McCain's "Bomb Iran" Joke Draws Fire
Liberal Group MoveOn.Org To Air Ad Attacking Republican Presidential Hopeful
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Republican presidential candidate Sen. John McCain speaks during a fundraising dinner at the Venetian hotel-casino in Las Vegas on April 19, 2007. McCain answered critics Thursday, telling anyone concerned about a joke he made about bombing Iran to "lighten up and get a life." (AP Photo)
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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.
© MMVII The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.



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See all 335 CommentsNow he's just another arch conservative in the Republican Party. What's his excuse for his comment? "Extremism in defence of my joke is no vice." Or something like that. What a nutjob.
Ronald Reagan made the same type of kidding when he was President right before a his weekly radion address saying "My fellow Americans we begin bombing the Soviet Union in ten minutes"
Ronald Reagan is MOST responsible for 100's of millions of FREE people in Eastern Europe and Russia.
Our President is WORKING on freeing 10's of millions of people in the Middle East.........but the corrupt Dems along with their fellow corrupt liberal Dems in our MSM wolfpack are working hard to make this NOT happen..............really sad lot.....
Another of our lunatic so-called 'leaders'.
Does America need more proof that this loser is senile?
Whatever credibility McPain had garnered over the years is speedily eroding away because he refuses to LEAVE THE SCENE as his FACULTIES FAIL him!
Thank the stars that the American people won't be stupid enough to even make it close for this old fool to be president.
With this reckless and despicable comment in this delicate climate, and which makes light of bombing a country to kill thousands of women and children, McPain has disgraced the US Senate and the American government.
Posted by ozilot at 01:28 PM : Apr 20, 2007"
Well put, Wizard! LOL
And in this tense climate a US SICK SENATOR no less is making light of bombing a country, which the insane bush is seeking every excuse to bomb before he leaves office and create more hell for America and the world.
George Bush "joked" about an impending execution in Texas while he was governor of Texas and running for president the first time.
People who "joke" about death and destruction are psychopaths. Including Bush & McCain.
The Senator should have exercised better judgement and restraint. He didn't. Does that mean he is unqualified to be President? Let the people decide.
I know if Bill Clinton, Al Gore or John Kerry had said that, Roger Ailes, Rush-to-Judgement Lamebrain, and the rest of the Faux News comedy ensemble would have tried to have them for lunch!
By the way, let's understand where the real corruption is and who is responsible for it! And it is NOT the liberals or the democrats or the (real) republicans. It sits squaley on the shoulders of the "...temporary occupants of the White House..." (D. MacArthur)
I don't believe any old veterans would find that "joke" funny.
More and more McCain seems feeble and senseless - not presidential timber.
There is a debate in the blogosphere over whether its early onset Alzheimers or late onset PTSD. Whatever the psychiatric diagnosis, it is crystal clear that McCain is cognitively impaired and his judgment is way out of whack. Becoming a living, breathing caraciture of "bring em on" Bush is just another nail in the coffin of the Republican Party. That the party can not act to rein in a Presidential contender who is a raving lunatic but instead applaud and encourage him in his bizarre antics surely must frighten the electorate.
Big difference...Ronald Reagan didn't know the microphone was live when he made that comment. It was a joke intended as an off-mic warm up to be heard only by his staff and techs. McCain knew he was speaking in public. While I don't think it needs to be blown out of proportion, loose lips DO sink ships, including the ship-of-state.
They too must be frightened by a jingoistic cowboy, sitting in the Republican wings, ready to start a new war just for kicks.
How about someone who "joked" about bombing the White House?
But, then again, Pat Robertson publicly advocated "nuking" the State Department and nothing happened to him. It appears prosecuting people for making "terrorist threats" depends solely on who makes them. Or, to where they are directed.
Right on!! If Americans can't joke around a little, especially about a crazed lunatic like whatever his name is, then we might as well become like Iran. If you don't like humor then go live in a dark cave somewhere.
Then we have cross-dressing Guliani mincing around with a limp wrist talking tough, while he stands right behind Cheney in the Guiness Book of Records for Vietnam deferments. And Romney is bragging about using a semi-automatic on squirrels, while he got a deferment to go to France as a missionary.
Don't Kerry and Gore look good these days.
As for McCain's remarks--between kids not even being able o joke about going crazy anymore or emailing their friends about freaking out and bombing people, and not being able to joke about anything without offending or scaring half the listening audience (man joked about a bomb on a plane and got arrested) we are fast approaching a true 1984 Orwellian, Big Brother moment. We don't want that--trust me. When there are cameras in our homes, taps on our phones and everyone is trying to turn everyone else in. Now anything we say can and will be used against us? I thought that was only for criminal arrests--now it appears--it is for everyone at any time. this is petty--but whoever opened this door (Rove) now should realize that smears, slurs, instant coverage and spin rules the political landscape--live by the bs--die by the bs. America is sucking a bigger weenie every single day.
Video of his Bomb song will probably be the basis for a new al-Quaida PR and recruitment effort. It will undoubtedly help Ahmadinejad strengthen his position.
Never in the history of this country has a senior elected politician so embolden its enemies.
McCain should be tried for treason. He is an embarrassment to Arizona and the nation.
