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Matthias Schrader / AP
Sen. John McCain
Updated 12:52 pm ET. Always one to speak -- or Tweet -- his mind, Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) Monday made a joke comparing Iranian leader Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to a monkey, something one Republican congressman charged was “racist.”
“So Ahmadinejad wants to be first Iranian in space - wasn't he just there last week?” McCain said in a tweet that also linked to a story about Iran launching a monkey into space.
Some didn’t take so kindly to the not-so-diplomatic quip, prompting McCain, 76, to respond: “Re: Iran space tweet - lighten up folks, can't everyone take a joke?”
Seeing that, Michigan congressman Rep. Justin Amash, 32, shot back.
“Maybe you should wisen up & not make racist jokes,” Amash tweeted.
Not everyone on the right agreed with Amash. Conservative John Podhoretz, for example, Tweeted this: "How dare McCain say something demeaning & disparaging abt the foremost anti-Semite on the planet." And this: "So...it's defend-the-Jew-hater-from-the-war-hero day."
It’s not the first time McCain’s made a joke about Iran that landed him in some hot water. During his run for president in 2007, McCain sang about bombing the country.
Asked by a GOP primary voter when the U.S. would send an “air-mail message to Tehran,” McCain said, “That old Beach Boys’ song, ‘Bomb Iran?’ Bomb, bomb, bomb—, anyway.”
McCain’s response then as now? It’s just a joke -- "get a life.”
“When veterans are together, veterans joke,” McCain said at the time. “And I was with veterans and we were joking. And if somebody can’t understand that, my answer is, ‘Please, get a life.’”
Leave a Comment:
A defense against being labeled a racist that John McCain could use is to point out that monkeys come in all shades-- such as the white monkey that looks like him:
Another photo on the same link shows two little monkeys of different shades (like John McCain and Mahmoud Ahmadinejad) arm in arm in friendship. Just call them Lil'l Johnnnie and Lil'l Ahmaddie.
LIGHTEN UP AND LAUGH AT TWO EQUALLY KNUCLEHEAD MEN. In the bigger scheme of things, McCain and Ahmadinejad are more alike than different (like the two little monkeys).
Remember, only Whites are forbidden to make racial remarks-- or to acknowledge any achievements ever made by the White race. All of our achievements we now attribute to others. The 1st car, the airplane, man on the moon--all will one day be "Black History"
oh my god!!! john should be flogged in public for making such a statement like that!! anything that might even hint of racism,because we know that republican's are not allowed to make statement's like that!!!......only liberal's can bad mouth,tell lie's,and make joke's like that!! even if it was about the leader of a country that would kill every man woman and child of the U S and Israel!!! SHAME ON YOU JOHN!!!
Mark...
You are correct. Only libs call names. The righties are totally respectful at all times
And the right has been so kind to the President, correct? Never call him names, do they? Never bastardize his name, do they?
They do not make fun of his wife and daughters, right? And they support all his efforts to get us out of the mess the GOP left in 2009, right?
Maybe if our glorious liar and chief would stop, you know. telling lies every time he opens his marxist mouth then people would talk good about him. And still bitching about Bush eh? "the mess the GOP left in 2009"?? What does that have to do with Obama adding more money in his first 3 1/2 yrs then Bush did in 8?? Pathetic, left wing, intentionally blind, moron.
1) it's called sarcasm... look it up and read his post again.. maybe you'll get it.
2) CWB has a great point.. if Obama didn't lie so much, people wouldn't hound him so much... if he weren't such a flipping hypocrite, maybe we wouldn't call him one. The guy is the biggest liar/cheat/criminal to ever occupy the White House.
3) Stop blaming the GOP for our financial woes when both the House AND the Senate were democratically controlled in 2009... THEY are responsible for the budget and our spending, not the president.
Well, Amash wrecked his credibility with a solecism. Besides, what's the BFD? The GOP is the official, self announced party of racism. Of all their nastiness, this is perhaps the most minor. Compared, for example, to Saint Ronnie (patron saint of the decomposing and already rotten) who kicked off his presidential campaign at a place where three civil rights workers had been murdered. Now that's a message! -- to assorted Birchers and Knights of the White Camellia.
LOL GOP is the party of racists? The democratic party is the party of SLAVE OWNERS. You cannot get more racist than the left... they incite racial tensions, Obama has made this country more divided than it's been since the civil war... that was not the right's fault... that is your dear leader doing that.
The only true racists in the world are usually the first ones to bring up race in an argument. And 99% of the time, that is the left. They make racism where there was none... like in this comment from McCain.
I thought he was comparing OBmajob to Michelle. I guessed wrong I assume.
JC...
You lie! You said "I thoght"....we know you are incapable of thought
Now this douhcebag is racist.
You gotta be pretty damn stupid to take this is being racist. He wasn't aiming it at a black guy or did we all forget that monkey is a racial slur that was used for blacks? Now all of a sudden its a racial slur for Islamic people? Give me a break. If it wasn't a politician that said it no one would care. We all know the last thing we want to do is upset anyone from the middle east unless you wanna get blown up that is.
Remember libiots , your hero ammadip@!$%# claims there are no gays in iran . Why because he likes to hang them from a crane .
