far from the tree after all

[papau]

3. my first thought also :-)

:-)

[WildClarySage]

4. It's ok, Many of us Irish won't claim him either.