McCain Gambles with Awkward Joke

McCain cheated on his first wife which is far worse than this stupid gaffe.

Actually, ABC is gambling that any dirt they can find might hurt a candidate – I think they go after both. They are looking for something that they can use to get ratings – I think these little political articles are just fishing expeditions for ratings. Meanwhile, not so much gets noticed on the issues. The war in Iraq – do we stay and finish or get out -, the economy – do we go after new energy to stop the rising energy prices or let it slide due to environmental concerns-, illegal immigration – do we stop it or open the borders to all -, … These are the issues. Why not just report on the candidates stand on them – with no spin – and let the people vote on that.

Another McBush stupid gaffe…McSame says a lot of stupid things, but the media downs plays them. However, anything and everything Obama says is a news worthy item. If Obama had said “And I stopped beating my wife just a couple of weeks ago”, the media would have a field day talking about it. Let’s face it the media is biased!!!

McCain says he’s the best to lead this country because of his “experience” and his ability of using better judgement. Is this a case of “better judgement”? I think not. Here’s a man running for the POTUS and he’s making a “joke” about beating his wife? Where are all these Clinton supporters who are backing McCain because they felt that HRC lost because of sexism? Nothing from them. We all know if Obama would’ve said the exact same thing; CNN, ABC, NBC, CBS, FOX and every other news channel would’ve been running this day in and day out but when a old white man, who admitted infidelity already says it, it’s no big deal. Welcome to america people!

McCain voted against Bush 44 percent of the time. The 95 percent was last year when they picked out almost no votes and cherry picked them.
McCain is ranked in the middle of senators.
Of the votes they counted two were naming of buildings, one was to give relief to people. The left loves to lie.
McCain’s line is a famous phrase for ABC to waste space about shows how absurd the coverage of this election is.
WORST COVERED ELECTION IN OUR NATION’S HISTORY.

McCain just wishes there was SOMETHING left he could beat…

Rev wrote:
This is an astounding statement considering Barry’s church that he never went to for 20 years.
*********
Give me a break. Everything Obama does is examained and scrutinized.
Although I do enjoy for having to bring up an issue that is dead and gone to make your point. Pathetic.

C’mon people defending this really inappropriate and yes, dumb statement.
You people are ridiculous…the article says it was an inappropriate joke…
it is.
It was dumb.
and yes do you want a guy who can make a joke like this (a guy who voted against equal pay for women….and has voted against women’s issues almost every single vote)
whatever you say there is a mentality that backs up someone who doesn’t have the understanding of the charges against this governor and how the idea of beating your wife mixes.
No matter how you spin it…it’s pretty old school male authority…
I think we give him more space on this because he is older…and we think…well, ya know typical older guy and his views on women.
yeah… this ain’t a gotcha…this is a dumb joke/gaffe…that I am sure he will apologize for.
One thing you tend to get with a man over65… is the baggage they may not have learned yet… that more of the younger generations have lost.
being the President who \

carpenter.nyc
your comment would make sense if John Mccain was a beaten wife.
make a correlation that has just a couple of brain cells involved …
c’mon John mccain is an over65 man who has not really completely unlearned the devalue of women (his voting record says that alone) so spin all you want…
I like John McCain but is he like my 70 year old father…yeah.
this joke just reminds us of all those inappropriate jokes from that can come from holdovers of a 1950′s mindset.

I agree that Obama is held to a much higher standard in the eyes of the public and MSM, hands down…
BUT!
In this case, I think this is much ado about nothing. McCain is actually funny in this one. I don’t sense any attempt on his part to do anything but sort of mock the leading questioning of this columnist.

Joe,
I do agree with you, to a certain extent.
BUT
Using a joke from 20 years ago that references violence against women shows just how old and out of touch McCain is.

jmc663,
We can agree to disagree but the idea behind the joke is that you can corner someone into admitting anything (including beating your wife or whatever they want to use, it can be anything bad) and the one that people know this tactic by happens to be one where someone was cornered into admitting beating his wife when he hadn’t.
This reference is not something that is used to support such deplorable actions so much is it’s a link to a tactic to get someone to admit something that they did not do.
Do you have a common joke/reference for this type of behavior that most people would immediately know what you’re talking about? I can’t think of one for this situation but it strikes at the heart of what the columnist was doing in this case.