Tyey need to be hung.
if man live by Gods law are "idiot" (as you @!$%# said) than I would be one proud one.
Roman , learn to read I said Libiot , which means liberal idiot .And if you think your ammadip@!$%# speaks for God you couldn't be more wrong .
CAN, CAN,CAN,CAN, McCAIN!!!
CAN, CAN,CAN,CAN, McCAIN!!!
If Obama made this statement I am thinking all the people who think it wasn't a racist statement that McCain made would be saying that it was racist and vice versa. People are so fickle. People are so easy to criticize when it suites them and quick to support when it suites them.
Only monkeys want to be astronauts. Persians couldn't care less and probably laugh at that giant white penis we used to call the space shuttle.
the truth for all those who commented here is ---go to:
Go ahead make my day get informed
Actually his comment did not directly make the monkey/Iranian crazy guy thing you stupid, pot-smoking walmart shoppers jumped all over like the illiterate bipolar mob joiners you always are...he was referring to astronauts as flying monkeys. Vegetable friends indeed.
Racism defined by Merriam-Webster:
1 : a belief that race is the primary determinant of human traits and capacities and that racial differences produce an inherent superiority of a particular race
2 : racial prejudice or discrimination
Based on the definition, McCain's comment was not racist.
However, Bigotry as defined by Merriam-Webster:
: a person who is obstinately or intolerantly devoted to his or her own opinions and prejudices; especially: one who regards or treats the members of a group (as a racial or ethnic group) with hatred and intolerance
I guess bigotry could possibly define what was said by McCain. More so he was just being mean spirited. Of course, bigotry defines most of the comments on every blog or article in existence! As such most everyone is a bigot!
Sorry, no. This was not bigotry. It was ONE man calling ONE other man a name. That is all.
Yeah, no one here has ever called someone they don't like a name, right?
Unfortunately for you, the majority, ah, VAST majority, of this nation's productive citizens think your opinion sucks. Too bad for you.
McCain, you may have been joking, but you've just thrown the napalm into the fire. It's illegal in the middle east to imply, compare, or state that any "good, law abiding, god fearing" Islamic citizen is an animal. (Warning, Will Robinson! Heavy sarcasm detected!) Don't be surprised if your joke shows up in every Iranian newscast to fuel their hatred of all things American.
Why is this news?
Read 2024
I'm sorry....just look at the guy....I thought the same thing McCain said before he said it when I heard achmadumawad said he wanted to go into space....maybe we'll be lucky and the spaceship won't come back...the guy is a cancer...
I have no problem at all with McCain comparing this sob with a monkey. Well, actually I do. It is really demeaning to monkees. Personally what I think should be done with this dirtbag is he should be wrapped in a pig skin, flown out over the Mediterranean and thrown out of the plane to see how high he bounces when he hits the water.
Even worse, it is demeaning to the office of Senator.
Monkey? I thought he more resembles a baboon.
Yes it was a racist comment, but really comparing the leader of Iran to a monkey is extremely insulting to the monkey. So if McCain owes any one an apology he should apologize to the monkey.
The airhead Americans have sub-human intelligence and they are stupid like the dogs. The airhead American Dogs don't even know what they are saying and can't even comprehend their writing.
I hear you like to eat penises , um , you know, for virility .Oh and viagra works better then endangered Rhino horn . Rhino horn is the same material as a toenail or hair . Get some edumacation dum dum .
I believe Persians are considered Caucasian,making him a white monkey,is that racist,insulting to the Capuchin monkey perhaps but not racist.
This nation has had derogatory things to say about every enemy we've ever had, including the Civil War when we fought each other. Let's put PC aside and face facts - the guy looks a little bit like a monkey. At least McCain didn't call him a "Sand N."
Bingo Tom, THAT would have been a racist comment. Calling someone a monkey is simply degrading and saying that they are a lower form of life... which he certainly is.
He should have.
LOL @ all the haters. The only people that are racist are the ones that took a joke as a racist comment. Since when is calling someone (other than blacks) a monkey racist? If he were black, then ok, you have an argument... but he's not.
Some of you people need to get your panties out of such a bunch and put on your big boy pants. Seriously. As McCain said: "Get a life".
Good Lord! I have never read the comments section of this rag but, boy, are there a bunch of no good for anything, seditious, disgusting piles of steaming xxxx here, or what?
I am rethinking my way of dealing with you Obozo supporters. I used to just ignore the 5 year old bumper stickers but I'm thinking PIT maneuvers from now on. Stay out of my lane, whackos.
Good for McCain - least you know where he stands unlike our other DC Bozo's. And by the way he is a monkey.
This is my first time reading through this blog. I was surprised to see how much time people spent calling each other names as well as commenting on the news story. It appears that if someone has a different opinion, it is not a celebration of American free speech, but a spew of hate. I find that strange. I also agree that McCain has the knowledge of our history and knows that comparing any non-white person to a monkey has been a racist tactic used for years - I truly believe he knows that to be true and used the language anyway. That is disappointing to me, coming from one of our leaders. I wonder if these blogs could be used for non-personal commenting? Maybe agree that we don't all agree or have the same views - that is why we have free speech here? Something to consider...