Loose McCannon aims at Iran...again

John McCain has a mean streak a mile wide, and a seriously cruel sense of humor. We all remember "bomb Iran," and his "I hate gooks" comments, and how he's called his wife a horrible name in public...now he fantasizes about killing Iranians by selling them more cigarettes. He's not talking about the troops of a nation with which we are at war, he's talking about killing the men, women, and children of an entire nation, on purpose. If China's leaders mused that they love sending lead-painted products to our country because it will kill us off, the outcry would be overwhelming. "Maybe that is a way of killing them." That's what he said.

Some in the media (Associated Press, anyone?) have given his comments a free pass, again. Booman Tribute summarizes the comments and offers this analysis, with which I agree wholeheartedly:

His campaign's defense was pathetic.

"The senator was adding levity to the discussion and the crowd reacted with laughter," campaign spokesman Kevin McLaughlin said. "He went on to discuss the seriousness of issue."

This isn't a matter of whether someone has a sense of humor or not. These jokes aren't funny. Whatever laughter they produce is strictly of the 'uneasy' or 'awkward' variety. In no universe is it appropriate to describe discussion of the bombing of foreign nations as 'levity'. That even applies to countries with which we are actually at war. But we aren't at war with Iran. This isn't some bombardier's jocularity we are talking about. This is just plain immorality masked as something unserious.

John McCain is harming our foreign relations with not only Iran but the entire international community. He's actively endangering our troops. And he's not making anyone other than a few egregious morons and a**holes laugh with these jokes.

Sometimes people say insensitive things. Sometimes people laugh at them. That's okay with me; I know I have made crude or obnoxious jokes, some of which should never appear in print. Probably all of us have.

But these are more than that. These are inappropriate comments you might let slide if your angry uncle made them while he was downing his 4th beer and grousing about welfare recipients. They are not comments or "jokes" that the potential President of the United States should make. If he talks like this in public, I can only imagine the venom and vitriol he lets fly in private. That's the talk of an angry, insensitive lout, not a President.