Wife beating is a horrible disgrace, offensive at every level. It beacons hatred of women, male dominance, and degrades the very foundations of our beliefs.
John McCain, I can’t support ANYONE who feels this is an appropriate topic for a joke. A mentality that harbors such views as humorous clearly belies a resentment or hostility toward women.
This comment shows a clear alignment between Clayton Williams’ views toward women and John McCain. Knowing the distaste for Williams’ comments, how could you make such a comment yourself?

Yeah, he’s a class act. Coming from someone who got caught verbally abusing his wife in front of reporters — you’d think he’d be a little more careful about what he says.

I’ll say that McCain, as much as his foriegn policy EXPERIENCE is touted has said some really STUPID things (some of it reported in MSM and some not).
This is not one of them. Let’s focus on the true gaffes that highlight his inablilty to differentiate Sunni from Shiite or that Baghdad is safe to walk around in while being protected by a secrity team to really show how out of touch he is.

and Joe
I disagree
I think he will apologize but if you don’t think it is way out of touch to not know you should probably not use a “wife-beating ” joke as a Presidential candidate… even if it is based in sarcasm…
if for no other reason…the misinterpretation by many women who are very sensitive to it (and rightfully so…obviously Len was not a beaten wife…)
It’s not that it makes McCain horrible I like him…but it makes you realize that he has some old notions that might not be so good for a modern world.
Ya know one with an internet… atleast he is “aware” of that. lol

tHIS IS A NEWS STORY? PLEASE IF IT WSN’T MCCAIN IT WOULD NEVER SEE THE LIGHT OF DAY.

Sure Deby, keep telling yourself that, LOL!

The “Real” John McCain shows through week after week. His campaign is a poor and distasteful bad joke.

This country has lost it’s sense of humor.
McCain is from the era of “free speech”, where you could say something totally vulgar or inappropriate on purpose, as a joke, and people got it.
Nowadays, in this great PC world, if you’re not slamming a white male, you’re sexist or raci$t.
“if Obama had said that…Oh thats right he wouldnt, because he isnt out of touch and he has class.”
LOL
Yeah he’s got that “I’m better than you” class…
LOL

Here we go folks. It’s time for the media to once again take every word that Obama’s opponent says, twist it around and assign the most nefarious meaning to it in order to help the Obama campaign do what they do best, which is vilify their opponents (an Axelrod specialty).

Well, the good news is that it’s Friday and Gramps will have the weekend off, because we all know that POTUS is a Monday thru Friday job and NO ONE works on the weekend, right?

I agree that the Media has lost all credibility and that goes for all the Cable and network stations. The only reason I watch Cable is because I am an Obama fan, but fair they are not.
If you are fair, it seems you are not interesting and you can’t get the ratings. Perhaps we should do here what the BBC radio station does, when it runs out of factual news,it goes off the air, What a brilliant idea! I am also constantly amazed by the “Steppford
Wives” phenomenon where so many people look and sound so much alike that it is impossible to tell who is who! And they would never think of actually listening to the person they are addressing, so they lose an opportunity to get some really important information.
But the public is slowly learning. we don’t always tell what we are really thinking in polls and then the Media is surprised when the polls often turn out wrong. It is so true that perception is reality; reality is a suspended state to most of the Media.

This is all a waste of time. Obama is going to steamroll over McCain in the Fall.

This is a terribly old expression used by many politicians in the past, and Jake knows it. He just wants to make hay of a tired old joke on a slow news day (as does Drudge).
To this point however,this election is for McCain to lose. His belief that the media will cozy up to him and his consistent off-message banter can only do his campaign harm in the long run.
He needs to focus and hammer on 2-3 themes right through November if he wants to win this.
This is one presidential election where the debates will really matter. McCain himself will get to pose some tough questions to Obama, which the media has purposely ignored.
On the other hand, if McCain comes off in the debates as aloof or out of touch, it will hurt him.

To Sharon,
McCain agrees wife beating is a horrible disgrace.
He was pointing out how horrible wife beating was by using it as a deadpan reference in response to a loaded question.
It wasn’t a joke. McCain has two daughters. You don’t know McCain.

I am no fan of McCain and will be voting Obama. That said, this is such a non story.

