Site Note (Nicole): Jon is attending Netroots Nation (f.k.a. YearlyKos) and will be giving us his impressions throughout the week.
In the aftermath of the revelations surrounding John McCain’s 1986 rape joke, the Politico today looked at the Arizona Senator’s history of off-color humor. According to his campaign spokesman Brian Rogers, McCain’s questionable quips and frequent trips to the gutter are a central part of his authenticity - and his appeal:
“He’s long said that he’s said and done things in the past that he regrets,” Rogers said. “You’ve just got to move on and be yourself - that’s what people want. They want somebody who’s authentic, and this kind of stuff is a good example of McCain being McCain.”
But back in 1998, John McCain offered his own assessment of “Bad Boy” McCain. McCain famously used the occasion of a Senate Republican fundraiser to slander the attorney general and the teenaged Chelsea Clinton, joking “Why is Chelsea Clinton so ugly? Because her father is Janet Reno?” In a subsequent phone interview with the New York Times’ Maureen Dowd, McCain brushed off his grotesque insult as the equivalent of a rambunctious teenager egging a neighbor’s house:
”This is the bad boy,” he said in a phone interview. ”It was stupid and cruel and insensitive. I’ve apologized. I can’t take it back. I could give you a whole bunch of excuses, but there are no excuses. I was wrong, but do you want me crucified? How many days does it need to be a story?”
He said the Senator who spoke just before he did to the Republican fat cats made a tasteless joke about Viagra. ”So I got up and said, ‘You think that was a tasteless joke? Listen to this one.’ The minute it came out of my mouth, I thought, ‘Oh no, this is a terrible mistake.”’
But, he added, defensively, ”I will always maintain a sense of humor. Life is too short not to.”
Ironically, Don Imus of all people was appalled by McCain’s vulgarism. “It’s horrible, yecchhh!” he said, adding, “This guy is a genuine American hero. I don’t know why they do it. Some idiotic effort to be one of the guys.” For his part, McCain ultimately wrote a letter of “abject apology” to President and Mrs. Clinton (though not to Janet Reno).
As Dowd rightly predicted at the time, Senator McCain’s vulgar slur produced no backlash, as he “so revered by the press that his disgusting jape was largely nudged under the rug.” Ten years later, as ThinkProgress notes, the mainstream media still gushes over McCain’s “trademark wit.”
No Trackbacks To “Campaign Claims Jokes Show “Bad Boy” McCain Being McCain“
HA!
I dunno if this is news really…I tell tasteless jokes all the time…usually about religion though.
This isn’t news, I’m sure in private Obama’s said some things equally bad, if not worse. Hell, I’ve done that. Usually poking fun at the extremists of all creeds and none, though.
I just wanted to know if McCain was someone I could sit down and have a beer with before I decided to vote for him for POTUS. Apparently, not only can I have a beer with him but he’ll keep me entertained with with offensive and vulgar jokes. Obama just doesn’t fit the bill!
Egging a neighbor’s house, bombing Iran, kind of the same. Let McCain be McCain…just don’t let him be POTUS.
How many days does it need to be a story?”
Maybe we should ask Chelsea.
Repulsive. Absolutely repulsive.
Oh, so he’s a ‘bad boy’, eh? Sort of in the way my ex, after several affairs, described himself as ‘rogueish’? I just love this kind of self-congratulatory “apology”…ugh.
Is the McCain campaign comparing their candidate to Manny Ramirez of the Boston Red Sox (that’s just “Manny being Manny.”)
First an anti-depression medication slogan and now this? Creativity guys, creativity.
Gosh, he’s got a cute smile, kinda like an ogre…. so Johnny Clueless lacks not only a clue, but any kind of a sense of propriety. I wonder where we’ve seen that before…hmmm
Who cares? Its a stupid joke! Keep your eye on the ball; the economy and fascist wars for republican theives.
Mickxotic @ 8:
Yeah…what do they call those types of smiles…lascivious?
