Flashback: McCain joked about how much women love to be raped.
Flashback: McCain joked about how much women love to be raped.
The blog Rum, Romanism and Rebellion pulls out a 1986 Tucson Citizen article recounting a joke about rape told by Sen. John McCain (R-AZ). Speaking to the National League of Cities and Towns in Washington, DC, McCain allegedly said:
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?”
McCain was swiftly criticized by women’s groups. A spokeswoman for NOW in Arizona said the organization’s members were “incensed by his cruel and sexist remark.” McCain said he did not “recall” telling the joke. More recently, the McCain campaign scheduled a fundraiser with a Texas oilman who compared rape to the weather while running for governor. “As long as it’s inevitable, you might as well lie back and enjoy it,” said Clayton Williams in 1990. After public outcry, the event was “postponed.”
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You expect him to recall something he said 22 years ago?
Hey, he’s lucky to remember what he had for breakfast.
Most likely he didn’t remember it the next day.
July 15th, 2008 at 6:00 pmToo much McCain mirth….must stop reading…..
July 15th, 2008 at 6:00 pmYou give him too much credit, RUC. I’m sure he’s forgotten it by lunch time.
No matter how many people they produce who can swear under oath they heard him say this, he will continue to deny it. That’s just the way the Republican mind works. Well, maybe “works” isn’t the right word. Let’s say “the way the Republican mind operates.”
July 15th, 2008 at 6:03 pmAnd will this get any play in the “librul” media?
No, didn’t think so.
But had Obama had lunch at a table with someone who told the same joke 20 years ago, it would be two full weeks of wall-to-wall coverage.
PEACE
July 15th, 2008 at 6:08 pmWhile I can forgive him for not remembering something from 22 years ago, I can’t forgive him for the sentiment of the crude joke told in public as he did.
July 15th, 2008 at 6:13 pmIt betrays the character of the man, which, apparently is not as attractive as he would have his fans think.
As for his age, yes, he really is too old to be president. Some people are quite alert and sharp as they age, but most begin to show signs of decline at 70 and McCain falls into the latter. Regardless of what genes he got from his mother, he, himself, is too forgetful, too unteachable, and too set in his ways to be president. He can’t keep track of his positions on issues - he is simply not a good candidate - he can still function as a senator but not as president.
***PLEASE*** tell me that there is a tape of that floating around somewhere in the tubes of the internet.
July 15th, 2008 at 6:14 pmWhat a horrid, nasty, ugly old man. Blech!!
July 15th, 2008 at 6:14 pmBut this fits the type of guy McCain truly is. He is the type of person to tell this joke and EXPECT people to laugh at it. He calls his wife very awful names (in public), he gets very testy with questioners who actually ask him a question (in public). In public, McCain is an angry and unbalanced individual. In private, I fear he is much, much worse.
America cannot afford McCain.
July 15th, 2008 at 6:16 pmStratRat ~ Yup, I was just about to mention the c*ntrollopy comment he made to his StepfordCashCow…
July 15th, 2008 at 6:18 pmThis is not a story until Greta Van “Nuts” teran pick it up, and we know she is too busy doing a story about “her” Green Bay Packers. Now if only Rev. Wright had a tape out about this, then we would have a story.
McCain’s Media will not report this, so lets move on.
RIP
July 15th, 2008 at 6:20 pmSGT Stephen R. Sherman
C CO 1-5 IN (STRYKER)
KIA 3 Feb 2005
Mosul, Iraq
Marie:
He can’t keep track of his positions on issues - he is simply not a good candidate - he can still function as a senator but not as president.
LOL. Maybe you didn’t mean it that way, but what a glowing testimonial to the qualifications to be a United States Senator. (Can’t keep track of his positions.)
But you make a good point.
July 15th, 2008 at 6:26 pmRUCerious Says:
StratRat ~ Yup, I was just about to mention the c*ntrollopy comment he made to his StepfordCashCow…
IMHO, McCain is too mean to be CIC. I don’t mean just ‘mean’, but I think very vindictive and belligerent. It comes from his years in the service - and crashing five planes. If he wins the presidency, the US will surely have a horrendous black eye to deal with. If you think the rest of the globe dislikes us now, just wait until we prove to them that we cannot elect a sane president.
