Here is joke that John McCain, Republican nominee for president of the United States of America, told back in 1986:
Did you hear the one about the woman who was 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 contentedly and feebly ask, 'Where is that marvelous gorilla?"
Yes, folks, that joke was told by the man who, if things go badly for the country this fall, will be the next president of the United States. The story was resurrected after another rape joke told by a financial supporter of McCain came to light.
That supporter is Clayton ("Claytie") Williams, who has raised more than $300,000 for Big Mac. Claytie told his joke in 1992 when he was running against Ann Richards for governor of Texas. He was speaking at a rally when a thunderstorm approached, and he said that he had always thought that being caught in a storm was like a woman being raped: "As long as it's inevitable, you might as well lie back and enjoy it."
Claytie, a rancher, also commented, regarding Richards, that he was going to, "head her and hoof her and drag her through the dirt." It is believed that these remarks, widely reported at the time, contributed to his defeat by Richards in that race.
Why do right-wing Republicans apparently like rape jokes so much? Ah, that is a subject for another blog. I am waiting to snag at least of couple of more such jokes before tackling the subject. Given the nature of these people, there are bound to be more,. But right now I will be focusing on Big Mac's sense of humor.
With respect to Claytie Williams' rape joke, you can see how a certain kind of person might find some humor in it. But McCain's gorilla rape joke is not only completely unfunny, it doesn't really make any sense, and it is scary that a possible president of the United Stages would think it was sensible and humorous.
Here is another McCain "joke" that isn't the least bit funny and doesn't make basic sense. McCain told it back in 1998, the year of the Clinton impeachment investigation (McCain voted to impeach the President) about Bill and Hillary's daughter Chelsea and then-Attorney General Janet Reno: "Why is Chelsea Clinton so ugly? Because Janet Reno is her father." Janet Reno was assumed by many to be a lesbian, and Hillary has been suspected of being one, and perhaps that is the very thin reed on which this joke was predicated, I don't know. I do know that I spent time with Chelsea earlier this year, and she is not ugly. What's ugly is the joke, and the twisted, mean-spirited mind and spirit that it exposes.
Did you hear the one about McCain and his wife? He was on the campaign trail with her during his first race for the U.S. Senate in 1992, with a nearby microphone, unbeknownst to him, turned on. Cindy ran her hand over top of her husband's hair and said: "You're getting a little thin up there." His response: "At least I don't plaster on the makeup like a trollop, you cunt."
That is not a joke, though, it actually happened. And here is something that happened recently.
He was -- who knows exactly why -- at a Sturgis bike rally in South Dakota (this was the same rally where he offered the refrain, "Drill now, drill long, drill deep!") This particular crowd, described in one report as "fat, tattooed motorcycle fetishists from the suburbs," was about to hold its annual "Miss Buffalo Chip" contest, described in that same report as "an infamously debauched event that's been known to feature topless women" (according another report it has been known to feature women even more dishabille than that). McCain said to a cheering crowd: "I encouraged Cindy to compete. I told her with a little luck she could be the only woman to serve as first lady and Miss Buffalo Chip." A "buffalo chip" is buffalo fecal matter that has hardened into a chip-like object. A McCain spokesman confirmed afterwards that he had understood the nature of the contest when he said this, and said that he was only joking.