In his 1986 senate campaign, he referred to the Leisure World retirement community as "Seizure World", where "97 percent of the people vote and the other 3 percent are in intensive care," a joke whose offense he made worse, as he later conceded, when he did not forthrightly apologize for it.
In 1998, McCain was chastised for making an off-color joke at a Republican fundraiser about President Clinton's daughter, Chelsea, saying "Why is Chelsea Clinton so ugly? Because her father is Janet Reno." McCain later apologized to President Clinton and Clinton accepted his apology.
McCain openly used the term "gook", in reference to his Vietnamese torturers during the Vietnam War, even since his return as a POW. During the 2000 presidential campaign, he repeatedly refused to apologize for his continued use of the term, stating that he reserved its reference only to his captors. Late in the primary season, with growing criticism from the Asian American community in the politically important state of California, McCain reversed his position, and vowed to no longer use the term in public. Most Vietnamese Americans, who are mostly refugees from the Communist government, did not find his terminology offensive, and overwhelmingly supported him.
In March 2007, McCain apologized for using the term "tar baby" in response to a question in Cedar Falls, Iowa, about overturning divorce court decisions. Although he was not using the term in reference to African Americans, he agreed he was wrong to use a term that some view as having racist overtones.
During a campaign appearance in Murrells Inlet, South Carolina on April 18, 2007, McCain was asked a question about possible military action against Iran. He responded by singing “Bomb bomb bomb, bomb bomb Iran” to the melody of the Beach Boys' song "Barbara Ann", reminiscent of a 1980 parody by Vince Vance & The Valiants. When later confronted about the matter, McCain stated, "My response is lighten up, and get a life." Asked whether the joke he made was insensitive, McCain retorted, "Insensitive to what? The Iranians?"
During a taping of The Daily Show on April 24, 2007, host Jon Stewart asked McCain, "What do you want to start with, the bomb Iran song or the walk through the market in Baghdad?" McCain responded by saying, "I think maybe shopping in Baghdad ... I had something picked out for you, too — a little IED to put on your desk." On April 25, 2007, representative John Murtha demanded an apology from McCain on the floor of the House, where Murtha said that to make jokes about bringing IEDs back for comedians was unconscionable when so many soldiers are dying from IEDs in Iraq. McCain responded by telling Murtha and other critics to "Lighten up and get a life."
On May 18, 2007, during a meeting to negotiate immigration legislation, McCain swore at fellow Senator John Cornyn (R-Texas) after Cornyn expressed concerns about the number of appeals that illegal immigrants could receive. According to multiple sources, Cornyn told McCain, "Wait a second here. I've been sitting in here for all of these negotiations and you just parachute in here on the last day. You're out of line," to which McCain replied, "Fuck you! I know more about this than anyone else in the room."
Det har jag aldrig hört talas om! Kan du berätta mer?