July 15th, 2008 at 6:29 pmoy. please let this kind of bullshit stay buried with the corpse of russert.
July 15th, 2008 at 6:29 pmTP, no one reading this blog is voting for McCain. Just patronizing this blog is evidence of that.
Please, enough of the “McCain said” posts. More posts containing information to help us make important decisions about our lives.
July 15th, 2008 at 6:48 pm“Allegedly said” is BS.
July 15th, 2008 at 6:52 pmDon’t waste my time with “allegedly”.
wouldn’t voting for mcsame
be liking voting for borat?
*
July 15th, 2008 at 6:54 pmOh, that McCain — such an irrepressible wit! (NOT!)
But I think we’ve already established how McCain really feels about women. He calls his wife a trollop and a c*nt, he believes that women just need “education and training” instead of equal pay, and now he thinks rape is funny.
I realize that this one probably wasn’t caught on tape. It doesn’t really matter — there’s plenty of evidence showing his true colors that has. The Dems would be smart to counter any effort by the McCain campaign to portray him as sensitive to women’s issues.
July 15th, 2008 at 7:03 pmstewarjt Says:
TP, no one reading this blog is voting for McCain. Just patronizing this blog is evidence of that.
Please, enough of the “McCain said” posts. More posts containing information to help us make important decisions about our lives.
good point.
i keep hearing some very important information that OBAMA is talking about in several recent speeches…
is there no way to present that information in a “progressive” point of view, and still retain your tax status, TP?
hmmm?
July 15th, 2008 at 7:25 pmHe said that in public? My, my, how telling.
July 15th, 2008 at 7:26 pmThis article, as many, many others, will be great ammunition after the repug convention when McCain is actually the nominee. Store up the facts, then blast away in Sept.
July 15th, 2008 at 7:28 pmThat marvelous ape is now the Vice President.
July 15th, 2008 at 7:41 pmstewarjt Says:
——————————————————————————–
TP, no one reading this blog is voting for McCain. Just patronizing this blog is evidence of that.
Please, enough of the “McCain said” posts. More posts containing information to help us make important decisions about our lives.
I agree.
Like health care and the environment, etc.
Also, there are lots of DemoRats that are not doing any thing to help here, much less any serious heavy lifting.
I have no more use for Nancy PollLoser than I do for Dick(head) Cheney! Both are betraying us all!!!
July 15th, 2008 at 7:43 pmstewarjt Says:
TP, no one reading this blog is voting for McCain. Just patronizing this blog is evidence of that.
Please, enough of the “McCain said” posts. More posts containing information to help us make important decisions about our lives.
katy Says:
good point.
i keep hearing some very important information that OBAMA is talking about in several recent speeches…
is there no way to present that information in a “progressive” point of view, and still retain your tax status, TP?
hmmm?
stewarjt,
Actually, I find these kinds of posts very helpful. I’m one of the lucky lefties who managed to “turn” a lifelong Republican to vote Democratic for the first time in her life, and it was all because of the things I learned about the right wing and how it tries to mislead people about itself, its record, and its true ambitions for this country. I never told her to vote Democratic (and she confirmed that to me), I only told her to think twice about voting Republican. I even told her that if she really did give it thought, considered what I told her seriously, and still decided to vote Republican, I would understand. She didn’t, and likely won’t ever again. (She’s in her mid-fifties.) And I learned the kinds of things I told her from this site in particular and others devoted to the same cause. [Thank you, Think Progress.]
And, katy,
That’s a good point. Perhaps they could present the things Obama says as a refutation to the “radical right-wing” smears about him (which are part of their “agenda”). That would fall into their category of “Radical Right-Wing Agenda”, which seems to be doing okay for them as far as those tax-thingies go.
July 15th, 2008 at 7:53 pmStunning vulgarity and hatred from McCain. Over and over. Who makes jokes about raping and killing? A President? Jeesh if he becomes President it will be an indictment of our humanity.
