blarney

The man known for his charm and Irish blarney — a gift for the gab — was an ardent advocate of stronger U.S.-Canadian relations.

Biden suffers — unfairly — by comparison with Donald Trump, thanks to Trump’s purported business acumen and the many Americans who buy his blarney about how he created “the greatest economy in history.”

At moments like this, there was always a twinkle in his eye, showing what former Times columnist Chris Erskine once called his “Pennsylvania blarney.”

The nearest novel to being essentially Bostonian might be Edwin O’Connor’s “The Last Hurrah”; its protagonist, Frank Skeffington, based on Boston’s flamboyant James Michael Curley, embodies Boston’s old political culture of blarney and bribery.

“Joyride,” a grievously schematic blend of odd-couple comedy and life-affirming road movie, traverses the Irish countryside with a small degree of charm and a boatload of blarney.