It’s not a joke, it’s a comment about how unprofessional the interviewer is. The question ” have you stopped beating your wife” can’t be answered yes or no unless your a wife beater, it is this kind of “cheap” trick question that only comes from “cheap”, unprofessional writers and taken out of context by ether ignorant or hateful people. Now that you know what McCain was alluding to, you are no longer ignorant so calm your indignities

Posted by: Vanska | Jun 27, 2008 11:12:05 AM
Whats amazing to me is that republicans chose this guy -
Uh, Vanska, wake up, we didn’t choose him the media did by bashing all the best candidates duing the primaries because they knew that McCain would be an easy target.

Funny, McShrub puts foot in mouth and neoCONs blame media.

Christopher London – you could have just offered an abbreviated version in which you remind us he’s a boat schooler. That’s enough, lol.
Jack – how about taking a shot at giving us your definition of the words liberal and conservative?
I ask this only because I suspect not many people even know what the word conservative means anymore, and that has me wondering about whether we have any consensus on a definition for liberal.

What!!!! John McCain made an old joke, that’s been used a hundred times b/c it fits right in with what the reporter was doing. Well that’s it, I’m not voting for him, I mean come on not voting for a person b/c of a joke makes perfect since. You see I vote for the person who tells the most appropriate jokes. I don’t worry about something a minuscule as not have almost no experience (2 years doesn’t count). After all how can you say a man who makes a bad joke is experienced.
But all sarcasm aside this is just ridiculous w/ everything that’s going right now why does this even matter. I do love the reasons I get for people not to vote for McCain; too old, too fat, makes bad jokes, can’t speak well. Things that really don’t matter when it comes down to it. Saying he’s a Bush third term is just BS b/c McCain is a moderate, and Bush is a douche (he’s not conservative, we don’t like him either).
Again I want to say it one more time, make sure you pick the next POTUS based on a joke nothing else it’s all that matters.

TenFace – when you come down to it on experience, they are both running for an executive position, and neither of them has any experience.
True, McCain has been in the Senate forever, but that’s hardly executive experience. So perhaps we should get off this counting of years criteria, and just see what each of them knows about the issues.

The simple fact is that this is not news-worthy material. If you do not get his reference or even worse if you are offended. Take close look at your sense of humor and your intelect. I actually appreciate his sharp response to someone who was clearly attempting a “gotcha” moment. Come on people, really?

Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha. Why are there so many people in this world without a personality? That’s funny stuff from McCain.

McCain is disgusting. How many more distasteful jokes will this guy get away with? If Obama said anything similar the McHillary women would be screaming from the housetops.

It’s so funny how when John Edwards made a joke about beating his wife, even motioning with his hand, during the infamous “my wife has cancer and is going to die, but running for President is more important” news conference, it was totally IGNORED by the media.

I don’t like Bush, but I’d still rather have a third Bush term than a one-term Obama. That’s all he’d get too, as Americans would quickly see his incompetence. And a huge majority of Americans agree with me. At least Bush has kept us from another attack by Islamic terrorists. It’s McCain’s to lose despite the rigged polls by The LA Times and Newsweek.

“…. I’ve been to 56 states … er uh no … 57 states, but could not get to the other two …” Not a word from the main stream press – NUF SAID!

I don’t get it.

Jake, you’re a good writer.

I always was a Hialry supporter and was now organizing for McCain. But the “B” word, womanizing, cheating on wife and now wife beating, I think McCain doen’t respect women and I going back to the Dem Party.
I never heard such demaining words from a presidential candidate.

Spousal abuse is a big problem in this country and not in the least bit a remotely funny subject matter…
just ask any woman who has suffered from abuse

People who take unimportant things too seriously is a major problem in this country. Try asking anyone who has been a victim of an overly-sanctimonious blowhard how they feel.

To Christopher London:
You have got to be kidding me with these comments? You were a Clinton backer, but because of rumors about “womanizing” and other things you are going back to Clinton? What a moron and joke you must be. Let me see has there ever been a worse womanizer than her husband? Let me see even a credible charge or rape.. Does this sound like a man that cared about women? No, but he was pro abortion and that is all that counts with the left. Here is your comments.
I always was a Hialry supporter and was now organizing for McCain. But the “B” word, womanizing, cheating on wife and now wife beating, I think McCain doen’t respect women and I going back to the Dem Party.
I never heard such demaining words from a presidential candidate.

