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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:
Is Monkey a Race?
If so, then he made an insult to the Monkeys...
Seriously it is time for McCain's daughter to take a close look at dad and have a PSET done on him. He on a routine basis has begun to show definite signs of dementia and truly needs help. All I feel for the man is pity that someone close to him has not stepped up and done what is so badly needed.
What's even more scary is McCain ran for president imagine if he won. Nomb, bomb, bomb, Iran would be more than a bad song. Also he wanted to in to Syria too.
Agreed... McCain is struggling to maintain , I think..... but I am not going to shed a tear for that pig in Iran. Iran makes it a national institution to bad mouth us so you get what you give.
For years we had comparison pictures with monkeys, apes, chimps and the like all against G.W. Bush and no one ever thought it was racist or had a problem with it.
Do you wanna know who is racist because I'll tell ya, look in the mirror buddy cause it's you, 99% of white people really don't care about you, we don't think about you, your lives and deaths do not concern us, the other 1% just laugh at your stupid ranting and ignorant use of the English language. You kill your selves and die early from all the hate you have within yourselves against us. So have a nice pain stricken hateful life, die early and get your racist ass outta my way.
Doesn't anyone remember the protesters comparing George W Bush to a Monkey? Where was the outrage then? I'm willing to bet that everyone who condemned McCain on this story, commended the protesters who likened Pres. Bush as a Monkey. And to be fair, there were some fringe Right-Wing protesters who made posters of Pres. Obama as a Monkey. My point is, if you are offended when it was targeted against Obama, you should've been offended when it happened to Bush. (I doubt that many of you here voiced your objections when it happened to Bush.)
This is ridiculous , Iranians are white just as McCain is. How is that racist ? Ahmadinejad is a dangerous anti-semite , much worse could have been said about him. McCain is agreat man who has served this country with honor , sacrifice and courage. Those criticizing him need to get a grip.
Upsets me too. That's a total insult to monkeys
If I were a monkey I'd be terribly offended. I think a closer comparison for the "Hitler" of Iran would be some form of bacteria.
Monkey - Obamma - monkey - jew - monkey - Iran: People need to wake up and see how they are being manipulated. Oh, and McCain, the traitor and war criminal from the Hanoi Hilton, should STFU.
On John McCain's ape-talk-express...harangue-he-told-ya?...a McJane-I-me-ad? (Self-publicity-seeking musings colliding with subjectivities and identity-politics?) 'It's like [he] enjoy[s] being ignorant?'
Meet Ariz.Sen, you, McCain?
As 'L.A.M.,' self-publicity-seeking behaviour: 'Meet Ariz.Sen.!!'
Ewe, McCain?
Big surprise... PC Libtards with thin skin... ha ha ha ha.... how's this?
Abduct the A-monkey... give him a lethal pork grease enema... drop him back out over Tehran at 60,000 ft... put the film of him splatting in on an anti-Al-Jezeera website... and show a crowd in Times Square jumping up and down in a celebratory frenzy making "la la la la la la la la" noises... now THAT'll get the Libtards frothing at the mouth...
He is an angry, ignorant, and, not particularly intelligent, little man who used his POW status to get into politics. I would compare him to an animal, but, I cannot think of one I care to insult. This is the guy who chose the equally ignorant and uber stupid Alaskan as his running mate, not because he though she would be a great VP (he didn't even know who she was), but, because he thought a woman would help him get to the White House. Perhaps someday his constituents will realize what a buffoon he is, hopefully sooner rather than later. An insult coming from McCain carries about as much weight as an opinion from Saddam Hussein.
I thought McCain's joke was funny. It certainly isn't worth getting your panties in a twist.
His remark was pretty tame compared to hatred Ahmadinejad spouts.
Monday made a joke comparing Iranian leader Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to a monkey, something one Republican congressman charged was “racist.”
What McCain was really trying to say was that Ahmadinejad looked like a monkey's azz. Why are we having this conversation? Wasn't this guy a terrorist back in the 70's?
The Over use of Politicallly correct catchwords like "Racism" , to deflect any type of criticism one cannot address in Fact, is a growing tactic that is making the word "Racism" totally meaning less. Consider this was simply a satirical joke; and actually a well placed one. Consider the object of the joke is of the same race as the author of the joke making the Racism comment technically rediculous. Consider he is our avowed enemy, consider he is a mean and hateful person anyway and the words fall into correct context.
While I sincerely believe John McCain's brain was fried, possibly while being tortured as a POW in Veitnam, sometimes he gets it.
I just don't see why everybody seems so upset about McCain insulting a monkey. Monkeys are a species not a race, so it can't be racist anyway. Monkeys can't even read so how can they be insulted by tweets.
That would be an insult to monkeys...Arab scum would have sufficed.
How is comparing one pathetic joke of a world leader to a monkey racist? McCain didn't say anything about Iranians in general, just Ahmadinejad. Perhaps his stunning record of antisemitism, holocaust denial, attempting to build a bomb for the purpose of wiping out a nation, and his ridiculous annual speeches at the UN were the reason for McCain's quip, and not racism, which is a generalization about an entire group of people.
What can you expect from a guy who called his own wife the "C" word. I also have heard that he has also been physically abusive as well. These republicans are always claiming their the family values candidate. Yeah right.
The last of the white rich bigots, living in fantasy land. Ten to Fifteen years
from now all the crazies will either be dead or the civil war of common sense
will already have taken place. Will move back to the USA (3rd world country)
when the 81% of democrats and independents get the intestinal fortitude to
stands up to big $ and stop being their slaves.
Once a real leader emerges the entire country needs to rally behind, an enema will
need to be performed... Watching the country of USA abusing immigrants as
slave labor...
Looks like when is was young 1936, back then it was the Irish, Italians,
Jews, 1960’s was African Americans, now it is Latino’s of all backgrounds, I am
old but not brain dead.. Glad we stayed in Japan just come back to the US to see how terrible the country has become every other year.. God Bless America as it surely needs it....
McCain is incorrect about Iran's leader acting like a monkey. Primates will attempt to protect their children not hide behind them. The Iranian nuclear facility was built in a highly populated area. They are also more capable of cooperative behavior. However,chimp males do beat the trees and display to show their worthiness to breed or lead.