WBAI-FM Upcoming Program
Radio Free Eireann

Sun, Nov 2, 2025 11:00 AM

MALACHY MCCOURT ON ELECTION AS PLUNKITT OFTAMMANY HALL

 I’ll be playing Malachy McCourt’s unforgettable performance as George Washington Plunkitt from his one-man show recorded at WBAI. With the New York City mayoral election coming up on Tuesday, Plunkitt offers some timely “advice” to whoever wins—lessons on how the Irish “honestly” made money while running the city.
As Plunkitt famously put it:
“Everybody is talkin’ these days about Tammany men growin’ rich on graft, but nobody thinks of drawin’ the distinction between honest graft and dishonest graft. There’s all the difference in the world between the two. Yes, many of our men have grown rich in politics—I have myself. I’ve made a big fortune out of the game, and I’m gettin’ richer every day. But I’ve not gone in for dishonest graft—blackmailin’ gamblers, saloonkeepers, disorderly people, etc.—and neither have any of the men who have made big fortunes in politics.
There’s an honest graft, and I’m an example of how it works. I might sum up the whole thing by sayin’: ‘I seen my opportunities and I took ’em.’”

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