Ian Paisley has died

[NDP]

@Bridget_Burke

Fun fact! The illustrious list of Honorary Degree recipients from Bob Jones University includes:
[ul]
[li]Strom Thurmond, 1948[/li][li]George Wallace, 1964[/li][li]Ian Paisley, 1966[/li][li]Jess Helms, 1976[/li][/ul]

That shouldn’t be surprising given he was also a graduate of Bob Jones University. This was mentioned in his obituary on NPR today. Here’s an interesting portion of it below.

ROBERT SIEGEL: When I was in Britain in the early 1980s, Ian Paisley struck me as one of the most American-like figures on the British political landscape. That was no accident. He spent a lot of time here.

ED MOLONEY: No, that was - absolutely. That’s because America played a very large part in his life. I mean, he’s Dr. - or was Dr. Ian Paisley. He got that PhD from Bob Jones University in South Carolina. Bob Jones, Sr., the founder of the dynasty, if you like, was a very close personal friend who opened his church in Belfast. When Ian Paisley started off as a preacher and a politician, he had a very thick rural country accent. He got that softened and reshaped, thanks the training he got in America. And he was regarded by American Baptists as one the best preachers they had ever heard. And he was mesmerizing. He was extraordinarily powerful in the pulpit and also on the political platform

Paisley also apparently learned a lot about hate-based political demagoguery during his time in the South and was able later use it to his advantage.

[thelurkinghorror]

When Hitchens died, I liked that someone said that he’s with Jesus now (ironically). Well, ol’ Ian’s with the Popes now up there in Heaven. The best thing that can be said is that he wasn’t directly involved in violence, so supporting the peace process was easier once he realized that McGuinness didn’t have horns and didn’t smell of brimstone.

@Claverhouse

I shall mourn him as much as any other cromwellian MP; but, believe it or not, there were/are nastier Unionists than he; particularly way down the Shankill Road.

Yes, he’s probably better than Lenny “Wayne” Murphy, but that bar is low.

[dropzone]

Will there be room enough atop his grave for some good, ol’ line dancing? Because there will be a crowd.

[Pushkin]

Nobody who cares about their day job has a bad thing to say about Paisley, I wonder why. Even the Archbishop of Canterbury of all people (in a BBC article I can’t quite locate right now).

The ex-leader of the middle of the road Alliance party leader seemed to be one of the few people to remember him for what he was;

While I welcome the fact that he ultimately embraced power sharing, it was too little too late and should not be used to excuse the pain and suffering that he inflicted on the people of Northern Ireland for the majority of his political life

[BrainGlutton]

@Claverhouse

I am always fond of American misconceptions of Scotland, or even Ireland . . .

You mean Scotireland.