McCain's "Bomb Iran" Joke Draws Fire

(AP)  The liberal group MoveOn.org is launching an ad against Republican John McCain and his joke about bombing Iran, arguing that the nation "can't afford another reckless president."

The group plans to spend about $100,000 to air a commercial on network and some cable television stations in Iowa and New Hampshire, states that hold early contests in the presidential nomination process, spokesman Alex Howe said Friday.

McCain, campaigning Wednesday in South Carolina, answered a question about military action against Iran with the chorus of the surf-rocker classic "Barbara Ann."

"That old, eh, that old Beach Boys song, 'Bomb Iran,'" he said. "Bomb, bomb, bomb, bomb, anyway, ah ..."

His audience laughed, but MoveOn.org called the comment dangerous.

"America has lived through six years of a reckless foreign policy," an announcer says in the ad. "We're stuck in Iraq. More than 3,000 Americans are dead. And thousands more wounded.

"Now comes John McCain with his answer to what we should do about Iran. John McCain? We can't afford another reckless president."

McCain defended the joke during a campaign stop in Nevada on Thursday.

"Please, I was talking to some of my old veterans friends," he told reporters in Las Vegas. "My response is, Lighten up and get a life."

Asked if his joke was insensitive, McCain said: "Insensitive to what? The Iranians?"

The McCain campaign had no immediate comment to the ad on Friday.

The head of MoveOn said McCain displayed "more out-of-control bravado."

"At a tense moment, when cooler heads in his own party and many retired military leaders are calling on the president to negotiate with Iran, Senator McCain's outburst isn't merely inappropriate; it's dangerous," Eli Pariser, executive director of MoveOn.org Political Action, said Friday.

McCain's comments, posted on YouTube.com, had been viewed at least 118,056 times as of Friday morning.

[realpatriot1]

sickinrick,

I don't know who you think has blown off the Iranian President's sick remarks. What McCain said as a joke was not a joke. Bombing Iran means killing innocent civilians...that is sick if you think it's a joke.

[randalds]

And now, a shout out to RandalDS...

You're one of the few people on here who seems to see below the surface of things. And when you try to explain it, people don't believe you either. Frustrating, isn't it?
Posted by tucson23 at 11:06 AM : Apr 22, 2007

It is sort like beating ones head on the wall, but still it feels better to me to get it said, to get it out. Some people get it and believe what I say and that's good, but as for those that don't the majority of them are right wing trolls who'll never agree or believe the truth anyway so I don't really let them bother me too much.

Still we both have to keep up the good work right? Better to speak the truth, even to those who don't want to hear it, then to be silent and thereby let other think you agree with the madness.

[tucson23]

And now, a shout out to RandalDS...

You're one of the few people on here who seems to see below the surface of things. And when you try to explain it, people don't believe you either. Frustrating, isn't it?

[tucson23]

Your degree is just a god da*m piece of paper,
Posted by rharrin1

On the contrary, they expect a great deal from you before they give you that piece of paper. If you think that what they told you about politics and government in high school somehow gave you a good foundation of knowledge to draw on, you are sadly mistaken.

Do you tell astronomers, geologists, biologists, and historians that their degrees are just pieces of paper? I guess ignorance is bliss.

[tucson23]

LOL. I was a poly sci major in 1978 --extremely boring ***. I changed majors...
Posted by toldyouso21

I agree that it's not a degree you want unless you want to be poor or be a lawyer. I didn't learn very much until the third and fourth year, which I assume is after you (probably wisely) changed majors. Had you stayed, you would have discovered that's it's far more than memorization and regurgitation. At some point they expect you to analyze philosophy.

Politics are not constant, but our politics operates along the lines of a philosophical continuum we've been on since about the middle 1700's. If you have no knowledge of that philosophy, politics becomes just positions on issues with no big picture to draw from.

Christians are a good example of this. They vote for a party that screws the poor and starts wars of choice because that party opposes abortion and gay marriage. That's not seeing the forest for the trees. It's the difference between knowing the underlying philosophy, or simply taking positions on issues which others tell you to take.

[tucson23]

Your responses to my post are just what I'm talking about--I have no problem with opinions on policy, that's what this message board is all about. I was commenting on the fact that the first five pages of posts were arguments about who was right and who was wrong, and using newspaper articles to somehow prove your point.

The Allegory of the Cave never means more to me than in times like this. If people have spent all thier time staring at shadows on the wall (and let's face it, most people's political opinions come down to that, and nothing more), and then the philosopher comes and tells them what's outside the cave, their response is usually disbelief.

Do any of you know how the major parties decide which side they're going to take when a new issue comes up? Or do you just listen to the party leadership and adopt the talking point they give you? 99% of people do the latter, then come on message boards and insist they are right--and for proof they present a news article. Politics is not just an assortment of positions on issues; it derives from a philosophical framework that takes years of study to understand.

All I'm saying is that a little humility might be in order when you claim that your basically unfounded opinion has to be correct, while someone else's has to be wrong.

[abbe7]

Or this one for him in Baghdad, without the troops, this time ...

". . Got a round
I got a round
Yeah
Got a round round round I got a round
I get arghhhh . . ."

[abbe7]

Hit the road John and don't you come back no more, no more, no more, no more.

[mnature12]

I agree Lighten up we have had just about enough of the Liberal belly acheing about everyhting they dont like Grow up and realise that if there is a war people will get Killed that is what a war is

[walt1944-2009]

Let's look at the Republican candidates running for president for 2008 (provided George Bush does leave office!). There is Rudy "Big Daddy" Guiliani who has a family life any Republican neo-con would be "proud" of. There is "Bagdad John" McCain who sounds and acts like an older clone of George Bush. There is Tommy "foot-in-his-mouth" Thompson who insults people even when he apologizes. And there is the Mormom "hunter" who hasn't fired a gun in his life!

With that kind of line-up, its no wonder that everyone is predicting a Democratic landslide in November 2008.