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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.’”
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And to think he was the Republican candidate for President in 2008, wow, dodged a bullet on that one.
McCain needs to retire to one of his seven homes. Hope one of them is a nursing home.
Bitter old white man, Core of the republican party.
Yup bitter old white men made America great and the rest of you managed to tear it down in 20% of the time.
james2021
You are a Boneless - Skinless Chicken With No Flavor Except for the Dust you Walk Over !
This is almost too funny. The libturds standing up for mahmoud.
tuort... Try to pay attention. No one standing up for him.
Bad behavior by a US leader is being called out. Inappropriately by some, but bad behavior is bad behavior.
The person in the article that called McCain out on this tweet was a GOP congressman. I think he is just tries and should retire back to AZ and give someone else a chance. It has been time for him to go before he even ran for office.
I made a comment once about how we should just Nuke Iran. I made this comment about 5 years ago and quickly came to regret it when I found out later one of my co-workers was Iranian and had family that still lived there. The people in Iran should not be punished for the actions of their government. They do not have true free elections. The military and the government of Iran have bunkers that can withstand any attack. Look at what we did in Iraq and consider the precision bombs we used and the hundreds of thousands of innocent women and children who died in Shock and Awe. This is not a simple world and thank God we no longer have McCains friend's in the Whitehouse who presented everything in Cowboy black and white. I hope there is a peaceful solution someday for the sake of the innocents.
Lets see if anyones up for a contest on what McCain looks like?
Since when is Iranian a race?
For all of those wondering what is racist about using the word "monkey" is, people in the Middle Eastern region are referred to as sand monkeys and a dozen other insulting names.
Again, McCain isn't some slug standing on a street corner yucking it up with some of the guys. He is US Senator and should act like an adult.
McCain is out of control,I guess when he got creamed by Obama that he didn't take the hint that the American people could care less about his opinion.He could be a poster child for term limits
Why don't we wory about was inportant in life and throw the damn race card away!!!!
You mean like worry about grammar and spelling? Something like that????
Can anyone imagine what FAUX NEWS would do with this if it was Obama that said it?
You got the name wrong you dumb FAUX it's Obumer not Obama.
its ok for obama to say it...hell obama can destroy the country and still be hailed a hero...just look around
Worthy of a fifth grade student, but not of a senator. Why do we keep giving this detritus publicity?
Racist? Didn't we do the same thing in WWII with Hitler? I fail to see the difference. Iran is a country that since the '80's publically during daily prayer say death to America. Leave it to the tree huggers to cry racist over the Iranian leader that wants you dead. Common....
Coming from an old one armed washed up baboon,isn't that like the kettle calling the pot black
McCain needs to apologize immediately. You just can't go insulting monkeys that way
I know another leader who looks more like a monkey but I won't say who, it will just upset those who worship him. lol
looks like???...i thought he was...your talking about michelle right???lol
During the 08 campaign season I decided McCain had the start of dementia. There is nothing I have seen since then to make me think otherwise.
OMG Ahmadinejad goes around the world making threats and rattling his sabre, too bad if he's called a monkey, Man we have become a nation of wusssies
It's OK to be racists...racism is approved by congress...there's the Black Caucus...and there's the NAACP...both racists organizations...if blacks can hate whites openly then it's ok for whites to hate blacks...
A citizen of Saudi Arabia recently made a comment about one of its government members and has been sentenced to 5 yrs. in prison. In the past and still today if you live in Russia and Arab nations your mouth can get you imprisoned, shot or worse and can even include your family. It is unfortunate that we are headed in the same direction. Soon we will have to whisper when talking to or about another person and maybe we will have to revert to using a secret sign language to protect ourself. We are destroying our own freedom of speech.
Why does John "Bomb, bomb, bomb, bomb, bomb, bomb Iran" McCain hate the Iranians so much? It's not like they were the ones who butt raped him and stuck him in a tiger cage for all those years. Is it because they remind him of Mexicans?
It's quite sad to see the number of anti-semites posting on here.
You are defending a man who applauds the murdering of innocent men, women, and children. It's good to know where you stand though, and to know you haven't got enough brain cells to do a half-way decent job disguising your antisemitism.
Not to mention you're just plain stupid for calling this racism.
A disparaging remark? Yes. Racist? No.
How in the world does your tiny brain equate McCain saying "Ahmadinejad just got back from space" to him calling all Arabs (? I'm assuming you mean Arabs since 'Muslim' isn't a race, nor is Iranian) monkeys?
The most direct line of comparison would be that Ahmadinejad's ideas are THAT ludicrous; that he's a 'space-case'; that all his ideas are alien to the realm of logical thought and concrete evidence; or even that he's making light of the previously mentioned, linked, proven fact that the "Iranian monkey from space" was NOT the one they sent, exposing the claim as (most likely) a hoax.
And no, Joe Biden wouldn't have said it because he'd be too busy licking the bottom of Ahmadinejad's shoes. Also, Joe Biden probably does not know what a monkey is.
Can you say old, tired and crotchety? Sounds like the Republican Party does it not?
BREAKING NEWS..
JOE BIDEN..
recently was found..In Obama's Family Tree...
Later...someone did manage...To coax him Down...
With a piece of Fruit...
John McCain is the joke, and we have been hearing too much from him lately. Not at all funny. Maybe he and that effeminate one from South Carolina ought to start up their own Talk Radio show.
If OBUMER had said that you would have laughed your far left stupid ass off, wouldn't you?
I am not sure what to think. I am starting to believe that our senators are actually paid comedians.
We get and pay for what we elect. We truly are a country in deep, deep do do. McCain should do us all a favor and resign, retire and then whatever.
How many of you panty-waisted libs were running to Canada, hiding under mamma's apron strings, or listening to Communist left-wing profs. in college during the Vietnam war? McCain was rotting away in a cage in Vietnam while you all were demonstrating. That's a part of the reason he had to languish so long in that cage along with scores of other fighting men. The least you libs could do is give him his just dues and quit sniping at him at every opportunity. You may not have the same political persuasion as he, but at least consider what he has been through.
Senator JM calls them like he sees them. Most likely got the idea looking at the White house!
Attaboy John... just can't shake that core, ingrained incivility, disrespect, and coarseness can you? It will ALWAYS come out, sooner or later, you can't help it. I can just imagine how YOU would have reacted had some, say, Chinese leader made a snotty remark about your humanity. You and Palin are like two peas in a pod - the Sneer Sisters.
No wonder the Republican party has serious issues connecting with people - so many of you cave in to your basest impulses and say crappy stuff, for no reason. You're losin' it, pal, and you need to get out of the arena. You are a discredit to your party, and a discredit to the country when you pull stunts like this.
If you would remove your head from your ass you might see what's really going on in this once great country.