Ireland Says No to EU, Yes to Irony

To be fair, all attempted EU constitutions have been terrible documents. Overly complex, convoluted, inelegant. After an earlier attempted constitution was voted down in France and the Netherlands, an eloquently chagrined EU-backing Tony Blair said,

"We locked ourselves in a room at the top of the tower and debated things no ordinary citizen could understand. And yet I remind you the Constitution was launched under the title of 'Bringing Europe closer to its citizens'."

That said, I thought the Irish had a better sense of irony. They forget, in their gleeful rejection, that Ireland has been one of the biggest economic beneficiaries of the EU. More hilariously, some analysts suggested part of the "No" coalition was driven by the Irish being tired of immigrant labor!