Get real, people! John McCain is a “fake” war hero? (Queue the Dan Rather evidence creation machine!)
I may not agree with all McCain’s policies, but denigrating his service and sacrifice is shabby (at best.)
Meanwhile, Obama gets to run around causing ladies to faint with his mantra of “Change!” However, there’s no evidence he voted even ONCE differently from the Democratic poisition. He’s nothing but “politics as usual” with a fresh face and catchy slogan.
Change for a dollar is still a dollar!

First of all it’s not really a joke but a figure of speech. Anyone who is both literate and over the age of 30 will likely know right away to what McCain was referring. The “statement” (not joke) was “So when did you stop beating your wife” an extreme and obvious example of someone asking a question that can not possibly be answered correctly in order to try and discredit the person being questioned. I heard it used many times while in college and at University and never was it used as a joke. Of course the statement is absurd but that’s that makes it interesting. When McCain replied with the “example” it was basically saying to the reporter “come on you are just giving me a hard time and asking me questions no one could answer without sounding bad”. I think it is very funny that you all are so desperate for anything that will make McCain look bad that you have to grab at straws like this one. Lets talk about some real news like Obama going back on his promise to use public campaign funds, Even better I just had to laugh at his statements yesterday trying to pretend he supports gun owners while at the same time saying he is really for gun control. If Obama is so great why won’t he agree to do these town hall meeting with McCain.. just them man to man with no moderator? Is he chicken? No he is smart. He knows that in a room full of people McCain will make him look like a babe in the woods if not an outright luny boob.
This article about McCain’s comment is a total waste of time and electrons.

“It’s a bit of distasteful DC yuckery so commonly quoted it’s hackneyed.”
So you’re saying that even his jokes are old.

B. Hussein Obama doesn’t have enough experience to understand this joke.

Posted by: Steve | Jun 27, 2008 11:22:55 AM
Uh, Vanska, wake up, we didn’t choose him the media did by bashing all the best candidates duing the primaries because they knew that McCain would be an easy target.
Touche Steve. I take it back. :-) And furthermore, I agree that the ‘joke’ was only intended to highlight how impossible it was to answer that question well. But really, who can take this guy seriously anymore? I think McCain is the joke here.

Sue, shame on you.
It was a deadpan reference referring to how bad it was not a joke.
Sue, You don’t know McCain. He is a father of two daugthers who he cares deeply about.
I hate this election but most of all I hate how a good man like McCain has been smeared. This is not a democracy when 85 percent of the media are democrats.

THIS is all the libs can hang on to?? Hahahahha.. HUSSEIN OBAMA is going to have to do better…. MCCAIN IN NOVEMBER! THERE SIMPLY IS NO OTHER UNHYPED HOPE!
OBAMA- THE AUDACITY OF HYPE!

I would love to reply to everyone at the same time.
Those who think badly of Obama about the 57state thing. He meant to say contests because there are 57 of them although only 50 states. That wasnt a gaffe.
McCain and this joke of his is just a testament to his age really. I understand the joke because I have parents who are much older and therefore I grew up in an older generation household. It made sense but it wasn’t a joke. It was a statement like Come on, what the hell are you asking me questions like this for?
Having said that, I am glad he was asked a question about the Nevada Governer. He is a flake and a cretin in the first place, another repub who got elected on family values and then sold out his own family. He is disgusting. I am a NV resident and didn’t vote for him. Its a big deal though that these Repubs run campaigns on moral high grounds and conservatism and they rape the budget, cheat on their spouses, and disrespect the role of families, then point the finger at the media and democrats whenever convenient.
Its not about Party affilitiation to me. I am just sick of the republican brand. Liars and cheaters and warmongers!

well, McCain must be doing fairly well if you are going to knitpick such a tiny thing. I’m surprised the headline wasn’t “McCain Admits to Beating Wife” … McCain ANSWERED the question about why he chose the Lt. Gov over the Gov. and the reporter didn’t let up! McCain was totally set up — do you think this would have been an issue if Obama had said it? hell no. in fact I doubt the question would have even been asked.
He used a cliche — get over it.