July 15th, 2008 at 8:04 pmWhat a bunch of animals. Worse than the Taliban.
I hate to break it to you guys, but some women do enjoy being “raped”. Many have rape fantasies; many like the feeling of helplessness and the physical aspects of it. It’s not talked about, but it’s not so out of the mainstream. Obviously, in real life, this wouldn’t actually be rape; it would be completely consensual pretend rape. But some people like it. It’s not “dehumanizing” or “disempowering” or anything like that; it’s indulging in fantasy, which is perfectly fine as long as all parties involved are risk-aware and have emergency procedures in place (”safe words”) if the play exceeds either party’s comfort zone. It doesn’t sound odd at all for a woman to enjoy it, though one would be committing a truly serious (and very rightly criminal) error in assuming that a woman would enjoy being raped. While it isn’t my cup of tea as a guy, I acknowledge that it may be the cups of tea of others.
July 15th, 2008 at 8:37 pmmauro you need to decide what the hell it is you’re talking about. But make no mistake. Rape is a violent crime. Perhaps you’re talking about fetish sex? I don’t know.
But this is about bestiality rape/assault. And only someone with a warped mind could joke about it. I wouldn’t let McCain with 100 feet of my wife and children.
July 15th, 2008 at 9:13 pmObviously, in real life, this wouldn’t actually be rape; it would be completely consensual pretend rape.
~mauro7inf
Right. Non-rape (aka “consensual sex”) is not illegal.
Or are you suggesting that a woman would actually enjoy being raped and beaten almost to death by a gorilla? If so, I suggest you give up your blow-up doll and look for an actual woman for companionship.
July 15th, 2008 at 9:55 pmMcCain also called his wife a cunt. So the pieces of the puzzle are finally coming together. Not to worry. The media has been bought by McCain and won’t report anything to that effect. WINK WINK, NOD NOD.
July 15th, 2008 at 10:50 pmThis is not really surprising after all. Anyone remember “Tailhook”? Just another Navy pilot.
July 16th, 2008 at 4:28 amThis McCain voter visits lots of liberal sites to get the other point of view. What I find distressing is how much credence is given to unsubstantiated rumor. This joke is “allegedly;” the “c-nt” story is completely without proof, yet it is played with glee. I find this practice of hate politics as disgusting as the Obama is a Muslim rumor. While I don’t agree with Obama on many issues, I don’t have a need to hate him. Why do so many of you have a need to hate?
July 16th, 2008 at 6:44 amAll I ask for is a little respect… R.E.S.P.E.C.T
July 16th, 2008 at 8:40 amMcCain and his ilk really have no respect for women. Sorry if I’m whining.
Macie,
Stop calling it ‘hate’ when we point out the truth. Tolerance of intolerance is not hate, but simply good sense.
Also, stop projecting your rage on us. After all, we aren’t the ones foaming at the mouth to condemning gay marriage or equal rights for women.
I think the more important question is how can you, in good conscience, support a man like McCain who has little regard for women? And there is evidence of this beyond his chronicled joke and comments to his wife. How about the way he treated the first Mrs. McCain? Hmmm?
July 16th, 2008 at 8:59 amMacie Says
July 16th, 2008 at 6:44 am
This McCain voter visits lots of liberal sites to get the other point of view. What I find distressing is how much credence is given to unsubstantiated rumor. This joke is “allegedly;” the “c-nt” story is completely without proof, yet it is played with glee. I find this practice of hate politics as disgusting as the Obama is a Muslim rumor. While I don’t agree with Obama on many issues, I don’t have a need to hate him. Why do so many of you have a need to hate?
____________________________________________________________
First off, I don’t hate McCain — I really don’t hate anyone. That isn’t what this is about.
What I see in McCain is a pattern of a lack of concern and respect for women, and you can bet this influences my vote.
