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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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Why can't a guy tell a dumb joke without all this BS. Lots of people refer to people that they don't like, as looking like a monkey. It might be stupid but it's not racist. Give it a rest !
Let's not confuse racism with ideological differences. That Iranian jackass calls us the Great Satan. I'm sure that off the record he has been called much worse. When ideology clashes, like theirs with ours, throw racism out the window. McCain is not a racist, he's a patriot!
UND DER FURER SPRECHEN..
VAS IS DAS....2nd..Ammendment..?Vas..?
NINE..NINE...VERBOTTEN...
HMMM..? I Don't Vant...Das 1st Ammendment....Too..?
It was a joke and what if the monkey was a cat...the Iranian Prez would have been compared to a cat....lighten up Francis!
He made a joke about an insane madman. WGAS. Mr. Imanutjob probably would not have gotten it anyway. PH BTW, I am pretty liberal in my thinking so no re pubic an behind this note. Give John a break as I honestly do not think the man is racist. He has been through way to much in life to hold that outlook. It is usually the ones who have never "left home" (military, college, moved out of mom & dad's house) and saw the world who are usually racist, in my experience.
You know what? We are all monkeys. Every last stinking one of us. A bunch of barbarians raping the world of its resources and giving nothing back.
It doesn't matter what country you are born in or if you call someone a liberal or conservative and you think that makes you enlightened because you support one side or another of the same corporate butt cheek.
You all are a bunch of idiots.
When that huge asteroid plows into the Earth and the scourge known as mankind no longer plagues the planet maybe all this political infighting and atrocities we as humans inflict on ourselves and the other inhabitants of the planet will end.
go away cry baby
Amash is a moron - McCain is spot on!
All I can say is, if Obama had said it John McCain would crucify him for it! It seems McCain feels he can do or say anything, but he is very judgmental about EVERYONE else!
it's called freedom of speech,or did you commies forget, don't forget we all walked on all fours before we stood
upright,more like baboons then monkeys,instead of giving them money send bananas instead
i want to be the first piggy in space, and yea i will say weee wee wee wee weee all the way home , lmao
(**)...
This Senator from Arizona has outlived his usefulness to this country. He is a bitter unforgiving human specimen. He continues to show his real self with the aid of the media that never questions his motives but rather ratchets up his war-hero status or whatever you want to call it. It has come to the point where this man must be challenged for every vitriol that he spews out. He is holding the USA hostage for being a captive. It's like "How dare you say a thing like this against me!". This country has been generous to the McCain family. Conduct a research, 3 generations back and you will understand that the USA has been good to the McCain family. For someone born in Panama, this bully and his tactics of blackmail against the strongest nation on earth must stop. These are people who rail against big government but see 30+ years of public service as crucial to maintain government 'steadiness' to 'his people'. PuuuLeeease!
By the way, I do not care about Iran and its leadership. They are equally very extreme in their behavior. I'm upset with the Senator because, after 30+ years of service, you expect some seasoned approaches to solving the world's problem. We cannot afford to get in the gutter with the Iranians. Booths on the ground or using offensive languages will not be helpful. We should all learn from President George H.W. Bush.
McCain is wrong!! ahmadinejad is worse than a monkey ! you can reason with a monkey . calling the remark racism is stupid . i think ahmadinejad is a low life, cocksucking, ass licking piece of crap !! i guess that makes me a racist ! if so i'll wear it with pride !! but saying McCain is a racist for calling ahmad-damn-monkey is just a far left a--hole who doesn't like mr. McCain are any republican.
Just think a minute, Iran would cut the head of any news media person, for printing, how they talk about us in the USA, here we just let the news media bash a man down, destroy him, send him packing, all because some little dip @!$%# tried to make head line story. Iran does not care for us, and most here do not care for Iran.
opps i w ee wee wee myself
Breaking News
Iranian Navy ,,Sails Up The Potomac..
Will Pick up Joe Biden..for Bi-lateral...talks...
Thank Goodness this man wasn't elected president - he such a small thinker. He grilled Chuck Hagel for his comments and this man picks SP for VP, the most unqualified VP ever - is he serious? I kind of feel a bit sorry for him - a war hero who became more of a joke over time and a sore loser when it came to his presidential aspirations.
He is a senator with no grace or dignity to be a United States senatyor << He is a Prime example why we desperately need term limits on these guys in congress, He stooped below the congress he serves now I know why no work is ever done with a mentality like his..
The politically correct liberals are defending this anti-Semitic murderer. It's insulting to monkeys the world over to be compared to him.
“So Ahmadinejad wants to be first Iranian in space - wasn't he just there last week?”
LOL, LOL
I thought that was pretty good!
Best joke I've heard in sometime. Raciest my @#$
can we wee we get someone eles in troble on here hahaa make more joke and lmao , and everyone eles be seruis
I can't believe McCain would say such a thing. This is a slap in the face for monkeys everywhere. this is speciesist rhetoric that will bring the wrath of monkeys down on us.
Who gives a rodent's rectum what Amonkeyinjihad thinks of us? This is more dithering about politically correct speech. Muslims deserve no respect from anyone else on the planet.
What race are muslims, anyhow? All you liberal geniuses....what race are muslims?
People need to lighten up about this one. First off, Ahmedinijad is a total Ahole. Second, Johnny Mac is no different than most old politicians, they been in Washington so long, thier brains are fried. We all know he needs to retire in the Arizona sun, soon!
Its like when folks jab after Boo Hoo Boehner, or Jokin Joe Biden... they talk stupid, so what? let it go..
These guys are all clowns. Stop taking anything they say serious. Thier Washington world is one big Fkn joke!
Unfortunately, the jokes on us, because we keep hiring them, and paying them to be stupid..
On a cross-country trip, I saw there are many mobile home parks in Arizona where older retriees from places like Nebraska, Iowa, the Dakotas, and Kansas spend their winters. These are the McCain supporters, older white people from places where there are very few blacks.
So, for McCain, it is safe for him to say racist monkey jokes about people of color. But what the old fool does not know is that he is the most high profile Republican in the country and his views are taken as those of the Republican party.
That is why some Republicans have chastised him for his superior white man opinion.
dude this has nothing to do with "people of color" which sounds like a racist definiton catagorizing people based on the way they look but w/e. Iranians just sent a monkey into space and Ahmadinejad is a nutjob that wants to be the first Iranian in space, it was a great joke! Had Biden made this comment all the comments on this page would be ROFLMAOs and praises for ol' Joes comical genius. Stop being such a race baiter and lighten up!
Fifty years ago, during the civil rights era, the intelligent people in this country struck from the American lexicon all jokes comparing people of color to monkeys.
Apparently, you and McCain did not get the memo.