And any man who would even joke about wife-beating, hasn’t been on the receiving end of a beating….all you women out there who have been beaten, vote for ANYONE ELSE rather than this man who totally disrespects women – Even his first wife who stood by him while he was in prison in Viet Nam, was then dumped when in her greatest time of need…..says a lot for integrity and honor of the man – which he is always babbling about and claiming to be his principles!!!

But if he had said, “Hey…stop badgering me. I answered your goddam question. If you don’t like the answer, that’s your problem.” (like a normal person would) the reporter would have had a “temper” story. Lacking any response, an “evasive” story….and on and on. Which, of course, is why the media are held in esteem right up there with politicians.

I think it’s come down to whether Obama will win 300 or 400 electoral votes. McCain isn’t the next George Bush he’s the next Bob Dole.

I would be far more like to vote for Obama than McAmnesty-McCain. However, let’s talk about issues with substance. Like imigration or the war in Iraq/soon to be Iran. That joke wasn’t bad at all.

John Collins:
There are Constitutional reasons for amnesty, so McCain is correct, as was Reagan.
If you studied economics, you would know that having 12 millions illegals coupled with full-employment means that every single “illegal” is needed.
Illegal is merely a construct of the Congress. They need to work out a proper guest worker bill, so there would be no more “illegals.”
Since the time of the Mesopotamia, all civilizations have imported workers, we are no different.
If we don’t have workers, more manufacturing businesses move off-shore and service businesses disappear altogether; prices go up and services go down.
Please, study economics, LEARN McCAIN’S VOTING RECORD, and stop spreading false rumors. (Or, are you a Democrat or Libertarian, merely trying to harm the Republican Party?)

Why doesn’t everyone just shut up. In alot of cases the people deserve what ever they get. Whether in politics or marriage. Vote for none of the above.

Could be chronic PTSD from
his days as a POW.

I can’t believe that you totally screwed the quote. The question is always, “are you still beating your wife.” It is the “still” that makes the question. Yes or no are both wrong answers…where did we get you guys? Didn’t any of you take debate?

The schtick question and response about wife beating is pretty sad and misogynist. It certainly comes from the darker days and ages.

It’s really an old attorney-cross-examination joke. The joke has nothing to do with making light of doemestic violence–the joke is that whether the guy says yes or no, he’s screwed.
A lot of PC stuff is great but this is overblown.

I didn’t realise that being humour challenged made you inelligble for the Presidency.

That is the reason McCain shouldn’t joke, He end up being the joke, it back fire, just as the presidency will.

“distasteful DC yuckery”? This joke’s older than McCain, well known OUTSIDE of DC, (believe it or not), and completely applicable to the slant evidenced by this writer.
Wanna know why we see so much of Obama? Because he can “do no wrong”.
Wanna know why we see so LITTLE of McCain?
I’m not sure when the Press had it’s “finest hour” – but it’s definitely not this year.

its no secret where ABC Stands.

Massive amount of BDS and Demo talking points,
but those that point out that McCain was trying to say that the question was a no win got-cha are correct.
Obama would say “Why, I would change everything (whatever that is).

If the Dems think they can use incidents like this to attack McCain and at the same time take the position that Wright is a distraction, they need to think again.

The Carter references are so weak. They haven’t been working, if you look at polls. I suggest you find another petty tactic to use against Obama. On issues of substance, he wipes the floor with McCain. McCain has voted with Bush 95% the past 2 years, and his platform is completely Republican, supporting strategies that have proven faulty.

Another McCain gaffe…Obama says a lot of stupid things, but the media down plays them. However, anything and everything McCain says is a news worthy item. If McCain had said “I sat in Reverend Wright’s sermons for 20 years and never heard a thing he said”, the media would have ignored it. Let’s face it the media is biased!!!

I guess the way for John McCain to lure the Hillary women over to vote for him is with a wife-beating joke. This guy isn’t smart enough to be president.

For the first time in my adult life I am proud of my country. May Allah bless Michelle.

Haha I’m still not gonna vote for the guy but that response made me like him a little more. In a way it was kind of like a Bushism, which was one of the few things I like about our preisdent

What an inane piece of journalism. We wrote more probing articles on my junior high school newspaper.

Doesn’t everyone beat his wife? MAN! JUST A JOKE! I thought it was funny, but I have a sense of humor.

