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Jeb Bush May Have Alienated Irish-American Voters By Wanting Margaret Thatcher On $10 Bill

By Anne Sewell
Published on: 23:24 PST, Sep 17, 2015

During Wednesday’s GOP debate, presidential hopefuls including Jeb Bush were asked which female they would like to see on the $10 bill, a move suggested recently in Congress.

While the other candidates came up with some serious but unlikely, along with humorous suggestions, Jeb Bush immediately said, “I would go with Ronald Reagan’s partner: Margaret Thatcher. Probably illegal, but what the heck.”

Bush mentioned that while his choice would probably be illegal, the White House needs a strong leader and said Thatcher was certainly that.

“A strong leader is what we need in the White House, and she certainly was a strong leader that restored the United Kingdom to greatness.”

According to Irish Central, this remark would not have been taken lightly by Irish Americans who remember the troubles in Northern Ireland. This statement by Jeb Bush would surely offend anyone who cares about peace in Ireland, and this includes millions of Irish Americans, all on the voters’ roll for the upcoming elections.

The Irish reportedly despise Margaret Thatcher, particularly relating to the incident where she allowed ten hunger strikers to die in Northern Ireland in 1981 with absolutely no remorse. Also Father Sean MacManus, an Irish watchdog on Capitol Hill, reportedly noted, “Maggie Thatcher is on record as regarding the Irish as, ‘shiftless, sniveling and spineless.'”

On the Irish side of the ocean, Peter Mandelson, former Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, once stated that Thatcher said back in 1999, “I’ve got one thing to say to you, my boy … you can’t trust the Irish, they’re all liars… liars, and that’s what you have to remember so just don’t forget it.'”

There was much live action on Twitter after Bush’s statement at the GOP debate, including a parody account for the British Queen warning Cameron not to get ideas.

Of course, someone had to immediately do a mock-up of the $10 note with the “Iron Lady” in place of honor, and some even suggested that maybe Trump wasn’t such a bad choice after all.

Other Twitter members just couldn’t believe Margaret Thatcher was trending after all these years.

As stated by the Washington Post, Margaret Thatcher was one of the more controversial leaders and when she passed away in 2013 some mourned her passing, while many others held rousing street parties to celebrate the event.

Even the British were apparently horrified by Bush’s suggestion that she be on the $10 bill.

Jeb Bush probably should have stayed with something along the lines of the more humorous choices of other GOP candidates, with The Donald suggesting his daughter, Ivanka, saying she deserved it because she had been seated in the audience for three hours, and Mike Huckabee his own wife, saying that way, she could spend her own money with her own face on it.

Among some of the other hopefuls, both Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz chose Rosa Parks, due to the changes she wrought in the country, while Rand Paul went for Susan B. Anthony. John Kasich, again saying it would probably be illegal, chose Mother Teresa.

Watch the action in the video below.

[Photos: Jeb Bush by Ethan Miller / Getty Images News – Margaret Thatcher by John Minihan / Hulton Archive]

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