I think he’s just a slightly smarter, much older sociopathic asshole version of our current dickhead in chief.
General_Rennenkampf @ 2:
Agreed….McYellow teeth’s bad jokes isn’t newsworthy. But I do believe that the Media would treat this different if Obama had said shit similar to this .
Left&Left @ 11:
McYellowteeth. LOL!
Isn’t that comb-over a joke in itself?
So if you needed any more evidence, MCCain was an old fart in 86.
NOT a “bad boy.” Boring prick.
The key element of this story is Brian Rogers’ use of the word “authentic”. It means that McCain is the person who his jokes reveal him to be. These are not inauthentic slips designed to fit in or make an impression, as Imus suggests; they are an actual reflection of his character.
Personally, I don’t care about the jokes a person makes that much, and I think we all take jokes too seriously, but I do think they are a window to the soul of the joke-teller, and McCain’s campaign has admitted as much. This was a major gaffe by Brian Rogers.
Reminds me of Limbaugh’s attempt at humor back in that era:
“Wanna see a picture of the White House dog?”
Displays picture of Chelsea Clinton and grins impishly.
Jersey Jon @ 14:
Indeed.
McBush is proving over and over that he is nothing but a dirty OLD man.
So he made tasteless jokes 10 and 22 years ago. And he’s apologized for his crudeness. There are more important things that should be discussed, and you’re wasting your time trying to make a non-story a story. By the time the ‘undecideds’ realize that there’s nothing here, you will have wasted time and opportunities to throw a light on real stories.
Do you want people thinking about McCain’s Iraq/Iran/Afghanistan Policy? Do you want people thinking about his weak grasp of economics at the edge of a major slowdown? Or do you want people thinking how petty and foolish his critics are to harp on a non-story two decades old?
As NoGWBpolicyleftinplace at #9 says: Keep your eye on the ball!
There it is: both McCain and Blimpaugh, who are both supposed to be “mature” and “leaders” of sorts - consciously deciding to tell humiliating jokes about a fifteen year old girl in very public forums. I wonder how Chelsea felt when going to class the next day.
Teen years are often traumatic times for those going through it. Even without the help of a fat braying jackass and an amoral womanizer.
A joke is a joke, but I choose to think that it takes a special kind of complete cad to sink to that level.
“Campaign Claims Jokes Show ‘Bad Boy’ McCain Being McCain”
If that were the criteria for the presidency maybe the Democrats should’ve nominated Chris Rock.
john mccain’s announced running mate:
http://www.auby.cz/img/shreck.jpg
Northern Trombonist @ 18:
You are correct; there are more important issues.
Nevertheless, some words and actions are so over-the-top that it serves as a window to glimpse at a truly sick soul.
“Teen years are often traumatic times for those going through it. Even without the help of a fat braying jackass and an amoral womanizer.”
I thought limpballs was an amoral boyanizer.
I’m begining to have my suspicions of Chef Boyardee.
ysbaddaden @ 20:
Yeah…but Chris Rock is both smart AND funny!
“I was wrong, but do you want me crucified? ”
As a matter of fact, yes, we do.
General_Rennenkampf @ 2:
Uh, er, do you not get the difference between “in private” and in public, with reporters around? Or at a nationally covered party fundraiser?
There’s quite a difference, “my friend”.
McCain is so like Bush it’s startling. They both seem to think they’re adorable rogues on the one hand but at the same time see themselves as leaders of such profound vision that very few people are capable of recognizing it. Egomaniacs, in other words.
To paraphrase Jon Stewart, they are the opposite of who they think they are.
dear gawd i loathe the GOP but this is just stupid attacking McCain for dirty jokes.
a good, off color joke is *supposed* to be raunchy/offensive/cutting edge/outrageous.
find something else to blast him about, bloody hell there’s enough real issues to skewer him with.
ysbaddaden @ 21:
Can’t be true; Shrek’s got a soul and a heart.
