There are seriously no words for this. Now, I make no secret about the fact that I loathe McCain, and so obviously have some level of bias here, but is that REALLY the best his people could come up with in response?

Hell, it would have been much smarter, although still sub par, to have said "It was a long time ago, here is an apology," etc.

Instead we have "this is just how he is..."

Wow. Just... wow.

Is that even a joke? I mean, yes, it's incredibly offensive. But it's not even remotely funny. Ignoring the actual content, there's no real set-up and the punch-line is thoughtlessly worded. He might as well have just said "Hey, you know what's funny is that women actually LIKE being abused and raped! They can't get enough of it!"

You suck, McCain.

You think it's too late to ask Vietnam to take him back?

This joke gets you twice on the Gross; first, it implies women LOVE having the everliving shit beat out of them and being raped. And then...it's done by a gorilla. So women are so indiscriminate that a rapist gorilla is an acceptable sexual partner. Uh. Yeah. I really, really REALLY hope all those angry Hillary supporters out there who keep threatening to vote McCain because they don't like Obama think twice when they see this sort of crap.

"You think it's too late to ask Vietnam to take him back?"

McCain's jokes are disgusting and inappropriate, but isn't this a little harsh?

Anna, I think those "angry Hillary supporters threatening to vote for McCain" are made up by the media.

It's appalling that McCain nor his spokesman made any attempt at an apology for such an atrocious joke. I'm glad this was posted.

And what's up with 'what happened in the past should stay in the past'. He didn't say this when he was 15. He was 50 years old in 1986! Oh so he's learned in the past 20 years? Give me a break.

It really talks to his lack of respect for women. Thank you for posting this. Unbelievable.

Lilly: I'm not a nice man.

When the patricians get too drunk on their own power, then it is time to erect the galley in plain sight. The true power of the republic lies in the hands of the proletariat.

Flyinfur:
I personally know two of them, so I doubt it.

Ummm.. this is disgusting.

I think Feministing should have a "Douchebag of the Year" award, and John McCain should be the first to win.

chantal with an a: I like the way your brain works.

Lilly commented at July 17, 2008 3:45 PM: "'You think it's too late to ask Vietnam to take him back?'

"McCain's jokes are disgusting and inappropriate, but isn't this a little harsh?"

Yeah - I mean, Vietnamese women don't deserve this bullshit any more than American women do.

I am all for Danyell's idea. Let's ask Vietnam to take him back. Permanently.

In case McCain is elected, my plans to move to Cuba are already in the works.

Anna, I think those "angry Hillary supporters threatening to vote for McCain" are made up by the media.

You are correct, flyinfur. The new polls show Obama leads with women and minorities. The whole “angry Hillary supporters threatening to vote for McCain” is made up media bullshit. So, can we put this ridiculousness to bed, please? It is particularly important here in a feminist space not to perpetuate the “angry, bitter women” meme. If Obama loses, it won’t be because of the Clinton supporters.

I personally know two of them, so I doubt it.

Does it occur to you that they aren't voting for Obama, not becaue they're "angry" about Clinton losing, but because they believe he doesn't represent them? I know, I know...a woman choosing her vote based on her values and beliefs? Crazy talk. She must be bitter and angry if she isn't voting for my chosen candidate! Also, I'm thinking that referring to them as "angry Hillary supporters" probably isn't going to sway them to your side.

And, for pete’s sake, can we show Clinton a little respect? Unless you are referring to all candidates and elected officials by their first names, why address her in such a manner?

Sorry to go OT. I now return you to your regularly scheduled comments.

shelby,

you know "hillary"s campaign uses her first name as the logo, right? and it has since her senatorial campaign. i think it's just a matter of her branding getting through that people refer to her by first name - and it's an effective tactic for differentiating her from a president to whom she's married.

at any rate, "angry hillary supporters" is a stupid way to refer to people and the whole quasi-phenomenon is a mediated bullshitfest, so yeah... it's not really worth continuing this part of the conversation.

mccain is a douchebag, at least we can all agree on that...

and it's an effective tactic for differentiating her from a president to whom she's married.

Put three letters in front of the last name...Sen. Clinton...and that distinguishs them nicely.

"this kind of stuff is a good example of McCain being McCain."

Here's what I'm hearing/reading: boys will be boys!

