ha!

Gravitas...

(UPDATE: Sorry - should have explained what exactly this is for readers lucky enough not to live with (rather slim) possibility that the likes of this guy will soon be your head of state... From NPR:

Republican presidential contender Sen. John McCain (AZ) joked about bombing Iran this week during a campaign appearance in Murrells Inlet, S.C.

McCain was asked by an audience member about possible U.S. military action in Iran.

"How many times do we have to prove that these people are blowing up people now, never mind if they get a nuclear weapon. When do we send them an airmail message to Tehran?" a man in the crowd asked.

In response, McCain said, "That old, eh, that old Beach Boys song, Bomb Iran" — which elicited laughter from the crowd. McCain then chuckled before briefly singing — to the tune of the chorus of the Beach Boys' classic "Barbara Ann" — "Bomb, bomb, bomb, bomb, anyway, ah ...."

The audience responded with more laughter.)

Comments

[Daniel]

Where is this video from, and who is speaking in it?

[Infinite Thought]

Pretty sure it's this.

[Liz]

Not only was that a horrible thing to say. It's not even original. I remember the 'Bomb Iran' parodies of 'Barbara Ann' during the hostage crisis (not the recent news item with the British soldiers, but the one with the U.S. citizens).

[CR]

That's interesting, Liz... So he may well be conjuring up some ancient memories of the earlier crisis.... I didn't know anything about that...

[Matt]

It's hard to call Republican presidential candidate John McCain a hypocrite. He has consistently supported the Iraq War. He continues to back the "surge" of U.S. troops proposed by the Bush administration. And he supports bombing Iran, as his recent Beach Boys karaoke bit demonstrates.

Recently McCain went in front of the cadets at Virginia Military Institute to explain his position on war. FPIF's military analyst Dan Smith parses McCain's speech section by section. Grasping at straws to rationalize continued U.S. involvement, McCain invoked "just war" doctrine in his speech. But as Smith points out, the insurgents in Iraq could just as easily use the same doctrine to justify their own attacks on occupation forces. And every Abu Ghraib, every "drive-by" shooting of unarmed Iraqis by fast-moving U.S. convoys trying to prevent road-side bombings," writes Smith, "simply reinforces the Iraqi people's perception that they have their own duty to oppose the occupation."

Finally, FPIF columnist Conn Hallinan—in Shi'ite vs. Sunni?—describes the divide-and-conquer strategies employed by the United States to maintain control in the Middle East. The advantages of pitting Shi'ites in Iran, Iraq, and Lebanon against the majority Sunni populations throughout the region are myriad: to retain access to oil, to keep Islam divided, to handcuff Iran.

How did those grand U.S. visions of democracy for the Middle East devolve into these grubby realities? Ask that fellow at the World Bank. Problem is, he has other, more personally urgent hypocrisies to explain away...

[Pozo]

McCain is sort of entertaining. At least he's not a liar, like Johnnie Kerry, Penn, or most celebrity stalinists. Give War a chance: that's the authentic Hegelian, stripped of his do-gooder-liberal or xtian garments. Like Annie Coulter: more gonzo than some simpering dolt such as Penn. Be assured Hegel (or Nietzsche, or Pound) smiles somewhere when Annie picks up her pen and skewers some marxist or multiculturalist dolt. Verstehen Zee? Gut.