Joke was fine. What was awkward was this non-story, this attempt to manufacture controversy from the innocuous.
“Some have found the subject of McCain’s joke — wife-beating — inappropriate.”
Really. Who are these some? Is there a single adult person who actually thinks this is inappropriate? Name one.
“Might want to scratch that joke from the schtick, senator”
No, don’t think so. Might want to keep it up and do it alot more. Flushes out inane media twits.

If someone takes offense to what was obviously a joke they need to be beat themselves. What a waste of print.

McCain got shot down how much of a hero does it take when gravity takes over? He found his personal limits when tortured not that you and I would have done any better but to be a real hero he would have had to done better and perhaps died rather than cooperate and live? The point is how does following the laws of physics and doing what it took to survive captivity give him any experience that is of any value as a leader.
Bin Laden’s doctrine of asymmetric warfare has been very successful. The Giant is off balance. Our economy has taken a severe, largely self inflicted, hit. It has been said that it will take 100 years to recover from Bush/Cheney but that may not happen, we may not be so lucky. China owns our economy, we sold it to them to finance a fruitless war. Perhaps it is fitting that a one time alcoholic sold us down the river for one more drink of oil.

What a joke of an article. If Barack Hussein Obama had said it, these so called journalists would find a way to gloss over it.
The mainstream media SUCKS.

Non-story.

The phrase about wife beating is in my college textbook as the quintessential example of a loaded question. McCain’s use of the term was appropriate and shows his natural wit. Those upset by McCain’s use of it are the typical pathetic, whining people who think “hope” and “change” are political platforms on which to base support for a candidate and they wouldn’t be voting for McCain regardless.

If McCain praised Bush by repeating the joke: “If George Bush walked on water the media would have a headline of ‘Bush can’t swim.’”
And, the headline about the joke would be:
“McCain shows disrespect for Christian values.”

Lay of MCCAIN folkes
We thank him for his half century of service to this country
He is not showing early signs of senility and he is not losing his bearings.
He is sharp as a tack and no he is not confused. He does absolutely positively not resemble the greeter at our Walmart. He does not disrespect women.. most notably his wives. I think supporting a president by voting with him 95% is admirable.
President Bush can raise a lot of money for him.
He does not flipflop
He served our country heroicly 30 some odd years ago.
LAY off MCCAIN FOLKS
OBAMA 08 hehehehe

Pathetic story, unworthy of mention. The media’s values and what they sieze upon for “news” has come to a point where it is negatively impacting the country so much that we have lost ourselves. This is a shameful story to bother with.

Perfect example of a reporter creating news on slow day rather than actually reporting something substantive.
I would have had more respect for him if he simply wrote, “and today, nothing happened”.

Come on Jeff… stick to the subject. I know the seat is hot… don’t go nowhere … but to address your argument. Bill Clinton’s act was the most detestable. He lost all my respect after monica-gate.
McCain lost my respect when he cheated on his wife as well. We need a president with true family values.
OBAMA 08

The question “when did you stop beating your wife?” is not, as Tapper claims, “a bit of distasteful DC yuckery so commonly quoted it’s hackneyed.” Rather, the question is used in every first year law school evidence class as the classic example of the unfair misdirecting question that leaves the respondent with no choice but to assume the truthfulness of the underlying yet unproven proposition — that the respondent is presently or has in the past beaten his wife.
McCain was quite right to raise it in this context as an example of media unfairness.

This is who Hillary’s female supporters want for president. This is same candidate who called his wife a female private body part if front of reporters. Further, McCain wanted Clay Williams to host a fundraiser for him. Clay was the one who said, if a women is being rape she should relax and enjoy it. Oh well, Hillary’s supporters are trying to teach the democrat party and Obama a lesson by supporting a candidate who has such a low opinion of women, that makes good sense to me.

I don’t know why people consider McCain funny. I never have.

I read some of these older posts and laughed. Especially about the one that says “McCain doesn’t flip flop”. I think John McCain has changed since that June Post. I guess somewhere in July he traded in his soul and his ‘maverick’ title for the chance of being President. If you don’t believe me, watch his tv commercials. They are full of half-truths at best. Don’t call it political because I am a Republican. I just don’t want another liar/loser to be our president.
Bob Barr 08