Come on people, take some responsibility. That's just a lame excuse. An apology would definitely not negate the fact that he told such an offensive, misogynist joke, but it'd be way better than THAT. Ugh.

I realize it was her campaign logo. But, it still strikes me as disrespectful when someone refers to every other candidate in a discussion by their last names except her. Put three letters in front of the last name...Sen. Clinton...and that distinguishes her from her husband nicely (although when referring to the candidates, it's not necessary seeing as how she was the one running for office, not her husband).

Maybe it’s due to all the sexism leveled at her coupled with the fact that I've seen too many people refer to the others as Sen Obama and Sen McCain only to call her Hillary or Mrs. Clinton in the same breath. I just think, campaign logo or not, that's it’s disrespectful to refer to all the other candidates by their last names and except her.

And, I believe that the logo was designed to make her seem more accessible to the voters as opposed to distinguishing herself from her husband because she certainly had no problem aligning herself with his former platform on the campaign trail. Regardless, she certainly didn’t choose it as a way to “other” herself - which is how it is being used.

"Manny being Manny" doesn't work for the ball player. "McCain being McCain" shouldn't work for the presidential candidate either. It just doesn't erase what he's already said and done.

For the guy that called his wife a trollop and a cunt, I think this has the makings of a tremendous step forward for Admiral Ape Rape. Now we just need to get him to start joking about breaking the bones of Iranians instead of straight killing them.

“Why is Chelsea Clinton so ugly? Because her mother is Hillary Clinton and her father is Janet Reno”

She was just a teenager when McCain told this “joke” at a Republican fundraiser. The man is a sexist pig and always has been.

Ironic, considering he though discussing birth control and Viagra were just to sensitive a topic last week.

What an ignorant sexist ass.

Uh, make that "too sensitive."

Rrrrrrg, typos.

Excuse me, ShelbyWoo, but I don't like that you're putting words in my mouth.

"Does it occur to you that they aren't voting for Obama, not becaue they're "angry" about Clinton losing, but because they believe he doesn't represent them? I know, I know...a woman choosing her vote based on her values and beliefs? Crazy talk. She must be bitter and angry if she isn't voting for my chosen candidate! Also, I'm thinking that referring to them as "angry Hillary supporters" probably isn't going to sway them to your side."

That is totally false. I don't like Obama one bit, he is hardly my chosen candidate. Nor was I implying that women are bitter and angry. I called them 'angry Hillary supporters' because that is exactly what they are. They are angry that Sen. Clinton is not the nominee of the Democratic party, and they have threatened to vote McCain because they dislike Obama so much that they can't imagine voting for him, even if it means they have to either not vote at all or cross lines. They are STAUNCH supporters of Sen. Clinton, and that is why I used the 'angry Hillary supporters' phrase. Apologies if that was as offensive as it apparently was.

I'd also like to say that as a new reader of Feministing, it's discouraging to be jumped on like that when posting. I think this site should encourage everyone to speak up and share their views without the fear that someone is going to jump up and start shoving opinions down their throat.

Sorry for the off-topic, but I wanted to express my issues with that.

And sorry for the unclosed italics, only the I there was supposed to be italicized. Oops.

Um. Yeah. I give up.

You know, people having an opinion different from yours have just as much right to share their views without it being considered jumping up and shoving opinions down others throats as you do. She's not shoving her opinion down your throat, she's engaging in debate, and I'm pretty sure that debate is welcome here in the comments. There's always going to be people that disagree with you, whether they are here on Feministing or not, and I'm sure that they are probably a lot more polite about it here than in other environments. I don't think you should be discouraged at all.

Anyway, this is just another thing to add to McCain's long repertoire of asshole moves.

Liberals, we dislike each other almost as much as we dislike conservative Republicans.

i think what he said is so absurd that i have doubts to whether he actually said it or not.

The source isn't very solid, and it occurred 22 years ago, making it hard to prove or disprove.

i think what he said is so absurd that i have doubts to whether he actually said it or not.

The source isn't very solid, and it occurred 22 years ago, making it hard to prove or disprove.

anna,

Preview button, its saved my bacon a couple of times. But I refuse to spellcheck...

I have been reading Feministing for quite a while without being a member, but all these McCain articles have finally made me want to post.