When it comes to the “c*nt” story and this rape joke anecdote, I agree that there is no proof of either one — that is, if you consider “proof” to be “captured on videotape”. However, there were witnesses to both incidents, and in a court of law, that would be considered direct evidence. Whether you choose to believe it is up to you, and if there was a single instance of a tasteless comment alongside a stellar record of supporting women, it could be easily discounted. But when you hear about McCain joking about rape, ditching his first wife to marry a prettier one, and then calling his new wife names most women would never put up with, it’s no longer a single instance — it’s a pattern of disrespect.
You compare this to the rumor that Obama is a Muslim. I beg to differ. The “Obama is a Muslim” meme has been thoroughly debunked, while these have not. Just saying “there is no proof” is not the same as debunking.
All that said, I just want to say that these stories, while eyebrow-raising, don’t paint McCain as badly as his actual Senate record. Once he failed to support the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act, he completely lost me — there was no way I would EVER support a man who spoke against the Act, saying that we should give women “education and training”, when the issue was about equal pay for identical work. And then when he said that the Act would open the door to unnecessary lawsuits, this told me that treating women as anything other than second-class citizens was just not a priority for him.
No, I don’t hate McCain. But I don’t see that he’s any friend to women. I welcome him to prove me wrong, but I’m not holding my breath.
July 16th, 2008 at 9:09 amLet those anonymous reporters cited in a partisan hit book reveal their names, or stop the c-nt canard against McCain. Not wanting to vote for a politician does not provide a right to constantly repeat unfounded rumors.
July 16th, 2008 at 9:44 am“I hate to break it to you guys, but some women do enjoy being “raped”. ”
And how would you know that - first-hand experience or something you read in Penthouse? Do you know any of these people who enjoy being raped?
“Many have rape fantasies…Obviously, in real life, this wouldn’t actually be rape; it would be completely consensual pretend rape. But some people like it”
Oh, I see, they really don’ like being “raped.” just pretending to be raped. And that has what to do with McCain’s joke? I didn’t catch the part about the rape in that joke being “pretend,” just the part about the woman enjoying it. You are one sick puppy, son…ever had a date with a REAL woman? You might be shocked to find out what they *don’t* enjoy…
July 16th, 2008 at 9:49 amA sexist and racist joke at the same time. Almost a trifecta.
July 16th, 2008 at 9:58 amMacie -
Here is a link to a video in which a Baptist preacher asks McCain at a town hall meeting wether he ever called his wife a c**t.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/ 2008/ 05/ 01/ mccain-asked-did-you-call_n_99744.html
McCain never denies the charge; instead refuses to answer, stating that “the crowd” doesn’t want to hear that kind f language. He could simply have said, “No, and I find that kind of language offensive when used in any situation” or something to that effect, but he didn’t. Instead he hid behind his projection of the audience’s sensibilities and refused to answer to question. If the story is a lie, McCain should sue the author of the bio in which it appears for libel, but he’s made no moves to do so. I’d say his refusal to engage this issue at all suggests what the truth about the story is.
July 16th, 2008 at 10:01 am“A sexist and racist joke at the same time. Almost a trifecta.”
We could make the doctor gay…
July 16th, 2008 at 10:05 amI believe the actual punchline is:
“He never calls, he never writes…“
July 16th, 2008 at 2:03 pmI’ve been aware of that joke for decades now. I tell jokes, but that one is really not even in my at-my-fingertips-memory repertoire. It’s just another old, now-politically-incorrect Borscht Belt joke.
I used to think it was funnier than I do now, but I would still laugh at it if I heard it again. Like the Obama New Yorker cover, the outrage about this joke is mis-focused, on the wrong point.
The focus of the gorilla joke isn’t the trauma inflicted on the woman, but her reaction to it. And if we can’t suspend disbelief about a fictional woman being beaten senseless, and still waking up to a stereotypical-yet-unexpected reaction to a fictional beating this fictional woman took, then we might as well not tell jokes at all. They ALL offend SOMEBODY.
Oh, well.
July 16th, 2008 at 2:08 pmYeah, but Al Franken makes rape jokes too!!!
Okay, so McCain was a lawmaker at the time, and in a very public forum. And Franken was a comedian spitballing with other SNL writers…
BUT AL FRANKEN MAKES RAPE JOKES TOO!!! YOU GUYS!