25 liberalNmoderation Says: ysbaddaden @ 20:
“Campaign Claims Jokes Show ‘Bad Boy’ McCain Being McCain”
If that were the criteria for the presidency maybe the Democrats should’ve nominated Chris Rock.
Yeah…but Chris Rock is both smart AND funny!
Have you ever seen Everybody Hates Chris?
I stopped watching that show after one season, because frankly they were making his mother and younger sister too annoying.
Left&Left @ 11:
The reich-wing MSM is still having a hissy fit over a few blurbs his former pastor made over 20 years….if Obama made these comments the reich-wing MSM would eviscerate him.
30 Bajaboy
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JYLUHfQeE0g
Bajaboy @ 27:
Yes, there is a difference, and I understand that.
A semi-interesting sidebar:
It would be difficult (if not impossible) to ever successfully sue a member of Congress for slander. The reason can be found in Article 1, Section 6, Clause 1 of our Constitution:
While a strict interpretation would seem to imply that immunity is provided only while speaking in the actual halls of Congress, they’ve managed to extend and expand it to include whenever they are carrying on the business of being a member of Congress. Which they disingenuously interpret as being at all times and in all places. (Go figure)
ysbaddaden @ 31:
No. haven’t seen that..I boycotted sitcoms long ago…his stand up, however is awesome.
It’s
Always
OK
If
You
Are
A
Republican,
Especially
McCain
!!!!!
Bajaboy @ 30:
and I bet he’s a Democrat.
” . . . How many days does it need to be a story?” ”
Until that story is replaced by the eventuality of (yet) another indication of your low character and your sick and damaged psyche.
Turd!
john mccaint was a naval aviator…which means all his brains are in the head of his dick…
you have to be outta your rabbit-ass mind to land jet planes on carriers…he was no better at it than he was at anything else (what’s with the gophuque cult of failure), and he’s still crazy as a shit-house rat
36 liberalNmoderation
I love his standup.
Used to be on Youtube, Chris Rock on how not to get a traffic ticket.
let McCain BE McCain, you trollopy cu*t…
Too bad this guy’s too dead to be john mccain’s running mate.
http://www.homevideos.com/free.....se347.jpeg
That is EXACTLY what it shows . . . and we loathe the old SOB for his knuckle-dragging self.
Everyday McTaint seems dumber and douchier , yet his poll numbers go up.
“ya see, he’s not a smarty pants leetist, i bet he’d be a hoot drinkin a beer and playin volleyball at ‘Bout Time bar”
The problem is, when there’s a pervasive pattern of being cruel, stupid and insensitive I think you’ve got to look at the guy and ask yourself if we really want to see a US President who embodies those traits consistently.
Should the president not be an exceptional individual? Someone who most Americans can admire, and who the world at large can admire, if not agree with?
St. McCain is a war hero and a maverick, so he can say whatever he wants (according to the mainstream press).
45 StirFry Says: Everyday McTaint seems dumber and douchier , yet his poll numbers go up.
_____________________________________________________________________
That’s because insurance covers Viagra.
Does this “bad-boy’s” c**t bend him over her knees to spank him over his Depends?
General_Rennenkampf @ 2:
Why is there always a reference to Senator Obama when McCain inserts his foot in his mouth? This isn’t about Obama, it’s about McCain’s tasteless attempt at humor. Granted we all say off-color jokes but we’re not running for POTUS now are we?
You know I try to be a good little liberal, but I too have a crude sense of humor. It isn’t a crime. It doesn’t mean I “degrade women” or don’t want the priest and the rabbi to not walk into the bar-THEY’RE JOKES!
My ability to laugh at anything has helped me through the hardest times in my life. I can joke about the tackiest of subjects including my own downfalls and mistakes, but this ability is what gets me through the day and I refuse to apologize for it.
Get over it already, this is at least the dozenth time you guys can’t shut up about McCain’s jokes. They’re just that, JOKES. Just like we in the blog-o-sphere bitch about the MSM not cov