McCain’s (SICK) humor often backfires
By BEN SMITH | 7/17/08
Ever hear that joke about waterboarding? How about the one about killing Iranians? And why is Chelsea Clinton so ugly?
We all know he called his wife a “c###” in front of a group of reporters!
If you aren’t familiar with those witty japes, then you’ve missed out on John McCain‘s lighter side. Rooted in a time before there was political correctness, and before there was the “South Park” backlash against political correctness, McCain’s wisecracking persona is cutting at times, self-deprecating at others, and always amused by the political process swirling around him. Even in his pursuit of the White House, the candidate has — sometimes to the dismay of his handlers — managed to keep his sense of humor.
As he campaigns through the densest media thicket in American history, it’s become clear that McCain hasn’t acquired the layer of polish that produced, for instance, Ronald Reagan’s gentle, oft-repeated jokes and Bill Clinton’s colorful, folksy yarns.
McCain’s humor, by contrast, makes him the political counterpart of the radio host Don Imus
(whom he has defended): It’s sharp, unrehearsed and, at times, way, way over the line. This cycle, he’s drawn winces, and worse, for everything from a joking reference to domestic violence to a now-notorious little ditty about bombing Iran. Earlier in his political career, the Arizona press reported that he’d cracked a rape joke that would now probably end any politician’s career, a joke his aides then and now say he doesn’t recall making.
To McCain’s friends and supporters, the humor is a mark of his authenticity. To his detractors, some of the jokes are offensive and out of touch with contemporary mores. What’s undeniable, though, is that the humor, with its political risks and, to some, its charm, is intrinsic to John McCain. He is a man of a certain generation, with a machismo forged from his experience as a Navy pilot and an aviator, a candidate who is more comfortable in his own skin than with a teleprompter.
“If you know the difference between a Navy and an Air Force pilot, you get some of this — he’s a Navy pilot,” said former Nebraska Sen. Bob Kerrey. “He has a healthy irreverence for the stuffy, politically correct, ‘You can’t say that, You can’t say that.’”
Irreverence in the abstract is one thing. But McCain’s specific jokes can be harder for some to stomach. Liberal bloggers have recently revived what is by far the most offensive of McCain’s reported jokes, one that his aides say he doesn’t recall telling, but which was reported in the Tucson Citizen, an Arizona paper, during his 1986 Senate campaign:
“Did you hear the one about the woman who is attacked on the street by a gorilla, beaten senseless, raped repeatedly and left to die? When she finally regains consciousness and tries to speak, her doctor leans over to hear her sigh contently and to feebly ask, ‘Where is that marvelous ape?’”
His spokeswoman said at the time he didn’t recall telling the joke, something his current spokesman, Brian Rogers, reiterated to Politico. (THE OLD REPUGLICAN STANDBY, “I DON’T REMEMBER”!!!)
The president of the National Organization for Women, Kim Gandy, however, suggested that a series of McCain jokes about women, the rest uncontested by the campaign, suggest a serious lack of respect.
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How could any self-respecting woman vote for this disgusting PIG?
HAVE WE NOT HAD ENOUGH OF THE “FAMILY VALUES” HYPOCRITES?
McCain event canceled over fundraiser’s rape ‘joke’June 15, 2008
WASHINGTON (AP) — John McCain has called off a fundraiser at the home of a Texas oilman who joked about rape during a 1990 gubernatorial run in the state.
The Texan, Republican Clayton Williams, made the joke during his failed campaign against Democrat Ann Richards. Williams compared rape to the weather, saying, “As long as it’s inevitable, you might as well lie back and enjoy it.”