July 16th, 2008 at 2:39 pmI just realized that Franken had a part in a gorilla-related raping in the final Amtrak scenes from “Trading Places” (Remember the SEC fellow who’d been selling the insider OJ reports in the cage with an obviously excited gorilla?)
Franken and Tom Davis played the bag handlers that set the scene up.
SO SEE!!! Al Franken makes GORILLA rape jokes, TOO!!!!
(Okay, Timothy Harris and Herschel Weingood wrote it–BUT FRANKEN IMPLICITLY OKAYED IT!!! What kind of a US Senator would do such a thing?!?)
July 16th, 2008 at 2:49 pmKurtyboy,
Settle down. It will do no good. About 9 in every 10 libs here are brainwashed and nothing you say will be heard with an open mind. They accuse the repubs of many things and many are true but they are things which occur on both sides of the political spectrum and with equal frequency. They have an agenda just like Fox has an agenda.
Now, they are very predictable. A slew of messages would have come (had I not predicted it here) calling me “one of the dumbest trolls” to ever come to this site, yada, yada, yada…………..
The real difference, however, between Fox and TP, is the level of hatred and vitriole.
July 16th, 2008 at 2:50 pmI don’t think you guys are giving John McCain enough credit for his sense of humor. I found the joke very funny.
July 16th, 2008 at 2:52 pmindyjones–
I was being sarcastic.
I see no double standard. McCain’s joke, whether funny or not, or truly uttered, or whatever, should not come out of the mouth of a sitting US Senator in front of a national organization–PERIOD. We can put aside the insensitivity and misogyny and still conclude that even in the unenlightened 1980s (sarcasm again, you know), a US Senator (ANY US Senator) should show better judgement. Fast-forward a quarter-century, and a simple “I don’t know if I said that or not, but if I did, I certainly find it unacceptable now.” might serve to defuse.
That, however, is more than I expect.
July 16th, 2008 at 3:07 pmForget the rape joke. Forget the comment to Cindy. Assume they are false allegations.
ABC and other news outlets devoted much attention to a joke comedian Bernie Mac told at an Obama fundraiser that used the word “Ho.” ABC said it would hurt Obama with Hillary supporters. Check out “Political Punch” at ABC for 7/13/08.
Here is a joke John McCain did say with his own mouth at a Republican fundraiser in June, 1998. “Why is Chelsea Clinton so ugly? Because her father was Janet Reno.” He not only acknowledged saying it, he apologized to President Clinton in writing. That is a good ten years after bad press on the “alleged” rape joke. Character? Failure to learn from past mistakes?
And FYI. Although there are no bad words in the McCain joke, and it shared several topics as the ABC Bernie Mac story; tastesless sexist jokes, Presidential campaigns and candidates, and Hillary Clinton, when I tried to comment on their article with this joke it was deleted. Repeatedly.
July 16th, 2008 at 3:12 pmI’m not a woman so I am not used to the double standard.
That was a joke.
This may be a joke which I hope offends somebody, or is it “somebody gets”.
Somebody said these jokes and comments prove John McCain is “too mean” to be President (or CIC). Yesterday, talking about Iraq and Afghanistan, John McCain said he should be President (or CIC) beacuse “I know how to win wars.”
July 16th, 2008 at 3:19 pmBased on his demonstrated experience in Viet Nam, all he remembers is the name “Mean Joe Greene.”
Ok, so 20-30 years back is fair game now?
Then Obama needs to explain why he’s friends with a domestic terrorist.
His defense that it was a long time ago can’t work now, because we’re willing to go back a long time to attack people. Not what they said this decade, or last decade, but before that…
So, Obama is friends with a guy who set off bombs to kill civilians, and is sorry today … that he didn’t use bigger bombs.
If ancient history comes back into the picture, then Obama and Ayres and their history have to come back too, don’t they?
July 17th, 2008 at 2:05 pmWell, that certainly sounds like a Republican Ape. The woman must be part of that nonsensical 28% presidential approval rating
July 17th, 2008 at 3:59 pm