'McCain obviously does NOT have the judgment and diplomatic sense of dignity that is required to begin repairing the damage wrought by the Neocons since 2000'
OK, so it's OK for John Kerry to joke around about how stupid our US soldiers are because they wouldn't have joined up if they couldn't make it in the real world. Remember that?
But it's not Ok to joke about Iran and their sociopathic leader? Give me a break!!
Soros has no sense of humor.
I don't know Agnim.....I thought that at the last presidential election......
You must be Alec's other stupid little brother. You sound just like an extremist Hollywood Baldwin liberal. Pathetic!!!!!
And that's as humorous as Mission Accomplished. You want to be a candidate? Engage brain before opening mouth. And for gosh sakes don't say nuk-u-lur.
As soon as a neocon replies with an appropriate response, the leftist are ready to wage war-not against our enemies-god no, but against those who seek to defend us from the islamofascists. So who's side are you on Dumbasscrats?
Both the leftists and muslims are working towards the same goal (the West's defeat) and are proving themselves to be a dangerous 5th column in the West. We best be ready to defend ourselves from both these elements that are hostile to freedom.
disgusting, while our kids die.
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In light of the killing of 5 marines and 4 private contractors in Iraq on 3/31/04, we thought it would be appropriate to repost this video by Jason for America. If you missed it last week, Bush attended the Radio and Television Correspondent's Dinner and made a few jokes about our failure to find weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. Pretty poor taste, if you ask us, when our soldiers are dying for his mistakes. Jason pulled together some clips of Bush's dinner speech and juxtaposed them with some not so pretty pictures from the front. Check it out.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5l5bSxpCKEI
WELL SAID: Liberals are a bunch of little panty waists without a spine. I can't concieve this great country of ours being ran by a panty waiste President who is so afraid to offend a country like Iran while taking it up the rear by them at the same time.
Actually, no, because it never happened. His joke was that BUSH was stupid and got us stuck in Iraq - both of which are true, but it's not particularly funny that a moronic warmonger is in the White House.
You NeoCons are past masters at twisting the facts and then making your opponents defend against something they never said or meant. Well, that's called a "lying smear", and it is despicable.
I agree that McCain is a dolt for joking like this, and I can certainly see his idiocy as an Al Quaeda recruiting tool. At the same time, I think this is being blown out of proportion, like everything else the media get their claws into. It was a joke. It was stupid. As another poster said, if you don't like his actions, don't vote for him.
Yes, where is everybody when the Iranian parliment is chanting "Death to America" before each session?
I'll tell you what. BOMB IRAN!
Death to Islam!!
This would be a win-win scenario.
Tried Mary Lou
But I knew they wouldn't do
You got me rockin' and a-rollin'
Rockin' and a-reelin'
Barbara Ann
Bam, bam
Bam Barbara Ann
-- The Fonz
Both these guys did their stint in Vietnam on the ground, unlike the sissy chickenhawks destroying our country. All Americans should be ashamed for not electing them decisively.
That these guys are now on the sidelines is disgraceful.
No one has suggested that anyone was afraid of offending the Iranians. The point poeple were making is that when Americans are fighting and dying in one stupid, pointless war, to joke about starting another is in poor taste. Which it is.
I can't see why you would want someone as president who thinks that death and war are apt subjects for humor in public. It shows poor judgment and great disrespect. How do you imagine the mother of a dead soldier feels watching a presidential candidate sing, "Bomb bomb bomb ... bomb bomb Iran"?
The difference between NeoCons and real humans is that when a real human sees someone *** up, they call it a ******, regardless of who did it. With the NeoCons, their boys can do no wrong and the opposition can do no right. It's the same kind of moronic black & white "thinking" that started the Iraq mess 9in the first place. "Yer eeder wid ush er yer wid duh terrorishts."
Idiots.
Of course you didn't complain when John Kerry said his so called little joke about our soldiers being stupid, but we all hear you loud and clear complaining about John McCain telling a GOOD joke about our enemy Iran. You've got it backwards, which is why I had to bring up Kerry and his joke.
SO? I remember when that song was popular during the hostage crisis, you remember, when Carterlet 50 of our people languish for over 400 days in Iranian Custody.
I agree, nothing good comes out of Iran or Iraq for that matter.
We bombed Hiroshima and Nagasaki to end WW2, killed thousands upon thousands of women and children.
The problem is that now we have to be the benevolent conquerers. We have to make sure that our own liberal media, people and the rest of the world sees us in a good light. Look, bomb the entire middleeast, send in road crews and make a giant parkinglot.
And we'd all be on our way to somewhere over the rainbow.
Both these guys did their stint in Vietnam on the ground, unlike the sissy chickenhawks destroying our country. All Americans should be ashamed for not electing them decisively.
That these guys are now on the sidelines is disgraceful.
Posted by peterbaldwin at 02:46 PM : Apr 20, 2007
+ report abuse"
BRAVO! BRAVO! BRAVO!
Well said, sir.
So you think McCains little song is going to start a war with Iran? If anything it will be all the negative rhetoric coming from the extremists in Iran. They burn our flag in their streets, they shout death to America and kill the infidels in America, and you're worried about McCain's little song offending them? Pathetic!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1
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