President Joe Biden received a warm welcome from Irish President Michael Higgins on Thursday. Less so from his dog.
As the two leaders made their way into the grounds of the Irish president’s residence for a tree planting ceremony, Higgins tried to introduce his American counterpart to Misneach, one of his enormous Bernese Mountain dog.
But Misneach — named for the Irish word for ‘courage — was having none of it.
As Biden moved in to show it some love, the two-year-old did its best to upset U.S.-Irish relations by barking at the president and backing away.
Social media users were quick to seize on the moment, claiming Misneach only responded to commands in Irish.
Misneach, the Irish president’s Bernese Mountain dog, was unimpressed by President Joe Biden’s attempts at building U.S.-Irish relations, barking and backing off from his advances
Or maybe it just knew the president’s history of inappropriate kissing and fondling of anyone he meets.
It is not the first time Misneach has stolen the show.
Two years ago, the then puppy nibbled away at Higgins’s hand to get attention when the Irish president was delivering a somber message to mark the death of actor Tom Hickey.
The brief kerfuffle did nothing to dampen Biden’s enthusiasm for his Irish host, during his only full day in Dublin.
He signed his host’s guest book with an Irish proverb, ‘Your feet will bring you to where your heart is,’ and joked that he never wanted to go home.
Officials say Biden is having the time of his life reconnecting with his Irish heritage.
But they also had to play clean-up on Biden‘s gaffe when he muddled the Black and Tans, a British force that brutally put down Irish insurgents in the 1920s, with the New Zealand All Blacks rugby team.
It almost threatened to overshadow his work in Belfast earlier, when he managed to carefully walk a tightrope of sectarian sensitivity with a well-received speech.
President Joe Biden reviews the troops as he meets with Irish President Michael Higgins at Aras an Uachtarain, the presidential residence
Biden’s son Hunter also attended, arriving hand in hand with Biden’s sister Valerie
In Dublin, a day later he arrived at the president’s residence for a formal welcome.
Hunter, 53, arrived first, hand-in-hand with his aunt Valerie, 77.
Then the Beast pulled up. Biden was greeted by Michael Higgins before heading inside to sign the visitor book.
‘I’m not going home,’ said a beaming Biden. ‘I’m staying here
‘Isn’t this incredible American reporters? Just like the White House, right?’
He and the Irish president fended off shouted questions about a major security leak that is roiling Washington.
Biden was met by Higgins and his wife Sabina at the president’s residence Aras an Uachtarain
Biden signed his host’s guest book with an Irish proverb, ‘Your feet will bring you to where your heart is,’ and joked that he never wanted to go home
The visit resumed outside, where Biden rang a ‘peace bell,’ forged for the 10th anniversary of the Good Friday Agreement which ended decades of conflict on the island of Ireland.
And he followed in the footsteps of other VIP visitors by planting a tree in the ground of Aras an Uachtarain, as the Irish president’s residence is known.
From there it was on to a meeting with Leo Varadkar, the Irish prime minister or Taoiseach.
Varadkar praised his guest for his leadership in the war in Ukraine.
‘Democracy and liberty and the things that we believe in are on retreat, or in retreat, in large parts of the world, and if it wasn’t for American leadership, and if it wasn’t for America and Europe working together, I don’t know what kind of world we’d live in,’ he said.
Biden who met with the Irish leader in Washington on St Patrick’s Day, praised Irish values and the country’s acceptance of thousands of Ukrainian refugees as he spoke of a ‘stronger and stronger relationship’ between the US and Ireland.
A day earlier he delivered a speech on his Irish roots, but in praising a rugby playing cousin had managed to refer to the New Zealand rugby team as ‘the Black and Tans,’ the feared British security force.
‘I think for everyone in Ireland who was a rugby fan, it was incredibly clear that the president was talking about the All Blacks and Ireland’s defeat of the New Zealand team in 2016,’ said Amanda Sloat, senior National Security Director for Europe, during a morning briefing.
The slip had threatened to overshadow Biden’s cross-border activities a day earlier, when he had to walk the fine line of keeping Northern Ireland Protestant and Catholic communities happy.
But referencing the hated British force quickly inflamed pro-London unionists in the north.
The White House even cleaned up its official transcript of the event at a restaurant in Dundalk, Co. Louth, striking through the words ‘Black and Tans’.
President Joe Biden managed to muddled the feared Black and Tans security forces of the 1920s with the New Zealand ruby team (the All Blacks) on Wednesday
The White House put out a corrected transcript on Wednesday night
‘He was a hell of a rugby player, and he beat the hell out of the [All Blacks],’ read the record of his comments about his cousin Rob Kearney, part of a team that defeated New Zealand in Chicago in 2016.
In fact he had claimed, in adlibbed comments, that Kearney had beaten up on the Black and Tans.
The Black and Tans were a British auxiliary security force deployed during the Irish War of Independence a century ago.
They became infamous for their brutality against republicans, Catholics and anyone else who got in their way.
The force was responsible for shooting dead 14 people and wounding 60 more at a Gaelic football match at Croke Park in Dublin in 1920.
Biden has spoken about learning stories of their notoriety from his anti-British great aunt Gertie.
And his slip of the tongue was quickly taken as another sign that Biden harbors hostility towards the UK.
It almost took the shine off a decent day’s work by Biden. He arrived in Belfast amid political deadlock, with unionists worried that such a pro-Irish president did not understand their position.
Instead he used a speech at Ulster University to talk up his British roots and to say that politics in Northern Ireland was a matter for the people of Northern Ireland.
‘We’ve gotten incredibly positive feedback from from all communities and political sides there,’ said Sloat.
‘I think, a really important message for the president to be able to deliver to the people of Northern Ireland.’
White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said Biden ‘had the time of his life’ later in the day when he crossed the border and met up with relatives in Co. Louth.
Thursday is a day of official business: meetings with the Irish president and prime minister, followed by a speech to the Irish parliament.
That makes him the fourth president to address a joint session of the Irish parliament after Kennedy in 1963, Ronald Reagan in 1984 and Bill Clinton in 1995.
Officials said the speech will focus on ‘US -cooperation to advance democracy, peace, security and prosperity, as well as the deep shared history between the US and Ireland.’
It will followed by a state banquet at Dublin Castle.
On Friday it is more family time. Biden will travel west to see family in Ballina, Co. Mayo, and deliver a speech to an expected crowd of about 20,000 people.
Biden meets distant cousins inside the Windsor Bar and Restaurant on Wednesday evening
Biden’s motorcade leaving Carlingford, Co. Louth on Wednesday afternoon
Biden’s maternal line emigrated from Ireland during the Great Famine. The Blewitts left Co. Mayo and settled in Scranton, PA, while the Finnegans left Co. Louth and came to New York