“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?””- John McCain, speaking to the National League of Cities and Towns in Washington, DC, 1986.
Will John McCain disown himself?
Not sure I believe this one. The atmosphere was no different in 1986 than now: nobody would have told this in public.
That aside, I’ll admit I was prepared for a little hit of guilty amusement when the punch line came. But it isn’t funny at all! It’s just aggressive and stupid, like something the lower section of 4th-grade boys would tell. I can’t imagine even the dumbest ass of an adult finding it humorous. Amazing if there’s any truth to this at all. If McCain really told this in public his current clinical craziness is very long-standing.
It is completely in line with his prior history of sexism and misogyny. I wonder why he is given the benefit of the doubt by you.
Because this is the kind of thing an asshole might tell in the locker room with his buddies, but McCain is a politician. If he didn’t know better, and if he didn’t get howls of outrage, there’s just something that doesn’t fit.
What I meant to say was, he was speaking to the National League of Cities and Towns in Washington, DC, not his buddies or his long-suffering wife. I assume this League is composed of reasonably sophisticated and PC elected officials or their staffs. And that it was covered by at least some press.
I’m not really giving him any benefit of the doubt. If he really said this in that setting, he’s really out-of-control nuts, and has been for decades.
I can’t imagine anyone telling that joke, after 1960 or so.
Seems perfectly reasonable coming from someone who called his wife a cunt.
Pretty much what I was thinking. Something strange that Cindy, who was a …well rodeo queen, had her own money and when not overdosing seems to have a decent brain would not sucker punched him. I keep visualizing Hillary and her Tammy Wynette comment and what would have been her reaction if Bill had brought home a joke like that. Course if Bill had ever called her the C word I’m sure he would have been nursing a sore crotch as well.
There’s some serious illness inside McCain and his Cindy.
http://www.rumromanismrebellion.net/2008/07/15/the-comedy-stylings-of-shecky-mccain/
You have to scroll down a bit to get to the link to the pdf file of the 1986 Tucson Observor story
it’s a pattern. McCain has a sick sense of humor.
In my view, McCain has a problem relating to women. He’s disrespectful of all things female.
Carly, Meg and Cindy need to remind him was birthed by a woman.
He also needs a new map of the world…
a tutorial in economics and a wheel chair or some gingo for his head.
Perhaps he hatched–from something or other.
Since when does a sick sense of humour disqualify one for a job?
As Dubya has shown, nothing disqualifies someone from being President these days, if he is a Republican.
I don’t see where I wrote his sense of humor was a disqualification.
well now, that might shed some light on his wife ; )
she’s used to having an ape man (neo-con-andrathal) around….an ol’ silver back that can’t find anything between the wrinkles…and uses force to make himself think he’s still the leader of the group….
remind you of a certain crowd?
eewwwwwww
We hear about his temper, but not the fact that the guy is just plain crude. My favorite of his is “Why is Chelsea Clinton so ugly? Because Janet Reno is her father.” If there are still any Clintonistas out there thinking of voting for McCain, I would ask their opinion of his humor.
that’s a low comment..
I certainly wouldn’t want to be held to task for every thoroughly tasteless joke I’ve told. Especially not 20 years ago; hell, I told a doozy YESTERDAY.
I’m sure you made a funny about forcible rape. All’s forgiven…
So, now there’s such a thing as “unforcible rape”? (Rape by roofie?) I must be getting really old.
statutory.
Right. Sorry. I’m neither a cop nor a lawyer.
Then the stupidity here is the whole term, “statutory rape”. It trivializes rape, which is an act of violence by definition.
What statutory rape comes down to, as far as I can see, is consensual but legally forbidden sexual relations. That’s how it should be called.
If children can be tried as adults for crimes, they can consent to sex, as far as I can understand.
Maybe what “statutory rape” should be called is “facilitating underage sex”. The term “statutory rape” is way too loaded, and has no place in a rational legal system.
I don’t know. My impression is that a young girl doesn’t really consent to having sex with her father or uncle.
That’s incest, which is a crime in itself as far as I know. But I agree that this is a murky area.
“If children can be tried as adults for crimes, they can consent to sex”
I agree. I don’t understand that double-standard where someone can be considered an adult if they commit a crime, but considered a child when it comes to anything sexually related.
I can appreciate a tasteless joke if it’s funny. In fact many who know me think I have the maturity of a 12 year old boy. My problem with this “joke” is not that it’s tasteless, but that it ain’t even a little funny. It’s just sledgehammer aggressive and hostile without a molecule of wit or surprise. It’s intent is to provoke not laughter but contempt.
Well, humor is in the eye of the beholder, as the NYer cartoon hysteria demonstrated. In this case, I’m curious, Maryscott: do you think McCain’s joke is funny?
I cannot imagine a smart politician like McCain telling it.
Most importantly, the joke contains the word “marvelous”. It is not a word that McCain would use. It is a false note.
of a joke. The original story from 1986 has a lot of reactions from women about a joke, but no evidence that a joke was ever told.
I think this is an incorrect story.
Yeah, in fact “marvelous” is unlikely to be part of anybody’s joke of this kind. I still doubt the story’s authenticity.
It’s such a Noel Coward-type word. It’s sort of from a 30’s musical. It’s from another era.
It’s just not a word that I can believe McCain would say; he would say “AMAZING” or “STUPENDOUS” (maybe) or “SUPER” (maybe). I’m leaning to “amazing”.
Apart from offensive, I guess I don’t get what the joke is here. “Did you hear about the woman who got raped by a gorilla? She liked it!” There’s no joke in that joke. At least with the Reno-as-Chelsea’s-dad joke, I get what the funny is supposed to be: Reno’s a man, baby, and Hillary is a lesbian (except if Reno is a man, then, wait…). It is offensive, but it has the basic elements of a joke. The ape comment is more like standing up and just saying “Women are bitches! Whores!” It’s offensive AND unfunny.
Exactly.