Isn't it interesting that the same "boys will be boys" cliche is used to excuse men who rape--claiming that they just cannot control themselves once they have that thought in their mind, despite hearing "no"? How is it that an ENTIRE campaign does not recognize the insensitivity towards an entire population of Americans with all these sexist stories surfacing?

Honestly, I do not see how he expects to win.

simple solution. just send him back to vietnam. maybe a little more suffering is needed to improve his mind (whats left it anyway)

kelsey, he expects to win using people like my parents, who are blinded by the fact he was a POW, and suspicious of this new (secret muslim married to an angry black woman) man from chicago.

Wow, I'm stunned by some of these comments. While I am disgusted by his "joke" and his campaign's explanation, saying that McCain should be sent back to Vietnam for torturing is just as disgusting. If we refuse to rise above his hateful comments and continue to stoop to his level, nothing will be accomplished.

Its so easy to villainize John McCain for something like this - and like most of us, I'm planning to vote Obama in November. But we really need to go further back and understand why a joke like this was made in the first place, and a man who made that type of joke (and had a history of sexist behavior) was able to be elected to the United States Senate. As easy as it would be to demonize McCain as a terrible and sexist person, unfortunately he really is just a product of our time. Not an excuse of course - nothing can excuse this type of sexist rhetoric - but at least looking at it this way can help us understand the issue. We need to do more than just keep McCain from getting elected - we need to make it unthinkable that this type of sexism be at all acceptable in American politics or in American culture more generally.

Meg: Being a POW shouldn't excuse sexist comments and behaviors. It's too bad your parents obviously don't look at Feministing. It's pretty much where I get my news. Luckily, my parents are liberal.

Morgan La Fey: Well said. I agree that those comments are distasteful.

It doesn't help that he muffed the joke.
The woman falls into the ape's cage, and the ape carries her into his den, yadda yadda yadda, then she's rescued. When her friends come visit her in the hospital and ask her how she's feeling, she says, "Awful. He doesn't call, he doesn't write..."

OK, it's still terrible.
Sorry.

What a sick fuck! Women NEED to RUN this country, not the sexist assholes currently doing it.

seriously, lorgus, your mix of rhetoric and endorsement of torture reminds me of the very folks who you purport to oppose. la fey, you're absolutely on target; i'm quite surprised that folks would joke about such a thing, not to mention suggesting it as a defensible position.

and, look, i understand that she's a senator, but hillary clinton's marketing team decided to run with "hillary" for a number of reasons, of which i only mentioned one, and she's used it since her senatorial run. certainly one can call her "sen clinton", but to suggest that calling her "hillary" is a sign of disrespect is quite a hefty projection and i just thought it was an odd bone to pick, considering. it's quite different, i think, from calling her "mrs clinton", which the poster in questions was most certainly not doing.

hbsweet, thank you for explaining what the joke was supposed to be. I had no idea how whatever McCain said was even supposed to be a joke. It was as if he'd just decided to open his mouth and say a bunch of misogynist nonsense with no apparent purpose. I mean, even if he'd gotten the joke right, it would have been a bunch of misogynist nonsense with no apparent purpose, but at least it would have been in the form of a joke.

kelsey: oh, i know. but my parents are part of that special breed of american that still thinks george bush is doing a good job. my mother (infuriatingly, formerly a struggling single parent) thinks i'm going to grow out of this "feminism phase" and settle down and start popping out kids.

there really is no reasoning with them. i've tried. my mother just pats me on the head and tells me i'll understand better(and by inference, agree with her) when i'm older.

i'm 24.

hbsweet commented at July 18, 2008 1:33 AM: "It doesn't help that he muffed the joke.
The woman falls into the ape's cage, and the ape carries her into his den, yadda yadda yadda, then she's rescued. When her friends come visit her in the hospital and ask her how she's feeling, she says, 'Awful. He doesn't call, he doesn't write...'

"OK, it's still terrible.
Sorry."

Definitely still terrible.

I also wonder how many animal-rights activists are also discussing the other half of the bullshit (IRL when a human falls in an ape cage the ape's behavior is much better).

Devil's Advocate Disclaimer

Okay, could be McCain as a military man is not unfamiliar at thinking of himself as an ape, and wishes to both poke fun at the sexist idea that women enjoy rape while also making a self-deprecating reference to his own ape-ness.