Does John McCain's sick sense of humor matter?

First, he sang 'bomb, bomb, bomb/ bomb, bomb Iran' to the tune of the Beach Boys' 'Barbara Ann.'

Now, on being told that Iran has increased its importation of American cigarettes, he quipped "Maybe that's a way of killing them."

Let us review the things wrong with this statement as a joke.

First of all, it is a standard sentiment that in the United States, we do not wish the people of any country ill, whatever our relations with their government. McCain was hoping Iranians would drop dead from smoking American cigarettes, not the Iranian regime. Coming on top of his ditty about bombing them, I come away with an increasingly sick feeling in my stomach that the man is a sadist who enjoys the idea of killing people.

By the way, for all the propaganda to the contrary, neither Supreme Jurisprudent Ali Khamenei nor President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has talked about killing Israelis as opposed to causing the regime in Jerusalem to collapse. Can you imagine the outcry if they joked about doing it?

I think the current crew in the White House has the same sadistic tendencies, so I'd be very sorry to see that sort of thing continue.

Second, McCain has led the charge in the Senate to get anti-tobacco legislation, so he is well aware that tobacco really does kill a lot of people.

Here is what the American Lung Association says:

"Smoking-related diseases claim an estimated 438,000 American lives each year, including those affected indirectly, such as babies born prematurely due to prenatal maternal smoking and victims of "secondhand" exposure to tobacco's carcinogens."

About 16,000 Americans are murdered each year, each of which causes a police investigation to be opened. Nearly 30 times that many are murdered by tobacco, but that doesn't cause any homocide investigations.

So would not a presidential gesture be to include exports in his plans for a tobacco ban? Does he only care if Americans are devastated by this health scourge?

I remember a story about Camel cigarettes in Thailand getting ads on the back of school children's school notebooks. The Thai government noticed and stopped the ads. Then as I remember (I don't have time to look it up) Jesse Helms attacked Thailand for unfair trade practices.

McCain seems also to be all for the US exporting painful and early death to other people.

Finally, another thing that is wrong with the joke.

People being killed is not funny.

Couldn't we have like a constitutional amendment or something to the effect that no one with clear sadistic tendencies may ever be Commander in Chief?

posted by Juan Cole @ 7/14/2008 12:34:00 AM