Would you ever tell a joke that would insult a person you love and respect? By insult, I mean finding humor in anything that would hurt them.
I have a little "check" I do when I hear a joke that I find offensive. Recounting the same joke in my head, I replace the demographic or the situation at the "receiving end" of the joke, with my own. For example, a joke about women, I replace with a joke about me, or a woman I love and respect. If the joke offends me after hearing it in a way that made it personal, than I seriously question the judgement, ethics and beliefs of that joke teller.
Let's have a look at the those jokes that John McCain finds funny. I find them highly offensive and revealing, but you should see for yourself.
Here are some of John McCains most offensive jokes:
* Back in 1986, during his initial run for the Senate, John McCain allegedly told a crude joke about rape involving a woman's affection for an ape.
“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?’”
Try telling the joke this way:
Did you hear the one about when you were attacked on the street by a gorilla, beaten senseless, raped repeatedly and left to die? When you finally regained consciousness and tried to speak, your doctor leaned over to hear you sigh contently and feebly ask, ‘Where is that marvelous ape?’
Use your wife, your mother, or the name of any woman you respect. Appalling!
I am seething from the thought that this man could be president, making the most important decisions of the entire world, many of them affecting women. In fact, in my earlier post, you can see the kind of sexist decisions he has made in the past by his voting record.
* Senior national correspondent Jake Tapper, of ABC News asked McCain why he did not choose Nevada's Republican Governor Jim Gibbons for for his state campaign chair. This is the traditional choice when the governor is of the same party. McCain explained that he had a longstanding relationship with the state's lieutenant governor. Governor Gibbons has low approval ratings which prompted the reporter to ask if this was the reason he passed over the governor. McCain defended his choice by saying laughingly, "And I stopped beating my wife just a couple of weeks ago."
This could only have been in reference to that fact that Gibbons was going through a high-profile divorce, with multiple charges of infidelity. Did he also know that a cocktail waitress had accused Gibbons of grabbing and threatening her with sexual assault in a parking garage?
Replace "my wife" with your name. Not so funny, is it? Only a sexist could say something this awful.
* McCains wife commented that his hair was getting a little thin. McCain's temper kicked in, and refering to Chelsea Clinton, age 18, he said "At least I don't plaster on the makeup like a trollup, you c*nt!"
First of all, this man called his wife a "cunt!" As if this is not bad enough, he makes a predatory attack on a defenseless girl by a public figure to further his political goal. Reprehensible and discusting.
* McCain was speaking at a GOP fundraiser in Washington, D.C. in 1998. He came up with this joke: "Why is Chelsea Clinton so ugly? Because Janet Reno is her father." Again, attacking a defensless young girl, Janet Reno and the Clinton family all in a two line joke. Put your or your daughters name in place of Chelsea, do the same for Janet Reno.
Not so funny.
* When asked in late January of 2008 if McCain had pressured Florida Governor Charlie Crist for his endorsement, McCain added, "It was just waterboarding."
This kind of remark is bad enough, but he also shows himself as a hypocrite by previously sharply criticizing Rudy Guiliani similar remarks.
A short month later, the New Yorker reported McCain using this joke again. He was referencing the staff that left his campaign until he started winning. He said he submitted them to "a short period of waterboarding to find out what they did in their absence."
* It is worth noting here that when the Bush administration attempted to pass a law to allow waterboarding, McCain, having been a victim of torture himself, was against this law. Later, when he was running for president, he changed and voted for the the law. Flip flop, yes, but does this man have any moral or ethical convictions?
* Jon Stewart's hit series had invited McCain as his guest. When he came out, McCain joked that he'd brought Stewart an improvised explosive device as a gift from Iraq.
This remark drew sharp criticism from the press and other for being “inappropriate and insensitive.” These devices, known as IEDs is the cause of over 1/3 of all American casualties since the 2003 invasion.
The world is so delicate today, leaders all over the world are on edge. We cannot afford a president who might offend a world leader with his consistently offensive sense of humor.
If he had made a joke saying he had brought Jon Stewart a gift of one of our own weapons, he may have gotten away with it. His gift was the weapon that killed our soldiers.
* While fox news was interviewing John McCain, he took a shot at one of our allies "You know," he said, "the French remind me a little bit of an aging actress of the 1940s who is still trying to dine out on her looks but doesn't have the face for it."
France is heavily involved in the Afghan conflict and making these kinds of jokes about an extremely important ally created a stir from both sides of the Atlantic. This off color remark drew sharp criticism and raised doubt about the Senator’s skills as a diplomat.
* We may have all heard his rendition of the Beach Boys tune "Barbara Ann" as "Bomb, Bomb, Bomb, Bomb, Bomb Iran."
Another strike out as a skilled diplomat. He can start a war with his insensitive attempt at humor. It's scary.
* This August, McCain was addressing a biker rally at the annual Sturgis Rally at Buffalo Chip campground in South Dakota.
Referring to a traditional beauty pageant, a debauchery of topless women on parade awaiting judgement of their beauty, McCain said to a cheering public
“I encouraged Cindy to compete,” he continued, “I told her with a little luck she could be the only woman ever to serve as first lady and Miss Buffalo Chip.”
These kinds of remarks are so consistant you cannot even say, "So, one off color remark, c'mon, so what?
At this point, I truely believe we are getting an unusual look straight into the heart and soul of the man and I don't like what I see.
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